Today, the Colorado Court of Appeals judges rejected an appeal filed from Rags Over Arkansas River (ROAR), which opposes artist Christo’s two-week installation consisting of six miles worth of draped, shimmering fabric over the Arkansas River.
According to the Associated Press, ROAR, a local opposition group, filed the appeal in late January, arguing that the Colorado State Parks' approval to construct the project should be disregarded because the agency did not follow its special permit regulations. In the ruling, the court concluded that the agency did not follow the necessary procedures, but allowed the approval to stand because the agency could back up their decision with enough evidence. This is the second time this challenge against the Colorado State Parks' approval has been dismissed—it was originally rejected in Sep. 2013.
Back in January, the project got a key win in court when the federal court upheld the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to approve the project, ruling it did not violate any environmental laws. The opponents are now appealing that decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals.
"This ruling, together with the early January federal court decision upholding the Bureau of Land Management's approval of Over The River, puts us much closer to realizing the vision that Jeanne-Claude and I first had more than two decades ago," Christo said in a press release published by "Over the River."
