As debate over rising cost estimates for the proposed Alkali Creek Dam continues, one critic asserts that the sponsoring water district is entangled in a conflict of interest after paying a board member $1.6 million. A neighbor to the proposed dam site is upset that the Nowood Watershed Improvem ent District paid the Paint Rock Angus Ranch — owned by the Martin Mercer family — the hefty sum for land and easements while Martin Mercer sat on the district board. Tim Gardiner, owner of the Twisted Tippet Ranch that lies just below the proposed dam site, called the payment “a massive conflict of interest,” involving “good old boy” politicking. “We’ve got the president and vice president [of the Nowood district] crafting their own deal,” Gardiner said. “It’s a lot of money without the light-of-day overview.” Mercer and Nowood District President John Joyce rejected the allegation, saying the 35-member association is small, doesn’t have a lot of board candidates and is following its charter. “Nobody has run against me,” Mercer said of board elections. He signed up for board duty because, “I always felt I could bring something to the table.” “We followed all the rules”martin Mercer Irrigators anticipated spending the state funds to buy reservoir property, and studies determined that Mercer’s land was the bestideal site. “We followed all the rules,” Mercer said. “Everything was voted on by our peers. It’s been transparent. It’s been democratic. “I don’t know there’s any conflict of interest.” Joyce agreed with Mercer but said he realizes the optics are bad. Despite public perception, he said, “it’s been done correctly and above board.” Five times more As Wyoming advances plans to construct the dam, lawmakers are increasingly alarmed by cost estimates that have climbed from $20 million to more than $100 million even before a spade of dirt has been turned. The state of Wyoming would pay for all but about $2 million of the 100-foot-high, half-mile-long earth embankment. The dam would hold a 9,000-acre-foot reservoir to provide 6,000 acre-feet of supplemental irrigation to 35 irrigating families. Tim Gardiner. (Courtesy photo) Some of the anticipated expenses are understandable for a reservoir that would cover 312 acres. A contract for just some of the required dirt carries a nearly $900,000 price tag. As engineers worked on the project, they discovered the dirt, or fill, they had counted on for the structure would not meet the specifications. So they would need more, would have to truck it farther and would have to make the dam larger than originally planned. Engineers also found another costly problem. A porous geologic formation under the dam site proved to be an issue. It would require grouting — injection of cement underground — to seal off any potential leaks. Another hiccup came when some neighbors questioned why they should provide easements for an undertaking they didn’t consider a benefit. To bring them on board, water developers may have to spend more than anticipated to upgrade a principal feeder canal, and even bury it in a pipeline. Wyoming may also buy pivot irrigation systems for neighbors, a conservation expense that’s an exception to state policy. Then there is inflation, supply-chain challenges and other unseen developments in a shifting economic environment. And the expense of relocating a private airstrip. A private airstrip The dam and reservoir would make a private airstrip on Mercer’s ranch inoperable. So plans call for relocating it, along with “an existing metal building … used as an aircraft hangar.” Martin Mercer on Radar. (Courtesy photo) Water developers “will accommodate the proposed [replacement] airstrip in the Project design and construction, including performing rough grading for 1,200 feet of airstrip,” according to a legal agreement between the Mercer ranch and the Nowood district. The water district will also pay Mercer and the ranch $140,400 to build a replacement hangar and supply it with a water line. The Wyoming Water Development Office looked at 41 sites before settling on the Mercer ranch. Developers believed that locating a new reservoir on the nearby Bighorn National Forest or even property managed by the Bureau of Land Management “is not something that would be successful,” Joyce told WyoFile. Consultants compared the fees, delays and other aspects of dealing with federal agencies to buying Mercer property and easements, moving the airstrip and more, Joyce said. “All that was put on paper,” he said. “It was just math at that point.” Mercer added that the project “wound up landing here as far as being cost-effective.” Gardiner is also upset because the Water Development Commission and the Nowood district paid for the Mercer property before they had all the necessary easements secured. Wyoming officials have said they would not condemn private property for the dam, only secure easements on a willing-seller basis. But some landowners, Gardiner included, are holding out for assurances that will protect their property. Gardiner, for example, wants the reservoir flows moved away from his house, other design improvements and insurance against a potential flood. A map of the Nowood Watershed Improvement District shows where irrigators would benefit from the proposed Alkali Creek Dam and reservoir. (Wyoming Water Development Office) Others want an enlarged Anita Ditch, which would feed the reservoir, buried in a pipe, a costly proposition. The Water Development Office would install pivot irrigation sprinklers to aid those who won’t directly benefit from reservoir flows. The Mercer purchase was putting the cart before the horse and putting taxpayer funds at risk, Gardiner said. The proper course would have been to secure options — legal agreements for easements and land purchases that are contingent upon first securing all necessary project elements. Only then should money have been spent, he said. Now, state funds are in danger of being stranded if the project collapses, Gardiner said. He also accused the state of “poor financial management,” arguing that money that’s now sitting idle should instead have been accruing interest. Over-adjudicated A fifth-generation rancher, Mercer said the Nowood drainage has been “over-adjudicated” — that the state allocated rights to more water than was available. “We learned how to live being short of water,” he said. “They always figured on a reservoir,” he said of area settlers. Instead, ranchers and farmers now watch spring runoff flow by, then scratch what they can out of Alkali, Paint Rock and Medicine Lodge creeks. John Joyce, supporter of the Alkali Creek Dam, at his shop. (Courtesy photo) “As much water as goes by in the spring, you just dream of a chance like this,” Mercer said. When first envisioned by a steering committee, a reservoir was estimated to cost as little as $15 million to $20 million, Joyce said. Now, legislators say a $100-million-plus price tag puts the acre-foot cost in the stratosphere. It’s unfair to compare today’s dam projects with those in the heyday of water development decades ago, Water Development Office Director Jason Mead told water officials in November. Major on-channel dams that block rivers, “you just can’t build those anymore,” he said. As a result, “you really don’t get the economy of scale … like you did back in the ’50s and earlier,” he said. Also, storage projects now consider needs on a watershed scale, Mead said, which means addressing wildlife, irrigation efficiency, water quality, fisheries, recreation and other factors. The reservoir would always have at least a 132-acre pool for recreation. The 6,000 acre-feet of stored water would be used as “supplemental irrigation” to ensure and boost crop yields, Joyce said. “This area has very little rain — five to six inches [of] moisture all year,” he said. “Everything we grow is irrigated. When the snow melts, we’re done.” That limits the types of crops that ranchers and farmers can grow. With more water, crops that are more valuable than livestock grass can be cultivated. “Corn, beets and alfalfa are more profitable,” Joyce said. The dam fits with Wyoming’s overall plan to take earnings from the one-time extraction of resources like coal and invest them in renewable endeavors like water storage, ranching and farming, Joyce has said. Heart of the ranch For Mercer, the decision to sell part of his family ranch was wrenching. Homesteading family members in the late 1800s “sacrificed to own this piece of ground,” he said. “It’s not easy to sell the heart of your operation,” he said. “Not everybody is excited in the Mercer family.” The next generation of Mercers who are involved in the Paint Rock Ranch business gives him hope, he said. “That sums up Wyoming,” he said. “Any kid you can keep in the state is a plus.” The post Mounting dam costs include moving private landing strip appeared first on WyoFile . ...read more read less