BIG PINEY - A Wyoming Water Development Commission member harshly criticized its director over a study of possible routes to pipe water out of the Green River Basin into the North Platte River drainage.

Dan Budd of Big Piney said the proposal has never been discussed before the current Water Development Commission, and its sole promoter has been Director Mike Besson.

"It has become apparent, to me at least, that he may not be thinking about the people of Wyoming," Budd said, adding that Besson is serving on a group working on endangered species issues for the North Platte, of which Nebraska is the center stage.

"He keeps pursuing this, and it's never gone before the commission," Budd said. "I am sick of it."

The study been ongoing for several years inside the Water Development Commission office. Some of the preliminary conclusions of the transbasin diversion study were released recently at a Laramie-area Rotary Club meeting.

Besson said his staff has studied the issue in-house for several years, at his direction. Besson said that although he doesn't think the diversion is likely at this time, with Platte River shortages, "they want to keep it on the radar - that's where the interest is."

Besson said he gave the Rotary presentation last week at the request of a state legislator.

"I'm not a proponent for this," Besson said. "I'm just trying to frame the issue."

Budd said if the director of the department is going to bring the commission in on the tail end of a project, "then there's no use to having the commission."

Besson said the study is a Wyoming Water Development office project, not a commission project, although "It was given tactic approval in 2002." Besson added that there are only two or three commissioners still serving who were on the commission at that time.

The water development staff has been working on the transbasin diversion study since 2002, Besson said. A February 2003 memo from Besson to Gov. Dave Freudenthal noted that water development engineers were analyzing several transbasin diversion alternatives to bring 30,000 to 50,000 acre feet of Green River water to the North Platte Basin. Alternatives included diverting water from the Little Sandy River and possibly from the East Fork of the New Fork River by gravity to the Sweetwater River. Other options included pumping water from Fontenelle Reservoir to the Sweetwater River and from the Green River below the city of Green River to the North Platte Basin near Rawlins.

Last spring, Freudenthal publicly expressed his disapproval of the transbasin diversion concept, but Besson said Freudenthal told him to go ahead and complete the study anyway.

"He's opposed to the concept," Besson said. "He told me to complete it and give him the information."

"He's my boss," Besson said. "That's part of my job."

Besson said there isn't enough water in the upper reaches of the basin to provide for a gravity-fed diversion, so any diversion would have to come lower in the drainage, from either Fontenelle or Flaming Gorge reservoirs. Preliminary costs for such a pumping/pipeline project range from $282 million to $752 million, he said.

Besson has said in the past that southwestern Wyoming residents shouldn't be mad at him for his transbasin diversion study, but should direct that toward Utah, which has examined piping its share of Colorado River Compact water out of Wyoming and into that state.

Utah Water Resources officials conducted an internal study of a Green River pipeline proposal in 2002. That study looked at moving water through a pipeline out of either Fontenelle or Flaming Gorge, to the Wasatch Front. Utah officials determined that a pipeline from Flaming Gorge appeared to be the more feasible option, for a number of reasons, including political concerns.

Besson said the "real purpose" of his agency's internal study was "to show them to stay the heck out of Wyoming because we need this water."

Besson said a transbasin diversion down low in the drainage, such as below the city of Green River, wouldn't compete with any Wyoming water users and would allow the state to use more of its water, rather than simply letting the water leave the state. Besson admitted that lower in the drainage would mean higher pumping costs, for a total cost that would be "exorbitantly expensive."

"I think it shows that the governor's right," Besson said, adding he doubts that a sponsor would come forth for such a project "on my watch."

Besson said he would never do anything that would hurt the people of western Wyoming.

"This is just about getting the information," Besson said, adding that simply knowing the costs of such an undertaking has some utility as well.