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Thursday, February 28, 2008
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From The Cherry Creek News: "NOAA and the World Bank today announced that they have signed an agreement to work together to help developing nations manage water resources, combat drought, and measure changes in climate. Future projects are expected to take place initially in the Latin American region, notably in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, while other projects could be launched in other parts of the world. The scope and scale of many coastal problems require international alliances and solutions. This new partnership will allow NOAA scientists and resource managers and the World Bank to more readily assist global communities in building resilience to climate extremes. Specifically, the assistance can help establish end-to-end early warning systems, enhance and protect local ecosystems, and realize the benefits of an integrated earth observing system. 'This initiative enables us to marry financial resources and technical resources - bringing them together for sustainable development,' said Dr. William J. Brennan, NOAA's deputy assistant secretary for international affairs. 'This helps us realize our mutual goals to decrease suffering from natural disasters and bolster economies while sustaining our environment. Together these efforts seek to improve livelihoods and reduce global poverty.'"
More on sustainability from The Water and Wastewater Blog. They write:
The future of water is anything but clear. We face a future world fraught with water challenges - too much, too little, too contaminated or inaccessible to meet our needs.
We live in a rapidly changing world in which many of our expectations about natural resources may no longer be met. The seeming abundance of safe, low-cost water may falsely lead us to assume perpetual easy access to all the low-cost, high-quality water we want, when we want it.
The water industry today must examine these assumptions. Although water covers 70 percent of our planet's surface, less than one-half percent is freshwater available for our use. Most of our planet's water is in oceans and too salty for many uses. Much of the remainder is locked in frozen glaciers, is remote from population centers or circulating in our atmosphere. So this seemingly abundant resource is actually quite constrained.
"2008 pres"
6:31:34 PM 
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Political Wire: "A new InsiderAdvantage poll in Texas shows Sen. Hillary Clinton edging Sen. Barack Obama, 47% to 43% with 10% undecided."
Political Wire: "Belo Texas Tracking Poll: 'Six days out from the Texas Democratic presidential primary the race remains a statistical dead heat with Hillary Clinton leading Barack Obama by a slim 46% to 45% margin, narrowing slightly from 46% to 43% since yesterday. The race continues to trend toward Barack Obama, though these changes are slight and within the margin of error.'"
Political Wire: "A new People Calling People survey in Texas shows Sen. Barack Obama with a 7-point lead over Sen. Hillary Clinton, 40% to 33%. The survey's margin of error is 2.42%. However, in a poll of voters who said they had already cast ballots in early voting for the Democratic primary, Clinton led Obama, 41% to 38%, within the subset survey's margin of error."
Political Wire: "Sen. Barack Obama has widened his lead nationally over Sen. Hillary Clinton in the latest Gallup tracking poll, 48% to 43%. For much of the last week the race has been virtually even. In the GOP race, Sen. John McCain leads Mike Huckabee, 63% to 22%."
Political Wire: "A Civitas Institute poll in North Carolina shows Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. Hillary Clinton, 38% to 24%, in the Democratic presidential race. On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain leads Mike Huckabee, 50% to 23%...In general election match ups, McCain beats either Democrat by double-digits."
Political Wire: "A MTSU poll in Tennessee shows Sen. Hillary Clinton does better againts Sen. John McCain in a general election matchup than Sen. Barack Obama. However, McCain wins both pairings. McCain tops Clinton, 45% to 41%, beats Obama, 53% to 37%."
"2008 pres"
6:27:13 PM
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Critics of the legislative process on all levels of government would do well to read this article about the vote on Governor Ritter's slate of nominees to the newly re-constituted Colorado Oil and Gas Commission. The impact of oil and gas (and in the future oil shale) development on county services, roads, crime prevention and on and on is huge. The environment can also suffer mightily with polluted groundwater, surface water, erosion and loss of value for recreation. The vote in the state Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy Committee was along party lines. No crossovers from either side. If the Democrats did not have a majority we'd be seeing a fight over the nominees before the full Senate ever had a chance to vote. That's politics for you. One side can stymie efforts from the other side. From The Glenwood Springs Post Independent article:
She has been doing the work for almost eight months. Now Garfield County Commissioner Trési Houpt is one step closer to officially being named as a Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation (COGCC) commissioner. The Democrat-controlled state Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy Committee on Tuesday approved -- but on a party line, 4-to-3 vote -- sending a motion to the full Senate that recommends senators approve the confirmation of Houpt and five other people as COGCC commissioners. The day the Senate will vote on the motion wasn't immediately clear late Tuesday, Houpt said. She said that she was "hopeful" that the motion would be approved.
Those in the committee who voted against the motion had made objections that senators did not have enough time to interview the prospective COGCC commissioners during a committee hearing Tuesday morning, Houpt said. Despite the concerns, the committee voted to confirm Richard D. Alward of Grand Junction as a member with experience in soil conservation, Thomas L. Compton of Hesperus as a member engaged in agriculture, Mark D. Cutright of Aurora as a member with oil and gas experience, Michael P. Dowling of Denver because of his environmental and wildlife experience, Joshua B. Epel of Greenwood Village for experience in the oil and gas industry, and Houpt as a local government official. In July, Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter named Houpt as one of several new members to the COGCC...
Lawmakers last year altered the commission's role, expanded it to nine members from seven and added new requirements for member expertise and backgrounds. The changes came after complaints the commission had become too cozy with the industry amid an energy boom that was putting straining local communities [ed emphasis ours]. Evan Dreyer, a spokesman for Gov. Bill Ritter, said Houpt and the other commissioners have been serving since last summer, and called their confirmations more of a "procedural matter." He added, however, that there might be more of a discussion of their nominations because of the "high-profile nature" of their positions within the COGCC, which is undergoing a controversial rule-making process. Dreyer said he was confident that the motion to approve Houpt and the other five as commissioners would pass in the Senate.
Meanwhile from The Pueblo Chieftain:
A methane producer looking to come into the Twin Lakes Ranch subdivision will have to address concerns voiced by the planning commission before it will be given permits to drill. Presco Energy, a natural gas drilling company out of Woodland, Texas, met with the Huerfano County Planning Commission on Tuesday in a small room packed with unsympathetic homeowners. The company wants to eventually drill five coal-bed methane wells in the area, which is six miles west of town. For now, the company is asking for permission to drill a test well to determine if the area is even worth drilling. Commission members told president Richard Ellis that he would have to meet a list of stipulations not addressed in his application, including a weed management plan, dust mitigation, noise abatement and wildlife and historical artifact assessments.
Commission member Lewis Edmundson said that water quality was his biggest concern. In Las Animas County, Presco Energy uses an evaporation pit to eliminate the nearly 250 barrels of water it pulls daily from the coal seams under the Crazy French Ranch. The water percolates down into the soil and evaporates from the pit. Currently, the state considers water pumped out of coal seams during drilling to be a waste product. Dominic Andreatta, commission chairman, said his concern with evaporation pits is that the water percolating into the soil can pull salts to the surface, rendering the soil useless for agriculture. "If we seem cautious, it's because we are," said commission member Max Vezzani. "We want to avoid mistakes that were made in the past," referring to the recent trouble homeowners in the River Ridge Ranch subdivision have had with Petroglyph Energy. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission required Petroglyph to shut down all of its 56 methane wells in June when methane began seeping into private water wells. Methane in the water well of Ben and Melanie Bounds was so concentrated, it caused an explosion that took the roof off their well house.
If the company meets the requirements, it will only have a six-month window and a limit of 60,000 gallons of water to be pumped out of the coal seams to find out if the area contains enough methane to be worth the expense of putting in a pipeline. A hearing with the planning commission and the Huerfano County commissioners is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. March 24 at the Huerfano County Community Center, 928 Russell Ave.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"2008 pres"
6:11:10 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 2:11:01 PM.
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