To understand the prospect of, and the evolving rationale for, the Osgood and Placita Reservoirs, it is helpful to imagine driving from Marble to DeBeque. Every day, water from the Crystal River makes this same journey.
Author Archives: Brent Gardner-Smith
Brent Gardner-Smith founded Aspen Journalism in 2011. He also served as AJ’s first executive director, from 2011 until 2021, and as its first editor, until 2020. He's also been the news director at Aspen Public Radio and a reporter at The Aspen Times and the Aspen Daily News. Brent also worked at ProPublica in 2010, as a communications intern, while earning his master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri.
Posted inTransmountain Diversions, Water
Draining the Fork & the Pan: transmountain diversions
“Local interests in the Roaring Fork Watershed should … expect Front Range water providers to eventually attempt to firm up undeveloped water rights and excess diversion capacity associated with the Fry-Ark Project, Busk-Ivanhoe System, and Twin Lakes System.”
Posted inEnergy and Climate
Proposed EPA fracking study
The EPA has proposed an in-depth study of the relationship between water and the hydraulic fracturing process in natural gas production. The federal agency’s draft proposal, highlighted below, is written in clear language and should be of interest to anyone with a stake in Garfield County, where natural gas production and the use of “fracking” […]
Posted inWater
Comments on Aspen’s hydro power proposal
Concerned local citizens tour the Maroon Creek diversion structure for a demonstration this summer of what minimum stream flow looks like. Photo by Brent Gardner-Smith. Comments on the city of Aspen’s Castle Creek Energy Center and Hydroelectric Project, which would use 25 cfs of water from Castle Creek and 27 cfs of water from Maroon […]