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Monday, July 7, 2008
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Deadline to register for August primary July 14th
From Councilwoman Judy Montero's weblog: "If you haven't registered yet to vote in the August 12 statewide primary elections, you still have a week to get registered - the deadline is next Monday, 5 p.m. July 14. You can register by mail using the Voter Registration Application Form (if you do, return the form to the Denver Elections Division, 3888 Mexico Ave., Denver CO 80210), or in person at the Elections Division, any Denver Motor Vehicle office, any Colorado Motor Vehicle office, or the Denver Department of Human Services."
"denver 2008"
6:07:40 PM 
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Cedaredge: Supply news
From The Delta County Independent: "If Orchard City should ever agree to be part of a comprehensive domestic water supply system in the area north and west of Cedaredge, the town would want some conditions attached to its participation. That was the message of the Orchard City trustee water committee to directors of the Grand Mesa Water Conservancy District (GMWCD) last month at a meeting to discuss domestic water systems in the rural area."
"colorado water"
6:06:51 PM
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Revisions to the Rules Concerning the Colorado Instream Flow and Natural Lake Level Program?
From email from The Colorado Water Conservation Board (Rob Viehl):
The Stream and Lake Protection Section of the Colorado Water Conservation Board will hold a public meeting to discuss proposed revisions to the Rules Concerning the Colorado Instream Flow and Natural Lake Level Program. The Rules are being revised, in part, to implement H.B. 08-1280. A copy of the proposed revisions to the rules can be found on CWCB's website."
July 17, 2008
7:00 [^] 9:00 p.m.
Glenwood Springs Community Center
Sopris Room C
100 Wulfsohn Road
Glenwood Springs, Colorado
Questions may be directed to Linda Bassi at 303-866-3441 ext. 3204 or linda.bassi@state.co.us.
"colorado water"
6:05:46 PM
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Initiative 113?
Walter in Denver: "Gov. Ritter and others are supporting a ballot initiative to raise severance taxes on oil and gas extracted from Colorado. It's a $321 million tax hike, with most of the money going to higher education. It's a clever move to go after oil companies, which aren't the most popular businesses these days."
"denver 2008"
6:03:48 PM
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? for President?
Political Wire: "Some good news for Sen. Barack Obama: 'In the post-war era, the Gallup polls taken closest to the Independence Day holiday have been correct in picking the popular vote winner two-thirds of the time, in 10 of 15 presidential contests,' according to analysis by Politico. The latest Gallup tracking poll found Obama leading Sen. John McCain, 47% to 43%."
Here's a recap of today's town hall meeting here in Denver, from The Colorado Indpendent.
"2008 pres"
6:00:01 PM
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Small scale hydroelectric power in Delta County?
From: "As the country looks to the agriculture industry for renewable energy in the forms of corn for ethanol and land for wind turbines, Delta Conservation District is assessing the feasibility of microhydropower. 'My thought is how we can develop alternative energy programs that are owned, operated and controlled by the farmer to benefit their lifestyles and keep them in a viable economic position, so they are not having to sell their land for subdivisions,' said Eric Jessen, Delta Conservation District board president. The district is in the process of developing an alternative energy master plan for the area and are starting with small-scale hydroelectric systems. Microhydropower systems usually generate up to 100 kilowatts of electricity, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. A 10-kw microhydropower system can generally provide enough power for a home. Recently, the district received funding from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Colorado River Water Conservation District to map the potential of producing renewable energy from flowing water in ditches and canals, Jessen said."
Thanks to The Water Information Program for the link.
"colorado water"
5:53:29 PM
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2008 Democratic National Convention
Request to the DNCC. Could you expand the blogger pool for Barack Obama's speech? And yes, we know, this is self-serving.
"2008 pres"
5:44:31 PM
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New Vallecito Creek floodplain maps
From The Durango Herald: "Newly updated floodplain maps for the residential area north of Vallecito Reservoir hint at the inevitable: Human development eventually will be pushed out...The new maps, which update the 1981 maps used by the county, expand the boundaries of the 100-year floodplain. According to the county, 159 homes were in the 100-year floodplain under the old maps, versus 326 under the new configuration. In addition to changing the location of the 100-year floodplain boundaries, the new maps alter the 500-year flood marks. They also no longer depict the floodway - the path through which floodwaters are expected to move with the greatest velocity and carry the most debris - as a single river channel. Instead, it is shown as snaking away from the river in a variety of directions."
"colorado water"
6:23:52 AM
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Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel update
Here's an update about the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel disaster declaration, from The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
Lake County Commissioners are satisfied with the progress on dealing with a potential emergency at the Leadville Tunnel, but say more coordination between federal and state agencies is needed to provide a long-term fix. "You can build structures and rearrange things to benefit the fishery, but if you don't have fish, it's all for naught," Commissioner Ken Olsen said last week. "This process is still driven by egos, not what's good for the fish."[...]
For years, there has been what some have labeled a "bureaucratic blockage" between Reclamation and the Environmental Protection Agency. That symbolic blockage was penetrated when EPA put in what it calls a relief well - and what Reclamation calls the "46 + 66 well," referring to its location 4,666 feet from the mouth of the tunnel. The EPA envisioned a quick tap into the pool to relieve an immediate problem, while Reclamation pushed for a buried 12-inch pipeline that will operate permanently. Over weeks and months, the two agencies hashed out details of the $5 million project, with the EPA marshaling resources and Reclamation attending to technical aspects. Even in deep snow and tight working quarters - the drill rig was set up in close proximity to power lines on either side - the well and pipeline were completed on June 18. The project fell behind EPA's announced schedule of 12 weeks from mid-February, but at what seemed like a lightning pace to Reclamation"s engineers...
The risk assessment virtually ignores the environmental dangers of the mine pool behind blockage in the Leadville Tunnel. Ryan indicated that it will, literally, take an act of Congress to force Reclamation to treat anything besides what's coming out of the Leadville Tunnel, and now the relief well. "The relief well, or 46 + 66 well, is a significant benefit for years to come," Olsen said. "That risk is being mitigated and that risk will fall. It's a tremendous benefit for everyone in the future. But you still have the bureau saying it's no risk and the EPA saying it's a danger. I brought it up with (Reclamation Area Manager) Mike Collins, that the scope of risk assessment is too narrow." The EPA did not comment at public meetings last week, and commissioners continue to be frustrated at getting information, such as current water quality readings, from the EPA, Olsen said. Commissioners also have asked the EPA to continue pumping at the Gaw Shaft in California Gulch to relieve pressure. The shaft, located below the Newmont Mining Co. treatment plant that is part of the EPA Superfund Cleanup, has relatively clean water coming out in an artesian flow. But the continued pressure from the mine pool on groundwater levels is mostly causing seeps at other sites, creating other problems.
Here's a long article about the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel along with some of the history of the area, from The Pueblo Chieftain. Read the whole thing, here are a couple of excerpts:
When you go through the portal of the 10-foot tunnel - it looks like some sort of bomb shelter set into a hillside - you take a trip back into the past of Leadville's mining history. In this case, the journey is short and ends abruptly at 1992, when the latest bulkhead of the tunnel was put in 461 feet from the portal. A lattice of 2-by-12 timbers is backed by cobbles, stones and other fill material. Five feet behind that, a 160-foot plug built in 1980 is held in place by steel-and-wood beams. Still, about 300-400 gallons a minute of water is constantly leaking through the timbers, staining them orange from oxidized iron in the water. The water flows along twin concrete troughs on either side of a walkway into a drain at the end that takes the water into a treatment plant run by the Bureau of Reclamation.
Behind that, for more than two miles, there is a buried history, mysterious and unreachable, shielding the past from view. Parts of it have collapsed. Oldtimers claim to have walked through the tunnel, up shafts leading to the older Yak Tunnel and out into daylight. Officially, the tunnel dead-ends in dense bedrock about one-quarter mile after it takes a hard left turn at the Robert Emmet shaft. Along the way, the tunnel is intercepted by a series of geologic faults that once acted like underground dams, but have been breached by the activities of miners...
The water that comes through the portal is generally of good quality, because the blockage inside actually helps to draw minerals from the water, said Brad Littlepage, lead operator at the plant. Water from the mouth of the tunnel, and usually from Reclamation's well above the blockage has a pH of about 7, or neutral. The water coming from the new EPA well is slightly acidic. It doesn't matter. In the first phase of treatment, acid is added to the water to decrease its pH. In the second phase, a base is added to increase the pH to alkaline levels. Acid is again added, bringing the pH back to 7. That's the treatment, because the various metals in the water precipitate out at both ends of the spectrum. "It comes out at a better quality than drinking water standards, but we don't chlorinate it," [Bob] Pike said, watching the stream from the plant's discharge pipe into the East Fork of the Arkansas River. "It's practically distilled water."
More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.
"colorado water"
6:17:05 AM
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Energy policy: Oil Shale
The Glenwood Springs Post-Independent cornered Mark Udall and Bob Schaffer in order to talk oil shale. From the article:
Udall and Schaffer spoke to the Glenwood Springs Post Independent late last month about oil shale and other energy-related issues affecting the Western Slope, including whether communities in the area should receive a larger share of revenues generated by energy development. Both men expect the issues surrounding oil shale to play a role in this year's U.S. Senate race, especially as gas prices continue to surge higher and higher. That's because the Bureau of Land Management estimates that the amount of oil locked up in federal shale reserves in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah has more than 50 times the country's proven conventional oil reserves and nearly five times the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia. "I would ask the president not to play politics with oil shale, but listen to the people of western Colorado who have to live with the consequence of irresponsible oil shale development," Udall said. Schaffer said the demand nationally and internationally is growing, and Coloradans sit on top of a vast resource, and "that demand is going to drive lots of controversy."
"denver 2008"
6:03:05 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/14/09; 10:24:23 PM.
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