On February 9, 2000, Judge Richard Matsch, United Stated district Judge, signed a consent judgment based on a settlement agreement between the City of Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak Sierra Club Group. This finalizes the settlement that we reached with the City last spring and results in dismissal of our Clean Water Act suit against the City on mutually agreeable terms. Under the terms of the settlement, the City will implement the measures contained in the Drexel Barrell Erosion and Sedimentation Control Plan by the Year 2010, and has also agreed to furnish the sum of $300,000 to help remediate damages caused by the Pikes Peak Highway o wetlands and streams impacted by the Highway. During the past several months, the City has been preparing a final design plan to carry out the erosion and sedimentation control work. The Sierra Club is in the process of reviewing the plan, as various aspects of it become available. Our Clean Water Act suit is continuing against the Forest Service in the hope of obtaining a commitment from it to remediate environmental damage caused by the Highway, which is owned by the Forest Service and operated by the City under a Forest Service permit.

Our success would not have been possible without the efforts of Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, its attorneys Mike Freeman, Robert Wiygul, and Ann Lininger, and attorneys Bill Meyers and Daren Milner. Most critical to our success has been the support of numerous Group members, who donated the money and gave generously of their time to make this victory possible. Greatest thanks to all are due to Gail Snyder, whose tireless advocacy of this issue, not only on behalf of the Sierra Club, but also as founder of Friends of the Peak and as a member of the Pikes Peak Highway Advisory Commission, kept the Pikes Peak problem before the public, laid the foundation for our success, and carried it through to the point of victory.