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Sunday, April 22, 2007
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Today is Earth Day. Use the day to reflect on your impact on the planet. Ask the hard questions about what you can do individually to help restore the environment. Resolve to be smarter with water throughout the year. Plant a tree.
Here's a call to action for Coloradoans from today's Denver Post. From the article, "Today, Earth Day 2007, we have announced a new coalition of conservation, sportsmen, agriculture and business groups to push for bold and dramatic action, right here in Colorado, to stem the tide of global warming. The Colorado Climate Action Network will work with scientists, policymakers and others to craft and implement a Colorado-specific strategy on climate change. The science is clear that immediate action to reduce pollution will have a big impact. By taking protective action now, we can stabilize worldwide global warming pollution in the atmosphere at nearly twice pre-industrial levels by 2050. This is the critical threshold scientists are warning we must not cross to avoid potentially irreversible effects, such as the melting of major ice sheets and dramatic rise in sea levels. To put it simply, what we do now matters. As with so many issues, bold action in Washington, D.C., on climate change has been stifled by partisan politics and a president in denial. Hopefully, compelling science and the law will bring fresh momentum to the issue. An extensive body of science documents the clear and present danger of global warming. The Supreme Court recently rejected the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's refusal to address global warming pollution. Support for a mandatory, comprehensive, market-based solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is building inside the Beltway and real progress appears to be on the horizon."
More Earth Day coverage from the Pueblo Chieftain. They write, "The Earth needs your help. Here are four ways to help make our corner of the Earth a healthier place: Volunteer to work in national parks, national monuments and other conservation areas; Support conservation by checking out the Wilderness Society's WildAlert list of natural places; Know the score by finding out how your federal representatives vote on environmental issues; Reduce your 'carbon footprint' - the amount of carbon dioxide, CO2, one of the global-warming-causing gases, that your daily life generates from the consumption of fossil fuels."
"2008 pres"
9:54:44 AM 
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Political Wire: "Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) 'said Saturday that if she is elected president, she would make her husband a roaming ambassador to the world, using his skills to repair the nation's tattered image abroad,' according to the AP."
"2008 pres"
9:28:11 AM
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Here's an update on the looming dispute over stream flow in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, from the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. From the article, "Shock and outrage over the fate of water flowing down the Gunnison River continue to echo across the Western Slope like the thunder of crashing boulders in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Three legislators met at a Grand Junction coffee shop Saturday morning to turn up the political heat on state officials who played a part in Attorney General John Suthers' filing of objections to stipulations created to resolve the fight over how much water eventually will be allowed to flow through Black Canyon National Park. Standing beside Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita, and Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, minced no words Saturday: 'The funding for the Colorado Water Conservation Board projects is in the appropriations committee that I chair. That bill was up for hearing yesterday morning, and I took it off the table. And I will not allow it to be considered until such time as we get answers about why the attorney general intervened in this case that we thought was settled.'
"Buescher said he's afraid the state's primacy over its own water will erode because of Black Canyon's federal reserve water right. Western Slope legislators, he said, are united in their opposition to the objections. 'This is Colorado standing up to the federal government,' Penry said, adding that Suthers claims he was acting at the behest of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and the State Water Board. Penry said the board's projects bill should be passed, but with the provision that money won't be released until Suthers withdraws his objections...
"There is much at stake. Black Canyon National Park and environmental groups won a federal court case last year with a decision that said the 300 cubic-foot-per-second minimum flow through Black Canyon settled upon in a 2003 agreement between the federal government and the state was inadequate to protect the ecological integrity of the canyon. The decision, which required the state and federal government to forge a new agreement, also said the 2003 agreement violated environmental laws and illegally disposed of federal property. But in an April 19 letter to Gov. Bill Ritter, Robert Drexel, president of the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, said the park's senior water right could place a call on the Gunnison River that would 'virtually de-water the Upper Gunnison Basin,' possibly reducing the level of water in thousands of domestic wells and 75 percent of the Gunnison Basin's irrigators. 'Shock and outrage' over Suthers' objections, Drexel wrote, are 'rippling through our community.' In his objections, Suthers wrote that the stipulations, among other things, make it unclear how Black Canyon's water right should be administered, create uncertainty about the legal status of that right and require selective administration of a call from Black Canyon in favor only of Gunnison Basin water rights...
"If the federal government can get a senior water right on the Gunnison River, he said, it can do it on other Western Slope rivers, too."
"colorad water"
8:48:58 AM
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Here's a look at the changing attitudes towards oil and gas development from the Denver Post. From the article, "Legislators in Western states are reacting to constituents' complaints about the impacts of oil and gas drilling. The major impetus for these efforts has been split estates, a common situation where mineral rights have been severed from the surface and are owned by someone else. Laws have historically favored mineral owners' rights to use the surface. However, a spate of recent bills in different states is trying to protect the surface owner.
"New Mexico's newly enacted Surface Owner's Protection Act will be the nation's strongest when it goes into effect July 1. Unless they can reach an agreement with the surface owner, developers will be required to post a bond with the state to cover potential damages. In 2005, Wyoming was the first state to explicitly set a lower bound for efforts at communication and compensation. A key fact in both states is that developers typically offer more than the law requires. Even if a positive relationship is not possible, at least non-combative relations with the landowner are in the interests of the developer. The laws are targeted at a few bad actors who give the industry a black eye."
"Oil and gas has long been an important part of the Colorado economy. However, the natural surface amenities of Colorado are also responsible for the state's economic success. People want to enjoy clean air and water, beautiful vistas, wildlife and solitude. Many people have moved to Colorado for these reasons, bolstering the economy in the process. If we didn't also need energy, then the tradeoff wouldn't be as tough.
Eroding the legal precedence that energy developers have long enjoyed is likely to raise costs and perhaps energy prices. However, the recent energy boom has spawned an insistence by residents that surface values be protected while the energy beneath is tapped. So, the legal framework is shifting toward recognizing the tradeoff as well."
"2008 pres"
8:21:00 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 12:52:18 PM.
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