Coyote Gulch

Tuesday, December 6, 2005

Harris Sherman appointed to Denver Water

Denver Business Journal: "Harris Sherman, a senior partner at the Denver office of Arnold & Porter LLP and a former executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, was appointed Tuesday to the Denver Water Board by Mayor John Hickenlooper. Sherman will fill the vacancy created when Commissioner Bill Roberts resigned on Oct. 18 for health reasons. Hickenlooper now has appointed four of the five Denver Water commissioners. Established in 1918, Denver Water is one of the state's most powerful entities, and is Colorado's oldest and largest water utility, serving 1.2 million customers. Its board is responsible for ensuring a continuous supply of water to Denver and surrounding suburbs...The Denver Water Board is composed of five commissioners, appointed by the mayor, who serve staggered six-year terms. Denver Water Board members with ongoing, unexpired terms are Denise Maes, appointed by former Mayor Wellington Webb; George Beardsley and Tom Gougeon, who were appointed by Mayor Hickenlooper in 2004; and Penfield Tate, who was appointed by Mayor Hickenlooper in October 2005."

Category: Colorado Water

6:13:31 PM

Classic Bandidos
NewMexiKen: "From a report in The Albuquerque Tribune: 'The proudest man in Albuquerque this weekend might be a 57-year-old Peruvian with an eye for talent and a knack for teaching. Three of the four teams still kicking in the College Cup [the NCAA Division I men's championship] have Albuquerque natives who played club soccer for the Classic Bandidos, coached by Ricardo Beraun.'"

6:03:48 PM

McCain for President?

Arianna Huffington wonders what's happened to John McCain in her column in today's Huffington Post. She writes, "The big question now -- a question left unanswered on today's show -- is: which is the real McCain? The captain of the Straight Talk Express, or the one who showed up today trying to have it both ways -- expressing just enough gentle criticism to keep his 'maverick' bona fides, while at the same time assuring Bush's right wing supporters they have nothing to worry about? It's probably no coincidence that today's Meet the Press appearance looked like a hostage videotape -- the party powers appear to have McCain securely squared away. In a column I wrote about McCain after the 2000 election, I quoted Mark Salter, McCain's chief of staff, telling me in reference to the resistance to campaign finance reform: 'The dam is starting to break.' You could say the same thing today about support for the president's policies in Iraq. The difference is, McCain is on the other side of the dam, desperately trying to help George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld keep it together. Here's what McCain's Straight Talk Express sounded like today: 'Look, progress has been made in many parts of the country. In the north, it's relatively peaceful. Most of the areas in the south, there's significant progress... I believe that you can see continued progress... I do believe we've made progress.' Notice the buzzword of the day? 'Progress' -- repeated four times."

Thanks to Halley Suitt for the link. Ms. Suitt, by the way, has discovered news aggregators in general and Bloglines in particular.

Howling At A Waning Moon: "New research has found that levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - the main cause of global warming - are higher than at any time in the past 625,000 years. This year is expected to be the warmest ever recorded; 1998 was the hottest so far, but the past three years currently occupy the next three places."

Walter in Denver: "Little known fact - if pharaoh hadn't relented after the tenth plague, the eleventh plague was to be a major political convention."

The Moderate Voice: "The failure of intelligent design. And what a grand failure it is, both as a wholly un- and anti-scientific theory and, increasingly, as a faith-based political movement."

Bull Moose: "But, most smart GOPers are not really worried about the Texas prosecution of DeLay. What does concern them is what federal investigators in the Abramoff case have up their sleeve. The Moose has been observing the Abramoff matter for the past ten years. It all began with right- wing four-star junkets to the Marianas to view the pleasures of sweat shops. It morphed into the Indian gaming scandal. And it involves not just Republican members of Congress and even some Democrats, but a good part of the conservative establishment."

Blogs for Bush: "Back in December of 2002, if you were to predict that in three years tens of thousands of Iraqis would be in an American-allied army and being described as aggressive and competant, you'd have been sent to have your head examined."

Category: 2008 Presidential Election

6:54:41 AM

Castle Rock and sustainable water supplies

Here's a short article about Castle Rock's plans for a sustainable water supply from today's Denver Post [December 6, 2005, "Ideas converge in Castle Rock's water plan"]. From the article, "As Castle Rock unveils a $394 million plan to meet its future water needs, Douglas County Commissioner Steve Boand says the 37 other water providers in the county should have a similar strategy for managing growth...The switch from aquifers to renewable water - a combination of supplies from rivers, farms, treated wastewater and drainage into the Rueter-Hess Reservoir under construction - won't be cheap. If the Town Council adopts the plan, as expected, residents will see water rates jump from about $5 a month to $10 a month. That figure would reach $25 a month by 2010. Development fees would double, increasing by $12,000 for each new tap to pay for the rest of the water plan."

From today's Denver Post, "The Sierra Club on Monday sued Colorado Springs Utilities and the city of Colorado Springs over raw sewage discharges into Fountain Creek. The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court, asks for an order requiring the city to stop the discharges and to expedite upgrades to the sewer system. 'This is a public health crisis that must be fixed now,' said Ross Vincent, Sierra Club senior policy analyst in Pueblo. Steve Berry, a spokesman for Colorado Springs Utilities, said the utility has launched several initiatives to reduce spills."

More on the Sierra Club lawsuit from the Pueblo Chieftain. They write, "The Sierra Club filed a complaint against Colorado Springs in Denver federal court Monday seeking an injunction and civil penalties for repeated sewage spills into Fountain Creek. The lawsuit likely will be joined with a suit filed in October by Pueblo District Attorney Bill Thiebaut, said Eric Huber, Sierra Club attorney. 'We look forward to supporting the action,' Huber said. 'Pueblo can't wait another seven years for the raw sewage discharges to end.' The complaint details spills of more than 73 million gallons of raw sewage since 1998, focusing on spills in May and June that dumped more than 340,000 gallons into Fountain Creek."

Category: Colorado Water

6:25:45 AM

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