Day: October 24, 2010

2010 Colorado elections: The Fort Collins Coloradoan editorial board endorses Ken Buck over Michael Bennet

A picture named barrlake.jpg

From the Fort Collins Coloradoan:

While it is irrefutable that Buck, a Republican, has offered some bone-headed sound bites, e.g., high heels, alcoholism and homosexuality, etc., voters are encouraged to take a little more time to hear where he stands on health-care reform, reducing the deficit, higher-education loans, Social Security and growing the economy. Frankly put, Buck excels beyond appointed incumbent Michael Bennet in articulating a clear path toward solutions.

The race for U.S. Senate is too close to call according to a report from The Denver Post via the Boulder Daily Camera. From thea article:

Colorado`s U.S. Senate race has clenched into a dead heat days before polls close, as incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet climbed to meet GOP hopeful Ken Buck`s early lead, each man garnering 47 percent support among likely and actual voters, according to a Denver Post/9 News poll…

According to the poll, 53 percent of respondents supporting Buck are men and 53 percent of respondents supporting Bennet are women. That means about 40 percent of Buck`s supporters are women while 42 percent of Bennet`s supporters are men.

More 2010 Colorado elections coverage here.

Animas River watershed: Lightner Creek sediment is fouling the river

A picture named lightnercreekconfluenceanimasriver.jpg

Here’s a call to action from Buck Skillen writing in The Durango Herald. From the article:

Why is this sort of turbidity – what I choose to call the Lightner Creek problem – happening at this time of year? One possible cause of the current problem is a substantial rain event back on Sept. 13 that dumped upwards of an inch of water on Durango and the Perin’s Peak area.

The Perin’s Peak geology is predominately Mancos shale, which is easily eroded. This area drains into Lightner Creek predominantly through Perin’s Canyon, where there is a 4-foot-diameter culvert delivering the canyon’s flow into Lightner Creek.

The storm on Sept. 13 delivered a huge volume of sediment to the creek, damaging the culvert and depositing a substantial amount of sediment in the creek bed. Since that time, and especially after the more recent storms, we are seeing the slightest amount of current in Lightner Creek pick up the fine sediment and transport it to the Animas River.

Why should we care? The Animas River is the city of Durango’s crown jewel. It’s a playground for all of us, visitors and locals, both in the water and walking along the River Trail, and a source of revenue from recreation. A good portion of our drinking water comes from the intake structure downstream of Lightner Creek and just above Smelter Rapids, although I am told this is not a big concern for the water treatment plant.

More Animas River watershed coverage here.

2010 Colorado elections: John Hickenlooper leads gubernatorial race by a wide margin according to new Denver Post/9News poll

A picture named conejosriver.jpg

From The Denver Post via the Boulder Daily Camera:

With 49 percent of those surveyed backing him, Hickenlooper now has more support than Tancredo and Republican candidate Dan Maes combined. Tancredo, a former Republican congressman, continues to peel off GOP voters, garnering 39 percent, while Maes continues to slide, coming in at 9 percent. Only 1 percent of those polled said they were undecided.

“It`s hard to see how Tancredo changes this game. Even if Maes drops to 5 percent, it isn`t enough,” said Denver pollster Floyd Ciruli. “Hickenlooper has had the benefit of not having to deal with just one Republican opponent and has kept a low profile, eliminating the chances of making mistakes and starting controversies.”

More 2010 Colorado elections coverage here.

Colorado River: Two books, one message about the future of the river basin

A picture named glencanyonconst.jpg

Here’s a long background piece from Scott Condon writing for The Aspen Times. The article highlights the work of Peter McBride and Jonathan Waterman and their photographs and book that tell part of the story of the state of the Colorado River and its future. Click through, read the whole thing, and check out more of McBride’s photos. Here’s an excerpt:

While writing the book “Running Dry,” Carbondale author Jonathan Waterman mixed stories of his personal adventures paddling the Colorado River with a flood of facts that demonstrate how imperiled it is from over-allocation. Here are some of his eye-catching points.

• 30 million people depend on the Colorado River and its tributaries for their water. The population is projected to grow another 10 million in the next decade. The river’s supply will be hard-pressed to keep pace with that growth.

• The 1922 Colorado River Compact that divvied up use of the river’s water by seven western states was based on assumption that the river provides 17.5 million acre feet in the average year. Recent modeling shows it averages closer to 14.5 million acre feet.

• The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation calculates that the river could run short of water 58 to 73 percent of the time by the year 2050.

• Roughly one-fifth of the 1,450 miles of the river is “impounded” by dams. One of the grandest and most controversial dams, the Glen Canyon Dam, buried more than 2,000 Native American sites when it was commissioned starting in 1963.

• Las Vegas is known for gambling, but its casinos account for only 7 percent of the city’s water consumption. Residential uses account for half, and 70 percent of the water used by residences is for landscaping.

• One acre of Kentucky bluegrass requires 1,007,352 gallons of water per season.

• While most of the water tapped from the river goes to agriculture, industry’s needs loom large. There are 395 uranium claims along the river corridor and 800 pending new claims. If oil shale extraction takes off in western Colorado, the big oil companies with holdings have accumulated water rights that equal the current yearly allocation for the four states in the Upper Basin — Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming. In other words, oil shale production will trump and potentially suck down the remaining water.

• The Colorado River last reached the Sea of Cortez in 1998.

More Colorado River basin coverage here.