FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 1, 2022
Contact: Cinamon Watson
303-949-7264
Denver, CO – “We are pleased to announce Jennifer Gimbel and Eric Kuhn as our 2022 Terry J. Stevinson fellows,” said Common Sense Institute (CSI) President & CEO Kristin Strohm.
Established in honor of Terry J. Stevinson, a founding board member of CSI, this fellowship is dedicated to examining a critical issue confronting Colorado and presenting achievable solutions.
“The focus of the 2022 fellowship is an issue that significantly impacts the life of every Coloradan– water,” said Strohm. “Among many concerns related to growth in our state, this vital natural resource should be at the top of everyone’s mind. In addition, 2022 marks the 100th birthday of the Colorado River Compact and Colorado along with other western states will renegotiate this historic agreement.”
Jennifer Gimbel is Interim Director and a Senior Water Policy Scholar at the Colorado Water Center. Jennifer has experience in law and policy on national, interstate and state water issues. She was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water & Science at the Department of the Interior, overseeing the U.S. Geological Survey and Bureau of Reclamation. She also was Deputy Commissioner for the Bureau of Reclamation and Counselor to the Assistant Secretary. Jennifer was the Director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the water policy agency for Colorado. As a water lawyer, she worked for the Attorney General’s Offices in Wyoming and Colorado. She has over 35 years of experience on water issues.
Eric Kuhn is the retired General Manager of the Colorado River Water Conservation District and co-author with John Fleck of Science Be Dammed: How Ignoring Inconvenient Science Drained the Colorado River, University of Arizona Press, 2019.
Eric started employment with the Colorado River District in 1981 as Assistant Secretary-Engineer. In 1996 he was appointed General Manager, a position he held until his retirement in 2018.
From 1994 through 2001, he served on the Colorado Water Conservation Board representing the Colorado River mainstem. Eric served as an at-large representative on the Colorado Inter-basin Compact Committee, from 2005 – 2018. He also served on the Engineering Advisory Committee of the Upper Colorado River Compact Commission from 1982 -2019. Prior to working for the Colorado River District, he served as an engineer officer aboard nuclear submarines in the U.S. Navy and worked as a nuclear start-up engineer for Bechtel Power Corp.
“Jennifer and Eric are two of the foremost experts on Colorado water and they each bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to this project,” continued Strohm. “In addition to our two fellows, we have assembled an impressive group of advisors who represent geographic diversity, agricultural, environmental and recreational interests to contribute to the study findings.”
According to Strohm, the study will be released later this year.
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Common Sense Institute is a non-partisan research organization dedicated to the protection and promotion of Colorado’s economy. CSI is at the forefront of important discussions concerning the future of free enterprise in Colorado and aims to have an impact on the issues that matter most to Coloradans. CSI’s mission is to examine the fiscal impacts of policies, initiatives, and proposed laws so that Coloradans are educated and informed on issues impacting their lives.
Learn more about the Terry J. Stevinson Fellowship here.