Day: October 28, 2010

2010 Colorado elections: Scientist Scott Denning tells Ken Buck, ‘Quite simply, there is no hoax in studying climate change’

A picture named spainsunflower.jpg

From the Colorado Independent (John Tomasic):

“The basic science of the effect of human-produced CO2 on climate change is 150 years old,” said Colorado State University climatologist Scott Denning at the conference called by the League of Conservation Voters. ThinkProgress writer Brad Johnson followed up with Dennis Ojima, chair of Colorado State’s Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, who offered the rhetorical equivalent of burying his face in his hands, aghast.

“Quite simply, there is no hoax in studying climate change.”

More 2010 Colorado elections coverage here.

Green Mountain Reservoir operations update

A picture named greenmountainreservoir.jpg

From email from Reclamation (Kara Lamb):

This week, we have begun to cut back our releases from Green Mountain Dam to the Lower Blue River. Earlier this week, we began scaling down from the 730 cfs range. This morning, we cut back another 100 cfs from 500 to 400 cfs.

Energy policy — nuclear: Powertech is forging ahead with their in-situ project in Weld County

A picture named uraniuminsitu.jpg

From the North Forty News (Dan MacArthur):

Powertech president and chief executive officer Richard Clement recanted his earlier statement that the new rules would be “fatal” to in-situ leach uranium mining operations such as its proposed Centennial Project between Wellington and Nunn. “We can live with them,” Clement said in a recent telephone interview. “They are not fatal to the project.”[…]

Clement maintained that permitting work on the proposed Centennial mine is proceeding toward an anticipated application for a mining permit in 2011…

Clement said most of the pre-application work is completed and data is being collated. “We have the majority of information needed,” he said. A required pump test remains to be completed, Clement said. The test is necessary to determine whether Powertech’s recently proposed “aquifer enhancement” is viable. The plan calls for injecting fresh water into the aquifer beneath the mine site to facilitate extraction of the uranium ore. Clement blamed the delay on the Environmental Protection Agency, which must approve the test…

Based on an independent primary economic assessment to determine the project’s viability, Clement in an Aug. 20 press release asserted that “the project is one of the best undeveloped uranium deposits in the (United States).” “Centennial is the centerpiece of a new (in-situ recovery) uranium district and has all the earmarks of becoming a new large production center around which many other uranium deposits will be developed,” he continued.

More nuclear coverage here and here.

2010 Colorado elections: Gubernatorial candidates sound off on environmental issues

A picture named doloresrivercanyon.jpg

From The Denver Post (Bruce Finley):

Water

Water presents a major challenge, Tancredo and Hickenlooper agreed. But they clash on how to meet future needs.

Hickenlooper cited Denver’s 19 percent reduction of per-capita water use since 2001. Urban providers can cooperate with farmers, perhaps paying them not to plant fields every fifth year so that cities could claim unused water, he said. “Until we really look at where water conservation takes us, we need to be careful about getting too excited about new projects,” Hickenlooper said. “I’m not saying we don’t need some more storage, but it might not be as much storage as people think.”

Tancredo contends new supplies are needed statewide. “We must expand our existing storage capacity, look for opportunities to construct new storage capacity and improve our conservation efforts,” he said. State leaders must review proposed projects, consulting with stakeholders and affected communities, Tancredo said. Enlarging Pueblo Reservoir and the Northern Integrated Supply Project are projects he supports.

Meanwhile the Colorado Conservation Victory Fund is still running radio spots blasting Tom Tancredo for his support of Referendum A in 2003. Here’s a report from David O. Williams writing for the Colorado Independent. From the article:

Colorado Conservation Victory Fund first launched the Dr. Seuss-inspired radio spots last week, with its rhyming slam of Tancredo running on 34 stations in 18 counties an average of 5-6 times a day. Now, according to Colorado Conservation Voters Executive Director Pete Maysmith, the spots are back by popular demand and will run through Tuesday’s election. And, actually, Maysmith said he was more inspired by Ed Quillen’s Sept. 30 column in the Denver Post entitled “The Curse of Ref. A.” Quillen’s column detailed the political misfortunes of Republicans who backed the measure, including GOP Senate candidate Ken Buck, who is the subject of a League of Conservation TV ad (video below) on his backing of Referendum A. The poetic tone of the CCV radio spots was just an attempt to counter the doom-and-gloom cacophony of the current election advertising cycle.

More 2010 Colorado elections coverage here.

R.I.P. John Sayre

A picture named johnsayredavisgrahamstubbs.jpg

From The Denver Post (Virginia Culver):

John Sayre, considered a national expert in water law, died Oct. 19. He was 88. He died of natural causes at his home in Bend, Ore., where he and his wife, Jean Sayre, had moved a few years ago. “He was definitely an expert and one of the leading attorneys of his time in Colorado water law,” said Colorado Supreme Court Justice Greg Hobbs.

Arkansas Valley Super Ditch update

A picture named arkbasinditchsystem.jpg

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

“We appreciate the willingness of Aurora and the Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority to take the long view for the benefit of their communities and ours,” Super Ditch President John Schweizer said. “We knew that if we could find a way to meet the city’s needs that also allowed farmers to keep on farming, we would have a good answer for both sides.”

The Pikes Peak group includes Fountain, Cherokee, Donala, Monument, Palmer Lake, Triview and Woodmen Hills water districts in El Paso County. The price of water in the two contracts is identical — $500 per acre-foot escalating according to a utilities price index over 40 years — but the conditions under which water would be purchased vary significantly.

The Pikes Peak group agreed to purchase up to 8,020 acre-feet annually — enough for about 20,000 homes in El Paso County — beginning at 2,000 acre-feet next year. The water would replace overworked groundwater supplies for most of the communities, and would be required annually. Right now, the only way to move the water is by exchange, but the Pikes Peak group is working toward using the Southern Delivery System that Colorado Springs is planning to construct. An environmental impact statement from the Bureau of Reclamation would be required to move water through the pipeline from Pueblo Dam…

Aurora already has the storage and exchange potential to move water, through the Homestake Project with Colorado Springs. Water stored at Twin Lakes is moved through the Otero Pumping Station, and Aurora’s share is delivered to Spinney Mountain Reservoir along the South Platte River…

The biggest hurdle could be the approval of ditch companies. Meetings are planned in early November to inform shareholders of all seven ditches of the details of the agreements. The Super Ditch is a private corporation of individual shareholders from the Bessemer, Catlin, Fort Lyon, High Line, Holbrook, Otero and Oxford ditches. Each ditch would have to look at changing bylaws to allow participation in the leases.

More Arkansas Valley Super Ditch coverage here and here.