One of Pagosa Springs’ oldest parks, Town Park straddles the San Juan River in the heart of downtown Pagosa Springs. The site of many events, Town Park is by far one of the most popular parks in Pagosa Springs. Photo credit: Town of Pagosa Springs
Ons Thursday, May 2, 2024 sixth- graders in Terri Lindstromโs Pirate Time advisory class rolled a cooler down to Town Park, then carried it to the edge of the river. There, the students used river water to acclimate the temperature of the water in the cooler โ the transport for 75 rainbow trout fin- gerlings who were being taken to be released in the San Juan River.
As they waited for the fish to acclimate, the students read messages they wrote after spending the school year helping and watching the fish grow.
Lindstromโs class raised and released the fingerlings through a partnership with the Trout in the Classroom program and Trout Unlimited…
โThe purpose of the program is to give students the opportunity to ex- plore water quality,โ Lindstrom wrote, explaining the students kept track of the water temperature, count and weight of the fish.
Four to five fish were pulled from the tank each week and weighed be- fore being returned, she notes. That allowed students to calculate the average weight per fish, which then allowed them to calculate 2 percent body weight of all the fish in order to know how much to feed them.
An anti-BLM sticker (referring, presumably, to the federal land agency, not the Black Lives Matter movement) at another Phil Lyman rally against โfederal overreachโ and motorized travel closures in southeastern Utah back in 2014. Photo credit: Jonathan P. Thompson/The Land Desk
INANE ACT: Utah State Rep. and gubernatorial candidate Phil Lyman and Lynn Jackson, a candidate for Lymanโs seat in the legislature, turn a protest of the proposed closure of Arch Canyon to motorized vehicles and ban on target shooting within Bearโs Ears National Monument into a grievance and victimhood campaign rally and a lot of whining about โfederal overreach.โ
CONTEXT: Bears Ears National Monument is rightly named after the two Wingate-sandstone capped buttes that rise up from the middle of the 1.3-million-acre swath of public land in southeastern Utah. Yet if I were to pick a heart of the monument, Iโd be more likely to lean toward Arch Canyon, which starts on Elk Ridge near the buttes and slices a deep, 12-mile-long gorge through Cedar Mesa before joining up with Comb Wash under a grove of tall cottonwoods. My family and I used to camp under those trees when I was a kid, and weโd hike up the canyon, following the perennial stream that was alive with flannelmouth suckers, tadpoles, and water striders, gazing up at cliff dwellings nestled in tiny alcoves high up on the sheer, desert varnish-streaked cliffs.
Back then cattle were allowed to graze in the canyon, trampling the stream banks and taking refuge in โ and pooping on โ an Ancestral Puebloan site near the canyonโs mouth. Thankfully, a hard fought legal battle eventually got the cattle removed from Arch Canyon and a few other nearby canyons. But there is also a road up the canyon bottom, and on those long-ago hikes weโd occasionally encounter a jeep or Land Cruiser. The road remains,ย allowing OHVs to roar eight miles up the canyon, crossing the creek multiple times in the process.ย
The draft Bears Ears National Monument management plan proposes closing Arch Canyon to motorized vehicles to protect the riparian corridor and the natural and cultural sites there, and because it just makes sense to do so. Itโs the only significant motorized closure under the planโs preferred alternative, meaning about 800,000 acres would remain open to motorized travel on designated routes. The plan would also ban target shooting throughout the monument. There would be almost no changes to the existing grazing regime.
Basically, land managers and the Bears Ears Commission are looking to close an eight-mile dead-end road to protect a spectacular canyon, one of the areaโs only perennial streams, and imperiled native fish, while leaving hundreds of miles of other roads and trails open to OHVs. And they want to nix recreational shooting to prevent people from shooting up landforms and petroglyphs โ hunting will still be allowed.
Not only is this Trump-esque rhetoric dangerous, but itโs also inaccurate. It willfully ignores the fact that the proposed management plan is itself a deep compromise, leaving out many of the protections Indigenous and environmental advocates want. In fact, the preferred alternative is remarkablyย unrestrictive and, some would say, miserably fails in its mission to protect this special landscape.ย
But admitting that land managers are far from overlords, and instead are bending over backwards to appease even the uncompromising likes of Lyman and Jackson, wouldnโt fit with Lymanโs preferred narrative of grievance and victimhood. Nor would it rile up his similarly minded base. And in the end this new breed of Republicans is far more interested in riling than in governing; in inciting anger and obstruction rather than in seeking solutions.ย
Could global heating actually increase precipitation in the Colorado River Basin? Perhaps, according to a new study out of the University of Colorado, and a forecasted uptick in snow and rain should partially offset the effects of warming temperatures on river flows. The researchers say thatโs because โprecipitation has, and will likely continue to be, the main driver of the river flow at Lee Ferry.โ
“We find it is more likely than not that Lee Ferry flows will be greater during 2026-2050 than since 2000 as a consequence of a more favorable precipitation cycle,” said Martin Hoerling, the paper’s lead author, in a press release. “This will compensate the negative effects of more warming in the near term.”
The 1896โ2022 departure time series of water-year Lee Ferry flow (top, maf), and Upper Colorado River Basin averaged temperature (middle, ยฐC) and precipitation (bottom, mm). Departures are relative to the entire period mean (values indicated in the upper left).
This relatively rosy finding is based on a suite of climate models, including ones from the International Panel on Climate Change, that forecast a 70% chance of increased precipitation in the Upper Colorado Basin in coming decades. But water managers probably shouldnโt abandon efforts to cut consumption on the River just yet: 70% isnโt exactly a sure thing; the researchers acknowledge that thereโs also a chance that precipitation could stay as miserably low as it has been for the past two decades, or even decline.
And Brad Udall, a CU climate scientist who was not involved in the study, toldย KUNCโs Alex Hagerย that he has a bit of โuneaseโ regarding the projections, adding that modeling future precipitation is filled with uncertainty. Temperature modeling, meanwhile, uses different methods and is therefore more reliable: Itโs going to keep getting warmer.ย
Time series of 1920โ2050 Upper Colorado River Basin precipitation departures (%, top) and surface temperature departures (ยฐC, bottom). Shown in the lighter curves are the individual member simulations of the 38 CMIP6 model simulations, and the 220 members from the 5 different large ensemble simulations. Departures are relative to a 2000โ2020 reference. Observed departures for 1920โ2020 are shown in dotted black curve. All curves smoothed with a 9-point running-mean.
And those higher temperatures can erase some of the gains from higher precipitation levels, as this winter and spring demonstrated. Even though there was a normal amount of snowfall in many places, this springโs runoff is expected to be below normal thanks to aย rapid snowmelt.ย
SAN JUAN RIVER The San Juan River at the hwy 64 bridge in Shiprock, NM. June 18, 2021. ยฉ Jason Houston
From email from Reclamation (Susan Novak Behery):
As the forecast weather warms up again and tributary flows are forecast to increase, the Bureau of Reclamation has scheduled a decrease in the release from Navajo Dam from 500 cubic feet per second (cfs) back down to 350 cfs for Monday, May 13th, at 4:00 AM.
Releases are made for the authorized purposes of the Navajo Unit, and to attempt to maintain a target base flow through the endangered fish critical habitat reach of the San Juan River (Farmington to Lake Powell). The San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program recommends a target base flow of between 500 cfs and 1,000 cfs through the critical habitat area. The target base flow is calculated as the weekly average of gaged flows throughout the critical habitat area from Farmington to Lake Powell.
The region experienced generally below normal precipitation and above normal temperatures in April. May 1st snow-water equivalent (SWE) was near-normal in Colorado (92%) and Utah (103%) and slightly below normal in Wyoming (88%). Seasonal streamflow volume forecasts are mostly below to near-normal in the region with above normal forecasts in northern Utah. Regional drought conditions improved and cover 10% of the region. El Niรฑo conditions are transitioning to neutral-ENSO conditions and there is an 83% chance of neutral-ENSO conditions for May-July. The NOAA seasonal temperature outlook for May-July suggests an increased probability of above normal temperatures for the majority of the region.
April precipitation was generally below normal across the region with large swathes of above normal precipitation in northern Utah around the Great Salt Lake, north and south-central Wyoming, and from the Front Range to northeastern Colorado. Areas of less than 25% of normal precipitation occurred in southeastern Utah and southeastern Colorado with small pockets of less than 2% of normal precipitation in Emery and Wayne Counties in Utah as well as the northern Lake Powell region, and Baca and Prowers Counties in Colorado. Small pockets of more than 150% of normal precipitation occurred west of the Great Salt Lake and in Wayne County in Utah, east of the Denver Metro in Adams and Elbert Counties in Colorado, and in Sweetwater County in Wyoming. A large area of more than 150% of normal precipitation occurred in northeastern Colorado. Large areas of much-above (top 10%) and small areas of much-below (bottom 10%) normal precipitation for the month of April were observed in Colorado.
Regional temperatures were slightly above (0 – 2ยฐF) to above (2 – 4ยฐF) normal in April. Small pockets of slightly below (-2 – 0ยฐF) normal temperatures occurred mostly in central Utah and southern Colorado. Small pockets of above (4 – 6ยฐF) normal temperatures occurred in Laramie and Sheridan Counties in Wyoming, with a pocket of 6 – 8ยฐF above normal temperatures in Sheridan County. Small areas of much-above (top 10%) normal temperatures for the month of April were observed in Colorado.
Regional snowpack ranged from much-below (<50%) normal conditions in northeastern Wyoming to above (110-129%) normal conditions in northern and southern Utah. Below normal conditions occurred in northern and western Wyoming and southern Colorado. Near-normal conditions occurred throughout most of Utah, southeastern Wyoming, and northern Colorado. As of May 1st, statewide percent median snow-water equivalent (SWE) was 92% in Colorado, 103% in Utah, and 88% in Wyoming. The Escalante Basin in Utah had the highest percent median SWE at 222% by end of day on April 30. The basins with the lowest percent median SWE were the Belle Fourche and Cheyenne Basins at 0% since they melted out. Peak SWE was observed on April 9 for Colorado (16.7 in), April 2 for Utah (18.8 in), and April 11 for Wyoming (16.2 in).
Regional April-July streamflow volume forecasts are mostly below (70-89%) normal to near-normal, with forecasts of 50-69% of normal streamflow in northeastern Wyoming including the Powder and Cheyenne Basins, according to the NRCS, and at many sites in southwestern Colorado including the San Juan, Gunnison, and Upper Colorado-Dolores Basins, according to the CBRFC. There are above (110-129%) normal streamflow forecasts for the basins surrounding the Great Salt Lake, with CBRFC sites forecasting 130-150% of normal streamflow in the Lower Bear, Weber, and Jordan Basins, as well as one site in the Lower Green Basin with a forecast of 150-200% of normal streamflow. The forecast for the inflow to Lake Powell is 80% of average, which is down 9% from the April 1st forecast.
Regional drought conditions improved in April and now cover 10% of the region, a 2% decrease in drought coverage since the end of March. Severe (D2) drought improved in northeastern Wyoming and moderate (D1) drought improved in south-central Colorado, while D1 drought developed in southeastern Colorado.
As of mid-April, El Niรฑo conditions are transitioning to neutral-ENSO (El Niรฑo Southern Oscillation) conditions in the Pacific Ocean. There is an 83% chance of neutral-ENSO conditions by May and a 49% chance of La Niรฑa conditions developing by July. The NOAA precipitation and temperature outlooks for May suggest an increased probability of below (33-40%) normal precipitation for southern Colorado and above (33-40%) normal temperatures for southeastern Colorado. The NOAA seasonal precipitation and temperature outlooks for May-July suggest an increased probability of below normal precipitation for southeastern Utah and a majority of western and southern Colorado, and above normal temperatures for almost the entirety of the region with 40-50% above normal conditions for all of Utah, western and southern Wyoming, and western, central, and southern Colorado.
Significant April weather event: Northern Colorado windstorm. An exceptionally strong storm moved through northern Colorado from April 6-7. During this period, strong and destructive winds affected the mountains, foothills, and northeastern plains. Wind speeds in the Front Range mountains and near the foothills peaked between 70 to 95 mph, with the highest recorded gust reaching 97 mph at the NCAR Mesa Lab in Boulder and a close second of 96 mph in Coal Creek Canyon in Jefferson County. Across the northeastern plains, the most intense winds occurred along and north of a line extending from Denver to Fort Morgan to Akron, with wind gusts of 60 to 80 mph. Numerous instances of downed trees, power poles, and minor damage were reported in areas with the strongest winds. Xcel Energy said over 155,000 customers experienced power outages at the height of the storm from a combination of proactive public safety shutoffs and power outages caused by damage from the high winds, with most of these occurring in and around the Denver Metro.
Here are the locations that saw the highest wind gusts from April 6-7, according to NWS:
Official photograph of [former] United States Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz. By Department of Energy – Office of the Secretary of the Department of Energy, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26224045
With a pair of fossil-fuel friendly senators at his side, former U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Tuesday released a favorable report on U.S. natural gas and liquified natural gas (LNG), funded by the natural gas industry.
The report, โThe Future of Natural Gas in a Low-Carbon World,โ was written by the EFI Foundation, a nonprofit Moniz founded, and released at the U.S. Capitol. The report examined the role of natural gas in advancing energy security, energy equity and environmental sustainability in the United States, Europe and Asia.
The EFI report comes at a pivotal moment for the U.S natural gas and LNG export industry. The Biden Administration paused the approval of new LNG export capacity in January while the Energy Department considers the climate and financial impacts to U.S. gas consumers of additional LNG exports. The document seeks to broaden the discussion on U.S. LNG exports.
โThe study, as youโll be hearing, examines the role of natural gas in addressing what is sometimes referred to as the โenergy trilemmaโ: energy security, energy equity and environmental sustainability,โ said Moniz,ย president of the EFI Foundation and chair of the advisory committee that oversaw the report. โUnfortunately, too often, the discussion around those three priorities tends to devolve into stovepipes, as opposed to recognizing that progress on all of them requires treating it as one conversation.โ
One of the reportโs specific recommendations was to include an โenergy security determinationโ in evaluating future permits for additional U.S. LNG export capacity.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), the largest recipient of oil and gas money in Congress, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), representing a state that derives a significant share of its revenue from oil and gas, joined Moniz as โkeynoteโ speakers at the event.
Murkowski spoke of the need for an โall of the aboveโ energy policy, which was the U.S. energy policy during the Obama administration when Moniz was Secretary of Energy.
Manchin called for lifting the pause on approvals for new LNG export capacity.
The report referred repeatedly to the โessentialโ role of natural gas.
The same day as the reportโs release, Democrats in Congress released a report of their own, the culmination of a three-year investigation, concluding the oil and gas industry has misled Americans for decades about climate change.
โThe fossil fuel industry engaged in an elaborate campaign of deception and doublespeak โฆ as well as disinformation about the climate safety of natural gas and its role as a bridge fuel to a fossil-free future,โ the Democratsโ report concluded.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who released the report as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said the oil and gas industry seeks academic partnerships to legitimize its reports.ย
โDocuments explicitly discuss leveraging โthird party endorsementsโ and partnerships with academic institutions to bolster Big Oilโs disinformation campaign,โ Whitehouse said in a written statement to Inside Climate News.
Referring explicitly to the new Moniz report on natural gas, Whitehouse said โthis report is yet another example of the industry deceiving the public about the compatibility of continuedโor even expandedโproduction of natural gas with the scientific emission reduction targets we must achieve in order to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and avoid the very worst effects of climate change.โ
A spokeswoman for Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability added that industryโs disinformation campaign โcontinues to this day, including, as [Monizโs] recent report shows, their portrayal of natural gas as a green and climate friendly fuel even though they have failed to address methane emissions associated with natural gas. We know that Big Oil is intent on entrenching natural gas into both the U.S. and global energy economies for the foreseeable future by any means necessary.โ
Some climate researchers echoed her conclusion that the new report may be a continuation of industry-funded misinformation.
โMy concern is that Moniz isโand perhaps has been since his time in the administrationโan advocate for polluters over people and the planet,โ said Michael Mann, an earth and environmental science professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media.ย
โIt strains credulity to believe this is a coincidence,โ Mann said of the reportโs favorable view of natural gas, given its gas-industry funding. โUnfortunately, the old adage โfollow the moneyโ seems quite relevant here.โ
In addition to his role at EFI, Moniz is an emeritus professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a โspecial advisorโ to MIT president Sally Kornbluth.
The EFI Foundation declined to respond publicly to criticisms of the report, and MIT did not respond to a request for comment.
The United States is the worldโs largest exporter of LNG. Additional projects already approved by the Energy Department and not subject to the ongoing pause would triple existing U.S. export capacity.
The pause followed the pre-release of a study that is still undergoing peer review by Robert Howarth, a professor at Cornell University.ย Howarthโs studyย concluded the climate impact of LNG fuel is worse than burning coal.
Natural gas flares near a community in Colorado. Colorado health officials and some legislators agree that better monitoring is necessary. Photo credit the Environmental Defense Fund.
When burned, natural gas emits roughly half as much carbon dioxide as coal. However, methane, the primary component of natural gas, is a highly potent greenhouse gas, more than 80 times more effective at warming the planet than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. If even a small amount of methane is leaked, vented, or otherwise emitted into the atmosphere before the gas is burnedโas it commonly isโthe climate impact of natural gas can be worse than that of other fossil fuels.
Whitehouse challenged the energy security claims in the Moniz report.
โThere is no energy security for American families and businesses when the price of energy is determined by geopolitical events outside our control and by an industry that frequently engages in cartel-pricing,โ he said. โTrue energy security will be achieved when we fully transition to renewable energy sources, the โfuelsโ for whichโwind, sunlight, flowing water, the earthโs heatโare free and not controlled by any one country or cartel.โ
Nonetheless, the European Commissionโs executive vice president for the European Green Deal, Maroลก ล efฤoviฤ, whose responsibilities include leading the European Commissionโs work on becoming climate-neutral by 2050, praised the Moniz report in a video address shown at the release event.
โNatural gas has a role to play as a transitional fuel, something reflected in the COP28 conclusions,โ ล efฤoviฤ said, referring to the 2023 U.N. climate conference in Dubai. โIt will help ensure our energy security and energy equity as our economies decarbonize.โ
โSo with Europe, having taken decisive action to reach net zero by 2050 including by accelerating the clean energy transition, we also recognize the importance of natural gas, notably in the medium term, and LNG in particular will continue to represent a significant source of gas for the EU,โ ล efฤoviฤ added.ย
Funders or โsponsorsโ of the report, which was not peer-reviewed, included Chesapeake Energy, one of the largest independent gas producers in the U.S, and U.S. LNG export companies Venture Global LNG and Tellurian. The American Petroleum Institute and three other gas industry organizations or industry PR groups also provided funding.
Additional money came from the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, named after the late George P. Mitchell, who is often referred to as the โfather of frackingโ for his role in developing the drilling technology known as hydraulic fracturing. The Institute of Energy Economics, a think tank in Japan, the worldโs largest importer of LNG, also provided support.
The report states that the โEFI Foundation maintains editorial independence from its public and private sponsors.โ However, more than half of the reportโs โadvisory committeeโ was comprised of individuals representing the reportโs funders.
โEFIโs report reinforces more than a decadeโs worth of independent and government-led research that has consistently shown the long-term role of natural gas in the global energy mix and its ability to accelerate global climate progress while strengthening global energy security,โ API spokesperson Scott Lauermann said.
Joseph Romm, a researcher also at the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media, said the reportโs โenergy trilemmaโ framing that looks at energy security, equity and environmental sustainability downplays the importance of climate change.
โClimate is the overriding issue,โ Romm said. โNot that the others arenโt important, but if you donโt do climate, the others donโt matter.โ
Six years later, there is even less room for new fossil fuel developments, Romm said.
The EFI report states that carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is an effective option for reducing CO2 emissions across the natural gas supply chain, even though to date such technology has never been successfully deployed at a commercial level. As the report notes, โthere is no natural gas-fired power plant with CCUS in operation worldwide as of July 2023.โ
The Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law have provided tax incentives and billions of dollars for large-scale carbon sequestration projects.
โYou shouldnโt go around telling people that, โOh, youโre going to solve whatever your natural gas problem is with carbon capture, utilization and storageโ when there isnโt a single one in operation,โ Romm said. โOne has to distinguish between reality and wishful thinking.โ [ed. emphasis mine]
The Moniz report also says that LNG shippers have started to offer their customers โcarbon-neutral LNG cargo,โ in which emissions from LNG production are offset through the purchasing of carbon credits.
Carbon offsets have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years as offset projects have failed to live up to their emission reduction claims. Even if the projects offset the emissions of LNG production, there would still be significant emissions when the fuel is burned.
The report acknowledges the climate impact of methane emissions associated with natural gas and says โmethane emissions reductions are also critical.โ The report also notes that โthe carbon footprint of natural gas, while lower than some alternatives, must be dramatically reduced furtherโ and โovercoming these challenges will ultimately determine whether natural gas is indeed a transitional fuel or an integral part of the long-term global energy mix.โ
In releasing the report, Moniz said the gas industry โcan do a lot more in terms of having the pause be a pause by taking care of some of the homework that needs to be done,โ such as on methane emissions reductions.
However, the report focuses less on methane emissions and more on the carbon dioxide emissions reductions that can be achieved by switching from coal to gas.
Interested in methane and other greenhouse gas emissions near you? Check out http://climatetrace.org, which allows you to see emissions from oil and gas fields, large individual facilities, and more. You can also break it down by industry.
Whitehouse said the focus on carbon dioxide emissions over methane emissions is misleading, intentional and not new.
โInternal documents obtained in our recent investigation demonstrate that fossil fuel companies knew methane leaks made natural gas just as harmful to the climate as coal but sought to discredit the scientific evidence and paint natural gas as a clean fuel and a crucial part of the energy mix,โ Whitehouse said.
One such document obtained through the Congressional investigation was an August 2016 email from Amory Lovins, the cofounder and, at the time, chief scientist for the Rocky Mountain Institute, a clean energy and sustainability research organization now known as RMI. The email was addressed to Rex Tillerson, then the chief executive of ExxonMobil.
Tillerson had just been appointed the chair of the National Petroleum Council, a federal advisory committee to the Secretary of Energy, a position then held by Moniz.
Lovins, who served as an environmental representative on the council, warned Tillerson of increasing methane emissions monitoring by โcitizen activists.โ He urged Tillerson, the countryโs leading oil and gas executive, and his industry to โget ahead of that emerging movementโ and โfix the leaksโ before the โsloppy operators further damage the good firmsโ reputation.โ
Another record obtained through the Congressional investigation isย a document from Chevron marked โclassified,โย which includes a presentation Lovins gave to the oil and gas companyโs board of directors at a meeting in Pebble Beach, California, in 2018.
In the presentation, Lovins notes that the โ#1 threat to gasโ is โmethane โslip,โโ or emissions. Lovins added that โ2.3% of US gas output is now lostโ as emissions, making gas โlittle/noโ better for the climate than burning coal. Lovins added that LNG is โworseโ for the climate than coal.
LNG has higher greenhouse gas emissions than natural gas due to the energy it takes to liquify and then regasify natural gas, not counting the additional methane emissions that occur during the transport of LNG in ships.
โRMI experts routinely share their independent analysis and research with a variety of stakeholders, and in this case, we presented our understanding of the climate risks of methane to the oil and gas industry, in the hopes that the facts would lead to solutions,โLovins said in an email. โThe facts presented then and subsequent research from RMI and peers have confirmed that leaks of methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, even at small amounts, make it as bad as or worse than coal for the climate and not necessarily the cleaner alternative it was once thought to be.โ
Peer-reviewed studies published since 2018 suggest the climate impact of natural gas is worse than previously thought.ย A study published last month in Natureย found that 2.95 percent of U.S. gas output is emitted rather than the 2.3 percent figure Lovins used in 2018. For the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, where much of the natural gas that is exported from the U.S. as LNG originates, emissions are far higherโ9.6 percentโaccording to the Nature study.
Other factors, such as the use of a 20-year rather than 100-year timeframe for measuring the climate impact of methane, can result in an even smaller leak rate, making natural gas worse than coal. A study published last year in Environmental Research Letters by RMI researchers found a โmethane leakage rate as low as 0.2 percent brings a gas systemโs climate risk on par with coal.โ
For Howarth, the Cornell professor, recent events elicit a sense of dรฉjร vu. In 2011, Howarth published one of the first studies suggesting the climate impact of natural gas may be worse than coal.
The same year, Moniz, then the director of the MIT Energy Initiative, was co-chair of a non-peer-reviewed Energy Initiative report funded largely by industry, โThe Future of Natural Gas,โ a title nearly identical to the EFI report Moniz and colleagues published this week.
The 2011 report led by Moniz downplayed Howarthโs findings and called for federal policies that โencourage the development of a [global liquid natural gas] market.โ
โIt feels familiar,โ Howarth said of the new โFuture of Natural Gasโ report. โShale gas is clearly as bad or worse than coal, no matter what industry funded people want to spin.โ
โAnd even if I were wrong,โ Howarth added, โItโs just not the time to be promoting any fossil fuels.โ
Statewide, Colorado is at aroundย 90% of its medianย snowpack, as of May 3, with some variation across basins.
The South Platte, which covers Fort Collins, is at 103% of its median snowpack this season,ย according to USDA data. Two notable bumps on this yearโs snowpack came from the heavy storms inย Januaryย andย March, which dumped feet of snow across the state…
According toย CSUโs climate report, โColoradoโs snowpack serves as a huge seasonal reservoir that stores about 15 million acre-feet of water on average at the spring peak and then makes that water available later in the year when water demands for agricultural uses and outdoor watering are higher.โ
Studies have shown that SWE has decreased in most places across the state, โthough the percentage declines in SWE in Colorado were generally smaller than in most other regions of the West due to Coloradoโs relatively high elevations and colder winter climate,โ the report says.ย
The report which covers microplastics and nanoplastics states โa myriad of environmental exposure pathways to humans including ingestion, inhalation, and bodily absorption, are likely to exist.โ It adds there is growing evidence that bioaccumulation of microplastics in tissues and organs of humans can potentially lead to nutritional and reproductive effects.
Current science gaps are mentioned. The report says that โunderstanding if or when environmental exposures pose a health risk is complicated by the diversity of microplastic sizes, morphologies, polymer types, and chemicals added during manufacturing or sorbed from the environment; ongoing challenges in analytical methods used to detect, quantify, and characterize microplastics and associated chemicals in our ecosystems; and the fact that ecotoxicological studies regarding microplastics are still in their infancy.โ
It also adds that a better understanding of the sources, pathways, fate, and biological effects of microplastics has become a priority of the federal government as well as some state governments.
Water enters an irrigation canal on the Gila River Indian Reservation on May 7, 2021. The Gila River Indian Community is one of 19 tribes to co-sign a letter to the federal government asking for tribes’ priorities to be protected in the next round of rules for managing the Colorado River. Photo by Ted Wood/Water Desk
Click the link to read the article on the KUNC website (Alex Hager):
May 2, 2024
This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Colorado River, produced by KUNC in Colorado and supported by the Walton Family Foundation. KUNC is solely responsible for its editorial coverage.
Tribes that use the Colorado River want a say in negotiations that will reshape how the river’s water is shared. Eighteen of those tribes signed on to a letter sent to the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency that will finalize new rules for managing the river after 2026, when the current guidelines expire.
In the memo, tribal leaders urge the federal government to protect their access to water and uphold long-standing legal responsibilities.
The letter comes as other groups have also been sending the feds their ideas for managing a river that supplies 40 million people across the Southwest but is shrinking due to climate change. Reclamation is considering input from different Colorado River users, including competing proposals from two camps within the seven states that use its water.
The riverโs Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico banded together to send a proposal, and the Lower Basin states โ California, Arizona and Nevada โ did the same. A coalition of environmental nonprofits sent their own, and a group of high-profile water researchers published another.
The tribesโ letter aims to make sure that Indigenous people, who used the Colorado River before white settlers ever occupied the Western U.S., are not left behind as Reclamation considers those proposals.
โIf you are not at the table, you are on the menu,โ Jay Weiner, a water lawyer for the Quechan Indian Tribe, said.
Weiner, who helped craft the letter, said it aims to answer the complicated question: What do tribes want?
Each tribe in the Colorado River basin is unique and has interests that make it hard to land on one clear answer to that question, Weiner said, but this memo aims to coalesce a โcritical massโ of tribes around broader ideas that are important to tribes.
โThis is very much part of the effort of trying to be at the table and engaged so that there are meaningful opportunities for input, for engagement, for dialogue and, frankly, for fighting, when it comes to it,โ Weiner said.
Three key principles
In the memo, the co-signing tribes address three main principles.
First, they ask the government to uphold its โtrust responsibilityโ to the tribes.
This goes back to the very foundation of laws that guide relationships between the United States and tribes. When the federal government took property and assets from tribes, it also created a special designation for the tribes, calling them โdomestic dependent nations.โ
That designation also comes with the โresponsibility to do right by those tribes forever,โ explained Jenny Dumas, legal counsel on water for the Jicarilla Apache Nation and another architect of the tribal principles letter.
โThe tribes gave up a lot of things when they entered into treaties with the federal government,” she said, โBut what they did not give up was their right to a sufficient supply of water to provide for their people forever and ever in perpetuity.โ
The letter urges federal water managers to fulfill that responsibility by rejecting any new water rules that would encroach on the governmentโs obligation to make sure tribes have access to water, and to adequately compensate any tribes that are forced to take water cuts in times of shortage.
First ever tribal panel federal Friday Colorado River Water Users Association December 15, 2023. Photo credit: Elizabeth Loebele
The letter also asks the feds for better ways to financially benefit off of the water they own.
Tribes hold rights to about a quarter of the riverโs flow, but many lack the funding and infrastructure to use their full allocations and instead leave it in the river. The letter lays out a few specific ways the U.S. government could help change that.
One of those ways is to โmaximizeโ tribesโ ability to participate in conservation programs. Armed with a $4 billion pool of money from the Inflation Reduction Act, the federal government has been funding programs to pay water users โ often farmers and ranchers โ to pause water use and leave some extra water in reservoirs. Some tribes are already receiving conservation payouts, but the letter advocates to expand tribal participation.
In addition, the memo asks feds to make it easier for tribes to market or lease their water rights to water users that reside outside of tribal land. That could open the door to new revenue streams, participation in conservation programs or the construction of new water infrastructure.
Finally, the letter asks the U.S. government to establish a permanent, formalized way for tribes to participate in talks about water use during ongoing negotiations and any other time Colorado River policy is discussed in the future.
Tribes have long been pushing for better representation in negotiations about the Colorado River. Indigenous people were excluded from talks that set the foundation for how water is shared in the Southwest over a century ago, and tribes say theyโre still being left out now.
In the letter to Reclamation, tribal leaders wrote that river negotiations in 2007 had a โlack of formal tribal inclusion,โ and reminded federal water managers that in 2023, federal officials made it a stated goal to enhance engagement and inclusion of tribes going forward.
The tribes are asking for something specific. Certain steps in negotiations about Colorado River water trigger the federal government to talk to states that use its water. The tribes want to make sure they are also consulted any time that trigger is hit.
Ultimately, the letterโs authors say tribesโand the legal infrastructure that governs tribal water useโare unique in a way that has to be considered when drawing up new rules that could have a big impact on the cities and farms of the Southwest.
โTribal water rights are different,โ Dumas said. โThey’re not the same as non-Indian water rights. And for that reason, they deserve different protections and special treatment. And that’s what we’re asking for in this letter.โ
โTribes have survived a whole lot worseโ
While exclusion of tribes has been an undercurrent of Colorado River negotiations for at least a century, tribal leaders say times are changing.
Jason Hauter, legal counsel on water issues for the Gila River Indian Community who helped craft the letter, said the U.S. government faces โbillions of dollars of potential liabilityโ without the buy-in of Gila River and other tribes and that having unwilling water users could slow down the authorization and implementation of new water rules.
โTribes are a key stakeholder,โ said Hauter, who is a member of the Gila River Indian Community. โThe days of being able to politically roll tribes and them not being sophisticated enough to put up strong challenges to federal rulemaking are over.โ
Even after the letter’s submission, the number of tribes adding their support has grown. An early version of the memo was co-signed by 16 tribes. That number now stands at nineteen.
One of the late additions was the Gila River Indian Community, which holds lands in the Phoenix area. The tribe has been among the most prominent in Colorado River negotiations, and has become a high-profile partner to Arizona and the federal government in recent conservation programs.
Len Necefer, a member of the Navajo Nation, walks through Glen Canyon on April 10, 2023. This area used to be entirely submerged by Lake Powell. Management of the nation’s second-largest reservoir is a major focus of efforts to re-negotiate Colorado River management. The Navajo Nation is not among the tribes that signed a recent letter to the Bureau of Reclamation. Photo credit: Alex Hager/KUNC
In March, Gila Riverโs governor, Stephen Roe Lewis, announced the tribe did not support the Lower Basin proposal that Arizona signed on to, and that it planned to file its own. Instead, the community joined as a co-signer of the tribal principles letter in late April.
Indigenous leaders are quick to point out that each tribe is unique, and common ground can be hard to find amid the geographical, political and financial differences between them. This letter, however, is designed to focus on ideas so broad that they can find consensus among nearly two-thirds of all tribes that use Colorado River water.
โThe goal should be having a stable system, not necessarily picking winners and losers,โ Hauter said. โThere’s a lot of posturing between the Upper and Lower Basin, and without really focusing on the ultimate goal: How do we make a better system? Given what the basin is facing, a recognition that there has to be shared pain among the basin states and among tribes. Finding ways to do that in a fair way, in a way that can make sense, that’s the challenge we all face.โ
Conversations about Colorado River management have, for the past couple years, largely focused on the re-negotiation deadline in 2026. While it has been framed as a momentous juncture in the timeline of Western water management, tribes and their representatives say theyโre focused on a longer view.
Jay Weiner, water lawyer for the Quechan Indian Tribe, said even if climate change makes the Southwest unpalatable for white people and other settlers, tribes plan to stay in their historic homelands.
“None of these things are single, one-off immutable events,โ he said, โBecause tribes have survived a whole lot worse than anything we’re gonna see coming out of post-2026 guidelines.โ
Native America in the Colorado River Basin. Credit: USBR
Click the link to read the article on the NOAA website:
Key Points:
A severe weather outbreak generated more than one hundred tornadoes, including one EF-4, across the Midwest and Great Plains on April 25โ28, causing significant damage and loss of life and becoming the worst tornado outbreak to date for the year.
During early April, a spring snowstorm brought heavy snow and powerful winds to much of New England, downing trees and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands in the region.
January to April 2024 was the fifth-warmest such four-month period on record for the nation and precipitation ranked in the wettest third of the historical record for the month of April 2024.
Other Highlights:
Temperature
The average temperature of the contiguous U.S. in April was 53.8ยฐF, 2.7ยฐF above average, ranking 12th warmest in the 130-year record. April temperatures were above average across much of the contiguous U.S., while near- to below-average temperatures were observed in parts of the West, northern Plains, Upper Midwest, Southeast and in small pockets of the Northeast. Virginia and West Virginia each had their fifth-warmest April on record.
The Alaska statewide April temperature was 27.2ยฐF, 3.9ยฐF above the long-term average, ranking in the warmest third of the 100-year period of record for the state. Above-average temperatures were observed across most of the state with near- to below-normal temperatures in parts of the Southwest and in parts of the Panhandle.ย
For JanuaryโApril, the average contiguous U.S. temperature was 43.0ยฐF, 3.8ยฐF above average, ranking fifth warmest on record for this period. Temperatures were above average across nearly all of the contiguous U.S., while record-warm temperatures were observed in parts of the Northeast and Great Lakes. Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine each ranked second warmest for the JanuaryโApril period.
The Alaska JanuaryโApril temperature was 13.9ยฐF, 3.6ยฐF above the long-term average, ranking in the warmest third of the historical record for the state. Much of the state was above normal for this four-month period while temperatures were near average across parts of the East, Southeast and parts of the Panhandle.
Precipitation
April precipitation for the contiguous U.S. was 2.77 inches, 0.25 inch above average, ranking in the wettest third of the historical record. Precipitation was below average across much of the West, Southeast, and parts of the central and southern Plains. Conversely, precipitation was above normal from portions of the Plains to the Northeast, and in parts of the Southwest. Indiana and Pennsylvania each had their fifth-wettest April on record.
Alaskaโs average monthly precipitation ranked in the driest third of the historical record. Precipitation was above average in parts of the North Slope and West Coast, while below-normal precipitation was observed in parts of the Southeast Interior and Panhandle during the month.
The JanuaryโApril precipitation total for the contiguous U.S. was 10.95 inches, 1.48 inches above average, ranking 11th wettest in the 130-year record. Precipitation was above average across much of the contiguous U.S., with Pennsylvania having its second-wettest year-to-date period on record. Conversely, precipitation was below average across parts of the Northern Tier and western and southern Plains, and in a small portion of the Southeast during the JanuaryโApril period.
The JanuaryโApril precipitation for Alaska ranked in the middle third of the 100-year record, with above-average precipitation observed across much of the state, while near-normal precipitation was observed in parts of the northeast Interior and along parts of the Gulf of Alaska coast. Below-average precipitation were observed in portions of Interior and south-central Alaska and parts of the southern Panhandle during this period.
Billion-Dollar Disasters
Five newย billion-dollar weather and climate disastersย were confirmed in April 2024, including three severe storm events that impacted the central, southern and eastern U.S. in mid-February and early April. There were also two winter storms that impacted the northwest and central U.S. in mid-January.
There have been seven confirmed weather and climate disaster events this year, each with losses exceeding $1 billion. These disasters consisted of five severe storm events and two winter storms.
The U.S. has sustained 383 separate weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including CPI adjustment to 2024). The total cost of these 383 events exceeds $2.720 trillion.
Other Notable Events
A spring storm brought rain, heavy snow, damaging winds and thunderstorms across much of the Great Lakes on April 2, knocking out power to over 100,000 people across the region during the height of the storm.
Severe weather across the Southeast produced a hailstorm that caused over $5 million in damages in Rock Hill, SC on April 20.
On April 26, severe weather across the central Plains resulted in the National Weather Service in Omaha, Nebraska issuing 48 tornado warningsโthe most the office has ever issued in a single day.
US Drought Monitor map May 7, 2024.
Drought
According to the April 30 U.S. Drought Monitor report, about 17% of the contiguous U.S. was in drought, down about 1% from the beginning of April. Drought conditions expanded or intensified in much of the central and southern Plains, and parts of the Northwest and Southeast this month. Drought contracted or was reduced in intensity across much of the central Mississippi Valley and Upper Midwest, and in parts of the Southwest, northern Plains, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
Monthly Outlook
Above-average temperatures are favored to impact areas from the southern Plains to the East Coast in May while above-average precipitation is likely to occur from much of the central Plains to the Mid-Atlantic and parts of the Upper Midwest. Drought is likely to persist along portions of the Northern Tier, the Southwest and Hawaii. Visit the Climate Prediction Centerโs Official 30-Day Forecasts and U.S. Monthly Drought Outlook website for more details.
Significant wildland fire potential for May is above normal across the Hawaiian Islands and in portions of the Southwest and Florida Peninsula. For additional information on wildland fire potential, visit the National Interagency Fire Centerโs One-Month Wildland Fire Outlook
Click the link to read the discussion on the CPC website:
May 9, 2024
ENSO Alert System Status: El Niรฑo Advisory / La Niรฑa Watch
Synopsis: A transition from El Niรฑo to ENSO-neutral is likely in the next month. La Niรฑamay develop in June-August (49% chance) or July-September (69% chance).
During April 2024, below-average equatorial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) emerged in small regions of the eastern Pacific Ocean. However, above-average SSTs prevailed across the rest of the equatorial Pacific. The latest weekly Niรฑo index values remained between +0.5ยฐC and +0.8ยฐC in all regions, except for Niรฑo-3 which was +0.3ยฐC. Below-average subsurface temperatures held steady during the month with negative anomalies extending from the Date Line to the eastern Pacific Ocean. Low-level wind anomalies were easterly over the western equatorial Pacific, while upper-level winds were near average. Convection was near average overall across the equatorial Pacific Ocean and Indonesia. Collectively, the coupled ocean-atmosphere system reflected the continued weakening of El Niรฑo and transition toward ENSO-neutral.
The most recent IRI plume favors an imminent transition to ENSO-neutral, with La Niรฑa developing during July-September 2024 and then persisting through the Northern Hemisphere winter. The forecast team continues to favor the dynamical model guidance, which suggests La Niรฑa could form as early as June-August 2024, with higher confidence of La Niรฑa during the following seasons. La Niรฑa generally tends to follow strong El Niรฑo events, which also provides added confidence in the model guidance favoring La Niรฑa. In summary, a transition from El Niรฑo to ENSO-neutral is likely in the next month. La Niรฑa may develop in June-August (49% chance) or July-September.
This graph shows the globally averaged monthly mean carbon dioxide abundance measured at the Global Monitoring Laboratoryโs global network of air sampling sites since 1980. Data are still preliminary, pending recalibrations of reference gases and other quality control checks. Credit: NOAA GML
CHEYENNE, Wyo. โ Governor Mark Gordon announced that Wyoming has filed two lawsuits challenging new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that target Wyomingโs coal and natural-gas fired power plants.
Today, Wyoming joined a coalition of 24 states challenging the Biden Administrationโs recently released power plant regulations. The states argue that the new rule exceeds EPAโs authority and ignores the United States Supreme Courtโs 2022 decision vacating Obama-era greenhouse gas limits for power plants. The suit asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review and declare the regulations unlawful.
On May 8, Wyoming and 22 other states filed a lawsuit challenging another EPA rule that would require certain air emissions from coal-fired plants to be reduced drastically, with no corresponding health benefits and with great costs to Wyoming and its industries.
โThe Biden Administrationโs EPA seems determined to use unlawful rulemaking to continue its attacks on Wyomingโs core industries,โ Governor Gordon said. โThe only goal appears to be destroying Wyomingโs fossil fuel industry by further burdening our power plants, increasing costs to consumers, and threatening the stability of our nation’s electrical grid.โ
Federal environmental officials have rejected a request by Aethon Energy to pump Moneta Divide oilfield wastewater into the Madison aquifer, saying the deep reservoir could be used for drinking water, especially by tribal nations on the Wind River Indian Reservation.
The Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in November 2020 approved wastewater disposal into the 15,000-foot deep well, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said last week the stateโs decision did not align with federal rules.
Aethonโs plan does not support a finding โthat the aquifer cannot now and will not in the future serve as a source of drinking water,โ the EPA wrote in a 20-page record of decision. Aethon argued, and the Wyoming commission agreed 4-1, that the underground Madison formation was too deep and remote to be used for drinking water.
The EPA relied on the Safe Drinking Water Act as the authority under which to protect the aquifer. It also cited climate, environmental justice and tribal interests in its decision, pointing to the nearby Wind River Indian Reservation as a community that could use the water.
โThe significance of that is the EPA finally didnโt wimp out on us,โ said Wes Martel, a member of the Wind River Water Resources Control Board. โWeโre just glad they now have some people in place following up on their Indian policy.โ
The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes โforesee increased reliance on groundwater for drinking water purposes and anticipate needing to access deeper aquifers, such as the Madison aquifer, as the climate changes and water resources grow scarcer,โ the EPA wrote in a 94-page analysis of tribal interests. The agency cited historic cultural and spiritual ties to the land and water and tribesโ status as sovereign nations in its decision.
โWe have to make sure our future generations have a reliable source of clean water,โ Martel said. โOur reservation, this is all we have left. Weโve got to do our best to protect it.โ
The Powder River Basin Resource Council, along with the Wyoming Outdoor Council and others, has spent years monitoring discharge reports and industry permits and was vital in challenging pollution threats, Martel said.
The EPA understood that science, and the law did not support Aethonโs request, said Shannon Anderson, organizing director and staff attorney with the resource council. โThey recognized the value of our groundwater resources and the need to protect those into the future,โ she said, hailing the decision.
Vast quantities of water
Aethon must find a way to dispose of produced water โ a brine pumped from energy wells to release gas and oil โ as it expands the Moneta Divide field by 4,500 wells. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management authorized that expansion in 2020, leaving the question of water disposal to Wyoming, which has authority over surface and underground water quality under overarching federal standards.
Aethon must find a way to dispose of the equivalent of 120 Olympic-sized swimming pools full of produced water a day to expand the field. Aethon and Burlington Resources, a co-producer at Moneta, could generate $182 million a year in federal royalties, $87.5 million a year in Wyoming severance taxes and $106 million annually in County Ad Valorem taxes from the expansion.
An elk skull adorns a fencepost near the Eastern Shoshoneโs buffalo management land on the Wind River Indian Reservation. (Katie Klingsporn/WyoFile)
But Aethon has violated state permits that allow it to pump some produced water into Alkali and Badwater creeks that flow into Boysen Reservoir, a drinking water source for the town of Thermopolis. Wyomingโs Department of Environmental Quality has notified the Dallas-based investment company of its infraction and has required Aethon to reduce the salinity of surface discharges this year.
The DEQ this year listed the two creeks as โimpairedโ and unable to sustain aquatic life. Underground injection of wastewater into the Madison was to be a new component of the disposal program.
The EPA cited climate change, drought, increasing temperatures and use of reservation surface water by others as some of the reasons to preserve the Madison aquifer.
โRemoving the existing statutory and regulatory protections for a potential source of high-quality drinking water for the rural and overburdened communities in Fremont County and on the WRIR would further exacerbate existing inequities particularly with respect to historic and ongoing adverse and cumulative impacts to water resources and community health,โ the EPA wrote.
โThus, equity and environmental justice considerations, which include Tribal interest considerations, support maintaining the existing [Safe Drinking Water Act] protections that apply to the aquifers consistent with Congressional intent to protect both current and potential future sources of drinking water,โ EPA documents state.
Neither Aethon nor a representative of the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission responded immediately to a request for comment Wednesday. But WyoFile received this response from Tom Kropatsch, oil and gas supervisor for the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, shortly after publication:
โWe do not agree with EPAโs decision on this application. We are still reviewing their decision and the information utilized by EPA in support of their decision. Much of this information was not part of the original application or a part of the record. EPA did not follow the standard procedure of allowing the WOGCC and the applicant to review and respond to the additional information they had available prior to making their final decision. EPA evaluated data that differs in its geographic, geologic, engineering, and other technical information. EPA also inappropriately related the proposed injection location to other areas of the state. Since the data EPA reviewed does not accurately reflect the conditions at the location of the proposed disposal well it is not appropriate to rely on it for a decision on this application. The WOGCC is reviewing EPAโs decision and weighing its options for further action.โ
Click the link to read the article on The Denver Post website (John Aguilar). Here’s an excerpt:
May 9, 2023
Thornton will be able to build a critical segment of a 70-mile pipe to bring water from the Cache la Poudre River to the fast-growing suburb north of Denver, after elected leaders in Larimer County unanimously โ if begrudgingly โ approved a permit for the northern segment of the pipe on Wednesday night…But a procession of county residents has spoken out against the proposed project at a series of public hearings held over the past couple of weeks, insisting that Thornton simply could allow its shares in the Poudre River โ equaling 14,700 acre-feet a year โ to flow through Fort Collins before taking the water out for municipal use. Doing so, they say, would increase flows and improve the riverโs health. But just hours before Wednesdayโs meeting, one of the opposition groups to the project โ No Pipe Dream โ said it sensed momentum had turned the cityโs way, issuing a public statement that said โweโll skip the torture of tonightโs hearing on our โgood neighborโ Thorntonโs plans to win the water tap lottery and appease hungry developers.โ
[…]
Before casting her yes vote Wednesday, Larimer County Commissioner Kristin Stephens said she wished Thornton would send its water down the Poudre โbecause thatโs what the community wants.โ
[…]
โWe canโt do that,โ she said, referring to a 2022 Court of Appeals decision that ruled that Larimer County cannot force Thornton to use the river as a conveyance…
The fight over Thorntonโs water pipe has been going on for years, and a denial of a permit for the project by Larimer Countyโs commissioners more than five years ago set off a flurry of unsuccessful court challenges that ultimately prompted the city this year to resubmit its application โ this time with a different route and 17 fewer miles of pipe within the countyโs boundaries. The city also relocated a pump house from the original plan to a site that is not near any houses, and it agreed to 83 county land use conditions to move the project forward.
Click the link to read “Larimer County commissioners approve city of Thornton’s water pipeline application” on the Fort Collins Coloradoan website (Rebecca Powell). Here’s an excerpt:
May 9, 2024
Commissioners Kristin Stephens, Jody Shadduck-McNally and John Kefalas all said they believed the permit application, now with 83 conditions, met the criteria set by the county’s 1041 regulations that govern the permit process…[John Kefalas] said while advocates have suggested that Thornton’s 2023 application is no different than the one submitted a few years ago, “I must respectfully disagree, as the pipeline proposal and process have been different.”
[…]
Kefalas said the county legal counsel’s “prudent” interpretation of a 2002 Colorado Court of Appeals ruling, which sided with commissioners in their decision to reject but also said the county couldn’t require the water to be run through the Poudre, indicates what could be decided if the matter returns to the courts…
Thornton representatives have said that the water they are conveying is already being taken out of the river at a diversion point to the Larimer County canal. No additional diversions will be made after the project is complete, they’ve said. Shadduck-McNally said she looked thoroughly and critically at the 3,000-page application to make sure it complied with the criteria and believes the county’s higher standards did lead to a stronger application from Thornton.
“This is the system that we have in Colorado โ the Colorado water system and the Colorado water court system โ and I wish it was different, but itโs the system that I canโt change today. Water court and water decrees are serious business.”
Blanca Wetlands, Colorado BLM-managed ACEC Blanca Wetlands is a network of lakes, ponds, marshes and wet meadows designated for its recreation and wetland values. The BLM Colorado and its partners have made strides in preserving, restoring and managing the area to provide rich and diverse habitats for wildlife and the public. To visit or get more information, see: http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/slvfo/blanca_wetlands.html. By Bureau of Land Management – Blanca Wetlands Area of Critical Environmental Concern, Colorado, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42089248
On May 6th, 2024 the Colorado Legislature passed HB24-1379 โ a bill designed to protect the wetlands and streams at risk after the U.S. Supreme Courtโs ruling in Sackett v. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). The passage of the house bill saw overwhelming support from the regulated community, environmentalists, and concerned citizens.
HB24-1379 would not have been passed if not for the hard work and dedication of the bill sponsors; Speaker Julie McCluskie, Senator Dylan Roberts, Representative Karen McCormick, and Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer. These sponsors worked tirelessly to advocate for our state waters by compromising with and listening to stakeholders throughout the session.
Colorado is one of the first states in the country to pass legislation to restore protections to wetlands and streams from development activities. Other states will be able to model the stakeholder engagement process utilized by the bill sponsors to provide protections from unmitigated development.
The Protect Colorado Waters Coalition was the primary driver behind the campaign which helped HB24-1379 cross the finish line. Both Kristine Oblock, Campaign Manager with Clean Water for All and Josh Kuhn, Senior Water Campaign Manager with Conservation Colorado, upheld the coalition and worked behind the scenes to have foundational elements included in the legislation. For example, the coalition was successful in keeping the current definition of state waters. The bill sponsor went a step further to directly include wetlands within that definition to permanently expand the scope of covered waters. As we detailed in previous posts, the more comprehensive definition of state waters removes the need to quibble over jurisdiction and streamlines the permit process for applicants. Additionally, the coalition advocated for the federal 404(b)(1) guidelines to act as the floor rather than the ceiling for environmental review of permit decisions.
We, here at the Getches-Wilkinson Center, are ecstatic to see the coalition’s efforts result in meaningful legislation designed to protect our aquatic ecosystems for generations to come. Our mission is to promote the sustainability of the lands, air, and water in the Western United States and HB24-1379 aligns with that mission. We look forward to the rulemaking process where the Water Quality Control Commission within the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment will promulgate rules to establish how permits are issued, and the requirements applicants must follow.
Ephemeral streams are streams that do not always flow. They are above the groundwater reservoir and appear after precipitation in the area. Via Socratic.org
Heavy precipitation fell in western Oregon and adjacent southwest Washington and northwest California this week, and across large portions of the central U.S., as a series of storm systems caused continued bouts of severe thunderstorms and unfortunately included more significant tornadoes. The wet weather across portions of the Great Plains and Midwest led to either scattered or widespread improvements to ongoing drought or abnormal dryness, dependent on precipitation amounts, improvements to soil moisture and streamflow, and the degree of long-term dryness remaining in different locations. In Virginia, the Carolinas, and eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, heavy rains or lack thereof this week led to localized improvements or degradations in areas of short-term moderate drought or abnormal dryness. Very dry weather for the past few months led to increased fire danger in parts of the Florida Peninsula, and short-term moderate drought and abnormal dryness expanded in coverage. In southwest Kansas and adjacent eastern Colorado, mostly to the west of where this weekโs showers and thunderstorms occurred, flash drought conditions continued and severe and moderate drought expanded in coverage. In Hawaii, wet weather continued on the windward sides of the islands, and some improvement to conditions occurred in Lanai and western Maui. Another wet week in Puerto Rico allowed for the removal of abnormal dryness from the northwest corner of the island…
Moderate to heavy rain amounts fell in eastern portions of the High Plains region, especially in central and eastern Nebraska, northern and eastern Kansas and eastern North Dakota. Temperature anomalies varied across the region, with temperatures coming in 3-6 degrees above normal in southern Kansas, while northwest Colorado and Wyoming finished the week at 3-9 degrees colder than normal. In eastern Kansas and Nebraska and in eastern North Dakota, heavy rains continued the recent wet pattern, leading to improvements in ongoing drought and abnormal dryness. In parts of eastern Nebraska, improvements were somewhat tempered by remaining long-term precipitation deficits and hydrologic impacts from those deficits. In southwest Kansas and adjacent southeast Colorado, many areas mostly or completely missed out on recent rains, continuing the very dry weather from the last few months, during which Dodge City tied its record for the driest April on record there (with just 0.02 inches of precipitation). In these areas, flash drought conditions continued, and severe and moderate short-term drought expanded. Given the time of year during which this drought began, severe impacts to the wheat crop in portions of Kansas have occurred. Recent dryness led to some expansion of drought and abnormal dryness in portions of eastern Wyoming as well…
Colorado Drought Monitor one week change map ending May 7, 2024.
The West region this week saw heavy precipitation (locally exceeding 2 inches) fall in eastern Montana, while portions of northern California, northeast Oregon, and western Oregon and southwest Washington also saw heavy precipitation amounts (locally exceeding 5 inches in northwest California and western Oregon). Streamflows improved amid the wet weather in northwest Oregon. Farther north in Washington, short-term dryness continued, especially in parts of the Cascade and Olympic ranges, where snow-water content and streamflow remained low, and moderate drought and abnormal dryness expanded. The heavy rains in eastern Montana ended a recent stretch of dry weather there, preventing any degradation to ongoing drought. The effects of these rains across the eastern plains will be evaluated further next week. Except for eastern New Mexico and parts of Arizona, most of the West region was colder than normal this week. Parts of Oregon, southern Idaho, northern Utah and northern Nevada saw temperature readings 6-12 degrees below normal…
Widespread heavy rains fell across portions of the South region, especially in western Arkansas, central and eastern Oklahoma, and central and eastern Texas. Heavier rain also occurred in a few spots in northern Mississippi and Tennessee. Most of the region had warmer-than-normal temperatures this week, with departures of 6-9 degrees above normal being common in northern Mississippi and Tennessee, while 3-6 degrees above normal was common elsewhere. In areas of improvements to drought and abnormal dryness in central and eastern Oklahoma and Arkansas, recent showers and thunderstorms continued to improve precipitation deficits, streamflow and soil moisture. In central Texas, a tight gradient in long-term drought conditions has developed, as heavier rains have recently fallen along the northern edge of moderate to extreme long-term drought conditions. Some reservoirs have seen some recent improvement in levels in the area, though significant deficits remain. In deep south Texas, dry weather over the last month or two has led to significant short-term precipitation deficits, and a small area of short-term moderate drought developed. Heavier rains (or lack thereof) in Tennessee led to small-scale improvements and degradations in areas of moderate drought and abnormal dryness…
Looking Ahead
As of time of writing (the afternoon of May 8), precipitation forecasts from the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center show mostly dry weather west of the Continental Divide within the contiguous U.S. through the evening of Monday, May 13. East of the Continental Divide, 0.5-1 inch of rain, with locally higher amounts, is forecast for portions of central and eastern Colorado, western Kansas, the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, western Oklahoma and northeast New Mexico. Heavier rain amounts (locally exceeding 2 inches) are forecast from eastern Texas eastward across Louisiana, southern portions of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, and in Tennessee. Separate areas of forecasted rainfall above an inch are in north-central Iowa and from south-central New York to south-central Pennsylvania.
For May 14-18, the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center forecast favors warmer-than-normal temperatures across most of the contiguous U.S., with the exceptions of portions of the south-central U.S. from Oklahoma to Tennessee and in the northwest half of Washington. Except for far northeast Alaska, the forecast favors colder-than-normal weather in most of Alaska, especially southwest, south-central and southeast Alaska. Near-normal temperatures are most likely in Hawaii. Precipitation forecasts in the contiguous U.S. favor near- or above-normal precipitation across most areas, except for the Pacific Northwest and a small part of southwest Texas. The highest confidence for wetter-than-normal weather is in the Southeast region. Wetter-than-normal weather is favored in most of Hawaii, with the highest confidence for above-normal precipitation in Niihau and Kauai. Above-normal precipitation is also favored in Alaska.
US Drought Monitor one week change map ending May 7, 2024.
This graph shows the globally averaged monthly mean carbon dioxide abundance measured at the Global Monitoring Laboratoryโs global network of air sampling sites since 1980. Data are still preliminary, pending recalibrations of reference gases and other quality control checks. Credit: NOAA GML
Vermont lawmakers passed a bill this week that is designed to make big fossil fuel companies pay for damage from weather disasters fueled by climate change. The legislation is modeled after the Environmental Protection Agencyโs superfund program, which requires the companies responsible for environmental contamination to either clean sites up themselves or reimburse the government for the costs of work to do so.ย Vermontโs bill, referred to as itsย Climate Superfund Act, would similarly mandate that big oil companies and others with high emissions pay for damage caused by global warming.
The amounts owed would be determined based on calculations of the degree to which climate change contributed to extreme weather in Vermont, and how much money those weather disasters cost the state. From there, companiesโ shares of the total would depend on how many metric tons of carbon dioxide each released into the atmosphere from 1995 to 2024. The law passed with just three no votes in Vermontโs state Senate in early April, followed by approval in the state House on Monday. The Senate will deliver a final vote later this week before the bill heads to Republican Gov. Phil Scottโs desk.ย State Sen. Anne Watson, a co-sponsor of the bill, said she hopes that if the law goes into effect, it pushes big oil companies โto become purveyors of renewable energy sources and keep fossil fuels in the ground.โ
The structural deficit refers to the consumption by Lower Basin states of more water than enters Lake Mead each year. The deficit, which includes losses from evaporation, is estimated at 1.2 million acre-feet a year. (Image: Central Arizona Project circa 2019)
Much attention is focused right now on rewriting Colorado River operating rules, to replace the soon-to-expire 2007 reservoir operating guidelines. But there is a growing frustration that the struggle to solve that relatively narrow problem โmass balanceโ problem (how much water, and where?) leaves out a range of incredibly important issues:
We are mindful that much of what CRRG has been advocating for is directly on the table in the various proposals now being considered for post-2026 river management:
But there are so many other important issues left untouched by the P26 process (sorry, yes, some of us have started shortening it to โP26โ) that the list we came up with among CRRG members is too long to blockquote here in a blog post โ click through to read the white paper, itโs not too long.
What we advocate for in the paper is that the other issues not be lost in our rush to solve the mass balance problem.
“New plot using the nClimGrid data, which is a better source than PRISM for long-term trends. Of course, the combined reservoir contents increase from last year, but the increase is less than 2011 and looks puny compared to the โholeโ in the reservoirs. The blue Loess lines subtly change. Last year those lines ended pointing downwards. This year they end flat-ish. 2023 temps were still above the 20th century average, although close. Another interesting aspect is that the 20C Mean and 21C Mean lines on the individual plots really donโt change much. Finally, the 2023 Natural Flows are almost exactly equal to 2019. (17.678 maf vs 17.672 maf). For all the hoopla about how this was record-setting year, the fact is that this year was significantly less than 2011 (20.159 maf) and no different than 2019” — Brad Udall
Transmission lines and red rock. Photo credit: Allen Best/Big Pivots
Click the link to read the article on the Big Pivots website (Allen Best):
April 30, 2024
Audubon is hiring. The conservation organization wants to bring the science for which it is noted among conservation organizations to the selection of electrical transmission in Colorado and other intermountain states of the West.
โWe donโt want to be an organization that stops something, because climate change is literally the existential threat to birds. And the renewable energy and storage that is needed require more transmission lines. So how do we work together to make this happen?โ says Alice Madden, a former state legislator from Louisville who joined the National Audubon Society in March as senior director of climate strategy.Loui
Audubon already has a person working with developers on five proposed transmission lines in the Midwest. There an organized market called a regional transmission organization, or RTO, exists.
Western states remain fragmented in integration of electricity into an organized market. Colorado is akin to an island. The person that Madden hires will be responsible for working with developers to put new lines along highways, railroads, and other areas of disrupted habitat. If that is impossible, then the goal will be to route the transmission in the ways that cause least impact to birds.
โRouting is important, and Audubon has incredible mapping tools โฆ so we can provide a wealth of information,โ she says.
The organization already has had success in the West, though. Madden cites the organizationโs work with developers of SunZia, a 550-mile high-voltage direct-current transmission line between central New Mexico and south-central Arizona.
Like most transmission lines, this one had a long history. It was proposed in 2006 and had a 17-year journey to final permitting. Audubon creditsย Pattern Energy, which joined the project in 2018 and partnered with Audubon to initiate early and active engagement with project developers.
โWe literally guided them to best practices for routing, best practices for tower design, ways to avoid interruption of flight patterns,โ says Madden.
Plus, the company committed to using an ultraviolet light-based system that was developed at Audubonโs Rowe Sanctuary. At the sanctuary, located along the Platte River in Nebraska, the technology has dramatically reduced mortality among sandhill cranes because of collisions. The technology makes the transmission lines that birds collide with most frequently more visible to them.
A 2023 Audubon report, โBirds and Transmission: Building the Grid Birds Need,โ cites the work in New Mexico and Arizona as an approach that is โessential to optimize mitigation for birds, ensure the best data and science are used, and make projects into long-term successes worth of Audubonโs support.โ
In the reportโs preface, Marshall Johnson, the chief conservation officer for Audubon, speaks to the urgency of replacing fossil fuel generation with renewables. โThe window to slow the rate of global temperature rise is narrowing, but the window still exists. If we are to make the most of this waning opportunity, we need to act quickly.โ
Johnson goes on to lay out the need to develop renewable generation and then transmit it to population centers. Experts say the United States needs to add effectively double or triple transmission capacity. โHow and where new transmission is constructed will have a tremendous impact on birds and our communities,โ he wrote.
Audubon also issued the 2019 report,ย โSurvival by Degrees: 389 Species on the Brink,โย which warned that two-thirds of bird species in North America were vulnerable to extinction unless emissions are lowered.
That same report examined Colorado with greater granularity: 125 out of 241 species are climate vulnerable in summer if temperatures rise 3 degrees C (5.4 degrees F). If temperature rise can be kept to 1.5 degrees C โ which appears unlikely โ the number of vulnerable species declines to 84.
Colorado in recent years has adopted two laws. One requires the stateโs electrical utilities to join a regional transmission organization so that they can better share low-cost renewables over a broad hunk of real estate and in more than one time zone. Another law created the Colorado Electric Transmission Authority, or CETA, which heard the latest report from Audubon representatives in January. The organization has broad powers to build transmission that will help Colorado deeply decarbonize its electricity sources even as electricity expands into sectors now dominated by combustion of fossil fuels.
State Sen. Chris Hansen, a Democrat from Denver, the author of these and many other key pieces of energy transition legislation, says he believes Colorado and other states need to accelerate development of transmission.
Some have argued that the National Environmental Policy Act needs to be tweaked. Hal Harvey and Justin Gillis, in their 2022 book, โThe Big Fix,โ make the case for revisions.
โIn the book, we call for carefully thought-out reform, not just in NEPA,โ said Gillis, a former reporter for the New York Times, in an interview with Big Pivots. โThereโs a whole suite of land-use policies where, if we just leave them as is, it will take us 30 to 40 years to do that which really needs to be done over the next 10 years.โ
Former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, in a meeting with Pitkin County commissioners on April 9, mentioned the difficulty of transmission when crossing federal lands and the perceived need for streamlining regulation. Idaho is about 66% federal lands, Nevada is 85% federal lands, Colorado is 35%. NEPA, he said, is part of a broader conversation about whether regulatory review can be streamlined without losing the environmental scrutiny that is needed.
That conversation, Ritter added, is not just a Colorado one, but a national one.
โI just had a conversation with U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, and I think thereโs ambition inside the United States Senate to try and streamline the reform and try and not lose anything in the process. Itโs a federal statute that would have to be passed in order to modify NEPA and theyโre trying to understand how to do that with bipartisan support as we speak.โ
Madden is wary about reform of NEPA. Those things that motivated the creation of NEPA in 1969 remain. โBut there are many, many ways it can be done faster,โ she said. โThis administration in particular has been trying to do that by employing more people to review these projects.โ
โThere are a lot of red-herrings about why this takes so long. I think the worst problem is not the permitting. It is the interconnection queue.โ
She says 12,000 renewable energy projects across the United States are waiting to be connected to the grid. She identifies utilities as being the challenge.
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory recently reported nearly 2,600 gigawatts of generation and storage capacity are actively seeking grid interconnections. That is an eight-fold increase since 2014.
The U.S. Department of Energy recently released the Transmission Interconnection Roadmap that offers possible solutions to speeding up the interconnection of clean energy.
In her new position at Audubon, Madden has responsibility for implementing the organizationโs climate strategy at the state and local levels. She previously was policy and political director for Greenpeace USA. She had also directed the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy & the Environmental at the University of Colorado School of Law.
Along the way she had also worked at the Department of Energy, was a climate change advisor to Ritter during the last two years of his term, and before that had been a member of the Colorado House of Representatives.
In early April, the Land Deskreported that the snowpack in most of the Southwest was at or above normal, and appeared to be peaking right on schedule, presaging a normal spring runoff. But April turned out to be the cruelest month, after all, sending snowpack levels into a free-fall and dashing hopes for a strong spring runoff on most of the regionโs streams.
Take the Gunnison River watershed: Snow water equivalent levels peaked on April 9 at a slightly higher than median level โ or about 107% of normal. Within a week, the levels had dropped below normal; and by May 1 were at about 75% of the median level for that date, putting it just about even with 2021, which was a horribly dry year. (More charts and graphs below the text).
A similar pattern is seen throughout Colorado, with northern areas (such as the Yampa) generally faring better than those in the southern part of the state (e.g. the Animas and Dolores). There are exceptions: Snowpack in the high La Plata Mountains in southwestern Colorado is still at about 90% of the median and isnโt falling as quickly as in other areas, which is good news for the La Plata River and the โDrysideโ farmers who rely on it for irrigation.
Part of the problem was that the spigot from the sky, after spewing generously for much of March, seemed to shut off in mid-April, with the exception of a single good storm near the end of the month. But a bigger factor was the combination of unusually high temperatures throughout the winter along with relentless spring winds and a series of dust events.
Overall, the United States experienced its warmest meteorological winter(Dec 1 – Feb. 29) on record, and Western states had unusually high temperatures. A sampling of average daily temperature data from individual and river-basin SNOTEL sites reveal that in most cases they were above median for the period of record (which usually reaches back to the late 1980s).
Hastening the snowmelt have been a series of dust events in the late winter and early spring. The Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies, in its April 22 statewide report, observed dust layers across the Colorado mountains, with severe dust in the McClure Pass and Roaring Fork region, and with Wolf Creek Pass having the heaviest dust in the San Juan Mountains. โPerhaps, besides the Roaring Fork region, overall dust severity is in the โaverageโ category,โ wrote CSAS director Jeff Derry, โbut donโt believe, combined with the weather, it canโt have drastic affects on snowpack ablation. Without some meaningful precipitation snowmelt season could be over quickly.โ
Dust in Western Colorado certainly isnโt new. Old newspapers abound with tales of dusty woe, including this grisly one from May 1911.
In early April, the Dolores Water Conservancy District noted that it was unlikely theyโd release enough water from McPhee Reservoir to enable boating in the Lower Dolores River โ even for a short period of time. The deteriorating snow situation makes the prospect of raftable flows above the confluence with the San Miguel River highly implausible. As I write this, the riverโs flow below the dam is barely more than a trickle at 50 cubic feet per second (and around 500 cfs above the reservoir).
At the beginning of April, the Bureau of Reclamation predicted Lake Powellโs surface level would increase by about 30 feet from late March levels during spring runoff in June, before subsiding back to about 3,563 feet by the end of the year (It was at 3,560 feet on May 1). The agency hasnโt released itโs end of April projections yet, but theyโre likely to be less optimistic now.
The Animas River in Durango, where the water runs free and flows are influenced entirely by snowmelt, hit 1,600 cfs on April 25 before cooler temperatures brought it back down to 736 cfs. We can get a sense of when and how big peak runoff will be by considering that on May 1 of last year, the snow levels in the basin were about twice what they are now, and the river peaked at 4,500 cfs at the end of May.
My guess: The Animas River will peak on May 18 at 2,400 cfs. What do you think? Leave your guess in the comments below.
The Animas River Basinโs snowpack was tracking right around median after a wet March, but itโs melting quickly enough that itโs now on a par with 2021, when many a regional irrigator went without water.
Precipitation in the San Juan-Animas-Dolores Basin this water year has been pretty close to normal, but warm temperatures and dust have turned what fell as snow to water sooner than usual.
This shows the averages of the average daily temperatures for a number of SNOTEL stations across the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado. Note that 2024 was warmer than the median for the period of record (beginning in 1987) and was significantly warmer than in the 1990s.
The Northern Rockies have had it tough, as far as snow goes, this year. Snowpack levels in the Upper Green were at their lowest on record in early January. They rebounded to close to normal before declining again in April.
Part of the reason for scant snow is relatively high temperatures. This water year has been the third warmest on record for the Upper Green.
โ๏ธ Mining Monitor โ๏ธ
NEWS: Utahโs state engineer approves Blackstone Mineralsโ (aka A1/Anson) proposal to withdraw about 13,755 acre-feet of water from groundwater wells near Green River, Utah, clearing the way for what would be the Four Corners regionโs first direct lithium extraction project.
CONTEXT: Australia-based Anson Resources and its subsidiaries โ A1 Lithium, Blackstone Minerals, and Blackstone Resources โ have staked more than 1,000 federal mining claims, acquired private land, and secured Utah state land leases in and around southeastern Utahโs Paradox Formation over the last several years. They appear to be working on several projects, with their Paradox direct lithium extraction project the furthest along.
Anson plans to drill 8,000- to 9,000-foot-deep wells just north of the town of Green River, pump brine to the surface, and use resin beads to extract the lithium from the water, without evaporation ponds. After the lithium is extracted, Anson claims theyโll inject the same amount of water back underground, which if true would mean their consumptive water use โ or the amount withdrawn minus the amount returned to the aquifer โ will be zero. Last year Anson applied for the right to withdraw water year-round at a rate of 19 cubic feet per second โ or about 12 million gallons per day โ for non-consumptive use.
But concerned residents, advocates, and even federal and state regulators have expressed skepticism and concern. Not only is the zero-consumptive use claim somewhat dubious, but pumping that much groundwater could have an adverse effect on the Green River or freshwater aquifers. Plus, the wells will be drilled adjacent to a former uranium mill and current disposal site for radioactive and otherwise contaminated materials, and within the Department of Energyโs โarea of concernโ surrounding the site. And they will drill through an aquifer contaminated by those activities.
The red โxโs mark the location of Ansonโs wells. The dark rectangle is the radioactive waste disposal cell.
The state, however, felt that Anson adequately addressed these concerns, and granted the water right. It did, however, indicate that if Ansonโs water use was not 100% non-consumptive, the company would be subject to enforcement and fines. The Great Basin Water Network and local residents have called for public meetings with regulators to address their concerns.
Alsoโฆ
Congress has passed legislation banning low-enriched uranium importsfrom Russia, sending it to President Bidenโs desk for signing. While the U.S. does not import large amounts of the reactor fuel from Russia, the ban likely will cause uranium prices to rise and bolster efforts to reopen uranium mines in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. (World Nuclear News)
Navajo Nation leaders urge the Biden administration to block a mining company from shipping uranium across tribal land from the Pinyon Plain mine near the Grand Canyon to the White Mesa mill in southeastern Utah. (KNAU)
Anfield Energy applies for state and federal permits to reopen its Velvet-Wood uranium mine in the Lisbon Valley of southeastern Utah. (news release)
Anson Resources (yes, the lithium folks) is launching a uranium exploration project at its Yellow Cat claims just north of Arches National Park in a historically mined area. (proactive)
Donโt forget to the visit the Land Desk Mining Monitor Map for more info on mining activity in the Four Corners Country.
Hydropower proposals raise major questions about tribal consent and consultation.
In the spring of 2018, I was invited to visit my partnerโs familyโs “sheep camp” in Nastล’a, a sprawling box canyon along the eastern edge of Black Mesa, west of the community of Chilchinbito, on the Navajo Nation.
That spring, my partnerโs relatives had begun renovating their family home, a modest white stone house, where generations of the family had been raised, and which stood only a few hundred yards from the homes of other extended family members. The multi-generational connection to this place was palpable, for despite only having solar power and no running water, relatives both young and old were eager to lend a hand in the renovations that day.ย
The family home in Nastล’a. JHEREMY YOUNG
Later, I was invited by my partnerโs father to walk up the escarpment of Black Mesa, following trails used by generations of my partnerโs family to reach their grazing lands along the mesa top. After an hour-and-a-half trek, we stood at the end of the trail, which was transected by a weathered barbed-wire fence that served as the boundary line between the Navajo and Hopi partitioned lands.
I turned around to look out over the valley below. Little did I know then that much of the dynamic and vibrant landscape I beheld, including the very ground on which I stood, would years later be at the center of three massive pumped storage hydroelectric projects proposed by a company organized by a French entrepreneur under the name Nature and People First Arizona.
In 2022, Nature and People First Arizona applied for preliminary permits to assess the feasibility of building three hydropower projects on Black Mesa, a large plateau that extends across both Navajo and Hopi lands.
STEPHANIE SMITH
Per the project proposals filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the three projects simply named Black Mesa South, Black Mesa East, and Black Mesa North would span roughly 40 miles of the Navajo Reservation, occupying the entire northeastern ridge of the mesa, from the community of Chilchinbito to the town of Kayenta.
What is pumped storage hydropower?
Pumped storage hydropower facilities are essentially low-tech batteries that store energy in the form of water and usually consist of two reservoirs, one above the other. In the case of Black Mesa, the upper reservoirs for the three projects would be placed atop the mesa, while the lower reservoirs would rest at the base of the mesaโs steep face.
Using surplus power from the grid, usually generated by solar or wind during the day, water from the lower reservoirs would be pumped to the upper reservoirs, and then when demand for power rose, water would be released from the upper reservoirs and propelled by gravity through a turbine, generating electricity before again emptying into the lower reservoirs.ย
JOAN CARSTENSEN
Many Hopi footprints
As we stood at the boundary line overlooking Nastล’a, my partnerโs father noted the footprints of a coyote.
“How do you say ‘coyote tracks’ in Hopi?” he asked, to which I responded, “iskukveni.”
The fact that this word found its way into our conversation that day was particularly apropos given that the Black Mesa area holds great historical and cultural significance for Hopi people, especially for those of the Isngyam (Coyote Clan). Furthermore, the word kukveni (footprints) serves as a powerful metaphor for Hopi people to comprehend our tangible heritage, whether it be the archaeological remains of former settlements like pottery sherds, stone tools, or petroglyphs, or other physical reminders of our past use and occupation of the land. In every sense, throughout Black Mesa there are indeed many Hopi footprints.
It was then I noticed that the footprints to which my partnerโs father was referring went along the trail ahead of us and crossed under the barbed-wire fence of the boundary line. This brought a smile to my face as coyotes or their signs are often encountered on the road, for to be on the road is to be between situations, to be in transition.
It is perhaps not surprising then that this area, as an ancestral home of the Isngyam, would play a role in the push to transition the United States away from fossil fuels toward renewable “green energy.” This push, however, resulted in an explosion of dam proposals on tribal lands, and these numbers are likely to only increase given federal tax credits to support pumped storage hydropower projects under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Yet, despite being considered a renewable “green energy” option and touted as a means to replace some of the revenue, jobs, and power generation lost with the closure of Navajo Generating Station in 2019, pumped storage hydropower is not without its own issues, including how to fill the reservoirs.ย
Looking out at Nastล’a. RAYMOND CHEE
Astonishing amounts of water
Filling the nine proposed reservoirs on Black Mesa would require an astonishing 147 billion gallons (450,000 acre-feet) of water, but in the applications for preliminary permits the developer was vague on the details of where that water would come from. The applications cited the Colorado River, the San Juan River, and two local aquifers as possible sources but did not indicate the current availability of or legal rights to these sources.
That means that, potentially, the projects could pump groundwater that has fed the springs and streams of Navajo and Hopi lands for millennia. Over the last century, groundwater has been drawn down by coal mining, power plants, growing populations, and, up until 2005, a slurry line that pumped billions of gallons of water to move coal from the mine in Kayenta to the Mohave Generating Station approximately 273 miles west.
The prospect of adverse cultural, ecological, and environmental impacts has consequently drawn much more opposition than support when it comes to Black Mesa and other pumped storage dam projects proposed on tribal lands.
The Navajo Nationโs Department of Justice, 19 Navajo Nation chapters (local governments), members of the Hopi public, and various grassroots and conservation groups filed comments, concerns, and questions regarding the Black Mesa projects and urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to deny Nature and People First Arizonaโs requested preliminary permits due to the wildly unrealistic nature of the proposals in the arid Southwest, as well as their compounding effects after decades of harm to the people, land, and aquifers of Black Mesa from coal mining.ย
The author near the edge of Black Mesa. RAYMOND CHEE
Investigating for ourselves
My own personal experience of the Black Mesa area is colored by the contentious Peabody Coal mining operations of the past, for as a child I would occasionally accompany itร apaโpa (our grandfather), a Coyote Clan member, on his visits to the Black Mesa area. During these outings he often lamented the harms the mining operations caused to the land, and the depletion of the most significant water source in the region. He recounted the controversial means by which the Hopi tribal government entered into its lease agreements with Peabody Western Coal Company in the 1960s and how such agreements were negotiated by prominent natural resources attorney John Boyden, who claimed to be representing the Hopi Tribe while actually on the payroll of Peabody. This subterfuge ultimately resulted in unusually advantageous terms for Peabody and gross misrepresentations to the Hopi people of the mineโs impacts on their land.
“Okiwa, kur paร sat itam nuโan unaโiโistu โ Regrettably, then we were oh so gullible,”ย our grandfather said.
I recall being particularly amused by his use of the term unaโiโist as it references those who share in the gullible nature of his wuโya (clan totem), Coyote, who is prone to believe anything he is told and is therefore easily duped. Yet, as the motifs of Hopi coyote tales are in fact meant to demonstrate the ways in which one should not live, his comment also serves as an admonition that people would do well to question things. For as our grandfather often also said when speaking about his wuโya, “Puโ Iisaw piw pas hรฌita aw poรฒteโningwu โ It is also Coyoteโs nature always to investigate things for himself.”
Unfortunately, the ability of tribal communities and governments to holistically investigate and assess the positive and negative implications of large-scale projects on their lands, particularly as they endeavor to balance humanitarian and economic needs with cultural preservation and environmental protection, is something that has been historically lacking.
Case in point, historically the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has not been required to consult with or obtain the consent of the tribe on whose land a project was being proposed before issuing a preliminary permit. In fact, the commission wasnโt even required to notify a tribe when a project had been proposed on its tribal lands.ย
The need to remedy this oversight became even more apparent in 2020, after preliminary permits were issued for two pumped storage hydropower projects on the lower Little Colorado River not far from its confluence with the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon and within the sovereign borders of the Navajo Nation despite objections by the Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe, and the Hualapai Tribe. A thirdย proposal to dam nearby Big Canyonย for hydropower has been pending since 2020.
Update: On April 25, 2024, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission struck down the proposed Big Canyon Dam.ย Read moreย โบ
Following several years of community conversations on the Navajo Nation and in Hopi villages, and informed by the concerns community members voiced, on February 6, 2024, the Hopi Tribe passed Resolution 010-2024 in which the Hopi Tribal Council resolved to petition the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to update its rules to require tribal consultation and consent for granting preliminary permits for hydroelectric projects on tribal lands.
In these orders, the commission announced a new policy: “the Commission will not issue preliminary permits for projectsโฆ if the Tribe on whose lands the project is to be located opposes the permit.”
The commission didnโt immediately strike down the Big Canyon project, but instead opened an additional 30-day comment period, likely intended to provide the Navajo Nation an opportunity to make a clear statement about whether or not it opposes the project.
The Hopi Tribe is currently reviewing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissionโs new policy on tribal consent and speaking with other tribes as potential cosigners on a formal petition urging the commission to establish additional requirements governing tribal consultation and consent before preliminary permits can be issued on tribal lands. Regardless, this recent reversal in policy, at the very least, stands in recognition of tribal sovereignty, grants tribes a legal means of determining the kinds of hydropower projects that happen on their lands, and is a positive, proactive step toward true self-determination and governance for Native people.
Daryn Akei Melvin works as a Grand Canyon manager for the Grand Canyon Trust with a focus on addressing issues related to the Little Colorado River.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The views expressed by Advocate contributors are solely their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Grand Canyon Trust.
September 21, 1923, 9:00 a.m. — Colorado River at Lees Ferry. From right bank on line with Klohr’s house and gage house. Old “Dugway” or inclined gage shows to left of gage house. Gage height 11.05′, discharge 27,000 cfs. Lens 16, time =1/25, camera supported. Photo by G.C. Stevens of the USGS.
Source: 1921-1937 Surface Water Records File, Colorado R. @ Lees Ferry, Laguna Niguel Federal Records Center, Accession No. 57-78-0006, Box 2 of 2 , Location No. MB053635.
Click the link to access the article on the AMS website (Martin P. Hoerling, Jon K. Eischeid, Henry F. Diaz, Balaji Rajagopolan, andย Eric Kuhn). Here’s the abstract:
April 19, 2024
Of concern to Colorado River management, as operating guidelines post-2026 are being considered, is whether water resource recovery from low flows during 2000โ2020 is possible. Here we analyze new simulations from the sixth generation of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) to determine plausible climate impacts on Colorado River flows for 2026โ2050 when revised guidelines would operate. We constrain projected flows for Lee Ferry, the gauge through which 85% of the river flow passes, using its estimated sensitivity to meteorological variability together with CMIP6 projected precipitation and temperature changes. The critical importance of precipitation, especially its natural variability, is emphasized. Model projections indicate increased precipitation in the Upper Colorado River basin due to climate change, which alone increases river flows 5%โ7% (relative to a 2000โ2020 climatology). Depending on the riverโs temperature sensitivity, this wet signal compensates some, if not all, of the depleting effects from basin warming. Considerable internal decadal precipitation variability (~5% of the climatological mean) is demonstrated, driving a greater range of plausible Colorado River flow changes for 2026โ2050 than previously surmised from treatment of temperature impacts alone: the overall precipitation-induced Lee Ferry flow changes span โ25% to +40% contrasting with a โ30% to โ5% range from expected warming effects only. Consequently, extreme low and high flows are more likely. Lee Ferry flow projections, conditioned on initial drought states akin to 2000โ2020, reveal substantial recovery odds for water resources, albeit with elevated risks of even further flow declines than in recent decades.
ยฉ 2024 American Meteorological Society. This is an Author Accepted Manuscript distributed under the terms of the default AMS reuse license. For information regarding reuse and general copyright information, consult the AMS Copyright Policy (www.ametsoc.org/PUBSReuseLicenses).Corresponding author: Balaji Rajagopalan,ย balajir@colorado.edu.
Skiers ride a lift on a snowy morning at Snowmass Ski Area on January 11, 2023. High-altitude snow in Colorado accounts for two-thirds of the water in the Colorado River, and scientists say the next two decades are likely to bring increased precipitation to the area. Alex Hager/KUNC
Click the link to read the article on the KUNC website (Alex Hager):
May 5, 2024
This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Colorado River, produced by KUNC in Colorado and supported by the Walton Family Foundation. KUNC is solely responsible for its editorial coverage.
Good news on the Colorado River is rare. Its reservoirs, the two largest in the country, have shrunk to record lows. The policymakers who will decide its future are stuck at an impasse. Climate change has driven more than two decades of megadrought and strained the water supply for 40 million people across the Southwest.
But a new study is delivering a potential dose of optimism for the next 25 years of the Colorado River. The findings, published in the Journal of Climate, forecast a 70% chance the next quarter century will be wetter than the last.
Projections for Colorado River water supply have largely focused on the impact of temperature. Climate change means the region is getting hotter, which in turn drives a raft of environmental factors that mean less water ends up in rivers and reservoirs. For example, snow melts quicker and is more likely to evaporate. Dry, thirsty soil soaks up snow melt before it has a chance to flow into the nearest stream.
Thisย new study, though, takes a closer look at the impact of precipitation.
Eighty five percent of the Colorado River starts as snow in the regionโs headwaters โ the high-altitude mountains of Colorado and Wyoming. The scientists behind the new paper predict an increase in precipitation over the next 25 years that could be big enough to offset the drying caused by rising temperatures, at least in the short term.
Researchers with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder used data from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, to run forecasting models and form their conclusions.
Those scientists stressed the importance of variability in their findings. While the high end of their forecasts paint a positive picture, their models also showed a small chance that precipitation could go down in the next two decades. Thereโs a 4% chance that river flows could drop by 20% in the next 25 years.
โAll of our thinking, our acting, our management should be humble and recognize the nature in which we live, which is, yeah, you have water, but it is very highly variable,โ Balaji Rajagopalan, a water engineering professor who co-authored the study, said.
The Colorado River flows through Glenwood Canyon in Colorado on January 29, 2024. Scientists stressed the variability in new findings about precipitation. They emphasized the wide range of possible outcomes for Colorado River flows and said policy makers should build flexible water management rules. Alex Hager/KUNC
Good science about the regionโs climate future is particularly important right now, as Colorado River policy makers renegotiate the rules for sharing its water. The regionโs water crisis is driven by two big themes โ climate change is shrinking supply, and the people in charge have struggled to rein in demand in response.
Right now, theyโre hashing out a new set of rules for managing the river to replace the guidelines that expire in 2026. Rajagopalan said the findings from the new study underscore the need to build flexible rules that can adapt along with climate conditions.
โWe want to emphasize that it’s not like, โOh, there’s going to be water around, so letโs go party โ we don’t have to do the hard work that needs to be done in terms of conservation and thoughtful management,โโ he said. โIf anything, it speaks to even more reason that you have to.โ
Another climate scientist, Brad Udall, who was not involved in the study, cast a bit of skepticism on its findings and message. Udall, a climate researcher at Colorado State University’s Colorado Water Institute, said he holds the paperโs authors in high regard, but some aspects of the studyโs approach gave him some โunease.โ
โWe just canโt rely on these models for precipitation,โ he said. โWe can rely on them for temperature, but we canโt rely on them for precipitation. There are just too many issues with them.โ
He said climate models canโt always dependably predict precipitation because they are based on statistics, as opposed to the physics-based methods used to build long-term temperature forecasts.
Udall, who has referred to himself as โthe skunk in the roomโ after years of sharing tough-to-stomach forecasts about the dire future of Western water, pointed to this yearโs runoff as an example of temperatureโs ability to chip away at the benefits of a wet winter.
While snow totals in the Colorado River headwaters region peaked at around 100% of normal, warm temperatures mean flows in the Colorado River are expected to reach about 80% of normal levels.
“New plot using the nClimGrid data, which is a better source than PRISM for long-term trends. Of course, the combined reservoir contents increase from last year, but the increase is less than 2011 and looks puny compared to the โholeโ in the reservoirs. The blue Loess lines subtly change. Last year those lines ended pointing downwards. This year they end flat-ish. 2023 temps were still above the 20th century average, although close. Another interesting aspect is that the 20C Mean and 21C Mean lines on the individual plots really donโt change much. Finally, the 2023 Natural Flows are almost exactly equal to 2019. (17.678 maf vs 17.672 maf). For all the hoopla about how this was record-setting year, the fact is that this year was significantly less than 2011 (20.159 maf) and no different than 2019” — Brad Udall
Look for solar panels to blossom atop low-income homes in Indian Country over the next five years. Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency announced $500 million for tribes as part of $7 billion in grants for residential solar energy. Some $5.5 billion will go to states, and $1 billion to multi-state awards.
The $7 billion will benefit 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities, said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan in a prepared statement. โThe selectees will advance solar energy initiatives across the country, creating hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs, saving $8 billion in energy costs for families, delivering cleaner air, and combating climate change.โ
โSolar is the cheapest form of electricityโand one of the best ways to lower energy costs for American families,โ stated John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy. โTodayโs announcement of EPAโs Solar for All awards will mean that low-income communities, and not just well-off communities, will feel the cost-saving benefits of solar thanks to this investment.โ
โResidential solar electricity leads to reduced monthly utility bills, reduced levels of air pollution in neighborhoods, and ultimately healthier communities, but too often low-income and disadvantaged communities have been left out,โ U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman said in the statement.
โSunlight is powering millions of homes across the nation, and weโre working hard to ensure Americans everywhere can benefit from this affordable clean energy resource,โ stated U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.
EPA awarded $62 million to a nonprofit Native-led organization that brings solar energy to underserved communities, the National Tribal Program of GRID Alternatives.
GRID, in a prepared statement, said โthe National Tribal Program, in coalition with The Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy, Native CDFI Network, and Native Renewables, is poised to revolutionize solar energy access within Native American communities nationwide.โ
Co-Executive Director of the National Tribal Program Talia Martin, a citizen of the Shoshone-Bannock tribes, said in a statement, โThis funding will enable us to make significant strides in bridging the clean energy gap in Native American communities, supporting their capacity to harness the abundant potential of solar power while fostering tribal economic development and self-sufficiency.โ
โThis initiative serves as a vital step towards alleviating poverty, combating climate change, and fostering the creation of sustainable, well-paying green jobs for thousands of tribal members,โ said Cheri Smith, Miโkmaq tribal descendant, president & CEO, Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy, in a statement. The money for tribes will support their self-determined efforts to deploy clean energy on tribal lands she said.
โWe believe that everyone deserves access to affordable, and reliable energy solutions,โ said Suzanne Singer, Co-Founder and executive director of Native Renewables and a citizen of the Navajo Nation, in a statement. โThrough collaborative efforts like the National Tribal Program, we can support Indigenous communities in their transition to a renewable energy future.โ
In addition to GRID, the EPA announced three other tribal recipients:
Midwest Tribal Energy Resources Association Inc., Tribal Consortium $62,330,000
โThe Midwest Tribal Energy Resources Association, Inc. and coalition partners GRID Alternatives, the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy, and the Native Community Development Financial Institute (CDFI) Network will deploy Tribally-owned residential solar, along with storage and necessary upgrades, for the benefit of the 35 Tribes located in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The coalition, headquartered in Wisconsin, will leverage the deep expertise and experience of its members to build a program that empowers Tribes and Tribal energy champions, provides project-deployment technical assistance necessary to plan and build residentially benefiting solar projects on Tribal Lands in the Midwest, and includes workforce development to enhance tribal self-determination and self-sufficiency,โ reads the statement.
โThe Tribal nonprofit Oweesta Corporation will address adoption barriers to Native residential and community solar deployment by acting as the intermediary between professional services partners, developers, Tribal governments and Tribal organizations. Oweestaโs program will support an equitable spread of solar deployment across all Tribal census tracts nationwide. It will employ a systems-building approach to centralize regulatory compliance information, technical deployment, commercial solar standards, and Tribal housing expertise all within the framework of experienced Tribal Community Development Financial Institutions. Based in Colorado, Oweesta Corporationโs program will operate in Tribal lands across the nation.โ
โAlaska Tribal Solar For All is a partnership between three organizations to provide comprehensive access to the benefits of Tribal residents of Alaska. Tanana Chiefs Conference, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, and Alaska Housing Finance Corporation each have developed programs that will provide Tribal residents throughout Alaska the opportunity to benefit from solar. Alaska maintains over 40% of the nationโs federally recognized Tribes and is the state with the highest proportion of Alaska Native and American Indian residents (19.6%) in the nation. Whether a Tribal member owns a house with sufficient capacity to manage distributed generation, or a Tribal member lives in a community that operates a tiny isolated microgrid where rooftop solar isnโt feasibleโall Tribal residents of Alaska will have the opportunity to benefit from this project,โ reads the statement.
LOVELAND, Colo. โ The Bureau of Reclamation released a draft environmental assessment for the Upper Thompson Sanitation District Water Reclamation Facility and Lift Station Improvement Project. The project, located in the Estes Valley of Larimer County, Colorado, consists of construction, operation, and maintenance of a new wastewater treatment facility, two lift stations and connecting pipelines.
The project will allow the Upper Thompson Sanitation District to meet future wastewater flow estimates and applicable water quality standards and regulations. The replacement of aging and deficient infrastructure will also reduce long-term operation and maintenance costs for the district while allowing for future facility expansion.
โThis project provides opportunities and partnerships to help meet the future wastewater treatment demands of Estes Park residents and visitors within the Upper Thompson Sanitation District,โ said Reclamationโs Eastern Colorado Area Manager, Jeff Rieker.
The 2024 Upper Thompson Sanitation District Water Reclamation Facility and Lift Station Improvement Project Environmental Assessment has been prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act and is available for public review and comment at theย Eastern Colorado Area Office Schedule of NEPA Actions. Please direct any questions to Matt Schultz at 970-461-5469 orย mjschultz@usbr.gov. Please submit comments on the draft environmental assessment to Matt Schultz, Environmental Specialist atย mjschultz@usbr.govย by June 3, 2024.
From left: Amelia Flores, Colorado River Indian Tribes chairwoman, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs approve the tribeโs authority to lease, exchange or store its portion of Colorado River water. Credit: Noel Lyn Smith/Inside Climate News
The deal will help the tribe raise money for infrastructure and services for its members while the water could ease the drought in the Southwest.
PARKER, Ariz. โ Against a backdrop of the Colorado River, members of the Colorado River Indian Tribes watched Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and Amelia Flores, the tribeโs chairwoman, sign a historic agreement on April 26 that asserts the tribeโs right to lease portions of their allocation of the riverโs water to users away from the tribal land.
The agreement between the tribe, the Interior Department and Arizona gives the tribe the ability to lease, exchange or store a portion of its Colorado River water entitlement. As one leader expressed, the tribe is stepping away from the โoutdated frameworkโ of federal restrictions that constrained their means to supply water to areas off the tribal land.
The financial gain for the tribe will allow them to invest in services that help tribal members, to build needed infrastructure and update systems for agricultural purposes.
โThis is a significant event in the history of CRIT,โ Flores said. โThese agreements clear the path for CRIT to finally be recognized as a central party in all future decisions regarding the Colorado River. โฆ Today, we celebrate the empowerment of our rights to make our own decisions with who, when and how our water sources may be used.โ
The tribeโs membership consists of the Mohave, Chemehuevi, Hopi and Navajo. The Colorado River flows through the tribeโs land in Arizona and California. The reservation was established in March 1865 for the Mohave and Chemehuevi, both of whom inhabited the region. In later years, Hopi and Navajo relocated to the area.
โThis river flows through us,โ said Flores, who is a member of the Arizona Governorโs Water Policy Council, a group established last year and tasked with modernizing the stateโs management of groundwater.
Amelia Flores (left), Colorado River Indian Tribes chairwoman, and Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland stand next to Colorado River in Parker, Ariz. Credit: Noel Lyn Smith/Inside Climate News
The agreement comes as Arizona deals with ongoing drought and discussions to address climate change.
โToday may mark the end of the work to complete these agreements but it marks the beginning of the next chapter for water conservation in Arizona,โ Hobbs said.
โThe implementation of these agreements and the new fundability for the Colorado River Indian Tribes to use their water resources in new and creative ways presents an enormous opportunity for additional conservation and water management solutions as we confront climate change and the stress it is placing on our water supplies,โ she added.
The governor said the tribe has been a longtime partner in protecting the Colorado River. This includes a vital role in preventing Lake Mead from dropping levels so low that the reservoir might not have been able to generate power or supply downriver communities in 2019 as part of the drought contingency plan developed by states that receive river water in the lower basin.
A day before the event, Haaland visited the river and toured the Parker Dam, where she heard about how the ongoing drought is impacting communities. She is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna in New Mexico, a state that is part of the Upper Colorado River Basin.
โThe agreement will enable CRIT to continue leading with collaborative strategies in support of the resilience of the Colorado River,โ Haaland said. โThis agreement reflects years of cooperation between the federal government, the state of Arizona and the tribes.โ
She added that it demonstrates the Biden administrationโs commitment to tribal self-determination and sovereignty.
Margaret Vick, the tribeโs water attorney, said the CRIT has always farmed their land, which generates revenue for them.
Welcome signs on Arizona State Route 95 greeting motorists arriving in Parker feature the word, โagriculture.โ
The Colorado River flows through the homeland of the Colorado River Indian Tribes on April 26 in Parker, Ariz. Credit: Noel Lyn Smith/Inside Climate News
Although the tribe holds the largest and most senior right to Colorado River water in Arizona, they were blocked from deciding alternatives for its use outside of their land. According to Vick, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1963 confirmed the tribeโs reserved water rightsโan allocation with priority dates ranging from 1865 to 1876.
โThese early priority dates are the most senior in the lower basin and it is this seniority that makes them such a valuable asset,โ she said.
About 40 years ago, tribal leaders started examining the possibility of leasing river water to users outside their reservation. The effort became viable in the last decade because of the looming shortages in the Central Arizona Project, a system of canals that deliver Colorado River water from northern Arizona to the central and southern parts of the state.
โThe council established a singular goal, to obtain and confirm their sovereign authority to enter agreements to lease or conserve water off reservation in exchange for secure revenue,โ Vick said.
As part of that effort, tribal members passed a referendum in 2018 that supported leasing river water, she explained.
โThe previous councils have laid the foundation for this legislation, but this council brought it across the finish line,โ the tribeโs Vice Chairman Dwight Lomayesva said.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., introduced the Colorado River Indian Tribes Water Resiliency Act of 2022, which cleared the way for the agreement. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law in January 2023.
This was the first legislation of its kind, and was not easy to get across the finish line, the senator said.
โThis is a big deal for the tribeโs sovereignty, for the tribeโs economy, our collective efforts to protect our water resources and for partners who want to work with the tribe,โ Kelly said.
“Biologists weighing, measuring and tagging endanged fish pulled from the decades-old Old Charley water control structure, Ouray National Wildlife Refuge, Utah.” – Reclamation photo by David Speas.
WASHINGTON โ The Bureau of Reclamation today announced a $21 million investment from President Bidenโs Investing in America agenda for endangered species recovery and conservation in the Colorado River Basin. Project funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will support the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program, the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program and the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program.
โThis funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will aid us in fulfilling our mission of safeguarding and responsibly managing water resources,โ said Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton. โWith this investment, each of our programs will have the opportunity to advance initiatives aimed at protecting species affected by drought, contributing to environmental sustainability.โ
The Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program and San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program work to recover endangered and threatened fish in the Upper Colorado River Basin while water development proceeds in accordance with Federal and state laws and interstate compacts. The Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program was created to balance the use of the Colorado River water resources in Arizona, California and Nevada with the conservation of native species and their habitats.
The selected projects are:
Colorado: $1.2 million for the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program to design a fish exclusion feature at Lake Catamount, roughly 8.5 miles south of Steamboat Springs. The feature will prevent nonnative Northern pike from escaping downstream to critical habitat for threatened and endangered fish in the Yampa River.
Utah and Colorado: $2.6 million for the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program to address needed repairs that will improve performance and efficiency at the Ouray National Fish Hatcheryโs Grand Valley and Randlett units in Colorado and Utah, respectively, and enhance production of threatened and endangered fish for stocking purposes at Wahweap State Hatchery in Utah.ย Utah:ย $1 million for the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program to replace the water control structure at Old Charley Wash, a floodplain wetland near the Green River that provides habitat for rearing threatened and endangered fish.
New Mexico:ย $5.2 million for the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program to design and construct a fish passage structure on the San Juan River roughly 17 miles west of Farmington, New Mexico. The structure would allow threatened and endangered fish to migrate upstream beyond an Arizona Public Service Company diversion weir that currently limits fish passage.
Arizona, California:ย $10 million for the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program to build rearing ponds for native fishes at the Yuma Meadows Conservation Area.
Arizona:ย $1 million for the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program to study fish entrainment at Glen Canyon Dam.
This funding builds on a previous $20 million investment announced in 2022 for environmental projects.
Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Reclamation is investing $8.3 billion over five years for water infrastructure projects, including rural water, water storage, conservation and conveyance, nature-based solutions, dam safety, water purification and reuse, and desalination. Since Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was signed, Reclamation has announced more than $3 billion for more than 440 projects.
Students from Palisade High School kissed good-bye to hatchery-raised juvenile razorback suckers before releasing them into the Colorado River last month (May 2023). The fish are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, but populations have recovered enough that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to downlist them to threatened.
CREDIT: HEATHER SACKETT/ASPEN JOURNALISM
The Palisade High School Endangered Fish Hatchery program hosted its fourth annual razorback sucker release Friday at Riverbend Park. Students in the program, partnering with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, released 370 razorback suckers into the Colorado River โ a single-year record for the program โ to surpass 1,000 fish released in the past four years. Many of the fish released, as always, received smooches before being released into the river, as is PHS Endangered Fish Hatchery tradition.
โOur fish release days are always kind of bittersweet. We definitely grow attached to our fish like our pets, so weโre excited to release them, but at the same time, weโre going to miss seeing them every day,โ said Palisade Fish Hatchery Teacher Patrick Steele. โWe know this is what weโve been working all year for. The whole purpose of this is to help to recover this population of endangered razorback suckers. When you get to this point, itโs exciting.โ
In 2023, more than 7% of cars sold in the United States were electric vehicles. In some parts of the world, such as Norway, EVs make up a whopping 20% of cars on the road. In California, where I live, almost 60% of people looking for a car in 2021 said they would at least consider getting an EV.
This upswing in demand comes after years of flagging sales. As recently as 2010, fewer than 100,000 cars on U.S. roads were EVs. That number crossed the 1 million mark in 2018, up more than 80% over the prior year.
What explains this seemingly unexpected surge over the past few years?
The key word here is โseemingly.โ And the answer reveals an interesting history that most people are completely unaware of.
I teach entrepreneurship at the USC Marshall School of Business, and Iโve been studying the EV market for more than a decade. When I ask students, โHow long have EVs been commercially available?โ most of them will answer five years, or 10, perhaps 20. One person might point to an EV launched by General Motors in the 1990s whose name they canโt seem to remember.
But occasionally, a precocious person โ usually in the back row โ will raise a hand and answer, โSince the early 1900s.โ
Thatโs almost the right answer.
Electric vehicles and the long road to adoption
EVs are a new old technology. Most people donโt know that theyโve been commercially available since as far back as the 1890s. Back then, there was a fight over how best to power a car, or what business professors would call a battle for โdominant design.โ The options were internal combustion engines, electric and โ as unlikely as it sounds โ steam. Yes, thatโs how long itโs been since that battle was first fought.
Almost 40% of vehicles on the road in the early 1900s were electric. But after Henry Fordโs first Model T, which used an internal combustion engine, left the production line in 1908, they all but disappeared. EVs have been trying to make a comeback ever since. Like the precocious person in the back of my classroom knows, theyโve been the โnext big thingโ for more than 100 years.
So, what factors help explain why EVs lost the battle for dominant design back then โ and why do they appear to have a fighting chance today?
The โcool factorโ โ but so much more
Those who point to the Tesla Roadster as the first modern EV point to its reputation as fun, sporty and cool. And theyโre right: The Tesla Roadster did make EVs cool โ if expensive, at over US$100,000 dollars at its launch in 2008.
But there are many more factors that explain the rise in demand and, more importantly, broad adoption of EVs.
One reason for the rise in demand starting in about 2010 is better and more widely available charging infrastructure. In the U.S. in 2009, there were fewer than 500 public and private charging stations nationwide; today, there are more than 100 times as many. That has helped allay consumersโ โrange anxiety,โ that nagging fear that youโll run out of โjuiceโ before you can get to a charging station.
Technology adoption: It takes a village โ and time
Apart from those technical and economic factors, current studies and my own ongoing research also suggest that the social conversation around EVs โ what everyone in the world says and thinks about them โ has also taken a turn for the better.
Technology adoption is influenced by whatโs known as โpeer effectsโ โ the desire to compare oneself with others. Thatโs because people engage in โsocial comparisonโ by paying attention to what others like them are doing and, more importantly, how those other people might view their behavior. The same is true, for instance, of solar panel adoption, another technology that, like EVs, has both personal and social benefits.
As I noted earlier, the coolness factor has a positive impact on EV adoption. Driving a cool car matters because that coolness is visible. And when a car has been uncool for so long, a fundamental โ and positive โ change in its public perception can substantially affect demand and adoption.
The challenge of EV adoption is a reminder that many of our technologies arenโt just tools or devices โ theyโre ways of getting things done. Technology comes from the Greek word โtechne,โ which means a practice, a set of habits and a way to accomplish a goal.
Much of our technology, from early word processing software to todayโs streaming services, depends on collective social behaviors and how they change โ or, in many cases, donโt.
For example, the standard โqwertyโ keyboard is not intuitive. But because it set the standard, it became the dominant design. Itโs now too efficient, and too socially embedded, to allow for easy replacement.
New technologies canโt even look too different from what weโre used to or they would make it too hard for us to adopt them. Thatโs why EV charging plugs look like โ you guessed it โ gas pump nozzles.
In other words, cool technologies need to be in line with existing behaviors and customs, or theyโll have to travel a long road toward establishing new ones. Without this alignment, new tech will sit on a shelf for a long time but never succeed โ like EVs almost did.
This article was updated on Feb. 20, 2024, to clarify that 20% of automobiles in use in Norway are EVs.
Click the link to read the article on the Pagosa Springs Sun website (Clayton Chaney). Here’s an excerpt:
May 2, 2024
On April 30, the National Weather Service (NWS) released its drought outlook for May, which states โthe last 4 weeks brought improvement to areas of drought in most of the Rock- ies and Intermountain West.โ The outlook depicts much of New Mexico still with areas of persistent drought along with small portions of southern Colorado, including Archuleta County…According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, as of noon on April 30, all of Archuleta County is in an abnormally dry stage, with southwestern parts of the county in a D1 Level Moderate drought. For more information and current drought information, visit https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?fips_08007…
The stateโs snowpack was at 114 percent of median on April 9, but, as of April 30, the stateโs snowpack had fallen to 91 percent of median…
As of 11 a.m. on Tuesday, April 30, the Wolf Creek summit, at 11,000 feet of elevation, had 21.8 inches of snow water equivalent, according to NRCS. The Wolf Creek summit was at 63 percent of the April 30 snowpack median. The San Miguel, Dolores, Animas and San Juan river basins were at 64 percent of median, according to the NRCS. The median snowpack peak date is April 2…
The South Platte basin had the highest snow water equivalent in the state at 104 percent of median as of Tuesday, April 30…
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the San Juan River was flowing at a rate of 538 cubic feet per second (cfs) in Pagosa Springs at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, April 30. Based on 88 years of water records, the median flow for that date is 712 cfs, with a record high flow of 2,090 cfs in 2019. The lowest recorded flow for that date is 127 cfs in 2002…
As of April 30 at 11 a.m., the Piedra River was flowing at a rate of 577 cfs, which is below the median flow rate of 813 cfs for that date, according to the USGS. The record high flow rate for that date was set in 1973 at 3,270 cfs, while the record low was set in 2002 at 97.7 cfs.
Click the link to read the article on The Buzz website (Floyd Ciruli):
May 2, 2024
Colorado voters may be asked to direct more sports gaming revenue to water conservation projects.
Jerd Smith of Fresh Water News reports on new legislation with bipartisan support including House speaker Julie McCluskie that will refer a ballot issue to voters in November. It will shift any gaming revenue over a $29 million cap in the original ballot proposition to water projects.
I said the measure should pass with leadership support and that voters are likely to be supportive.
Voters are concerned about water conservation
The measure would not expand gaming or increase taxes
Gaming interests (Fan Duel or DraftKings) are not opposed
Environmental interests appear supportive
โWhile the original sports betting ballot measure received tepid support, the tax question, if it makes the ballot, may win broader support due to ongoing voter concerns about water conservation and protection and the high-profile crisis on the drought- stressed Colorado River, veteran pollster and political analyst Floyd Ciruli said.
โI have not seen any polls that negate what we knew strongly back then, that water conservation and water protection are environmental issues that Coloradans care strongly about,โ he said.”
During their respective board meetings on Tuesday, Grand County committed $1 million through their Open Lands, Rivers and Trails grant fund; Eagle County expressed its intent to commit $2 million; and Mesa County, $1 million, the press release said. As longtime partners in the Shoshone Water Right Preservation Coalition, these counties represent some of the most populous Western Slope communities from the Colorado Riverโs headwaters to the state line…
The owner of the Shoshone rights is entitled to โcallโ for up to 1 million acre-feet of Colorado River water a year. When the Shoshone right calls, some upstream users must leave water in the river so it runs down to Glenwood Canyon, boosting flows. The hydro plant uses the water for power generation and then returns it to the river, meaning the rights also benefit flows downstream of the plant.ย While Xcel would continue using the water for power production after the sale, the river district is also seeking an instream flow agreement with the state of Colorado, which would allow it to use the water rights simply to prop up river flows even when the plantโs turbines are inactive.ย
Fast-growing Aurora plans to develop a new 200-acre site high in scenic Park County to build the largest reservoir in its system.
The $600 million-plus Wild Horse Reservoir project would store 93,000 acre-feet of water and be nearly twice the size of the cityโs existing Park County storage pond, Spinney Mountain Reservoir, which holds 53,651 acre-feet of water. An acre-foot equals nearly 326,000 gallons of water, enough to serve at least two to four urban households for one year.
The proposed reservoir is among the latest moves by the city to secure future water supplies to meet growth-driven demand as streams and rivers shrink because of climate change.
Aurora, the third largest city in Colorado, is home toย nearly 400,000 peopleย and is expected to add some 300,000 more by 2070, according to the cityโs website.
Pre-permitting discussions on the project have begun, according to Aurora Water spokesperson Greg Baker, and the process is expected to take at least two years. The reservoir is part of a larger water supply strategy that includes a recent $80.4 million purchase of farm water in the Arkansas River Valley, a deal that is drawing opposition from the Pueblo-based Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District.
Park County Commissioner Amy Mitchell declined to comment on the Wild Horse proposal, citing the county commissionโs legal responsibility to review it under whatโs known as a 1041 permit review, a process that gives the county the ability to approve or reject construction projects. That review could happen as early as next year, she said.
Like other cities, Aurora officials say they need to move quickly now to ensure residents and industry will have enough water in the future.
โAre we moving fast? If the opportunity is there, yes, we are taking it. Water will only become more difficult and expensive to obtain,โ Baker said.
Aurora raw water facilities. Credit: Aurora Water
Other major new storage projects are being planned by cities along the Front Range, with Parker Water and Sanitation District hoping to build a 72,000 acre-foot reservoir in northeastern Colorado as part of a new municipal farm-water collaboration known as the Platte Valley Water Partnership.
The Aurora and Platte Valley projects are expected to be completed in roughly 10 to 15 years.
For Aurora, the Wild Horse project will provide more opportunities to store water it already owns in the Upper Colorado, the Arkansas and South Platte river basins, and to move that water around, Baker said.
The city has a large-scale recycled water program known asย Prairie Waters, which operates by claiming treated wastewater Aurora owns from the South Platte River on the Eastern Plains, filtering it through a series of gravel beds and then piping it back to Auroraโs water treatment facility where it is purified and mixed with fresh water and then delivered to residents and businesses.
But as the water is reused and becomes more concentrated, salinity levels rise, which means less water can be treated and reused. Wild Horse would allow more fresh water to be sent down the river, providing more โblend waterโ for Prairie Waters and expanding the amount of reused water Aurora Water can deliver to its customers, Baker said.
Water storage reservoirs have drawn fierce environmental opposition in the past 50 years, according to Ron Redd, manager of the Parker Water and Sanitation District.
In the past, water utilities would dam rivers, forever altering the ecosystem and harming water quality.
Parker and Aurora hope these new reservoirs will have fewer environmental impacts and wonโt set off as many alarm bells because, in part, they wonโt dam rivers or streams, Redd and Baker said. Instead, pipelines will be used to deliver water to the storage ponds.
The City of Greeley walked away from an expansion of its Milton Seaman Reservoir on the North Fork of the Cache La Poudre River in 2021, deciding instead to develop a groundwater and aquifer storage project beneath theย Terry Bison Ranch, something the city believes will be easier to do and will give it more flexibility in managing its water supplies, according to Sean Chambers, director of Greeleyโs Water and Sewer Department…
More by Jerd SmithJerd Smith is editor of Fresh Water News. She can be reached at 720-398-6474, via email at jerd@wateredco.org or @jerd_smith.
WASHINGTONโ Today, May 2, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a final rule that will help protect water quality where Tribes hold and assert rights to aquatic and aquatic-dependent resources. For the first time, this action establishes a clear and consistent national framework for EPA and states to consider Tribal treaty and reserved rights when establishing Water Quality Standards under the Clean Water Act. In addition, this rule advances the Biden-Harris Administrationโs commitment to uphold the United Statesโ treaty and federal trust responsibility to federally recognized Tribes. When implemented, this final rule will better protect waters that Tribes depend on for fishing, gathering wild rice, cultural practices, and other uses.
โPresident Biden is committed to ensuring that all people have access to clean and safe water. Strengthening our regulations to support Tribes and protect precious water resources is essential,โ said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. โWith this action, EPA is establishing clear rules of the road that will support healthier Tribal communities. We look forward to partnering with Tribes and our state co-regulators to implement Clean Water Act protections consistent with Tribal treaty and reserved rights.โ
Historically, EPA has addressed Tribal reserved rights under the Clean Water Act on a case-by-case basis in state-specific actions. This practice fostered uncertainty for Tribes, states, and entities seeking to comply with Clean Water Act requirements. EPAโs final rule provides clarity and transparency by revising the federal water quality standards regulation to better protect Tribal reserved rights under the Clean Water Act. With this action, EPA is ensuring that water quality standards are established taking into consideration Clean Water Act-protected aquatic and aquatic-dependent resources where Tribes hold and assert rights to those resources under federal treaties, statutes, or executive orders. This final regulatory framework will be applied consistently while accounting for local conditions and factors to inform the development of specific water quality standards.
โThe Tribal Reserved Rights rule protects the rights of Tribal citizens, accorded by treaties, statutes, and other federal laws, to hunt, fish, and gather food in their usual and accustomed territoriesโincluding areas under state jurisdiction,โ said National Tribal Water Council Chairman Ken Norton. โWhen treaties are honored as the highest law of the land, as the Constitution directs, it is a victory for Tribes across the nation.โ
“Upholding treaty reserved rights in Ceded Territories is the right thing to do, both for Tribal members and the environment. As stressors such as climate change, pollutants and development harm the environment, it is increasingly important for Tribal members to have the opportunity to exercise their rights in Ceded Territories,” said Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Environmental Director, Brandy Toft. “It is our hope that this rule will assist to preserve the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe’s treaty protected right to harvest resources, such as fish and wild rice for subsistence, for generations to come.”
โIn the Anishinaabe (or Ojibwe) language, gibimaajiโigomin nibi means โwater is life,โโ according to Jason Schlender, Executive Administrator of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC). โAnishinaabe people recognize that clean water sustains the more-than-human relatives (natural resources) that they rely on to continue their lifeways. It was these lifeways that our member Tribes were protecting when they reserved the right to hunt, fish, and gather on land that they ceded (or sold) in treaties with the United States. GLIFWC welcomes federal actions that will ensure that water quality is improved and sustained to ensure the continued health of our more-than-human relations.โ
โElwha Tribe is pleased that the federal rule will ensure that Tribes will be heard,โ said Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe Vice-Chairman Russell N. Hepfer. โI always advocate for consultation to occur early and often. Water quality is important for our human health and for our resources. More important for our future generations. Elwha Tribes looks forward to consultation with EPA as this rule is implemented.โ
The final rule will be effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. Learn more about EPAโs final Tribal Reserved Rights rule.
Background
Water quality standards define the water quality goals for a waterbody and provide a regulatory basis for many actions under the Clean Water Act, including reporting on water quality conditions and status; developing water quality-based effluent limits in National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permits for point-sources; and setting targets for Total Maximum Daily Loads.
View the complete public packet including all staff memos by clicking HERE (.pdf)
It has been a busy few months in the interstate and federal arena on the Colorado River. Last fall, Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) requested that the seven basin states present a consensus-based proposal to the Bureau of Reclamation containing the statesโ collective desire for future operational guidelines for Lakes Powell and Mead.
The Commissioner had requested that this consensus modeling proposal be submitted no later than March 11, 2024. Unfortunately, the seven states were unable to reach a consensus. In fact, the Lower Division States stopped showing up to meetings with the Upper Division States back in mid-January, making it very hard to reach a seven-state consensus. The Upper Division States and the Lower Division States submitted modeling proposals the week before the March 11 deadline.
Those proposals can be found HERE (Upper Division) and HERE (Lower Division) respectively.
โThese proposals are pretty far apart in a lot of ways,โ said Dave โDKโ Kanzer, Dir. of Science and Interstate Matters for the River District. โBut they all include some significant reductions in the Lower Basin.โ
The Upper Division States propose operating Lake Powell based how full Lakes Mead Powell is October 1st. In their proposal, reductions in the Lower Basin use are dependent on an October 1 Combined Storage Trigger for Lakes Powell and Mead.[1]
The Upper Division States also discuss โparallel activitiesโ within the Upper Basin which are not part of the federal action or alternatives recommended to be modeled as part of the Post-2026 NEPA process but which may complement the proposal in the future. These include:
Releases from Flaming Gorge, Navajo, and Aspinall Unit; and
Pursuing a voluntary, temporary, and compensated conserved consumptive use program.
Lower Division States Proposal
The Lower Basin proposes a โtotal system contents methodโ which bases reductions on volumes of water contained within seven Upper and Lower basin reservoirs[2]ย rather than on Lake Mead and Lake Powell elevations.
The Lower Basin proposal acknowledges what it refers to as the โstructural deficitโ and commits to reducing Lower Basin water use by up to 1.5 million acre-feet each year when system storage dips below 58% with optional reductions before that.
However, when combined system storage dips below 38%, the Lower Basin proposal asks that additional cuts be split evenly between the Upper and Lower Basins.
The Lower Basin proposalโs release criteria for Lake Powell are based on reservoir contents in the Upper Basin (Flaming Gorge, Navajo, Blue Mesa, and Lake Powell).
So what does that mean?
The Upper Basin proposal charts a reasonable path forward for the basin. It acknowledges the hydrologic realities of the river as well as the long-standing impacts to communities and industries who have already dealt with decades of involuntary reductions by living within what the river provides each year.
โLiving within the hydrology is something we do here in the Upper Basin every year,โ said Andy Mueller, Colorado River District General Manager. โWater users like those in the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association have to take a guess at how much water his water users are going to be able to have each year. And until perhaps last year, no one in the Lower Basin has ever been faced with that decision.โ
On the other hand, the Lower Basin proposal would unfairly burden the Upper Basin when storage volumes are low by forcing reductions in use in the Upper Basin that are equivalent to reductions in the Lower Basin โ even though the Lower Basinโs consumptive use far exceeds use in the Upper Basin by millions of acre-feet. It does not recognize the imperative to live within the hydrologic realities. This approach continues to use failed and outdated math and is unrealistic about the future of the river under the impacts of climate change.
Other Proposals
More recently, at least three other proposals of note were submitted to the Bureau of Reclamation for consideration:
A group of 20 of Colorado River basin tribes submitted a set of guiding principles to Reclamation that strongly suggests policy changes to address (HERE) the historical lack of Indigenous voices in the discussion and decision-making processes regarding Colorado River issues and calls for equitable representation.
Seven environmental organizations submitted a proposal (HERE) to Reclamation that outlines new flexible operational rules based upon reservoir storage thresholds and climatic conditions. Furthermore, they propose specific stewardship targets related to Grand Canyon flows, endangered fish recovery, and the Colorado River Delta. To support these targets, they propose creating an environmental water bank via purchase and/or conservation actions that would be operated independently from the abovementioned operational thresholds to meet environmental goals.
A group of independent water professionals that includes Professors Jack Schmidt and John Fleck along with CRDโs former General Manager, Eric Kuhn, submitted a proposal (HERE) to Reclamation that suggests a new flexible accounting concept be implemented that would allow storage credits to be created and transferred without impacting Colorado River compact accounting. It also suggests creating a new authority under an expanded Glen Canyon Dam adaptive management program and Federal Advisory Committee to enable more operational flexibility to meet multiple objectives beyond water supply objectives.
[1] The Trigger is calculated using Lake Powell and Lake Meadโs Storage volume (live storage below flood control elevations) by subtracting a threshold volume from the total live storage. The threshold volume for Lake Powell is 4.2 MAF. The threshold volume for Lake Mead is 4.5 MAF. The threshold volume for the two reservoirs combined is 8.7 MAF.
[2] For purposes of this Lower Basin Alternative, โtotal system contentsโ is the total volume of water in live storage within Flaming Gorge Reservoir, Blue Mesa Reservoir, Navajo Reservoir, Lake Powell, Lake Mead, Lake Mojave, and Lake Havasu.
Click the link to read the article on the KNAU website. Here’s an excerpt:
May 1, 2024
Navajo leaders signed onto legislation Tuesday asking President Joe Biden to use his executive authority to halt uranium transportation on the Navajo Nation ahead of some of the first scheduled trips. The Pinyon Plain Mine near the South Rim of the Grand Canyon began production in December. Mine owner Energy Fuels is expected to transport uranium ore on highways through northern Arizona and the Navajo Nation to a southern Utah mill. The legislation emphasizes the historic impact uranium mining has had on the Navajo people.
“During the Cold War, the demand for uranium surged, prompting extensive mining operations on Navajo lands without adequate environmental safeguards, resulting in lasting devastation to land, water, and public health, including high rates of cancer and other illnesses among Navajo uranium miners and their families.โ
Coloradoโs air is not as clean as it may seem, and the youngest lungs among us are paying the price.ย I witness the consequences of Coloradoโs inadequate action on air quality daily as a pediatric lung specialist.
The new legislative efforts led by community, advocates and our elected leaders pave the way for a healthier future for our children.
Iโve dedicated my career to studying and treating respiratory issues in children and have seen firsthand the damage caused by unchecked pollution. Children living near habitual polluters are more susceptible to developing long-term health issues such as asthma and other breathing disorders. And all children are at higher risk from pollutants entering their developing lungs. Because of this, when air quality is especially poor, all children are considered a high-risk group. Iโm left with telling children to stay at home and stay inside on beautiful Colorado days, because the air is not safe for them to breathe. This is not merely a professional observation but a personal plea for action.
This package of bills represents hope โ a framework to reduce hazardous emissions from Coloradoโs biggest sources of ozone-forming pollution. Our leaders must not turn a blind eye to the problem; they must take action to require better corporate practices and extend oversight like never before.
If we ignore the realities of poor air quality on our children, we are not merely overlooking unsafe air quality metrics, but disregarding the longevity and quality of life for Coloradoโs kids.
The responsibilities of my profession extend beyond the walls of a clinic. The efforts to mitigate ozone do not strive to stifle industry, but rather to challenge it to do betterโto be innovate and consider neighbors and future generations.
Coloradans understand the value of our environment and the necessity of guarding it. As residents, parents, and stewards of this great state, I urge our senators and representatives to support this crucial legislation.
Heather De Keyser, MD is a pediatric pulmonary specialist. She advocates for policy solutions to the growing health threats of climate change with Healthy Air and Water Colorado.
Two months after Navajo Nation officials released details of a sweeping agreement to secure rights on the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers, there have been numerous community meetings to discuss what it means for people to secure water access. What’s clear is that the settlement, known as the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Agreement, is about equity, human rights and securing access to water for the next 100 years for the Navajo people.
โWhatever gets built out is going to get us a lot further to building out the infrastructure that we are going to need anyway if we want to be able to grow at our natural growth rate,” Navajo Nation Attorney General Ethel Branch said during a livestream meeting…
The agreement would settle all of the Navajo Nationโs water rights claims in Arizona, which includes the Colorado River Upper Basin, the Colorado River Lower Basin, Little Colorado River Basin and some groundwater. The proposal will be put into legislation and voted on by the Navajo Nation Council before it is sent to Congress, where lawmakers could make their own adjustments.
Native America in the Colorado River Basin. Credit: USBR
Oil and gas infrastructure is seen on the Roan Plateau in far western Colorado. (Courtesy of EcoFlight)
Click the link to read the article on The Denver Post website (Seth Klamann and Nick Coltrain). Here’s an excerpt:
April 29. 2024
Leading Colorado Democrats and the stateโs oil and gas industry announced a preemptive armistice Monday โ one that seeks to defuse the latest round ofย dueling ballot initiativesย andย legislation aimed at the industryย and its environmental impacts. The proposals, described to reporters by Gov. Jared Polis and legislative leadership, include imposing a new per-barrel production fee on the industry and enacting new environmental standards. In exchange, the industry, lawmakers and several environmental groups agreed to abandon recent attempts at regulatory legislation and ballot initiatives…
A key part of the deal takes the form of two new bills set to be introduced in the coming days โ roughly one week before the end of the legislatureโs 2024 session. One bill would institute a fluctuating production fee on oil and gas that is expected to generate roughly $138 million annually, based on returns from recent years. Much of that money would go toward supporting transit in Colorado, potentially including metro Denverโs Regional Transportation District. The state also would set aside a slice to help restore public lands impacted by oil and gas production. The second bill would seek to reduce emissions and improve air quality via new permitting and enforcement authority. It would include funding to plug orphan wells and strategies to help communities that are disproportionately impacted by the oil and gas industry, Polis and legislative leaders said at Mondayโs late-afternoon news conference.
More problematic: All those declines are more or less concentrated in the power sector, and we need to make more rapid progress with transportation, industry, and buildings (as well as non-energy emissions from agriculture).
South Catamount is one of three reservoirs owned and operated by Colorado Springs Utilities in the North Slope Recreation Area (NSRA) of Pikes Peak. The dam structure, constructed in 1936, requires a major rehabilitation project to enhance its safety and performance. Project work includes resurfacing of the dam’s steel face and replacement of infrastructure in and around the dam. Photo credit: Colorado Springs Utilities
Dam work will restrict access to parts of the North Slope Recreation area this season. The area opened May 1, but critical work continues on the dam at South Catamount Reservoir and will limit access. The reservoir, which holds drinking water for Colorado Springs, is undergoing a major rehabilitation project on its 87-year-old dam. Project work is expected to last through 2025. The water in the reservoir was lowered significantly last year and will remain nearly empty during construction. The reservoir is not available for public recreation during this time…
The reservoir was built in 1937 and features a dam face constructed of steel, a unique feature that is exhibited in only four other reservoirs in the country, including Crystal Creek Reservoir on Pikes Peak. The steel must be resurfaced periodically to protect it from corrosion. Project work includes face resurfacing, and replacement of dam infrastructure and underground pipes.
Colorado River Research Group (CRRG) members Jack Schmidt, Eric Kuhn and John Fleck submitted an โalternativeโ to the post-2026 EIS process entitled: โManaging the Powell/Grand Canyon/Mead ecosystem after 2026.โ In a nutshell, the alternative suggests that the Secretary of Interior be empowered to employ an adaptive management approach allowing releases from Powell to Mead to โbe optimized to meet environmental, recreational, and cultural goals while retaining an interstate accounting system that still meets water-supply objectives.โ
(CN) โ Conservationists lost an appeal to the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday as they attempted to force the federal government to reconsider climate change studies in managing the Glen Canyon Dam and Colorado River.
Save the Colorado, Living River and the Center for Biological Diversity initially asked the U.S. Department of the Interior to consider emerging climate science and the severe potential of climate change in updating its management plan in 2016 for the Glen Canyon Dam on Lake Powell, which has a water level 3,564 feet above sea level. Experts say the dam will lose hydropower if the water level drops below 3,490 feet.
During the groupsโ February appeal hearing, Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Mary Murguia and U.S. Circuit Judge Anthony Johnstone, both Joe Biden appointees, questioned whether the Interiorโs absent response violated the National Environmental Policy Act itself and scrutinized the Interiorโs historical water flow modeling.
However, neither of the judgesโ skepticisms outweighed their conclusion that the Interior did not violate environmental law when developing its 20-year plan for managing water releases from the dam or the planโs accompanying environmental analysis.
โAppellants contend that Interior impermissibly elevated hydroelectric power generation in its purpose and need statement. We disagree,โ the panel wrote in the unpublished memorandum.
The Bureau of Reclamation and the National Park Service, two sub-agencies of the Interior, eventually developed and considered seven alternative plans to manage water releases from Lake Powell through the Glen Canyon Dam. But the agencies ignored alternative proposals that the conservationists say better account for future climate change.
The conservationists sued in 2019, four months after sending the Interior a letter detailing new research, which still hasnโt been answered. In December 2022, a federal judge sided with the Interior in a summary judgment finding the groups didnโt prove the federal agency hadnโt analyzed the effects of climate change.
U.S. Circuit Judge Michael Hawkins, a Bill Clinton appointee, joined Judges Murguia and Johnstone in denying the groupsโ appeal.
The panel found that the Interior selected a management plan that adequately juggled its obligations under the Grand Canyon Protect Act of 1992 with other relevant regulations, such as the Colorado River Storage Project Act of 1956.
The judges explained how the groupsโ proposals would have either reduced or eliminated hydropower generation at the dam or run afoul of the long-term management planโs limited purpose: to create monthly, daily and hourly water release schedules.
And since the Interiorโs plan controls the timing of water releases from the dam โ not the volume of water it must release annually โ the panel ruled that the Interior โreasonably focused its climate-change analysis on comparing the performance and effect of each of the seven alternatives under various climate change conditions, rather than providing a full-fledged assessment of water availability in the Colorado River Basin.โ
By ignoring the groupsโ demand for a supplemental environmental analysis, the panel decided, the Interior made a harmless error.
โBecause there is no indication that the studies contain information โnot already consideredโ or that would โmaterially affect the substance of [Interiorโs] decisionโ regarding the timing of water releases from Glen Canyon Dam, no prejudice resulted from Interiorโs failure to respond to appellantsโ letter.โ
In an email on Wednesday, Center co-founder Robin Silver acknowledged the loss while indicating that the organizationโs fight against federally operated dams is far from over.
Silver wrote, โWe lost. But operations of Glen Canyon Dam still need to be modified, whether itโs by prevention of the movement of exotic fish (mostly bass) through the dam, and the damโs dysfunction owing to the river outlet works falling apart resulting in the increasing need to use the penstocks which will further increase movement of exotic fish thus jeopardizing downstream native fish further.โ
โStay tuned,โ he added, โthere will obviously be more litigation as BuRec continues to ignore River health to provide for subsidized power production.โ
Utah News Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Utah News Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor McKenzie Romero for questions: info@utahnewsdispatch.com. Follow Utah News Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.
In Colorado, my home, we are already living with the effects from climate change โ from record flooding, early snowmelt and unheard-of winter wildfires. These impacts have serious implications for communities as well as birds in the region like Lark Buntings and Mountain Chickadees. In fact, roughly half of bird species in Colorado are threatened with extinction if we donโt slow global temperature rise.
Recent reports haveย warnedย that the effects of climate change will continue to intensify, and to avoid the worst impacts we need to quickly reduce carbon pollution.โฏIn the U.S., this includes building more wind and solar energy infrastructure and increasing transmission capacity to get that energy safely and effectively from high resource areas to population centers.
Thatโs why Audubon released the Birds and Transmission report in August 2023โand why I joined the organizationโs clean energy team earlier this year.
Our commitment to advocate for responsibly sited clean energy and transmission infrastructure is central to reaching our climate goals. We know that any infrastructure can pose risks to birds and there is no such thing as impact-free energy development, but our report shares ways that developers can easily avoid, minimize, or offset those impacts.
Here are some solutions for reducing transmission risks to birds:
Avoid high conservation value lands, with special attention to migratory pathways, wildlife corridors, and areas important for species of high risk like prairie-chickens. ย
Upgrade existing lines or expand within existing rights of way. This alone could meet up to half of all additional transmission needs.ย
Increase line visibility through marking devices or illumination with UV lights that birds can readily detect. This method has been shown to reduce collision rates at Audubonโs Rowe Sanctuary in Nebraska.ย
Investing in meaningful engagement with communities, especially from the outset, will help secure buy-in and reduce the increasing pushback that has stalled transmission projects. In our report, we were able to identify and map priority areas for birds that coincide with existing, planned, and potential transmission build-out. That way, Audubon and other stakeholders can strategically engage early and often with developers as projects are proposed and reviewed.
Itโs clear that to act on climate, we need to get transmission projects across the finish line sustainably and at the scale needed to meet the moment. As the build-out continues, Audubon will be a voice for birds and our planet, making sure that infrastructure includes science-based solutions so we can build the grid birds need. ย
Click the link to read the article on The Denver Post website (John Aguilar). Here’s an excerpt:
May 2, 2024
Larimer Countyโsย board of commissionersย will decide the fate of the 70-mile, half-billion-dollar infrastructure project as soon as Monday [May 6, 2024]. As now proposed, the pipelineย would follow an alignmentย thatโs different from the one rejected in 2019…Ultimately, the commissioners will have to balance Thorntonโs demands for water to supportย much-needed housingย in the city of 145,000 against calls by county residents and environmentalists for an alternative that avoids putting the Poudreโs water in a pipe in the first place. They contend other outcomes would maintain the health of the river.
Coloradoโs sixth most populous city wants to move 14,000 acre-feet of Poudre water to the city annually, via a 42-inch-diameter pipe.
Itโs possible a final vote by the commissioners could be delayed until Wednesday, depending on how much more public comment there is Monday…
Carolynne White, an attorney representing Thornton, noted during the hearing that the city has owned its shares in the Poudre River for decades. Itโs been diverting that portion of water into reservoirs northwest of Fort Collins, for use on farms in the area. Those water shares are the ones Thornton would send directly to the city through the pipe, rerouting water that does not flow through Fort Collins currently.
โThis project does not reduce the river flows in the Poudre River,โ White said.
During the late week and weekend, a large severe weather outbreak brought large hail, damaging winds and numerous intense tornadoes to parts of the central and southern Great Plains and Midwest. The storm systems responsible for the severe weather outbreak also brought widespread moderate and heavy rain amounts to the central U.S., leading to widespread improvements in drought and abnormally dry conditions. To the southwest of the heavy rainfall, in northwest Oklahoma and southwest and central Kansas, severe drought expanded as flash drought continued to take hold during a very dry late winter and early-mid spring, leading to reports of very poor wheat conditions and dust storms. Recent dry weather over the last month, combined with a mostly dry week, led to the development of more areas of abnormal dryness and moderate drought over scattered parts of the Southeast, Tennessee and southeast Kentucky. Conditions mostly remained unchanged in the western U.S., though a few improvements occurred in Colorado and Utah after recent precipitation, while conditions worsened in parts of southeast Montana and the Black Hills region of South Dakota and adjacent northeast Wyoming amid recent dry weather. Heavy rains in the northeast part of Puerto Rico eased drought and abnormal dryness there as streamflows improved and crop stress lessened…
Moderate to heavy precipitation fell across much of the High Plains region this week, excluding central and southwest Kansas and northeast Wyoming and southeast Colorado. Mostly warmer-than-normal temperatures occurred in Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming and the western Dakotas, while elsewhere, temperatures were mostly within a couple degrees of normal. While the storms responsible for the rain brought damaging hail and tornadoes in parts of the region, the rainfall helped to alleviate drought conditions in many areas. Eastern Kansas and Nebraska saw improvements in some areas, with parts of southeast Kansas seeing two-category improvements in the areas of heaviest rainfall. Meanwhile, in tandem with severe drought expansion in northwest Oklahoma, severe drought conditions expanded in central and southwest Kansas after another mostly dry week. Flash drought conditions in this region have led to dust storms and very poor wheat conditions…
Colorado Drought Monitor one week change map ending April 30, 2024.
Weather conditions were variable across the West this week. Precipitation amounts from 0.5 to 2 inches (locally higher) fell in western parts of Washington and Oregon. Elsewhere, precipitation amounts varied from none to locally up to 2 inches, especially in some high-elevation areas. Temperatures were mostly near normal or a couple degrees below normal in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona and western New Mexico, while near-normal or warmer-than-normal temperatures prevailed elsewhere. Drought conditions remained mostly unchanged across the region. In northeast Utah, abnormal dryness and moderate drought were reduced in coverage after recent wet weather and low evaporative demand. In southeast Montana, moderate drought grew in coverage as short-term precipitation deficits grew alongside decreasing streamflow and soil moisture…
Weather conditions varied widely across the South region this week, with heavy rain falling in parts of Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, while other areas were left mostly or completely dry. Temperatures were mostly warmer than normal across the region, especially in Oklahoma and Texas, where weekly readings came in 4-8 degrees above normal, with a few local readings even warmer than that. A few spots in central Texas and the Trans-Pecos region saw improvements to drought or abnormally dry conditions after recent rainfall. In eastern and parts of northern Oklahoma, recent heavy rainfall led to improving conditions. Meanwhile in Tennessee, short-term dryness continued, leading to the expansion of moderate drought and abnormal dryness in eastern Tennessee and the expansion of abnormal dryness in western parts of the state. Flash drought continued to worsen in parts of northwest Oklahoma and adjacent portions of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, where severe drought expanded amid quickly drying soils and growing short-term precipitation deficits…
Looking Ahead
Between the evening of Wednesday, May 1 (time of writing), and the evening of Monday, May 6, the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center is forecasting moderate to heavy rain amounts from central Texas and northern Louisiana northward into the mid-Missouri and upper-Mississippi River valleys. In this region, rainfall amounts are forecast to range from a half inch to locally as high as 3 inches, especially in parts of Oklahoma, Texas and northern Louisiana. Similar precipitation amounts are also forecast in western Washington and Oregon, while some precipitation exceeding 1 inch is also forecast in parts of the northern Sierra Nevada. Mostly dry weather is forecast for eastern Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, southwest Nevada, southern California and deep south Texas.
For May 7-11, the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Centerโs forecast favors colder-than-normal weather across much of the western U.S., with the highest confidence for colder-than-normal weather centered over Idaho and northern Nevada. Warmer-than-normal weather is expected in much of the southeast half of the contiguous U.S., especially from Texas northeast to the mid-Atlantic. Above-normal precipitation is favored in the northern U.S., especially eastern Montana, while below-normal precipitation is favored in coastal California, southern New Mexico and southern and western Texas, southeast Louisiana and most of Florida.
During the May 7-11 period, colder-than-normal temperatures are favored in southwest, south-central and southeast Alaska, and across all of Hawaii. All of Alaska is favored to receive above-normal precipitation, with confidence highest outside of the far west and northwest. With the exception of the Big Island, the forecast slightly favors above-normal precipitation in Hawaii.
US Drought Monitor one week change map ending April 30, 2024.
Just for grins here’s a gallery of US Drought Monitor early May maps for the last few years.
US Drought Monitor map May 2, 2023.US Drought Monitor map May 3, 2022.US Drought Monitor map May 4, 2021.US Drought Monitor May 5, 2020.US Drought Monitor May 7, 2019.US Drought Monitor May 8, 2018.US Drought Monitor May 2, 2017.UD Drought Monitor May 3, 2016.US Drought Monitor May 5, 2015US Drought Monitor May 6, 2014US Drought Monitor May 5, 2013US Drought Monitor May 1, 2012US Drought Monitor May 3, 2011.
Prior to 1921 this section of the Colorado River at Dead Horse Point near Moab, Utah was known as the Grand River. Mike Nielsen – Dead Horse Point State Park
This article is published through the Colorado River Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative supported by the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air at Utah State University. See all of our stories about how Utahns are impacted by the Colorado River atย greatsaltlakenews.org.
Why the Colorado River matters
The award-winning Great Salt Lake Collaborative is expanding to focus on the Colorado River. This new initiative is made up of 11 Utah newsrooms that have agreed to report on the river, its tributaries and destinations together. As a solutions journalism initiative, collaborative stories will also explain what can be done to adapt to the new realities facing this troubled river, what actions are being taken and why…The expanded scope of this reporting was made possible with a founding gift from Utah State Universityโs Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water and Air โ but all editorial decisions are made independently by member news organizations in accordance with their respective editorial policies…
As states wrangle for water and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation looms with new federal management mandates ahead of a 2026 operating guideline, everyone comes from a point of vulnerability. Will there be enough water and what if there isnโt?
โThis is not a quick ship to turn around,โ said Burdette Barker, a civil and environmental engineer at Utah State University, talking about the tension between agriculture and water use in the basin.
