Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Save the farm economy Here's an editorial about saving the farm economy from the Greeley Tribune. They write, "There are others who would like to continue farming, but growth requires water and farmers own the majority of the state's water. Environment Colorado suggests campaigns to bolster agriculture by encouraging consumers to buy area farm products and to protect farms and ranches from pressure by residential neighbors. The organization also would like to see increased funding for conservation programs, such as purchasing easements on land to keep it from being converted to housing, and regulation to discourage sprawl. "All that sounds good, but the fact is that the state's major crops are wheat, corn and livestock. While there are farmers who market produce directly to the consumer, for the most part, farmers and ranchers in Colorado are in a business where they are forced to buy retail and sell wholesale; most crops go to processors. "But that's not to say there aren't ways to help the situation. "The city of Parker, for one, has developed a way to provide its residents with a future water supply while at the same time keeping farmers on the land. The city of Parker has developed what it calls a 'fallowing' plan whereby it will pay farmers not to farm a portion of their land in return for the water that would be used on that portion -- that is, idle part of their land each year but get money in return. "The Colorado legislature is also looking at a similar measure. House Bill 1124 -- sponsored by Rep. Mary Hodge, D-Brighton, and Sen. Dave Owen, R-Greeley -- has passed the house and is now in the Senate Appropriations Committee. "It would allow a water judge to approve a rotational crop management contract, pursuant to which an owner of irrigation water rights implements a change to a new use by forgoing irrigation of a portion of the lands historically irrigated and rotates the lands that will not be irrigated on an annual basis as long as that program does not affect other water rights." Category: Colorado Water 10:04:26 AM     Fountain Creek lawsuit Pueblo and the Sierra Club are hoping to speed up court proceedings regarding their lawsuit over Colorado Springs' sewage spills into Fountain Creek, according to the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article, "But for now, it could be more than year before the case gets to trial, based on a schedule set Tuesday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Boyd Boland. Boland based his schedule on typical time frames for lawsuits in federal court in Denver and told the plaintiffs that only the judge in charge of the case, U.S. District Judge Walker Miller, could get the action going any faster... "Pending before Miller is the Colorado Springs' request to throw out the lawsuits, which Miller has consolidated into one case. The city wants a quick decision. Last week, Boland denied Colorado Springs's request to bar the plaintiffs from pretrial gathering of evidence from the city until Miller decides whether to dismiss the lawsuits. The magistrate judge said Tuesday he denied the request because defendants' requests to throw out lawsuits typically are not successful... "Colorado Springs opposes breaking the case into two trials. 'Liability and remedy are intertwined,' the city's hired attorney, John Walsh of Denver, told the magistrate judge. Walsh said the city's 'primary defenses' regarding liability are that the violations in the lawsuits already are the subject of enforcement actions by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and that the city 'has spent tens of millions of dollars' to correct problems causing the spills. The defenses regarding a remedy 'will be about the same,' he said. The state health department is the agency responsible for enforcing the Clean Water Act in the state. The city contends the two lawsuits are not allowed by the act because it does not allow lawsuits that essentially duplicate the state's enforcement actions... "It will take much less time and money to decide whether Colorado Springs is liable than it will to decide what the remedy should be, [John] Barth and Eric Huber of Boulder, the Sierra Club's attorney, told the magistrate. Boland set May 5 as the deadline for the district attorney and the Sierra Club to respond to Colorado Springs' request to throw out the lawsuits, and May 26 for the city to reply to the plaintiffs' responses. He set May 17 as the deadline for the plaintiffs to make any changes in their lawsuits. Boland set Sept. 25 as the date for him to meet confidentially with the litigants to see if they can agree to terms to settle the case. He set Oct. 11 as the deadline for both sides to complete their pretrial gathering and exchanging of possible evidence. He set Nov. 11 as the deadline for both sides to file arguments that could dispose of the case without a trial, a process known as a summary judgment." Category: Colorado Water 9:42:08 AM     State of the Rockies The New West is running a couple of articles on the State of the Rockies conference this morning. The first article is Grading the 'State of the Rockies' and the second is Report: Population Threat Looms on Land Conservation and Biodiversity. Category: Colorado Water 9:10:01 AM

© Copyright 2006 John Orr. Last update: 12/29/06; 11:27:32 AM.