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Saturday, December 17, 2005
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Hickenlooper for Governor?
Will Mayor Hickenlooper run for governor? That question has been dogging him for months. According to the Denver Post the mayor told cabinet members that he has not ruled out a run but needs a compelling reason [December 17, 2005, "Denver mayor hasn't ruled out run for governor"]. From the article, "The pressure on Hickenlooper to get into the race is rising because candidates need a year to raise enough money to mount a statewide campaign. Hickenlooper was scheduled to meet with a prominent Democratic fundraiser Saturday, a source said Friday. In recent weeks, privately commissioned polls found Hickenlooper was popular with voters statewide."
Bob Ewegen looks at the state of statewide races for 2006 in his column in today's Denver Post [December 17, 2005, "Key state races still in flux"]. He writes, "The most powerful of the three jobs is clearly that of attorney general. Incumbent Republican John Suthers was appointed to replace Democrat Ken Salazar after the latter was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004. Suthers kept most Salazar appointments at their jobs and has generally won bipartisan praise. State Sen. Dan Grossman, D-Denver, once toyed with running for the post but backed off. As of now, it looks as though Suthers will face fairly nominal Democratic opposition next fall...State treasurer looks like a more competitive contest. The current treasurer, Republican Mark Hillman, left his state Senate seat after Gov. Bill Owens named him to replace Mike Coffman. Coffman, a Marine reservist, is off in Iraq and helped that country's nascent democracy stage its recent elections. There is a kind of gentleman's agreement between Owens, Coffman and Hillman that when Coffman returns in April, Hillman will resign and Owens will reappoint Coffman as treasurer. But Coffman is term-limited and Hillman is thus the likely Republican candidate for treasurer in 2006...Also looking at the treasurer's job is Cary Kennedy, co-author along with Chris Romer of the 2000 Amendment 23 school-finance plan. She would probably be the favorite of Democratic activists at their convention. A Kennedy-Hillman race next fall would be interesting because Hillman has been a frequent critic of Amendment 23."
Category: Denver November 2006 Election
9:18:54 AM 
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Colorado River Drought Plan?
Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton, addressed the annual meeting of the Colorado River Water Users Association on Friday, according to the Rocky Mountain News [December 17, 2005, "Norton: Colorado River plan needed"].
From the article, "Western states, stuck in a stalemate over how to manage the Colorado River during droughts, are jeopardizing the legal peace that's prevailed on the river during much of the past two decades, federal water officials said Friday...
"...dozens of other groups have submitted drought proposals, the states remain deadlocked on a number of key issues, including how lakes Powell and Mead should be managed and who will bear the brunt of any shortages that may occur. Norton, in a videotaped message to hundreds of Western water officials at the annual Colorado River Water Users Association Friday, urged the states to work harder."
Here's another report about the CRWUA meeting from the Free NewMexican. They write, "The annual Colorado River Water Users Association conference brought experts together as officials from the seven states that drink from the river are facing a deadline for proposing a plan to manage the river through an ongoing drought. Norton's department started a process for developing a new water shortage plan and aims to have procedures in place by December 2007. The department is pressuring the states to submit their proposal by early February. Under a 1922 compact the states are each allotted a portion of the 15 million acre-feet of water assumed to be in the system. The debate pits the lower basin states of Nevada, California and Arizona against the upper basin states - Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Arizona. The upper basin states, for example, have pushed to reduce upstream releases to help refill Lake Powell, which has been drained to about 49 percent capacity. But the lower basin states say such a plan would jeopardize Lake Mead and downstream users."
The Arizona Republic weighs in on the CRWUA meetings this week. From the article, "Among the issues still to be settled, according to officials from the states: Colorado and the other upper river states want to explore alternatives that would free up needed water in the lower river by paying farmers there to stop growing some crops and leave their river allocations for urban users. Such a plan would cost millions of dollars, but the federal government is preparing a pilot program; Arizona and Nevada would like to see an emphasis on augmenting the river's flow, by seeding clouds over the Colorado mountains, perhaps, or starting up a desalting plant at Yuma to capture lost agricultural runoff. The lower river states also want more conservation and efficiency measures. Those ideas have not won the full support of the four upper basin states and may not be within the scope of the government's immediate plans; The states disagree on how Mexico would figure into river shortages. Mexico is entitled to 1.5 million acre-feet a year under a U.S. treaty. Any changes would have to be handled through the treaty."
Here's an article about this week's meetings from the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. They write, "But the process for dealing with shortage-sharing on the river will encompass issues outside of operating Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the system's two main reservoirs, with drought in mind...Some of the 'additional opportunities' for discussion haven't been well-received by Colorado's negotiation delegation. In a recent letter from Arizona water officials to the Department of the Interior, a request was made for the department to not consider hydropower production as a necessary purpose of the Colorado River... If Lake Powell empties to the point where it can no longer create hydropower at Glen Canyon Dam, Kuharich said, the revenues from the sale of that power would no longer be available for salinity control, endangered species or other hydropower-funded projects for the Colorado River. Another alternative currently on the negotiating table, Kuharich said, was the question of tributary use in the Lower Basin states of California, Nevada and Arizona. Pat Mulroy, Nevada's representative to the negotiations, has suggested diverting water from the Virgin and Muddy rivers east of Las Vegas to the city, but both rivers are tributaries to the Colorado River. Colorado and the other Upper Basin states of Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah argue those rivers, and others like them in the Lower Basin, should be considered as part of the Colorado River under the 1922 Colorado River Compact, the document that divides the river's water between the Upper Basin states and the Lower Basin states. Upper Basin states contend Lower Basin states are using the tributary water illegally when Upper Basin tributaries, such as the Gunnison River, are already calculated in Colorado River Compact deliveries."
Category: Colorado Water
9:03:10 AM
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Cherry Creek Dam safety
The age and safety of water supply and flood control infrastructure in the U.S. is an issue that is gaining increasing attention. Here's a story from today's Rocky Mountain News dealing with safety issues at the Cherry Creek Dam [December 17, 2005, "Cherry Creek Dam questioned again"]. From the article, "Twenty years after Cherry Creek Dam's safety was first questioned, a new federal report raises the issue again. This time, the report cites critical unresolved questions about the dam's ability to withstand a catastrophic flood and a five- year-old political stalemate that has delayed safety-related repairs at the popular state park...
"Although the dam is in no immediate danger, the Army Corps of Engineers, its owner, listed four major concerns in its report: Failure to determine conclusively if the 1940s-era dam is safe. Federal precipitation studies done in the 1980s and '90s indicated the dam would not withstand a catastrophic flood. Analysis on the issue was suspended five years ago after the Corps suggested raising the dam to make it safer. Such a move, which might have meant relocating dozens of schools and homes in Greenwood Village, caused a public outcry that prompted Congressman Tom Tancredo and others to stop funding for the Corps' work on the safety issue in 1999; Delays on work on the spillway. The work has been put on hold indefinitely until the overall dam safety issues are resolved, according to the Corps. The spillway is a sort of relief valve that would direct water into nearby Tollgate Creek in the event of a flood. In the meantime, the spillway is deteriorating, even as development along its banks becomes more dense; Deterioration of concrete walls on the dam's outlet works. The deterioration, discovered in 2001, has yet to be repaired. The report callsthe problem "a significant maintenance and potential dam safety concern." The Corps report also describes this work as being "on indefinite hold; Problems with toe drains and relief wells in the dam. The structures, designed to reduce pressure on the dam should water levels in the reservoir rise, need to be cleaned out and in some cases repaired."
Category: Colorado Water
8:49:26 AM
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Immigration Reform?
The U.S. House of Representatives passed immigration reform legislation yesterday, according to the Rocky Mountain News [December 17, 2005, "Bipartisan backing for immigration enforcement bill"]. From the article, " Colorado lawmakers showed surprising, bipartisan unity Friday night as the House of Representatives approved an immigration enforcement bill that's the first step in a long battle over reform.
Two Democrats, Reps. Mark Udall and John Salazar, joined all four of their Colorado Republican colleagues in voting for a bill that tightens enforcement against illegal immigrants and companies that hire them, while creating a two-tiered security fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Denver Democrat, was the only member of the Colorado House contingent to oppose the bill, which passed by a 239-182 vote...But critics, including Democrats and Republicans, said there is little chance the entire bill will become law without major revisions in the Senate, where may senators are pushing for a guest worker plan that President Bush supports."
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
8:39:16 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/14/09; 7:54:35 PM.
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