Friday, February 9, 2007

Tancredo for president? From the Rocky Mountain News, "Rep. Tom Tancredo's talk radio buddies are about to give his White House ambitions an off-the-air boost. Conservative talkers Peter Boyles and Robert 'Gunny Bob' Newman will share the emcee duties at a Feb. 25 fundraiser for Tancredo's newly-formed presidential exploratory committee, Tancredo for a Secure America. 'He doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell, but what he can do is affect a platform of their (Republican) ticket on illegal immigration,' Boyles said in an interview Thursday. The event is scheduled from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Feb. 25, at Cool River Café in Greenwood Village. Invitations list the cost as $50 per person or $75 per family, with proceeds going to the committee. Co-host Mort Marks, a longtime Republican booster, said fundraising is secondary and people can attend without donating." "2008 pres" 6:59:34 AM

Global warming Republican politicians still don't want to believe that humans dumping thousands of tons of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, into the atmosphere each year, are having an effect on climate, according to the Rocky Mountain News. From the article, "Boulder researcher Susan Solomon defended her stance on human-caused climate change amid challenges - including a question about her scientific credibility - from House Republicans at a hearing Thursday. Solomon is co-chair of an international scientific team that released a landmark climate- change study last week in Paris... "But Republicans on the House Committee on Science and Technology have a different idea. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., submitted a list he said contains the names of 'hundreds of scientists who disagree with this concept that climate change is caused by human activity.'[...] "Rohrabacher asked about the origin of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and whether the majority came from nature or humans. Solomon, a senior scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory, said the increase is almost entirely due to human activity. Rohrabacher responded: 'That wasn't the question. This is very dishonest. You're supposed to be a scientist.' Solomon, 51, was awarded the nation's highest scientific honor, the U.S. National Medal of Science, in 1999 for helping to identify the mechanism that produces the Antarctic ozone hole." "2008 pres" 6:56:11 AM

May election financial reports Here's the early reports on candidate finances in the 2007 Denver Municipal Election from the Rocky Mountain News. We're bummed that Mayor Hickenlooper has removed his 2003 website from www.hickenlooper.com. We've pointed many candidates to it as an educational tool. We also lament the loss of the video and other historical artifacts. We're looking forward to this election's effort however. How about a weblog Mr. Mayor? "denver 2007" 6:46:03 AM

Water for Rancho Colorado? Here's a story about Rancho Colorado and their fears that residents will never have a water pipeline to hook up to, from the Colorado Springs Independent. From the article, "Fort Carson and El Paso County officials are a step away from finalizing a mile-wide buffer zone for a stretch of the military outpost's eastern border. Lauded by environmentalists and defense experts alike, the piecemeal open-space barrier will preclude residential development adjacent to the Army post. But some say that when the transaction's completed Feb. 28, it also will doom water prospects for people living on the outskirts of Fort Carson. Residents of Rancho Colorado, a tiny, dusty community adjacent to the buffer zone and just north of the Pueblo County line, fought the plan from the beginning. About 90 households -- a third of the people in Rancho -- rely on water delivery, or truck in their own water... "colorado water" 6:25:49 AM

Snowpack It's really hard to believe, after having gone through the last few weeks with so much snow on the ground in Denver and the eastern plains, that mountain snowpack is already melting, but that's the word from 9News.com. From the article, "If Dillon Marina Manager Bob Evans seems a little confused about the weather, it's for a good reason. 'Here it is, the first whole week of February and we're getting our thaw now,' said Evans. It's the first week of February, but around the Dillon Reservoir and other parts of the high country, things look more like the first week of spring, with warm weather, snow melting, grass popping up and reservoir water levels actually rising... "It's the result of several 40 to 50 degree days in the mountains that have been taking a toll on the snowpack. According to the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Web site, Colorado's statewide snowpack is now at 85 percent. Heavy snow on the Front Range has the South Platte and Arkansas Basins, which both cover the eastern half of Colorado, above normal for this time of year; but on the west side of Colorado it's a different story. The high country has been warm and sunny so the snowpack in basins like the Colorado have dropped to 89 percent. To the north in the Yampa Basin the snowpack is at 67 percent, or 33 percent below normal." "colorado water" 6:19:28 AM

Energy policy: Geothermal Here's a article from dBusinessNews:Denver about the potential to develop geothermal energy in Colorado. They write, "Recent studies by the Colorado Geological Society indicate that Colorado's geothermal energy resources may be much greater than previously known. The Governor's Office of Energy Management and Conservation (OEMC) and the Colorado Geological Society (CGS) have partnered to best map the state's geothermal potential and tests reveal Colorado has the nation's 4th largest geothermal resource. With the advancement of geothermal technologies, Colorado may now be able to produce electricity which has not been previously considered. Geothermal energy is an enormous, domestic, underused heat and power resource that emits little or no greenhouse gases and is a reliable resource. Geothermal resources range from shallow ground to hot water and rock several miles below the Earth's surface. It is accessed similar to drilling for oil and can be used for direct applications and power generation. CGS has identified several areas of the state where geothermal energy may be abundant. These locations include areas near Mt. Princeton outside of Buena Vista, the San Juan mountains near Ouray and Rico, and areas of the San Luis Valley near Trinidad. Expanding Colorado's geothermal energy resources was the topic of discussion by community, energy, private industry, utility, and government leaders at 'Colorado's GeoPowering the West' conference held in Lakewood on January 31. The geothermal energy state working group was organized by the OEMC and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)." "2008 pres" 6:10:39 AM

Colorado River uranium tailings cleanup near Moab, Utah Here's an update on the cleanup of uranium tailings on the Colorado River over by Moab, from the Salt Lake Tribune. From the article, "Cleaning up a mountain of uranium tailings near Moab will take five times as long as initially projected, potentially dragging on through 2028, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Thursday. 'The information I have is that 2028 is the schedule,' Bodman told Rep. Jim Matheson during a House hearing. 'We have a lot of demands on our environmental operations.' The Energy Department made a final decision in 2005 to haul the 10.5 million tons of tailings - remnants of uranium milling done at the Atlas Minerals Corp. mill during the Cold War -- by rail to a lined pit. At that time, the department planned to begin moving the pile this year and finish shuttling the tailings and complete the project between 2011 and 2012... "DOE spokeswoman Megan Barnett said 2028 is the current target for closure based on the current funding levels and could change once a contractor is selected. The department is in the process of reviewing proposals from contractors who would move at least 2.5 million tons over five years. The Bush administration has proposed spending $23 million on the Moab project next year. Over the last five years the department has pumped 75 million gallons of contaminated water and put other measures in place to keep chemicals in the pile from reaching the Colorado River, she said... "The tailings pile now sits just outside Arches National Park on the banks of the Colorado River and studies have found that toxic chemicals such as ammonia are seeping into the groundwater, threatening four species of endangered fish. The contamination has also alarmed officials downstream, since the river provides drinking water for an estimated 25 million people... "The pile spans about 130 acres. Thick sludge is what remains of the Cold War uranium pile. Atlas bought the uranium mill in 1962, but closed it down in 1984. In 1998, the company filed for bankruptcy, leaving a temporary cap on the pile and an inadequate cleanup fund. In 2000, Utah's delegation got legislation passed putting the Energy Department in charge of remediation of the site. Moving the 10.5 million tons of tailings and 1.4 million tons of other contaminated soil entails building a dedicated rail line and shipping rail cars full of material 30 miles north to Crescent Junction. Groundwater remediation is expected to take 75 years." Click on the thumbnail to see the Google aerials over Moab. Please remind the president about the importance of adequate materials handling as the U.S. embarks on the road to energy independence partially through the use of nuclear energy. "colorado water" 6:04:49 AM

Coyote Gulch outage Coyote Gulch is having connectivity issues this morning. Same symptoms as Monday's outage. If you're reading this then the network has been restored. We had only published one post as of 5:45 a.m. when the network went down. Posting may be pretty sparse today. We'll be back soon. Update: We're already back (5:52 a.m.). Now we'll see if the outage is intermittent. 5:50:19 AM

Energy policy: Biofuel from algae? Biofuel from algae has been in the news recently. The Rocky Mountain News took the time to sit down with officials from Solix Biofuels and New Belgium Brewing to talk about their pilot. From the article, "The environmentally friendly microbrewery is working with a Fort Collins energy startup to make biodiesel fuel from algae, based partially on the beer maker's waste products. Should the project succeed, it will prove that algae can produce 100 times more oil than soybeans. And that - environmentalists hope - will partly solve the world's energy problems... "The biodiesel technology belongs to two-year-old Solix Biofuels, located just 500 yards from New Belgium in an old coal-fired power plant. The firm, in alliance with Colorado State University scientists, is working on algae-based biodiesel. New Belgium, which features windmills on its six-packs, has a green-tinged history. In 1999, it was the first major U.S. company to buy 100 percent wind power. Three years later, it developed a system to generate methane from its wastewater. Now, its algae deal may allow it to sell carbon-dioxide emission credits on the open market - a payment for reducing its carbon footprint. Solix hasn't produced one gallon of vehicle-ready fuel - yet. But company scientists are confident their idea will work - if they can get the algae to produce enough oil to grow quickly and within a cheap system... "How it works: Lipid-producing algae are grown in a bioreactor that resembles an enormous, transparent plastic tube. Inside, the algae float in fluid. The system is injected with carbon dioxide, a byproduct of industrial factories. Rollers slowly squeeze the fluid through the tubes, keeping the algae in constant motion and allowing sunlight to reach all the plants. Within several weeks, the algae are harvested. Their oil is extracted, then refined into biodiesel fuel. "2008 pres" 5:42:45 AM

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