Coyote Gulch

Sunday, January 1, 2006

Happy New Year

Coyote Gulch wishes all a Happy New Year! We hope that you win the Powerball jackpot, that all your candidates win and all the issues you care about do well. Don't forget to resolve to be smarter with water in 2006.

10:59:31 AM

Cloud-seeding in Wyoming

Here's an article from the Denver Post about the cloud-seeding program up in Wyoming [January 1, 2006, "Research to tickle the clouds for answer Does seeding bring rain or snow?"]. They write, "Breed expects to spend the end of January in Wyoming, beginning to collect data for the study. He and his colleagues will decide what types of clouds to seed next winter, with silver oxide dust sprayed from aircraft or sent up from ground burners.

"'There isn't much question about the theory or concept of cloud seeding,' Breed said. 'The problem is trying it on a large scale, on mountainous terrain. ...'

"Promising clouds for seeding hold droplets of supercooled water, several degrees below freezing, he said. Water below zero degrees Fahrenheit still won't freeze unless it has something to initiate the process, such as a speck of dust or ice.

"Silver iodide particles work beautifully. The chemicals have been used successfully in snowblowers, and in limited experiments to dissipate rare types of fog.

"Companies in Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana and other states have practiced cloud seeding on a larger scale for decades, Breed said. Results have never have been clear, but it's a relatively inexpensive endeavor."

Category: Colorado Water

10:45:21 AM

Runoff from oil and gas drilling

The Denver Post has a report today about the move by green conservatives and environmentalists to have the State Water Quality Control Division regulate runoff from oil and gas wells. From the article, "In what promises to be one of the biggest showdowns over water quality in the new year, a state commission will decide next week whether it should continue to regulate stormwater runoff from oil and gas wells. The booming oil and gas industry says that job belongs to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which issues drilling permits to energy companies. A coalition of farmers, environmentalists, West Slope towns and counties argue that the state water- quality control commission should continue to make sure oil and gas wells aren't oozing muck into nearby waterways."

Category: Colorado Water

10:36:18 AM

2006 Legislative session
The Denver Post is speculating about the November election today [January 1, 2006, "Capitol session looking brutal"]. They write, "Almost everything state leaders do this session will be with an eye toward November's election, which will decide every statewide office and control of the legislature. Insiders agree the outcome probably will shape the state's political climate - from statehouse to Congress - for years to come...Leaders on both sides said they expect the power struggle to result in plenty of political gamesmanship this session, such as forcing votes on issues the other side won't want recorded."

Gary Lindstrom has picked a winner for his campaign for governor. He's talking about restricting growth, according to the Denver Post [January 1, 2006, "Dem gubernatorial candidate weighs in on growth"]. From the article, "The former Summit County commissioner, who worked to balance growth with the desire to maintain a sense of place as a mountain community, now has joined the Democratic race for governor on a platform that growth needs to be better managed and, at times, restricted. 'We have a five-bedroom house and we're inviting 20 people to stay,' he said when he announced his candidacy in early December. The 63-year-old said his nine years as a commissioner in a fast-growing, headwaters community puts him in good position to lead a state struggling with how to manage growth and water issues. But the freshman state legislator and political unknown's ideas strike so-called smart-growth experts as politically unworkable, an echo of plans by former Govs. Dick Lamm and Roy Romer that went down in flames. Efforts to develop the Front Range more thoughtfully and focus growth in other areas of the state met with tremendous resistance."

Fred Brown looks at the November election in his column in today's Denver Post [January 1, 2006, "Colorado's politics not easy to predict"]. He writes, "Whatever happens in 2006 depends on independent voters. Statewide, they're 33 percent of the electorate. They don't get to vote in party primaries, but they have a lot to say about who wins in November. And, in their unpredictable way, that's exactly what they've been doing, especially recently."

Category: Denver November 2006 Election

10:17:28 AM

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