Lawmakers eye $50 million cut from Alkali Creek Reservoir project in Hyattville

The Wyoming Legislature’s Select Water Committee (SWC) included a provision in an omnibus water bill that would slash $50 million earmarked for the Alkali Creek Reservoir (ACR) and dam project in Hyattville and reappropriate those funds to the repair of the LaPrele Dam in Douglas.

HB 117, the Omnibus Water Bill – Construction, made the move last month in light of concerns over the ACR’s overall cost in relation to its projected benefit. The move has sparked criticism of the SWC by the dam’s proponents, including the Nowood Watershed Improvement District (NWID) and its board, chaired by John Joyce of Manderson. Joyce characterized both the committee’s decision and public criticisms of the dam project as frustrating. 

“This is similar to the Leavitt Reservoir and that’s part of the frustration for us: all of the people that are opposed to this reservoir were fine with that reservoir,” Joyce explained, drawing a parallel between the ACR and the Leavitt Reservoir east of Greybull that is currently under construction. 

“They thought that was a good project and a good use of state funds and none of the people benefitted from Leavitt Reservoir that are opposed to this project (…) that is closer to their property.”

The ACR is a proposed 300 surface acre reservoir with public access for recreation and fishing. In addition to water storage and public boating and fishing, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department plans to stock and manage the reservoir as a flatwater fishery. As well, the department intends to secure additional water in the reservoir for late season releases to maintain fish populations in the Paintrock and Lower Nowood River ecosystems.

The reservoir itself will be 8,900 acre feet with 31 irrigators having access to 6,000 acre feet. The remaining 2,000 acre feet will be managed by Game and Fish for its flatwater fishery while 900 acre feet will be set aside for the late season fish survival.

In a letter from last November addressing the SWC chair, Senator Cheri Steinmetz, the NWID wrote that it believes in building water storage for future generations of Wyomingites and noted that, in addition to having secured all of the necessary permits and reports in order to proceed with the project, it had continued to review the dam’s long-term return on investment.

“Among the first steps [taken by the NWID] was to determine if the returns from the proposed reservoir would exceed the costs of the project. The results were positive and the project moved ahead. (…) The ACR continues to show that the long-term benefits will exceed the cost.”

Joyce said that the project stands at 90% of the land having been purchased or leased. Of the 300 surface acres required to proceed, 98% of the land has been purchased with only a five acre parcel at the north end still under negotiation. Meanwhile, 84% of all necessary canal easements have been obtained.

The NWID maintained that it has operated honestly and fairly as stewards of the project, which has included respecting owner requests for time to consider and entertain alternative offers or decline mediation. In addition, the board wrote that the project’s engineers had consistently provided landholders with alternative proposals that would avoid impacting their property in the event they did not wish to sell their lands. The NWID said it was continuing to pursue mediation with landowners, but Joyce noted that some were now refusing to respond to requests, which left negotiations at an impasse and the project at a standstill.

In the letter, the NWID expressed concern about allowing “a few people to end this project.” When reached for comment regarding the legislature’s omnibus bill, Joyce reiterated the NWID’s opinion and added that the state had already spent over $5 million on the ACR between hiring engineers, permitting, NEA studies, and design work, which will be for naught if the project is allowed to stall or ended.

“I don’t know if I’d say it’s wasted (effort, if we stop now). There’s a lot of engineering that was done and a lot of technical work that somebody in the future could take and build a reservoir with, so I don’t consider that completely wasted. But it would be better to go ahead and move through the process right now.”

Separately, Joyce pushed back on rumors that property owners had been threatened with eminent domain.

“The NWID as well as the Wyoming Water Development Commission has the authority to use eminent domain,” he said. “However, for this project, we have been told that we do not have the authority to use it. We have the statutory authority, but we will not be allowed to use it for this project.

“We have been told that the funding for the project would be taken away if we use the eminent domain to finish our negotiations. If you talk to some people, they will readily tell you that we’re gonna condemn their property and that’s absolutely not true. We have not threatened anybody and we have been told by the funding agency that we will not be allowed to use that.”

Joyce said that following the SWC’s decision last month, the NWIC reached out to local representatives in the Wyoming Legislature, who agreed to campaign for an amendment to HB 117 that would restore funding to the ACR and locate additional funding from the state to the repair of the LaPrele Dam.

“We feel that’s important, too,” Joyce said. “At the very least, we’d like to see our funding extended.” 

Still, Joyce finds the politicking irksome. He noted that of all the projects presented to the SWC, it was only the ACR that received any cuts. He took particular issue with Senator Hicks (R-Sweetwater), who criticized the dam project for taking too long and costing too much for the state to reasonably afford alongside the LaPrele repairs only to then propose an undeveloped and unreviewed project in his home district that would cost the state millions of dollars.

He also said that the new deadline imposed by the omnibus isn’t realistic, explaining that while the bill states the NWID has until July 2026 to secure its remaining lands and canal easements, and submit a design (which stands at 60% completion right now) to the state, bills are written in November. In other words, the NWID is under the gun to accomplish its remaining land purchases, lease agreements, and design work in less than a year, or it will lose its funding.

“You know, there’s projects that go all over the state — people building highways, building reservoirs, building bridges — and we don’t oppose them just because we don’t want somebody else to benefit from them,” he said.

Joyce and other members of the NWIC planned to be in Cheyenne on Tuesday to attend the next legislative session. At press time, requests for comment from Representative Lawley’s offices went unreturned.