Thursday, June 8, 2006

Summitville cleanup benefitting from drought USA Water News: "Officials at the Summitville site, a former gold mine near the New Mexico line once described as Colorado's worst environmental disaster, say the state's lingering drought has helped the cleanup process. This winter's relatively low snowpack -- about 70 percent of average -- means that virtually all water runoff from the site can be treated to remove contaminants, said Austin Buckingham, site manager for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. It also allowed crews to start this year's treatment efforts earlier than last year, when some runoff from a snowpack 165 percent of average couldn't be treated, he said. It costs about $1.4 million per year to treat the contaminated water, and about $195 million has been spent so far cleaning up the Superfund site. The 1,440-acre Summitville site about 25 miles southwest of Del Norte sits at about 11,500 feet above sea level and had been mined by various methods since 1870. Most recently, miners heaped crushed ore into piles that were drenched with a cyanide mixture to leach gold from the rock. In 1992, a containment basin failed, sending water contaminated with heavy metals into nearby creeks that feed the Alamosa River. The pollution killed all life in 17 miles of the river system. Summitville Consolidated Mining Co. Inc., a subsidiary of Galactic Resources Ltd. of Canada, declared bankruptcy that year. The site's water-treatment plant has received about $400,000 in upgrades to make it safer and more efficient, but a new plant capable of handling all the runoff from high-snowpack years probably won't be possible, said Victor Ketellapper, site manager for the Environmental Protection Agency." "colorado water" 7:45:50 PM

Take away the checkbook Garrison Keillor: "It is painful to look at your father and realize the old man should not be allowed to manage his own money anymore. This is the discovery the country has made about the party in power. They are inept. The checkbook needs to be taken away. They will rant, they will screech, they will wave their canes at you and call you all sorts of names, but you have to do what you have to do." Thanks to CJ's Bullhorn for the link. "2008 pres" 7:10:39 AM

Burn in hell Zarqawi Bull Moose: "Evil has suffered a setback. This is a moment of clarity for civilization. Zarqawi was a moral monster who sought to destroy everything that humane people cherish. And his death is a reminder about the nature of this war. This is a just war. Our troops are not fighting to gain territory or colonize another people. Rather they are confronting the face of evil. Our forces liberated a nation and toppled one of the worst tyrants of the last century. Much has gone wrong, but we should not apologize for this fight. Zarqawi understood the stakes in this conflict. Unfortunately, many in the West do not comprehend the nature of this fight. Zarqawi thought that his brazen killing of innocents would weaken our will - and it has. But he knew that if he could force America to retreat in the face of his barbarism - barbarism would have the upper hand." "2008 pres" 7:04:26 AM

Schwietzer for president? Howard Finemen: "But perhaps the netroots' favorite avatar in waiting is Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana. In their eyes he's the rootin'-tootin' real deal, a rancher turned politician who believes in government activism set free from traditional liberal thinking and interest-group methods." Thanks to the Western Democrat for the link. "2008 pres" 7:02:15 AM

Initiative 75 and Initiative 90 The Denver Post editorial staff is urging voters to reject the two bills slated for the fall ballot that would enact term limits for judges. They write, "A pair of proposed ballot initiatives to term-limit Colorado appellate and Supreme Court judges pose no moral dilemma for us of choosing the lesser of two evils: Both deserve to go down in flames. Initiative 75 would term-limit appellate judges and justices to 12 years, and No. 90 would restrict them to 10 years and apply retroactively. They are a toxic attack on an independent judicial system that works extremely well. The driving force behind the initiatives is former state Sen. John Andrews - who has never forgiven the Supreme Court for striking down his illegal 2003 'midnight gerrymander,' the most ignominious legislative stunt of recent memory." "denver 2006" 6:55:00 AM

Holtzman for governor? Here's an article from today's Rocky Mountain News with an update on Marc Holtzman's chances to make the August 8th primary ballot. From the article, "Gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman's fight to get into the Republican primary may be more difficult than he and his advocates are predicting. That's because even if he is successful in reinstating every single Republican signature thrown out in the 1st and 7th congressional districts, he'll still fall hundreds of signatures short of the number he needs to get onto the Aug. 8 ballot. That means the future of his campaign hinges on the ability to find the valid signatures he needs among another 4,239 rejected, those signed by people who didn't list either their party affiliation or their congressional district. If he fails, the months of campaigning and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent will have been for naught... "A Rocky Mountain News examination of those rejected signatures showed that Holtzman will still be short even if he is successful in having every single Republican signature reinstated in the two congressional districts. That's because in the 1st District, for example, the rejected signatures included only 157 Republicans. That means that even if all of them are reinstated, Holtzman would still be 176 signatures short in Denver. Ditto the 7th District. Even if all 133 rejected Republican signatures are reinstated there, Holtzman would still be 277 short. That's why he must turn to the 4,239 rejected signatures from people who didn't list either their party affiliation or their congressional district. A Rocky Mountain News examination of that group of signatures showed that Holtzman's campaign faces several different challenges in finding the numbers it needs: More than half of those signatures - 2,497 - were from people the Secretary of State's Office could not find in the list of registered voters in its computer system; Some of them may have only recently registered, but others may not ever have registered; Another 814 of them were rejected because while they were found on the list of registered voters, their addresses had changed; While this group may be the most likely to be reinstated, 225 of them aren't in either the 1st or 7th districts." According to the Denver Post Holtzmans's complaint is taking the state into uncharted election waters. From the article, "Marc Holtzman is taking Colorado into uncharted territory. In his quest to make the primary ballot, the Republican gubernatorial hopeful has become the first person to challenge what was once considered established state law. And that may delay the secretary of state's office's certification of the Aug. 8 primary ballot, which in turn could hold up getting ballots to voters... "State law requires that the ballot be certified by Friday and that each of the state's 64 counties print their ballots by July 7. A delay in printing could mean voters don't get their absentee or early voting ballots on time. At issue is who has jurisdiction to hear Holtzman's appeal of last week's ruling by the secretary of state that he did not have enough valid signatures to make the ballot. [Deputy Secretary of State Bill Hobbs] suspended a hearing on the matter Wednesday, saying he would await guidance from a judge on how to proceed. Although there is a five- day period to protest a ruling before the secretary of state, Holtzman's legal team - Mark Grueskin and John Head - has contended that the process spelled out in state law does not apply here. The statute, they say, refers only to cases in which Dennis finds sufficient signatures and someone objects to that finding. The law does not make reference to candidates such as Holtzman who have insufficient signatures. Grueskin said he will file suit in Denver District Court today and ask a judge to decide whether to delay certification of the ballot until the court rules on the jurisdiction issues. A court hearing could start as early as today." "denver 2006" 6:43:39 AM

Huerfano County drought emergency Huerfano County has declared a drought emergency, according to the CBS4Denver.com. From the article, "Huerfano County commissioners have declared the southern Colorado county a disaster area due to lingering drought. In my mind it's not really a disaster but it could be,' commissioner Oress DeHerrera said this week. 'By declaring it, you put yourself in position to be able to get any assistance from the state for the county should a disaster happen.' A 100-acre wildfire was burning in the county near Gardner. Residents of four homes were evacuated because of the blaze in mixed conifer and pinon pine forest. DeHerrera said moisture levels are down all over, from the lack of snow on the Spanish Peaks to the dwindling Cuchara River water flow." "colorado water" 6:33:15 AM

Lake Powell pipeline Here's an update on the Lake Powell Pipeline from the Cedar City Review. From the article, "The way was cleared last month when Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed the Lake Powell Pipeline Development Act into law. Where does Cedar City and the rest of Iron County go from here? Scott Wilson, the Iron County Water Conservancy manager, said there are literally thousands of steps to be accomplished between the signing of the Lake Powell Pipeline Act and the time that a pipeline actually links southern Utah with Lake Powell. The timeline for all of this to be accomplished is about 15 years. One of the first steps is resolving environmental issues. Iron County will be competing for water resources from Lake Powell. Wilson said the State of Utah has rights to approximately 360,000 to 370,000 acre-feet of presently unused water through the Lake Powell Compact. This amount is calculated on the basis of contributions to the Lake Powell reservoir from Utah's precipitation run-off. There are applications filed for 400,000 acre-feet... "The largest issue that looms ahead in the Lake Powell pipeline project is the cost. Wilson estimated Iron County's portion of the cost to be $125 to $130 million. He said he believes the financial resources to pay that price tag will be a combination of property taxes, impact fees and user fees. Harold Shirley, member of the State Board of Water Resources, said he believes the fees for new water hook-ups will finance the pipeline project's cost. He said he feels that even those who are in favor of the pipeline project are nervous about the cost. Wilson said there will be money spent just to get additional water infrastructure such as treatment, storage and transmission facilities in place. He explained that the Lake Powell water will need to be treated to make it fit for human consumption when it reaches Iron County. Then it will need to be stored for 'low-use' periods. There will also have to be facilities to move the water to the places where it is needed, such as Cedar City, Enoch and unincorporated areas of the county. Local realtor Larry Linn expressed mixed thoughts about the pipeline project. He said the current rate of development in the Cedar City and Enoch areas, with approximately 10,000 new homes being approved for construction, creates a definite need for more water resources. However, he said he feels that overdevelopment will leave Iron County in dire need of water and on full-time water rationing within the next three years, long before the pipeline water is available. Linn also expressed concern that Lake Powell is currently filled to only 50-percent capacity, and Utah is not the only state entitled to use Lake Powell water. Not only do California, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico have claims to Lake Powell's resources, but the country of Mexico benefits from the flow of the Colorado River over the border... "He said with the current demand on Lake Powell water, and the fact that the pipeline project will take 15 years to complete, the water flowing to Iron County may not be as much as the county is expecting once the pipeline is ready to transfer water. He suggested that it might be more cost effective to transfer water from Lake Powell right now by tanker trucks." "colorado water" 6:26:58 AM

Aurora watering restrictions Aurora is asking water customers to use 10% less water, according to the Rocky Mountain News. From the article, " Residents already limited to watering their lawns three days a week are being asked to further reduce their usage because city supplies are 3 billion gallons less than anticipated. Aurora Water wants its 73,000 customers to decrease their usage by at least 10 percent - an amount they believe will help them cope with the loss, blamed on hot weather conditions and a lack of rain and reduced snowmelt... "South Platte River supplies that make up half of Aurora's water supply have 'literally evaporated,' and the city will be lucky if reservoirs reach 70 percent of capacity by next month, [Melissa Elliott] said. The hotter-than-normal weather also resulted in residents using more water last month. Usage was up by 35 percent compared with the same month last year, Elliott said." "colorado water" 6:13:46 AM

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