Denver Business Journal - by Cathy Proctor Denver Business Journal
Friday, April 25, 2008
Farmers and ranchers in Colorado's No. 1 corn county, Yuma County in northeastern Colorado, are starting a $71 million water project to keep their economy afloat and communities alive.
If successful, they'll continue to grow corn in irrigated fields while sending millions of gallons of water down the Republican River to Nebraska and Kansas -- satisfying Colorado's legal water obligations to the other states.
"If we get this done, it will be the only reason we'll be able to continue to operate in this part of the world," said Trent Bushner, a Yuma County commissioner, corn farmer, and past president of the Colorado Corn Growers.
"If we don't get into compact compliance with Nebraska and Kansas, they could take the compact issue back to the U.S. Supreme Court, and they could shut down all the wells in northeastern Colorado in the Republican River Basin," said Stan Murphy, general manager of the Republican River Water Conservation District, which covers the county. "They could shut them all down. No water, no corn. No corn, no ethanol."
