Eric Kuhn, Terry J. Stevinson Fellow
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.
The Colorado River District is the largest and oldest of Colorado’s four conservation districts. It covers most of the Colorado River Basin within Colorado. Almost two thirds of the flow at Lee Ferry originates in or flows through the district. 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.
In addition to Science Be Dammed, a book about Colorado River hydrology and politics, Eric has authored or coauthored numerous other articles and papers about the Colorado River.
About the Terry J. Stevinson Fellowship
This fellowship was established in honor of Terry J. Stevinson, a founding board member of Common Sense Institute (CSI). Thanks to Mr. Stevinson’s continuing dedication to free enterprise these fellowships have been named in his honor.
The Terry J. Stevinson Fellowship is designed to spur thoughtful policy discussions and potential solutions regarding the many policy and economic challenges brought about by population growth in Colorado. Through a multi-year effort, CSI will work with different fellows on an annual basis to dive into one particular area concerning growth including policy topics such as transportation, water, affordable housing, etc.