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Thursday, December 8, 2005
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Pine River Times: "Since coalbed methane development started in the county in 1988, residents have claimed it has damaged their water wells. But state and federal agencies have said that's not their jurisdiction. Bayfield area ranchers Bill and Beth Vance and Jim and Terry Fitzgerald have filed suit in State Water Court in hopes of forcing the Colorado Division of Water Resources to take control of gas development impact on groundwater. It's a change of strategy from lawsuits during the 1990s, where landowners tried unsuccessfully to sue gas companies for alleged damage to water wells. 'This isn't asking for damages' Fitzgerald told the Times. 'We want to determine the legal obligations of the State Engineer.' The suit names State Engineer Hal Simpson and District 7 Water Engineer Ken Beegles."
Durango Herald: "State health officials have told the city of Durango to stop violating Colorado water-quality standards - the result of 57 raw-sewage spills since 2000. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued a cease-and-desist order Nov. 28, requiring the city to take a series of actions between Dec. 17 and March 31, 2006. The spills that triggered the order all occurred in the sewer collection system. None occurred at the wastewater treatment plant at Santa Rita Park. According to the state agency, 11 violations involved raw sewage reaching the Animas River and 46 incidents involved sewage discharges on land. The city reported the incidents as they occurred to the health department. The most serious of the river discharges occurred March 22, 2001, when 25,000 gallons of untreated sewage reached the Animas between 28th and 29th streets. One accident involved 10 gallons, and another was recorded as an undetermined amount. A number of the land discharges were recorded as involving an 'undetermined' amount. The most serious incidents occurred on Dec. 4, 2004, and Jan. 12, 2005, when 1,000 gallons spilled along U.S. Highway 550 in the lower Animas Valley and in the 1200 block of Roosa Avenue, respectively. Durango city councilors are already moving to improve the system. After concerns were raised earlier by the Environmental Protection Agency, the city decided to hire two new maintenance workers, doubling its maintenance force. The new jobs will be paid for by a 5 percent sewer rate increase approved at Tuesday's council meeting."
Category: Colorado Water
8:10:23 PM 
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American Scientist Online: "The publication of three new books addressing the problems associated with large dams reflects an ongoing debate over concerns such as development in industrializing nations, social and environmental justice, and the protection of river ecosystems. On the one hand, people who wish to prevent the building of huge dams have become increasingly organized and effective at bringing their message to wider public attention. The protesters range from environmental organizations such as the International Rivers Network, which is active on a variety of proposed dams, to the Save the Narmada Movement, which came into being to oppose a specific dam proposal. On the other hand, as Jacques Leslie notes at the end of Deep Water, in 2003 the World Bank announced a new water-resources policy that advocates just such projects. And ironically enough, industrialized nations, which have already built thousands of big dams, are now expending a vast amount of money and energy trying to determine how to reduce their negative effects. Presumably today's industrializing nations will have to work equally hard in the future to reverse the problems brought on by the current phase of dam construction. Those opposed to large dams can marshal a sobering array of criticisms based on those already built, which have provided some benefits but have without exception destroyed river environments and the human communities that depend on them."
The Pueblo Chieftain editorial staff is tickled pink that the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit against Colorado Springs this week. They write, "The Sierra Club, one of the nation's most influential environmental groups, filed suit in Denver federal court this week against Colorado Springs for that city's repeated sewage spills into Fountain Creek. Welcome aboard. In October, Pueblo District Attorney Bill Thiebaut filed a separate suit in the court over the issue. Mr. Thiebaut's suit is asking the court to require Colorado Springs to take actions to eliminate future spills and to pay a civil penalty of up to $32,500 per day for each violation of the federal Clean Water Act. Just this year alone, two spills of sewage have befouled Fountain Creek, one in May and another in June. That latter spill saw more than 317,000 gallons of raw sewage come down the Fountain, prompting the local health department to post the creek as a significant health danger. Overall, records show 15 major sewage releases by Colorado Springs totaling more than 73 million gallons since 1998. A Sierra Club lawyer, Eric Huber, said this week's action likely will be joined with Mr. Thiebaut's suit. We urge that to take place, for together this would be a formidable team."
Category: Colorado Water
6:26:49 AM
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© Copyright
2008
John Orr.
Last update:
9/5/08; 4:15:16 PM.
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