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Wednesday, April 11, 2007
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Iraq
Andrew Sullivan: "Fouad Ajami declares a Shia state in Iraq a near-inevitability and urges the US to come to terms with it."
"2008 pres"
6:22:30 PM 
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War on terror
Times Online: "Al-Qaeda today appeared to have claimed responsibility for three deadly car bomb blasts targeting the Algerian Prime Minister and police, which killed at least 23 people and injured 160 others in the capital city Algiers."
Thanks to Andrew Sullivan for the link.
"2008 pres"
6:18:38 PM
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? for President?
Daily Kos: "Richardson, in just the last couple of months, has brokered landmark deals in Darfur and North Korea -- efforts that had stymied the Bush Administration through two terms. There is no one in American politics today more respected and accomplished on foreign policy than Bill Richardson.
"Compare this to Hillary Clinton, who talks about 'ending the war', yet the fine print of her plan shows she'd keep up to 75,000 American troops in Iraq."
"2008 pres"
6:13:14 PM
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Reorg for COGCC?
From The Cherry Creek News, "Today, twenty-one former public officials, with decades of experience, called on the state senate to reform the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, citing the need for more balanced energy development.
"Perry Olson, former director of the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW), delivered a letter supporting House Bill 1341 as passed by the Colorado House and signed by himself and two other past directors, John Mumma and Jim Ruch. Other former public officials joined the past CDOW directors from the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, and Division of Wildlife employees."
"2008 pres"
5:53:56 PM
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? for Denver City Council?
Denver Direct: "Determined as I am to videotape the candidates for Denver City Council District 8, I went unannounced to the Forum sponsored by the San Rafael Neighborhood Association. What a difference from my experience at the CBWPA Forum! (See Hatchett article below.) Carol Tuttle, the president of the Association welcomed and even thanked me for videotaping."
Thanks to Denver Politics for the link.
"denver 2007"
5:49:13 PM
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? for president?
Political Wire: "'Republican leaders across the country say they are growing increasingly anxious about their party's chances of holding the White House, citing public dissatisfaction with President Bush, the political fallout from the war in Iraq and the problems their leading presidential candidates are having generating enthusiasm among conservative voters,' reports the New York Times."
Pollster.com: "Additional results from the recent USA Today/Gallup national survey (GOP results, Dem results, video) of 1,008 adults (conducted 4/2 through 4/5) finds: Among 430 Republicans and Republican-leaners, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani (at 38%) leads Sen. John McCain (16%), former Sen. Fred Thompson and former House Speaker Newt Gingirch (both at 10%), and former Gov. Mitt Romney (6%) in a national Republican primary; Among 491 Democrats and Democratic-leaners, Sen. Hillary Clinton (at 38%) leads Sen. Barack Obama (19%), former Sen. John Edwards (15%), and former V.P. Al Gore (14%) in a national Democratic primary."
"2008 pres"
6:56:25 AM
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Stem cell research
Captain's Quarters: "The Senate will once again attempt to loosen the restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, applied in September 2001 by the Bush administration. They expect to gain a veto-proof majority for the upper chamber, but the House will likely split much more closely, and Bush has pledged to veto the legislation once it gets to his desk."
"2008 pres"
6:53:17 AM
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Hickenlooper for mayor?
You have a chance to attend a town hall like meeting with Mayor Hickenlooper tonight, according to the Denver Post. From the article, "Hickenlooper, who does not face serious opposition in his bid for re-election, kicked off a series of six town-hall-style meetings Tuesday night. The second meeting is tonight at Christ Community Church, 8085 E. Hampden Ave."
"denver 2007"
6:44:58 AM
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Global warming: The Earth is a beautifully complex system
Here are some more details from last Friday's IPCC report on the effects of global warming, from the Prescott Herald. From the article, "Chicago and Los Angeles will likely to face increasing heat waves. Severe storm surges could hit New York and Boston. And cities that rely on melting snow for water may run into serious shortages. According to the panel, global warming is already having an effect on daily life but when the Earth gets a few degrees hotter, the current inconvenience could give way to danger and even death...
"Meanwhile, it said, just over 40 percent of the water supply to southern California is likely to be vulnerable by the 2020s due to losses of the Sierra Nevada and Colorado River basin snow packs. Cities could also be at risk from high tides and storm surges, it said. Boston's transportation network may also be at risk from a sea level rise and the increased probability of a powerful storm surge, it said. By the mid-21st century, regions in Alaska and Canada's Northwestern Territories are likely to be at 'moderate to high risk' due to coastal erosion and thawing of permafrost including the report said. North American producers of wood and timber could suffer losses of between $1 billion and $2 billion a year during the 21st century if climate change also sparks changes in diseases, insect attacks and forest fires, the panel said."
More on the IPCC report from Nature. They write, "The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is not known as a bearer of good news. In February, it reported that human activities are almost certainly causing the planet to warm. On 6 April in Brussels, Belgium, it delivered an even more sobering message: that billions of the world's poorest citizens are at risk of hardship and disease as a result of climate change. Attention is now shifting from arguments over whether the world is warming to what should be done about it. And all six-billion-plus on the planet should be concerned, the IPCC's report implies. The people most vulnerable will be those who live at or near sea level, often crowded into cities along the coast. But drought, disease and extreme weather events will also become more frequent around the world, threatening the lives and livelihoods of countless more...
"The Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability report is the second instalment of the IPCC's Fourth Assessment, a summary of the current state of knowledge about climate change. The third assessment was published in 2001. Crucially, this report is the first to link actual data on how natural systems are responding to the amount of warming they have experienced. 'For the first time we are no longer arm-waving with models,' says Martin Parry, co-chair of the IPCC's Working Group II. Authors compiled more than 29,000 data sets, on everything from glaciers to the timing of spring foliage, and compared the trends with the amount of regional warming observed in each area since 1970. In more than 90% of cases, the changes in natural systems were consistent with predictions of how they would behave in a warming world...
"One of the cruel ironies is that among the few set to gain, at least in the short term, from the agricultural benefits conferred by climate warming are those with the highest greenhouse-gas emissions. And yet the central message of the report is that climate change is likely to hit hardest those who can do least to defend themselves."
"2008 pres"
6:20:00 AM
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Aquifer charging
Colorado Springs Utilities is experimenting with re-charging a groundwater aquifer, according to KRDO.com. From the article, "Colorado Springs Utilities is tapping into new technology to not only get to water far underground but use that area as a storage tank as well. The process is being referred to aquifer charging. At the Northgate Unit on the far north end of town two pipes burrow hundreds of feet underground. Before they were only able to pull water to the surface but now CSU leaders are excited because that water flows both ways. 'This system provides us more local storage as well as it helps reduce the declining water levels in the aquifer,' says Cortney Brand, senior project engineer with the water supply department. He's been overseeing a pilot program being tested right now that could be expanded into ten other well pumps owned by Springs Utilities. Even if that happens, the aquifer system will only store a fraction of the water CSU is legally entitled to keep on hand. Brand says this process is being encouraged by nearby communities who also feed off the underwater aquifers and won't bring the ire of downriver water systems with claims of hording water...
"One reason behind thinking outside the box on this is to prepare the city in the event of another water shortage situation. This is cost-efficient to access water when its need the most and allows CSU to keep reserves close by. It's also much cheaper than storing water through traditional means. Since this program began in December 80 million gallons of water has been stored below ground. That's the equivalent of 40 large, circular tanks normally used to handle 2 million gallons of water at a time. There are some additional costs associated with pumping treated water into the ground then getting it back later. Experts say rechlorination is needed before the water is used, but they say its environmentally safe and the cost is minimal compared to the price of buying land and building dams to store water the traditional way. The aquifer charging program also allows Colorado Springs Utilities to safely store reserves in locations very close to residential areas without being a burden on those neighborhoods.
"colorado water"
6:11:11 AM
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Doctrine of prior appropriation
Here's an article explaining the basics of western U.S. water law and the concept of the doctrine of prior appropriation, from the Idaho Express. They write, "The foundation of Western water law, the prior appropriation doctrine, 'first in time, first in right,' is unique in this country to the 17 conterminous Western states and Alaska. If a state is arid, it embraces the prior appropriation system. Prior appropriation is policy that grew from the people, as opposed to being handed down by a legislature or the courts. It is policy that's generally considered to have grown out of a symbiotic relationship with hard-rock mining law...
"The rule of priority based on the time a claim was laid was a sound rejection of riparian water law, which applied in the eastern United States and England. Riparian doctrine requires sharing of a waterway by all landowners bordering it...
"Water law of the mining camps first reached the judicial system for a definitive opinion in the famous 1855 California Supreme Court case 'Irwin v. Phillips.' It centered on the South Fork of Poor Man's Creek in the California gold country. Mathew Irwin arrived first and appropriated water for his mining operation, as well as to sell to other miners. Robert Phillips arrived several months later, only to discover a dry riverbed. The court, knowing the rules of the mining camps, writes it was a matter of 'a universal sense of necessity and propriety' to embrace the tenets of prior appropriation, thus legislating 'first in time, first in right' for the first time in the West...
"The California example is muddied, however, because the court ruled in favor of prior appropriation doctrine, despite the state Legislature's enactment of riparian doctrine. It was the Colorado Supreme Court that issued a breakout decision in 1882 that cemented the issue for pure prior appropriation states throughout the Rocky Mountains. In 'Coffin v. Left Hand Ditch Co.' the court ruled that the upstream, senior water user could legally divert an entire river out-of-basin, despite the burden that placed on a farmer, Coffin, downstream...
"Later developments in the prior appropriation system were provisions consistent with the mining camps. To obtain a water right, an appropriator had to divert the water. Water had to be put to a 'beneficial use.' Beneficial use was limited to mining, agriculture, industrial, municipal, domestic, stock-raising and hydropower uses. In-stream uses were not among those considered beneficial."
"colorado water"
6:02:19 AM
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New Fountain Creek study to include aquatic life
CSU is planning a study of water quality in Fountain Creek, according to the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article, "Aquatic life, not just the chemicals in the water, will be looked at in depth for the first time in a study of water quality on Fountain Creek by Colorado State University-Pueblo. The three-year, $1 million study is still searching for funds for its five-pronged study of Fountain Creek...
"The current study builds on work already in progress to study Fountain Creek water quality, but with an important difference: It will look at the impact that substances in the water have on animals living in Fountain Creek, [Kristina Proctor, dean of science and mathematics at CSU-Pueblo] told the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District resource and engineering planning committee. The study will fill the need to study the ecosystem of Fountain Creek, which last week was identified as a major gap at the Fountain Creek Vision Task Force water quality committee meeting. Researchers will work closely with the U.S. Geological Survey, Environmental Protection Agency and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Proctor added...
"The study will look at midges - those tiny, pesky insects that sometimes fly up your nose - which have the greatest biomass and species variety of small aquatic life known as macroinvertabrates on Fountain Creek...
"Other research projects include: Chemical analysis of water, sediment and fish tissue; Microbial source tracking of E. coli; This portion will dovetail with a USGS study of upper Fountain Creek to determine if human or animal causes are responsible for elevated E. coli counts; The CSU-Pueblo study will include sites along all reaches of Fountain Creek, however; Analysis of heavy metal uptake in plants called bryophytes, which absorb and concentrate the metals. Toxicity studies in macroinvertabrates and fish."
"colorado water"
5:42:48 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/14/09; 9:10:42 PM.
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