The next step in the ongoing conflict over water rights for a proposed nuclear power plant just west of Green River, Utah, will take place Tuesday at the John Wesley Powell Museum in Green River.

The Utah Division of Water Rights will hold a hearing Jan. 12 on protests to the withdrawal of 53,600 acre-feet of water from the Green River for the nuclear plant. The hearing will begin at 9 a.m.

During the hearing, the Division of Water Rights will consider applications by the Kane County and San Juan County Water Conservancy Districts to divert a total of 53,600 acre-feet of water to the proposed nuclear reactor planned by Blue Castle Holdings, Inc.

Protesters to the transfer include the Moab-based Uranium Watch and Living Rivers, the Grand County Council, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Green River ranchers and farmers, a river recreation company, and the Uintah Water Conservancy, as well as other environmental organizations, according to a news release from Uranium Watch.

If the state water agency grants the request for diversion, Kane County would lose its right to use water from Lake Powell and San Juan County would lose its right to use water from the San Juan River. Instead, the water, which is all part of Utah’s share of the Upper Colorado River Compact, would be used in Green River, according to John Weisheit of Living Rivers.

The Grand County Council was asked twice by council member Chris Baird to weigh in as an “interested party” so that it could comment on the proposed transfers of water. In May, the council voted 4-3 to not oppose the Kane County water transfer of 29,600 acre feet.

Council member Gene Ciarus led the opposition to Baird’s initiative to protest.

“I think if we’re going to act as a board for the environmental group, this council is strongly in the wrong position,” Ciarus said at the time. Water share owners have the right to sell their shares, he said, adding that it is not appropriate for the council to get involved with the economic interests of another county, Ciarus said.

In October, the council voted 4-3 to protest the transfer of 24,000 acre-feet of San Juan County Conservancy District water to the nuclear project.

“It’s nice to know the council is concerned about a nuclear power plant only 50 miles from Moab,” Weisheit said.

The payments to San Juan County for the water lease would start out at $80,000 per year as soon as the point of diversion is transferred from the San Juan to the Green River. Payments would jump to 10 times that when a power plant becomes operational, according to Norman Johnson, manager of the San Juan County Conservancy District, and San Juan County Clerk.

The water simply is not there, Weisheit said, expressing support for fish and wildlife concerns raised by USFWS and others, who have argued that the Green River should not be further depleted.

The Colorado River Compact allocated water to the upper basin states of Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona based on an assumption of annual average water flows that have proven to be more than what actually flows into the Colorado River, Weisheit said.

“According to studies by [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] and [the Center for Advanced Decision Support for Water and Environmental Systems] in Boulder, Colo., right now – today – there is only 400,000 acre-feet left for upper basin development without considering climate change reductions,” Weisheit said.

Pending applications for the “Million Pipeline” that would transfer 250,000 acre-feet of water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir on the Green River to Wyoming and the Front Range of Colorado, plus 180,000 acre-feet for the “St. George Pipeline” from Lake Powell to St. George, Utah, exceed the 400,000 acre-feet available to upper basin states under the best of circumstances, Weisheit said.

A new study sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, just now beginning, that takes climate change into account will reduce the amount of water available to upper basin states below the currently presumed 400,000 acre feet, Weisheit said.

Blue Castle officials did not return a phone call seeking comment for this story.

But Blue Castle representatives and proponents of the project have said in the past that the West will see significant benefits from the nuclear plant.

“Utah and the western region have significant need for new electricity resources. Utah is one of the primary areas that would benefit from new base load nuclear electrical generation,” according to information included on Blue Castle’s website. “Because Utah has the closest service area to the proposed plant, it would not require the cost of long distance transmission, and therefore, load service electric utilities would have a distinct lower cost advantage participating in the Blue Castle project.”