Aaron Million pushes his Green River pipe dream

Aaron Million is planning to pipe billions of gallons of river water from wild Wyoming to the suburban sprawl of Colorado, which makes him the man firing the first shot in the water wars expected from global climate change.

He does not see it that way. Million believes that he is an environmentalist with a vision for quenching the thirst of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, where developers have covered thousands of acres of dry plains from Denver to Colorado Springs with houses, shopping malls and mega-churches.

He thinks that he can do this without damage to the Green River basin in the mountains of Wyoming, a state defined as mostly desert. Inspiration struck as he studied maps while working for a master's degree in environmental economics at the University of Wyoming, and he spotted a bend in the Green River ideal for the start of a pipeline.

‘Whiskey is for drinking: water is for fighting over’

For a modest $3bn, Million wants to build a privately-owned, 10ft diameter pipeline running 560 miles east alongside Interstate 80 and on south to Denver and Colorado Springs. It would carry 80 billion gallons a year, which is more than Denver Water currently supplies to the whole area.

Million would become one of the richest men in America. So far, it is a classic tale of enterprise in the Wild West. But there is a snag. "Whiskey," said Mark Twain as the wagon trains rolled over the Great Plains long ago, "is for drinking: water is for fighting over."

Which is why Million is a very elusive man. "I'll give you no personal details about myself," he said when I finally tracked him down. "Nope. I won't tell you how old I am, where I'm living. I have family and business interests to protect.

"Do I feel endangered? It's at the back of my mind. Water is always about power in the Western United States, and the people who own it have done what they've done. The opposition to my plan is primarily from the people who control the water now.

"But it's nothing I can't handle. I was raised on a cattle ranch. I can handle myself."

Rumours of his plan have been blowing over the plains like tumbleweed for years, and became a local news story in 2007 when he got the rights to the Green River water. He is doing nothing illegal.

The whole of the West is irrigated by rivers draining the annual Rocky Mountain snow melt, and water use is governed by