Front Range Res., LLC v. Colo. Ground Water Comm'n

JUSTICE HOOD delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶ 1 About a decade ago, Front Range Resources, LLC, a private company that owns or manages various water rights, applied for a replacement plan in the Lost Creek Designated Ground Water Basin. A replacement plan allows an applicant to withdraw designated ground water from an alluvial aquifer where no ground water is available for appropriation by replacing the withdrawn ground water with other sources of water. Under the plan, Front Range sought to divert water from its existing water rights (including some rights it had in the South Platte…