Coyote Gulch

Friday, August 15, 2008

Wiggins project

From The Fort Morgan Times: "Although the final decision on the acquisition of water for Wiggins is yet to be made, the town council unanimously approved a lease-purchase agreement Wednesday to buy land and water on a farm north of town. The agreement will not be final until it is signed by both parties on the Sept. 30 closing deadline, and the final objection deadline is Sept. 17, according to town water attorney Steve Jeffers. Town Attorney Sam Light said the ordinance authorized the execution and delivery of an agreement for a lease with the option to purchase 10 water shares from the Weldon Valley Ditch Co., along with related property. The agreement would include any ditches, laterals or other facilities that would help deliver the water, he said."

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"colorado water"
7:39:13 AM

Mandatory motorized watercraft inspections start today on Lake Granby

From The Loveland Reporter-Herald: "Officials will begin inspecting boats before they set sail on Lake Granby to prevent the spread of invasive mussel species. Starting today, the Colorado Division of Wildlife will begin random inspections at the Stillwater and Sunset Point boat ramps on weekends. Inspectors will be on hand sunrise to sunset Friday through Sunday, when 95 percent of boating occurs."

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"colorado water"
7:33:32 AM

McCain: Renegotiate the Colorado River Compact
Now here's a bad idea from a presidential candidate. John McCain wants the the seven states to renegotiate the Colorado River Compact, according to The Pueblo Chieftain. His interest probably stems from Arizona's mis-handling of the original negotiations and the state's subsequent missteps during the negotiations for the Central Arizona Project. From the article:

The water compact that Colorado and other upper basin states have with California and Arizona should be renegotiated, U.S. Sen. John McCain said Thursday. In a telephone interview with The Pueblo Chieftain, the presumptive GOP candidate for president said the water sharing agreement reached in 1922 between seven Western states doesn't take into account increases in population and the changing water needs. As a result, the governors of those states should get together to talk about how best to use this precious resource, he said. "I don't think there's any doubt the major, major issue is water and can be as important as oil. So the compact that is in effect, obviously, needs to be renegotiated over time amongst the interested parties," McCain said while on his way to the Aspen Institute. "I think that there's a movement amongst the governors to try, if not, quote, renegotiate, certainly adjust to the new realities of high growth, of greater demands on a scarcer resource...

"Senator McCain's position on opening up the Colorado River Compact is absolutely wrong and would only happen over my dead body," Salazar said. "It's an anathema to the fundamental principles of Colorado's water rights and our compacts." The senator said that when the state's compacts with the lower basin states were negotiated, everyone knew at the time that those states would grow in population faster than Colorado. As a result, the upper basin states' water rights needed to be protected. "We did not want California to gobble up all of the water supply on the Colorado River, and they would have done that under the doctrine of equitable apportionment," Salazar said. "In my view the compact is sacrosanct. I will fight tooth and nail to make sure that it is not opened up."

Salazar isn't the only Coloradan to be distrustful of downstream states. Two years ago, his successor in the attorney general's office, Republican John Suthers, created a special legal team to prepare for a possible - some believe, likely - lawsuit from those states in an effort to gain more Colorado water. Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, said there's no need to renegotiate the compact. "Just last year, the seven states entered into a new implementing agreement, and that agreement is working as intended," Ritter said. "It would be sheer folly to re-open the compact at a time like this when all of the states are working cooperatively on this issue."[...]

McCain, who said he understands water issues better than his Democratic opponent, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, also said that it should be up to each Western state to decide for itself what new water storage projects should be built. He said that if Colorado were to choose to do so, some federal money could be found to help. "The governor of California is advocating more storage, but that's a decision that I think the state of Colorado has to make, and if the state of Colorado wants it, then I think we should see how best to finance it," McCain said. "In Arizona, we've had federal joint financing. If it's in the best of everybody, certainly that's an option that needs to be explored, but I'd like to see the state of Colorado say that they need it first."

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"colorado water"
7:29:44 AM

Southern Delivery System

Reclamation has assured U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall that they will not rush through the approval process for Colorado Springs' proposed Southern Delivery System, according to The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

Udall, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, asked Reclamation in June to slow down work on the final environmental impact statement so that all comments could be considered. "I urge Reclamation to heed these warnings and slow down work on the final EIS so that public comments and concerns can be seriously considered and to provide time to find more collaborative, less contentious and potentially less litigious resolution," Udall wrote.

Reclamation expects to complete an EIS on SDS, a $1.1 billion pipeline from Pueblo Dam that would serve Colorado Springs, Security, Fountain and Pueblo West, by the end of the year. A record of decision would be issued early in 2009, clearing the way for the project. Colorado Springs leaders scolded Udall in early July for writing the letter, particularly because Udall singled out comments by Bob Rawlings, publisher of The Pueblo Chieftain, in asking for the slowdown. In late July, Reclamation Area Manager Mike Collins said Reclamation received more than 350 comments on SDS during a 3-month public comment period on the draft EIS. The comments are posted on Reclamation's SDS Web site. A tabulation of those comments by The Chieftain showed that more than two-thirds of those comments disagreed with the proposed route or the pipeline or siting of reservoirs, found technical or scientific problems with Reclamation's analysis or questioned the sufficiency of the study under the National Environmental Policy Act. Collins said all the comments would be incorporated into the final EIS...

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"colorado water"
7:21:39 AM

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