{"id":350,"date":"2026-05-28T11:32:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T11:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=350"},"modified":"2026-05-28T11:32:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T11:32:25","slug":"gross-dam-injunction-heads-back-to-court-after-talks-stall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=350","title":{"rendered":"Gross Dam injunction heads back to court after talks stall"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The dispute over whether Denver Water can ever fill its $600 million Gross Reservoir expansion in Boulder County will head back to U.S. appellate court in July, after settlement talks between a frustrated water agency and environmental opponents failed to reach a mitigation deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Denver Water is asking the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to nullify rulings against the Gross expansion by a U.S. District Court judge in Denver.<\/p>\n

Federal judge Christine Arguello first ruled in October 2024 that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers unlawfully issued permits for Denver\u2019s expansion that had been planned for more than two decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Arguello said the Corps had not properly considered alternatives to Denver\u2019s massive Gross Dam expansion that would have been less damaging to wetlands. She also said the Corps should have more thoroughly analyzed if climate change and lower precipitation in the Western Slope catchment area mean that Denver Water won\u2019t have the right in some years to transfer water from the Colorado River Basin into an expanded Gross Reservoir.<\/p>\n

After court-ordered negotiations between Denver Water and opponents Save the Colorado couldn\u2019t reach a deal on new environmental mitigation for the bigger dam, Arguello issued an injunction in April 2025. Denver Water successfully protested that for safety reasons it needed to keep building and reinforcing the higher dam. But Arguello left in place an injunction against Denver Water clearing more trees to create a bigger basin or ever filling the new space in the bigger reservoir.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is still no mitigation agreement that would settle the case, said Save the Colorado\u2019s Gary Wockner, and so now, Court of Appeals oral arguments are set for July 31 in Santa Fe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Denver Water\u2019s appeal briefs say the injunction destroys decades of careful work to balance the northern and southern ends of its system serving 1.5 million metro residents, Save the Colorado says the ongoing drought bolsters their case against the expansion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cGiven the extreme drought and political chaos on the Colorado River, we believe district court Judge Arguello\u2019s ruling is now more important than ever,\u201d Wockner said. \u201cShe cited how the new depletion would further drain the river and how climate change was intensifying and reducing flows. The Gross Dam project was ill-conceived from the get-go, and we believe we have a very strong case in the court of appeals.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Denver Water wouldn\u2019t comment about the pending arguments, but does vent its frustrations in long briefs supporting the injunction appeal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The district judge should never have dismissed the key permits, because the filled wetlands at issue at the base of the dam amounted to only one acre of ground, Denver Water says. The Corps properly concluded that Denver Water\u2019s extensive mitigation efforts there and in other parts of South Boulder Creek would more than offset the damage and be a benefit for the watershed, the water agency says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No dam permitting case has ever required the Corps to consider climate change in deciding whether a dam can be authorized and filled, Denver Water adds. The Corps already concluded that it couldn\u2019t be determined whether climate change would provide more or less water over time for Denver, the city brief says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Besides, Denver Water adds, demanding any more relief through an injunction is moot because the dam expansion is nearly finished.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cConstruction on the project has progressed such that there are no feasible alternatives, and a new alternatives analysis would not provide meaningful relief,\u201d Denver Water\u2019s attorneys write.The plaintiffs who first brought the case against Gross expansion include Save the Colorado, the Sierra Club, WildEarth Guardians and others.<\/p>\n

Read more Colorado\u2019s primaries are June 30. Here\u2019s what you need to know about the candidates and how to vote.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With negotiations failed so far, the dispute over an injunction against filling Denver Water’s Gross Reservoir is headed to appeals court in July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-water"],"yoast_head":"\nGross Dam injunction heads back to court after talks stall - Colorado Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=350\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gross Dam injunction heads back to court after talks stall - Colorado Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With negotiations failed so far, the dispute over an injunction against filling Denver Water's Gross Reservoir is headed to appeals court in July.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=350\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colorado Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-28T11:32:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=350#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=350\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/144e01590ba7a61cfe6fd08a0fa7a482\"},\"headline\":\"Gross Dam injunction heads back to court after talks stall\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-28T11:32:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=350\"},\"wordCount\":675,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=350#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/2e343884562f6225f99976367f423b3f.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Water\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=350#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=350\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=350\",\"name\":\"Gross Dam injunction heads back to court after talks stall - 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