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Sunday, October 15, 2006
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Ritter or Beauprez for governor?
Here's the rainy side view of last week's gubernatorial appearances from the Cortez Journal. From the article, "The governor's race has become as brutal as a 15-round heavyweight title fight. Bill Ritter and Bob Beauprez fought four rounds this week in a set of debates that focused mostly on economic issues. The intense schedule gave the candidates a chance to throw some of their best punches - a right hook from Beauprez about Ritter's record as Denver district attorney, a one-two combo from Ritter on Beauprez's tax ideas and his opposition to Referendum C."
"denver 2006"
9:42:56 AM 
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Referendums E, F and G
The Rocky Mountain News editorial staff is urging voters to approve Referendums E and G and reject Referendum F. From their editorial, "Referendum E would extend the existing senior property tax exemption to veterans who are 100 percent disabled and own their own homes. We have long opposed the senior property tax exemption on grounds that it is discriminatory (you have to live in the same house 10 years to qualify) and unnecessary (a separate property tax deferral program takes care of low-income seniors). But since this type of pandering is politically popular and here to stay, we can easily endorse its extension to disabled vets. The economic impact on the state would be minimal. Ref E, like its older sibling, would reduce by 50 percent the taxable value of the first $200,000 of a vet's home. But at least the vet wouldn't have to have lived there for 10 years. Vets who already qualify for the senior tax exemption cannot claim the second deduction. About 2,200 veterans are expected to qualify in Colorado and the impact on the state budget would be a relatively modest $1 million.
"Referendum F removes from the Constitution and puts into statute the recall procedures and deadlines for elected state officials. This is a close call, but we're going to suggest a no vote because the measure stacks the deck against petitioners. Proponents argue that the current deadlines are too tight. For instance, if a governor is recalled, state officials have as few as five days to check on the validity of as many as 358,000 signatures. That's not much time, and it makes sense to extend the period. But on the other hand, no governor or other statewide elected official has ever been subjected to a recall in Colorado. And no wonder. The signatures needed amount to 25 percent of the votes cast for all candidates for the office in the preceding election, and that requirement would stay the same. Meanwhile, the measure would also repeal the 15-day 'cure' period that recall sponsors have to collect extra signatures if their petition had been found insufficient. We might have favored this referendum if lawmakers hadn't loaded it up so much in politicians' favor.
"We endorse without hesitation Referendum G, which would repeal obsolete provisions in the state constitution. Who, after all, can support a provision that lets you pay a fee to get out of militia duty if you have a moral objection? It's been in the constitution since statehood, even though the practice of letting rich kids buy their way out of service ended with the Civil War a decade earlier."
"denver 2006"
8:39:28 AM
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Dem convention in Denver?
The Denver Post is reporting that New York is having trouble raising the dough to hold the 2008 Democratic National Convention giving an important advantage to Denver in the hunt to host. From the article, "...reports Saturday that rival city New York and its billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg were having trouble raising money created an air of wonderment."
"2008 pres"
8:28:36 AM
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Ritter or Beauprez for governor?
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel is running profiles of Bill Ritter and U.S. Representative Bob Beaupez. From the article, "When gubernatorial candidates Bob Beauprez and Bill Ritter strode into Rifle earlier this month for a debate on energy issues, a distinctive click and thud emanated from both men. As any Western Slope candidate would tell you, cowboy boots are a prerequisite for campaign stops, but even for a denizen of the halls of Congress and a Front Range lawyer, both seemed comfortable wading about in their boots. Though both men were united in stride and stature, a remnant of their agricultural upbringing and years in public office, the two who aspire to be Colorado's next leader share little else in common. At the center of the nation's debate over the 'purple state' phenomenon - wherein Western states, once Republican strongholds, drift Democratic - stands the electoral confrontation between Beauprez and Ritter. On the right, Beauprez stands a fixture of Republican Colorado politics, a former state party chairman and a respected congressman. On the left stands Ritter, a former Denver district attorney who has transformed himself from a long-shot candidate to the frontrunner for the governor's seat."
"denver 2006"
8:11:23 AM
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Box Creek Reservoir?
Here's a report about Aurora's Box Creek Reservoir from the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article, "The next reservoir constructed in Lake County probably will be built by Aurora, a city east of Denver that relies heavily on imports from other basins to fuel its growth. The Box Creek Reservoir, a decade or more from becoming a reality, will give Aurora another exchange point for its water rights in the Arkansas Valley above Twin Lakes, where it exports water through the Otero Pumping Station and Homestake Pipeline into Spinney Mountain Reservoir. Box Creek has become a focal point in a county filled with water, but hurting for its own water resources. Box Creek would be located north of Twin Lakes in a valley filled with old placer mines, watering holes and wetlands...
"Aurora, for its part, is again feeling the pinch of local opposition after a deal it thought was sealed in 2001, when the county and Aurora signed an agreement. Among the benefits to Lake County are local use of 20 percent of the reservoir, a recreation fund of possibly $1 million and retained water rights...
"Aurora's plans call for a dam 120-245 feet high, with storage space between 4,300 and 56,000 acre-feet. So, the amount of storage Lake County would get would vary between 688 and 8,960 acre-feet. Either amount is well beyond the current needs of Lake County, Olsen said. The county has an option to buy water rights to about 80 acre-feet annually from Aurora from the Hayden Ranch purchase at a price of $2,500 an acre-foot. The yield from the Derry ditches, once their decrees are decided, could be about 55 acre-feet, Olsen said. Right now, there's no place to store the water and the county would have no way to deliver water to its customers. While the Parkville water district serves the immediate area surrounding Leadville, there are about 320 customers outside Leadville who need water. 'The mitigation was negotiated without knowing the size of the reservoir,' Olsen said. Knapp said Aurora still is evaluating the size, with the most probable decision somewhere around 21,000 acre-feet capacity...
"Aurora is concerned about the reservoir's potential impact on the environment, Knapp said. Aurora is involved in a project to relocate fens - a type of wetland that takes centuries to develop. The Pueblo Board of Water Works also is participating in the experimental study. Like Aurora, Pueblo is eying a reservoir site in Lake County that sits on these unique wetlands. Pueblo put its plans for a Tennessee Creek dam site on hold partly to await the outcome of the study. In the experiment, plugs of earth would be moved from the reservoir site to a nearby area, with water conditions that produced the fen recreated at the new site. If the fens can be safely moved, Aurora will relocate dozens of acres of wetlands before building a reservoir."
"colorado water"
8:07:22 AM
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Preferred Storage Options plan stalled - other projects move forward
Pueblo Chieftain: "While a plan to enlarge Lake Pueblo remains stalled, other projects are moving ahead to increase storage in the Arkansas Valley. The Preferred Storage Options Plan, first advanced in 2001 as a way to meet some of the Arkansas Valley's storage needs, has stalled again, as negotiations started almost two years ago continue. In the process, other plans are moving forward. 'What I've always said is that if we can't work together as a group, certain entities will move ahead on their own,' said Pueblo Board of Water Works Executive Director Alan Hamel. 'When things start to happen, who gets left behind.' Hamel was president of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District in 2001, when the final PSOP Implementation Committee Report was issued. The report, in addition to listing the preferred options, listed other projects that might move ahead without PSOP. Now, with PSOP at least six years behind schedule, Hamel sees other projects envisioned by the studies leading up to PSOP going forward...
"Even though the valley's water supplies have dwindled to about one-third capacity since the drought of 2002, Hamel said the increased storage still is needed. The number pegged by early studies of the Southeastern District was 173,000 acre-feet in the next 40 years. PSOP addressed, at most, about 125,000 acre-feet of the total need through Lake Pueblo enlargement, Turquoise enlargement and 'reoperations' (now called excess capacity) at Lake Pueblo. Other projects by individual entities were envisioned to soak up the storage gap...
"Reservoirs in the lower Arkansas Valley are not usually full, while mountain reservoirs are drawn down in fall, winter and early spring in anticipation of runoff and diversions from the Western Slope. For instance, Lake Pueblo was 36 percent full and John Martin nearly empty last week. Meanwhile, the mountain reservoirs Turquoise and Twin Lakes were 86 percent full. The mountain reservoirs will be lowered this winter by about 25 percent - or 50,000-60,000 acre-feet, according to Tom Musgrove, director of the Pueblo office of the Bureau of Recreation. Actually, Turquoise Lake is usually drawn down more in the winter months, because Twin Lakes is constantly filled through exchanges by municipalities, retains a pool of water needed for hydroelectric power generation and has a deeper inactive pool. Lake Pueblo has never been completely 'full' in winter, and reaches summer capacity in only the wettest of times. Since it began filling in 1974, it has been at 75 percent of capacity on a regular basis only from 1984-88 and 1995-2000...
"One change since the 2002 drought has been increased of Fry-Ark water by municipalities. Pueblo began now storing water in its Fry-Ark account for the first time after the drought in addition to obtaining 'if and when' storage in Lake Pueblo. For years, Pueblo has relied on its direct flow rights to meet water needs, but storage will become increasingly more important. The water board has filed in court to triple storage in Clear Creek Reservoir. If it used all its appropriated and contracted space in Lake Pueblo, it would amount to 14 percent of the water during summer storage. A much larger impact will be felt as the Fountain Valley Authority - which includes Colorado Springs, Fountain, Widefield, Security and Stratmoor Hills - uses more of its potential. The authority has 78,000 acre-feet of Fry-Ark space available, along with an 'if-and-when' contract request for 28,000 acre-feet. That would amount to 45 percent of the summer storage. In its Southern Delivery System plan, Colorado Springs is planning to build reservoirs at Jimmy Camp Creek and Williams Creek east of the city. The city wants up to 30,000 acre-feet in enlargement to fill a 66-inch-diameter pipeline Colorado Springs has moved ahead with a 40-year, 28,000 acre-feet excess capacity contract outside the PSOP process in hopes of securing some of the storage space it says its needs for SDS...
"Two alternatives below Lake Pueblo are getting serious study: forming lakes from former gravel pits and aquifer storage. The Board of Water Works last year flirted with the purchase of Stonewall Springs Ranch east of Pueblo as a way to recover water passed on to maintain minimum flows through Pueblo. The sale fell through, but Colorado Springs developers Jim and Mark Morley exercised their option on the property and plan to eventually develop a reservoir near the Pueblo Chemical Depot. The Morleys also are proposing an enlarged reservoir at Brush Hollow with hydroelectric capability for pumped-back storage. Aurora also has an option to purchase a gravel pit site east of Pueblo as well. Aurora also is developing its own reservoir on Box Creek in Lake County. Meanwhile, the Arkansas Basin Roundtable is actively studying sites for aquifer storage, building on a recent report by the Colorado Geological Survey. Williams Creek, identified as a site for storage of return flows on Fountain Creek is part of Colorado Springs Utilities' water resource plan and a live part of the primary SDS plan, as well as several alternatives. Pueblo Board of Water Works is in the process of enlarging Clear Creek, and still could build a reservoir on Tennessee Creek in Lake County, a plan slowed down by environmental concerns. Pure Cycle Inc., a Thornton water developer, closed its purchase of High Plains A&M on Aug. 31. The company's plan is to move water from a reservoir on the Fort Lyon Canal to new development to the north along the Front Range. High Plains' attempt to do the same thing was rejected by the Colorado Supreme Court because no end user was identified."
"colorado water"
7:49:24 AM
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Ritter or Beauprez for governor?
Here's a report about a gubernatorial forum yesterday in Colorado Springs, from the Pueblo Chieftain. They write, "The two candidates for governor didn't break any new ground Saturday in their debate before Southern Colorado residents. The event marked the 20th time that Democrat Bill Ritter and Republican Bob Beauprez debated such issues as illegal immigration, education, health care and transportation. And they still have a half dozen more debates scheduled between now and Election Day...
"On water, the two repeated their stance on water issues, saying conservation, reuse and new storage - in that order - are priorities the next governor needs to focus on. Both candidates said the state needs to complete the Arkansas Valley conduit project to deliver needed, clean water to southeastern communities...
"On transportation, Beauprez renewed his call to find a 'more sustainable' funding source for roads and bridges, saying the 22-cent gas tax needs to be replaced with an increase in the state's sales tax by about eight-tenths of a percent. Meanwhile, Ritter said the state needs to invest more in mass transit projects, and not just those that benefit metropolitan areas. But once again, the two tangled over immigration, with Beauprez attacking Ritter for plea bargaining charges against illegal immigrants, and Ritter accusing the congressman of using the issue as a political football merely to get votes."
"denver 2006"
7:31:50 AM
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Beauprez for governor?
John Andrews is backing "Battlin' Bob" Beauprez in the November 7th election, according to Andrews' column in the Denver Post. He writes, "So, I'll make my own cross-party comparison and predict that Bob Beauprez, the GOP nominee for governor, might become this year's Harry Truman. Notwithstanding the recent Denver Post poll showing Ritter ahead 50 percent to 35 percent, this thing's not over yet. What Truman, the scrappy underdog, did to his favored challenger in 1948 could be the template for a come-from-behind Beauprez win. Ritter as a latter-day Thomas E. Dewey - imagine that...Winner or not, Battlin' Bob gets my vote for at least 10 reasons: immigration, judges, jobs, taxes, education, health care, highways, water, values and qualifications. That's the deciding decalogue in Beauprez's favor."
"denver 2006"
7:26:50 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/14/09; 8:40:14 PM.
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