Wednesday, February 27, 2008

? for President? Political Wire: "Sen. Barack Obama, surging among younger voters, has cut Sen. Hillary Clinton's lead among Pennsylvania likely Democratic primary voters to 6 points, 49% to 43%, after trailing by 16 points just two weeks ago, according to a new Quinnipiac poll." Digby: "The country wants change. They want Washington to stop all the partisan bickering and they want a different tone. They want their government to be serious and deal with real problems." More... Can someone please explain to me how that can possibly happen until something is done about the reprehensible political press? From tax returns to Farrakhan to footage shown by "mistake" to the endless, trivial, gotcha bullshit, this debate spectacle tonight was a classic demonstration of what people really hate about politics. It isn't actually the candidates who can at least on occasion be substantive and serious. The problem is Tim Russert and all his petty, shallow acolytes who spend all their time reading Drudge and breathlessly reporting every tabloid tidbit and sexy rumor and seeking out minor inconsistencies from years past in lieu of doing any real work. Judging by their silly questions tonight, Russert and Williams obviously know nothing about health care policy, Iraq, Islamic terrorism, economics, global trade or any other subject that requires more than five minutes study to come up with some gotcha question or a stupid Jack Bauer fantasy. It's embarrassing. The Moderate Voice. Why Barack Obama Is Unfit To Be President: His father was a Muslim. He doesn't have to go first in debates. He sometimes dresses like a foreigner. He's too young. He experimented with drugs as a teenager. He's naive. He has an unfair campaign spending advantage. He's not a war hero. He bought a house from a slumlord who once had a business deal with a former accomplice of Saddam Hussein. His middle name is Hussein. Louis Farrakhan endorsed him. Lou Dobbs plans to endorse him. Tina Fey doesn't like him. His superdelegates are committed to him. He doesn't try to retaliate when attacked. He's a radical centrist. He once was invited to a coffee klatch at the home of a former Weather Underground member. He's a cult leader. He hasn't had to lay off any campaign workers. He doesn't cry on cue. He doesn't wear an American flag lapel pin. He's not black enough. He's a secret Manchurian Candidate put up by radical Islamists. He's too charismatic. The news media is biased for him. He doesn't have to tone down his rhetoric. His campaign is organized from the bottom up. He doesn't have enough experience. When people offer him lines for his speeches he uses them. He's a leftist. He once had a teacher who was a Communist. He refuses to play the race card. He wants to withdraw American troops from Iraq. He doesn't engage in fear mongering. He lives in Chicago. He'll take away votes from Ralph Nader. His wife says she only recently found a reason to be proud of America. He's no Mike Huckabee. He scares the Washington defense establishment. He hasn't been able to attract elderly white woman voters. He's an idealist. He keeps giving the same damned speech. How the heck can anyone believe in this guy, let alone vote for him? Political Wire: "A new Research 2000 poll in Vermont shows Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. Hillary Clinton, 53% to 39%. In the GOP race, Sen. John McCain leads Mike Huckabee, 52% to 32%." Political Wire: "A new Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll shows Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. Hillary Clinton among Democrats nationally, 48% to 42%, the first time in the poll that's he's been ahead. In Janurary, Clinton held a 9 point lead. However, in a general-election match-up among registered voters, Sen. John McCain runs 2 points ahead of Obama, within the margin of error; he beats Clinton by 6 points." "2008 pres" 5:44:18 PM

RIP William F. Buckley Jr. The Moderate Voice: "Say what you will about William F. Buckley's contributions to conservatism and civil discourse. They were immense. But he picked a really lousy time to die. Don Surber: "God needed some intelligent conversation." Mt. Virtus: "While very few writers and speakers have ever had a greater facility with the English language than Buckley did, there was much more to him than the elegance of his prose." 5:28:03 PM

SB 08-119: Authorize Domestic Exempt Cisterns Here's an update on SB 08-119 from The Sterling Journal Advocate. From the article: Rural residents with exempt wells for watering livestock, lawns and gardens would be allowed to begin legally storing rainwater in 5,000 gallon cisterns under a proposed law being considered by the Colorado Senate this week. Senate Bill 119 also would allow the Division of Water Resources to authorize 10 pilot projects statewide to determine whether cisterns could be used to provide water to new housing developments. "This is something that's very much past due," Colorado's new state engineer, Dick Wolfe, said Monday. "Surrounding states have been doing this for a number of years." Under current law, no storage of rainwater is allowed because the runoff falls under the prior appropriation doctrine and must be allowed to flow to senior water rights downstream. The bill is the idea of Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, to legitimize a practice that he claims already is being done. "Clearly the biggest and earliest beneficiary will be rural families who already do capture rain off their rooftops," Romer said. "They can now have a cistern of up to 5,000 gallons to capture the runoff where, technically, before they could not." District 1 Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, said it's a good bill, and he plans to support it during debate this week. "We need more storage and I see this as a kind of distributed storage with very low evaporative losses because cisterns typically are covered," Brophy said. "If we do this right, it really could be beneficial...The key is to do it in a way that doesn't harm our existing water rights," Brophy said. A 5,000 gallon cistern would be roughly 15 feet square in size. Romer said his bill is designed with conservation of water in mind. "It's better for the river to acknowledge that people have rain barrels and cisterns and can make more efficient use of their water," Romer said. "The pilot will allow us to take a long overdue look at the nexus between how much (runoff) water is put to beneficial use before it actually hits the river." Romer said his bill strikes a balance with Colorado's long-held doctrine of prior appropriation, which gives first use of any water to those with the oldest water rights. "What's non-negotiable in all of this is the treatment of the prior-appropriation doctrine," Romer said. Wolfe said his office would work with the Colorado Water Conservation Board to establish criteria for the 10 pilot projects to evaluate use of cisterns in new development over the next 10 years. "There will be lots of safety nets and protections to demonstrate no impact on the stream system," Wolfe said. "The projects are needed to gather data on what is the true impact of these systems on the stream. We believe they can operate within the existing system without injury to senior water rights." Romer said the pilot projects would be required to own enough water rights to augment 30 percent of the annual precipitation in the project area. "Clearly, this is a very sensitive issue with the water development community," Romer said. "But we need to harmonize the doctrine of prior-appropriation with some new approach that puts the emphasis on low-water use." More Coyote Gulch coverage here. "colorado water" 7:32:48 AM

Water Utility Climate Alliance Here's an article about the newly formed Water Utility Climate Alliance from The Modesto Bee. They write: Eight of the nation's largest water providers from California to New York announced the formation of a coalition to develop strategies on dealing with climate change. The newly formed Water Utility Climate Alliance includes the giant Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the San Diego County Water Authority and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Members, which together provide water to more than 36 million people, also include Denver Water, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, the Portland (Ore.) Water Bureau, Seattle Public Utilities and the Southern Nevada Water Authority. "Our systems are facing risk due to diminishing snowpack, bigger storms, more frequent drought and rising sea levels," said Susan Leal, general manager of the San Francisco commission and chair of the newly formed authority. "We need to be organized to respond to these risks - that's why we've formed this alliance." The group has been in the works since 2007, after San Francisco hosted a water utility climate change summit that drew more than 200 executives and government officials. In September, the eight agencies gathered to further discuss the impacts of climate change and began studying existing research. "The whole goal was to wrap our arms around the potential impacts of climate change on water infrastructure and water supplies," said Bronson Mack, a spokesman for the Southern Nevada Water Authority. Over a series of conference calls, Mack said the newly formed group has developed a list of goals that include expanding climate change research, collaborating on adaptation tools and identifying greenhouse gas emissions from individual operations. Good idea. "colorado water" 7:21:46 AM

Streamline for water court? From The Fort Morgan Times: "The Water Court Committee of the Colorado Supreme Court will hold a public hearing Monday, March 10, from 3 to 5 p.m. on the fifth floor of the Colorado Judicial Building at 2 E. 14th Ave. in Denver...The committee hopes to gather input from agricultural, municipal, business, environmental and recreational groups as well as all other interested persons and organizations. The committee is especially interested in hearing from people who have had actual experience with the Water Court process in the past. Oral presentations at the March 10 hearing will be limited to five minutes per person. Those wishing to make an oral presentation must submit a written request by 5 p.m. March 5 and include the substance of their experience and views in writing so the committee can refer to it later in its deliberations." More Coyote Gulch coverage here. "colorado water" 7:08:21 AM

Supply news Here's a look at future water needs for Greeley from The Greeley Tribune "reg". From the article: Greeley residents pay 90 cents for almost two days of water, but they may end up paying $90 million to ensure Greeley's water future. Greeley doesn't need water now, but it will by 2030, when demand for water from residents and businesses will outpace supply, said Jon Monson, Greeley's director of water and sewer, in a presentation to the Greeley City Council Tuesday night. Moreover, Greeley should buy water years ahead of demand because competition from other municipalities such as Aurora will make the resource difficult to purchase in the future when the city needs it, said Harold Evans, chairman of the Greeley Water Board. The idea: Buy 10,000 extra acre-feet of water now and expand the Milton Seaman Reservoir to hold extra water so Greeley will have the water it needs for the projected 240,000 people the city may be home to by 2050... Now, Greeley owns about 30,000 acre-feet of water, which exceeds demand for water in the city. Greeley leases the water it doesn't use to farmers for agricultural use. A water purchase of 10,000 acre-feet -- which was greeted with tentative support from the council -- would cost the city $90 million, officials say. For a typical family, that would equate to about a $30 per month increase in water rates over the next 10 years. But, Monson said, Greeley's water rates are already lower than most major cities in Colorado, including Fort Collins and Windsor. Water rates in Greeley are higher than in Loveland, Denver and Longmont... A plan to buy the water is still a couple of years out, officials said, because Greeley's water board still has to draft a 2050 water plan, which will include the water purchase. Mayor Ed Clark said the situation is a "pay me now or pay me later" scenario. "At some point, all the water is going to be bought up," Clark said. "And we need to stay ahead of the game." "colorado water" 7:02:23 AM

South Platte management There's nothing like a grandstanding over Colorado water law (and hydrology) to fire up farmers and irrigators. Here's a recap of a recent meeting of the Equity In The South Platte River Basin Committee, from The Greeley Tribune "reg". From the article: There are 10.5 million acre-feet of water under the South Platte River that is not being used and it's time the Colorado General Assembly allows irrigation well owners be allowed to use that water in drought conditions. That was the message from Robert Longenbaugh Tuesday evening, who also said well users are not the only ones who are effecting the flow of the South Platte River, but "nobody is talking about those and they have more a more significant impact than wells." Longenbaugh was the featured speaker at a meeting that drew about 250 people to the auditorium of Valley High School organized by Equity In The South Platte River Basin Committee. Longenbaugh spent 30 years with the State Engineer's office. He charged that cities using transmountain diversion -- bringing water to the east side of the Continental Divide from the west side -- to extinction, evaporation of water from gravel pits along the South Platte, water conservation by cities, the use of pivot irrigation systems by farmers instead of row irrigation, conversion of irrigated land to housing development and trees along the river are among factors that have a greater impact on the flow of the river than do irrigation wells... But most important, Longenbaugh said, is the 10.5 million acre-feet of ground water in the alluvial under the South Platte that could be used by irrigation wells during drought years without hurting senior surface water right holders. More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here. "colorado water" 6:57:38 AM

Reclamation to begin pumping California Gulch Superfund site Reclamation is going ahead with pumping from the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel, according to The Denver Post. From the article: The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is working "as quickly as we can" to remove contaminated water in the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel, the agency's leader told a House panel Tuesday. "We're not going to wait for the risk assessment to get done before we take action to start removing the water," said Robert Johnson, commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation. The bureau wants that study to determine "exactly what is the nature of the risk," Johnson said. Johnson answered questions about the drainage tunnel at a hearing of the House Committee on Resources, Science & Technology's subcommittee on water and power. Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Udall of Eldorado Springs said after the hearing that he plans to introduce legislation that would give the Bureau of Reclamation authority to remove the water. The agency said it lacks that power, although it is removing the water on an emergency basis. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, is likely to co-sponsor that bill... Responding to questions from Udall, Johnson explained why the agency believes it lacks authority to remove the water. The Bureau of Reclamation purifies metals-laced mine water for release into the Arkansas River. But the water in the pipe is drainage water from a Superfund site that the Environmental Protection Agency oversees, Johnson said. "Which is not the water that Reclamation was authorized and required to treat," Johnson said. "Water molecules don't differentiate whether they belong to the EPA or the Bureau of (Reclamation)," Udall said. Giving the bureau authority to remove the water will create a permanent fix, Udall said. Federal officials had already agreed to install a pump to drain out the water. Here's a look at potential fish kill from the seeps near Leadville, 9News.com. They write: Contaminated water that's seeping from a mountain may be killing fish, according to the Colorado Division of Wildlife. The seepages are occurring on the opposite end of Leadville from the opening of the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel. The DOW says tests performed by Chadwick Ecological in 2007 show fewer fish in streams below where contaminated water is seeping from the ground. Chadwick Ecological compared 2007 numbers with numbers of fish from tests performed by the DOW in 2006. "In my professional opinion (contamination) is a factor," said Greg Policky, an aquatic biologist with the DOW. He said the numbers of fish have not changed above where contaminated water is seeping out. Policky cautioned that contamination may not be the only cause in the decline of fish below the seepages. "There may be other factors that are combining too," he said. The Environmental Protection Agency plans to begin pumping water from the Gaw Shaft using a temporary pump on Wednesday. The Gaw Shaft is a well already drilled near the seepages. The EPA hopes the pumping will stop water seeping from the ground. The EPA says it will install a larger custom made pump Thursday which will be able to pump 300 to 500 gallons of water per minute. The custom pump will move water from the Gaw Shaft into a nearby stream that eventually flows into the Arkansas River. Testing by the EPA and Lake County has shown water in the Gaw Shaft is not contaminated and will not need treatment. An additional pump will be installed in a well to be drilled near the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel. The EPA says water from the second well will be contaminated with zinc and cadmium. The water will be pumped to a nearby Bureau of Reclamation treatment plant before being put in the Arkansas River. Drilling of the well and pump installation should be completed in 12 weeks. More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here. "colorado water" 6:48:25 AM

New website: Industrial, Commercial and Institutional Water Conservation Say hello to Industrial, Commercial and Institutional Water Conservation. It's a new website from several northern Colorado water providers. They write: "The issues of water quality and supply, when coupled, easily reflect the State's top environmental priority according to the 2002 Environmental Conditions and Directions Study. Water conservation on a statewide level is challenging given the complex and fragmented system of water providers. Moreover, most conservation programs have historically targeted residential and irrigation accounts. As a result, industrial, commercial, and institutional (ICI) sectors in Colorado present an area of particular need for conservation programs. Good idea Thanks to Fort Collins Now for the link. From their article: A new website made possible by northern Colorado water providers, engineers and conservation non-profits aims to help businesses implement more effective long-term water conservation strategies. The online resource is directed at the so-called Industrial, Commercial and Institutional water-users -- categorized on the website as restaurants, hotels, schools, retail and medical and nursing and assisted living facilities[~]and includes "tools to help businesses estimate their own water usage, benchmarks to compare their usage to others in their industry, best practices for conserving water resources and saving money, and additional resources to assist regional water providers and users in conservation initiates," according to the website. Users are guided through a water usage self-assessment to identify opportunities to save both water and money. The site also features information on potential water-saving technology upgrades and can be found at http://ici.coloradowaterwise.org. Efforts at water conservation have historically focused on residential and irrigation water-users and the research on commercial water consumption -- a sector that proportionally uses the most water -- is the largest project of its kind. The Brendle Group, a Fort Collins-based engineering consulting firm, developed the methodology to break down water consumption data into industry benchmarks, or average usage levels, so that northern Colorado businesses can gauge and compare the amount of water they use relative to similar businesses. Restauranteurs, for example, can read the benchmarks in terms of water usage per seat; schools now have data on water usage per student. "colorado water" 6:41:55 AM

Cloud-seeding halted in Gunnison Basin From The Denver Post, "Even as wildlife managers were feeding deer deprived of grazing land by deep snowdrifts in the Gunnison Basin, clouds were being seeded to bring more precipitation in another part of the county. In the southern part of the basin around Slumgullion Pass and other areas, the snowpack hadn't been deep enough to cut off the seeding project, said Joe Busto, a staffer on the Colorado Water Conservation Board's watershed-protection and flood-mitigation section. But public concern over wildlife and snow removal halted the seeding as of Monday. The program helps boost the watershed and snowpack in an area that depends heavily on outdoor recreation to feed its economy, said Jane Wyman, Gunnison County weather-modification coordinator. The Crested Butte ski resort accounts for much of the county's tourism revenue. The snow seeding program there and in other northern areas of the county was stopped more than a month ago when winter storms boosted the snowpack." "colorado water" 6:33:17 AM

Green voters? Business Wire: "The colors red and blue always dominate during an election year. But this year, green is also showing up across the political spectrum as the presidential candidates look to leverage their positions on environmental sustainability to win votes. Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee are making their cases to win Green voters." More... From developing plans to increase biofuels production and create clean energy jobs, to decreasing foreign oil consumption, each of the candidates have made environmental sustainability a priority in their campaigns. Catalina Marketing, which prints targeted communications at checkout based on purchase behavior in more than 22,000 stores nationwide, recently conducted research into the Green shopper and wondered, "Do Green shoppers translate to Green voters?" Green shoppers were identified as individuals who made purchases from a list of products from leading brands promoted as eco-friendly between April 2006 and April 2007. A shopper's home state was determined by the location of the store where they do most of their shopping. Where do Green consumers shop and will their state of residence have an impact on how they will vote in November? Results determined that the Democratic (blue) states had a higher than average proportion of Green shoppers than Republican (red) states. In establishing the states as red or blue, Catalina looked at the state voting records in the last three U.S. presidential elections and focused on the states that remained consistently Democratic or Republican. The research did yield a few surprising results. For instance, the Democratic state of California - often seen as a healthy place to live - indexed at the average for the number of Green shoppers. California's neighbors, Oregon and Washington, both ranked well above the average. Of the Republican states, Colorado and Alaska both ranked above average in their tendency to have Green shoppers, with Alaska beating out even blue states Oregon and Washington. The top five Green states most likely to have Green shoppers in order are: Alaska (red), Washington (blue), Oregon (blue), Colorado (red) and Vermont (blue). The states least likely to have Green shoppers, in order, are: Oklahoma (red), Alabama (red), Minnesota (blue), North Dakota (red) and Wisconsin (blue). "2008 pres" 6:28:31 AM

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