Sunday, August 6, 2006

Oil and gas drilling on Grand Mesa CBS4 Denver: "Officials in the agricultural community of Palisade, Colorado, said they may go to court to block government oil and gas leases in the city's watershed. Mayor Doug Edwards said several lawyers have offered free representation if the city decides to battle the Bureau of Land Management's ruling. The BLM is approving drilling in the watersheds of Palisades and neighboring Grand Junction on Colorado's Western Slope. The government is suspending the leases to Genesis Gas and Oil for a year, urging the cities and the Kansas City, Missouri, company to work out a compromise. Mayor Edwards said he will meet with residents, Grand Junction officials and state and local leaders before accepting legal representation." Category: Colorado Water 8:48:59 AM     Winter retired early, as has become it's habit Here's a report on conditions at Lake Powell, from the Salt Lake Tribune. The Upper Colorado Basin states use Lake Powell as the primary storage for water to meet downstream commitments to the lower basin states. From the article, "...though the reservoir has plenty of water for boating, its primary purpose is to store water for the American Southwest. By that criterion, Lake Powell is a bust at 52 percent of capacity. Hopes for more storage were high only six months ago. Storms in Colorado early last winter left record snowfalls, and it looked to be an average or even better year across the Colorado River Basin. But winter retired early, as has become its habit, and runoff was again substandard, at only 75 percent of average... "Meanwhile, Lake Powell has pulled back from the brink. In early 2005, water managers were fretting that the reservoir, by then only 33 percent full, would be nearly empty by now, a bathtub with ugly rings indicating an earlier time of plenty." Category: Colorado Water 8:44:02 AM

© Copyright 2006 John Orr. Last update: 12/29/06; 12:02:01 PM.