Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Iraq Henry Kissinger (via Der Spiegel): "The issue is: Are American forces withdrawn as part of a political settlement? Or are they withdrawn because America is exhausted by the war? In the latter case, the consequences of an American withdrawal would be catastrophic." Thanks to Don Surber for the link. "2008 pres" 6:17:39 PM

Amendment 61? Colorado Confidential: "Amendment 61, which is being heard by Colorado's title board this week, would keep various programs currently in place in Colorado that enhance equal opportunities for minorities and women - potentially canceling out Amendment 31, should it pass. The titles - as they currently are written - further prove an exercise in brain-straining semantics: Amendment 31 - Prohibition on Discrimination and Preferential Treatment by Colorado Government. Amendment 61 - Federal Standards for Discrimination/Preferential Treatment by Colorado Governments Mary Phillips, a retired Denver attorney who is listed as one of three sponsors of Amendment 61, explains the idea behind it this way: Our proposition (61) will outlaw preferences and discrimination and it will allow equal opportunities like tutoring and recruitment [for minorities and women]. We are hoping to preserve those programs in Colorado that are alright under the Constitution for equal opportunity programs and recruitment.'" "denver 2008" 6:11:53 PM

Talking Points Memo wins the George Polk Award Congratulations to Josh Marshall and the crew at Talking Points Memo. They won the prestigious George Polk Award for journalism today. Coyote Gulch's Google index shows 527 links over the years. TPM has been a daily read since 2002. The award was for their work on the Justice Department scandals of last year. Quoting The Moderate Voice, "More than anything or anyone else, we have TPM to thank for the fact that Alberto Gonzales is back in Texas lawyering-up." "2008 pres" 5:59:54 PM

Pakistani elections The Moderate Voice: "Pakistan's private Geo TV network said the political party of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and another party led by former premier Nawaz Sharif had so far won 153 seats, more than half of the 272-seat National Assembly. While Pakistan's ruling party conceded defeat to the opposition Tuesday in parliamentary elections[sigma]that could threaten the rule of President Pervez Musharraf, a key American ally in the war on terror, reports the Associated Press." Captain's Quarters: "Musharraf Wins By Losing, Islamists Just Lose Big: The Pakistanis have rejected both Pervez Musharraf and the Islamists in their national and provincial elections yesterday, preliminary results show. Supporters of slain national leader Benazir Bhutto and returned exile Nawaz Sharif will dominate the national and provincial assemblies, and Musharraf will have to deal with a hostile but moderate Parliament." Juan Cole: "Pakistan held its elections on Monday, which are fateful for the future of the country and also probably for the Bush-Cheney foreign policy. Bush and Cheney put most of their eggs in the basket of a military dictator, Pervez Musharraf, who has been on a self-destructive downward spiral during the past year that makes Amy Winehouse look level-headed. By 2:20 am on Tuesday, out of 241 districts reporting, The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) was shaping up as the biggest bloc in the federal parliament, with 80 seats (33% of those in districts reporting) so far. The PPP had been led by slain politician Benazir Bhutto, but did not benefit from a sympathy vote to the extent that some observers had expected." "2008 pres" 5:53:43 PM

? for President? Political Wire: "The latest Gallup tracking poll shows Sen. Hillary Clinton has rebounded among Democrats nationally and now trails Sen. Barack Obama by just one point, 45% to 46%. Clinton was seven points behind just yesterday." Political Wire: "A new SurveyUSA poll in Ohio shows Sen. Hillary Clinton leading Sen. Barack Obama, 52% to 43%...On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain leads Mike Huckabee, 61% to 29%." Political Wire: "A new SurveyUSA poll in Texas finds Sen. Hillary Clinton edging Sen. Barack Obama, 50% to 45%, in the Democratic presidential race...In the GOP race, Sen. John McCain leads Mike Huckabee, 50% to 37%." "2008 pres" 5:47:30 PM

SB 08-28 Here's a look at SB 08-028 and irrigation in Eastern Colorado from The Denver Post. They write: Even as SB 28-a measure that would surrender recreational water rights at Bonny Reservoir-makes its way through the Colorado General Assembly, the debate over apportionment of eastern Colorado's sparse water resources has heated up on several fronts. Although the controversy embraces a diversity of debates involving interstate compacts, private lawsuits and legislative harrangue, the basic issue boils down to this: Should this finite resource accrue to recreation or farms. Of immediate concern is the likely drying up of Bonny Reservoir, a prime warmwater fishery that forms the primary attraction for a popular state park of the same name. Also on the griddle is the Colorado Division of Wildlife's fish hatchery at Wray, a unit that produces 40 percent of the warmwater fish stocked in the state. Thing is, both recreational entities hold water rights that are senior to most of the agricultural irrigation wells that compete for the same groundwater resources along the narrow riparian zones of the north and south forks of the Republican River. Further, both are valued at tens of millions of dollars, in addition to the economic benefits of tourism and fees they deliver. On the othere hand, farmers deliver their own bounty to the region's economy, particularly against the backdrop of alternative fuel production that irrigated corn provides. As evidenced by SB28, a pro-irrigation measure likely to fly out of the both Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy committees, farmers almost certainly hold the political clout in this debate. Thus we have a situation in which the longstanding water law principle of prior right potentially gets trashed by a political end run. Don't be surprised if - barring administrative intervention or massive protests - this bill passes and Bonny becomes an intermittent mudhole. The fate of the Wray hatchery likely will turn on the ability of DOW to strike a deal with Wray over well water the town owns outside the riparian zone. More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here. "colorado water" 7:13:03 AM

RIP William Bohlender From The Greeley Tribune "reg": "William Bohlender, a Greeley water attorney who served on the board of directors of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District for 36 years, died Feb. 10 in his sleep. He was 78 years old. Eric Wilkinson, general manager of the water district, said only the late W.D. Farr of Greeley served on the district's board longer than Bohlender and said it was Bohlender and Farr who pushed the district to move from Loveland to its current headquarters north of Berthoud...A celebration of life gathering will be conducted at 4 p.m., Thursday, at the Greeley Country Club. Cremation. Instead of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Salvation Army or American Military Family in care of Allnutt, 702 13th St., Greeley, CO 80631." "colorado water" 7:04:51 AM

Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel: Meeting today From 9News.com: " Local leaders hope to finalize details Tuesday on how to install a giant pump to lessen building water pressure inside a mountain. Lake County commissioners, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Reclamation and Colorado Division of Emergency Management will meet at 10:30 a.m. to decide how best to install the pump, which will only be a temporary fix for the problem. The meeting will begin at the Lake County Courthouse, but could be moved to a larger facility nearby if the crowd is too big for the courthouse." U.S. Senator Ken Salazar was in Leadville on Saturday reviewing the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel situation. Here's a recap from The Mountain Mail. They write: "How can we help to make sure federal agencies are doing their part?" U.S. Senator Ken Salazar asked of politicians assembled at the Lake County Courthouse Saturday. They toured the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel and other sites related to the Lake County state of emergency, declared Feb. 6. Politicians included Salazar, State Sen. Tom Weins and State Rep. Christine Scanlan to Leadville in addition to Lake County Commissioners and a horde of press representatives. Weins was quick to respond to Salazar's question. "Our focus needs to be to make sure some sort of response exists," Weins said. He referred to the long, frustrating tenure of Leadville as a Superfund site. "In Denver, Superfund sites have been turned into parks and wildlife sanctuaries," he said, "It's not fair how Leadville gets treated. "We don't need requests for reports. We need a sense of outrage at how (Lake County) is being treated by the federal government." Scanlan said, "It's a sorry state of affairs when a town has to declare a state of emergency to get two federal agencies to work together."[...] Although some short-term steps seem assured, it's important to solve the long-term problem. County commissioner Carl Schaefer said the situation is already damaging businesses and people are asking if they should move out of Leadville. After the declaration of emergency, there was a run on bottled water at Safeway when people feared drinking Leadville water, although it is safe to drink. Salazar said it's important to get to finality on the Superfund cleanup. It's also important to not overstate the current problem and scare people away. "We need to change the way we're handling things - not to express concern, but to demand action, not to focus on the short-term, but to get a permanent fix," Weins said. "It's the federal government that caused the problems." Salazar responded, "I'm not sure pointing the finger will get us where we want to get. We need quick, effective action."[...] At the start of the tour, Salazar spoke about action steps developed Friday during meetings with various state and federal agencies. Those include pumping water from the Gaw shaft to decrease water pressure within the mountain east of the city, developing an incident-response plan, obtaining facts for risk assessment and dealing with water-quality issues. During a conference call Friday with state and federal officials, Chaffee County leaders said they were worried about a possible blowout of blockage in the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel and wanted to know how downstream communities would be notified. Hans Kallam, Colorado Department of Emergency Management director, told Chaffee County Commissioner Jim Osborne the process needs to be determined. Kallam was in Leadville Friday afternoon to start coordinating with Lake County Emergency Manager Jeff Foley. Don Taylor, Salida fire chief, said he believes monitoring the Arkansas River downstream should be done immediately - with which Leadville/Lake County Fire Chief Bob Harvey agreed. Harvey said preemtive information now would help response to an emergency situation. To quantify 1 billion gallons of water, Salazar said it would amount to 2,000 acre feet of water. It's estimated 1.5 billion gallons might be backed up in the mountain because of blockage in the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel. If the water should break from the tunnel, it will greatly endanger 300 or more residents of the Village at East Fork, a nearby trailer park. It could potentially break from the tunnel elsewhere in one or more locations. If that happens, untreated water will enter the Arkansas River. More Coyote Gulch coverage here. "colorado water" 6:59:37 AM

Climate Change: The earth is a beautifully complex system Here's an article about a newly developed scrubber for power plants invented by a Colorado Springs entrepreneur, from The Colorado Springs Gazette. From the article: A new device designed to remove pollutants from coal-fired plant emissions exceeded expectations in tests conducted over the weekend at the Martin Drake Power Plant downtown. The invention by physicist and entrepreneur David Neumann of Colorado Springs could make coal plants burn cleaner as regulators are preparing to lower the boom on polluters. "Our first live test Saturday at the Drake Power Plant ... greatly exceeded expectations in terms of its ability to capture pollutants," Neumann said. "We showed that it could capture approximately 90 percent of the sulfur pollutants from the flue gas using only tap water as a capture fluid." Neumann said it was assumed special additives would be needed, not just water. Drew Rankin, Colorado Springs Utilities general manager for energy supply, called the results "incredibly encouraging...This small-scale test does confirm in the field what the laboratory calculations and preliminary tests were," he said... Rankin said tests will continue on a larger portion of the plant in coming weeks. The initial tests were conducted on the equivalent of one-tenth of 1 megawatt at a 46-megawatt Drake unit. The next test will involve 2 megawatts. The invention could revolutionize the power industry because standards for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions will be toughened in coming years. Though control technology exists for nitrogen oxide and particulates, none exists for sulfur. In coming years, Utilities estimates spending $65 million to fit one unit at Drake with scrubbers. Annual operating costs are estimated at $5 million. Neumann's device is estimated to cost less than $20 million. Operational costs haven't been disclosed... Capturing carbon will cost even more, industry officials believe. Not yet regulated, carbon -- thought to be a primary cause of climate change -- will be subject to limits, taxes and other measures designed to drive down coal plants' contribution to global warming, industry experts say. There's no proven technology for removing carbon, but Neumann said he thinks his device also will handle carbon. Neumann is an Air Force Academy graduate who holds a doctorate in physics, has worked for the defense industry as a contractor and is doing the emissions work under his company name, Envirolution Systems LLC. "2008 pres" 6:53:22 AM

HB 08-1141: Require Sufficient Water Supply According to this editorial from The Pueblo Chieftain HB 08-1141 has risen from the dead and is going to get a hearing today in Denver. They write: A bill tying development to water supplies has been scheduled for committee hearing today. House Bill 1141, sponsored by Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, would require a local government to determine whether a developer of any project larger than 50 units can demonstrate there is sufficient water available to meet peak demands. This is a sensible statewide standard. There are areas of Douglas County where clusters of homes with 30-year mortgages are sitting above aquifers with 10 years' worth of water. Rep. Curry told the Colorado Water Congress recently, "Someone's left holding the bag when the water's not there." The someone she referred to is the homebuyer. Rep. Curry's bill would require letters from the state engineer and the developer's water supplier summarizing the portfolio of available water rights. Call it truth in development...good and rational development helps to avoid future problems. This bill calls for just that, and it should get the support of lawmakers in Denver. More Coyote Gulch coverage here. "colorado water" 6:45:13 AM

HB 08-1330: Elect Water Conservancy Dist Board From The Fort Collins Coloradoan, "A bill requiring water conservancy districts, including the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, to have an elected board of directors is scheduled to be heard today in the House Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources committee...House Bill 1330 would not necessarily stop the Glade project from moving forward because of timing, lawmakers said. Save the Poudre organizers say the Glade project is a good example of why conservancy district boards should be elected and not appointed." More from the article: "The district is not accountable to the taxpayers right now, and one of the ways that they aren't being accountable is by pushing (the Glade) project forward," said Save the Poudre spokesman Gary Wockner. "(NCWC), which we all pay taxes to, seems hellbent on draining every bit of water out of every river in the state of Colorado, and the taxpayers have no representation on this issue. At this point, the farmers have a voice, the cities have a voice but the river has no voice." NCWC spokesman Brian Werner said the district's employees want to ensure that board members are capable and competent, no matter what avenue they take to get on the board. "We're going to sit back and watch to see what happens," Werner said. "Give us good board members no matter how you get them to us is our motto." Werner did say that it's important that board members have a good understanding of water issues and law, a provision that is in current statute but would be removed under the proposed legislation. Rep. Randy Fischer, D-Fort Collins, who sits on the House Agriculture Committee, which will hear the bill, said he supports the legislation. Fischer, an engineer by trade with experience in water issues, said he believes an elected board would provide more accountability to area residents. "I have thought all along that water conservancy boards should be elected," Fischer said. "Right now they are appointed by a judge and are not accountable to taxpayers who are paying mill levies to these districts every year." More Coyote Gulch coverage here, here and here. "colorado water" 6:36:04 AM

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