Thursday, September 7, 2006

Grand Junction to regulate watershed Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: "The Grand Junction City Council unanimously agreed Wednesday night to adopt a comprehensive watershed ordinance, giving the city another tool to protect its drinking water from the potentially harmful effects of energy development. Most of the 50 or so people remaining at what was a crowded at City Hall auditorium earlier in the evening cheered and gave council members a standing ovation just after 10:30 p.m. The decision, which came at the behest of thousands of local residents and members of Western Colorado Congress, could prove to be pivotal as energy companies converge on the Grand Valley in search of new sources of oil and natural gas. The ordinance lays out several hurdles companies must clear before they can drill in the city's watershed on Grand Mesa. It requires companies involved in 'high risk' activities, including drilling, to apply for a permit from the city and prove the proposed activity doesn't pollute the drinking water. It calls for applicants to provide detailed plans of the activity, a list of any toxic substances involved and measures that will reduce the risk to water quality. The ordinance also requires drilling companies to post bonds to cover 100 percent of potential damages and allows for the hiring of a third party who would monitor activities to ensure the water supply isn't harmed. That oversight would be paid for by the applicant. "The ordinance is in direct response to the Bureau of Land Management's decision last month to issues leases in Grand Junction and Palisade's watersheds to Genesis Oil and Gas of Kansas City, Mo. The BLM suspended the leases for a year to give the company time to work with Grand Junction and Palisade on its plans. Council members emphasized that the ordinance will not prevent drilling on the mesa. They also noted that only roughly a third of the city's watershed would be covered under the ordinance, since it only applies within five miles of the city's Kannah Creek intake. But they said the ordinance represents an effort to try to limit oil and gas drilling impacts before they are felt, putting Grand Junction ahead of other communities in Colorado that reacting to well pads that dot various sections of the state and accidents associated with that activity." Category: Colorado Water 6:09:42 AM     You can't save yourself into prosperity Rocky Mountain News: "Colorado should consider new water storage projects, the incoming chairman for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce told a record crowd of 900 civic and business leaders at the group's annual luncheon meeting Wednesday... "Following his presentation, Cohen said it is far too early to say what shape the water storage should take. In 2003, the chamber supported a failed referendum that would have provided the state at least $2 billion to build storage facilities... "Cohen said the chamber has had discussions about large and small storage facilities and wants to look at all of the alternatives before making recommendations. 'Like I said, this is bigger than the chamber is, and we need to work with others,' he said. 'But clearly, we need more storage.' Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., said, 'Everyone I have ever talked to says that ultimately, storage has to be part of the solution.' Conservation alone is not enough, he said. 'You can't save yourself into prosperity.'" Category: Colorado Water 6:04:32 AM     Late season stream flow in the Colorado Here's a short article about stream flow in the Colorado River from the Denver Post. From the article, "Ranchers in Grand County say the Colorado River is dangerously low, forcing them to limit irrigation withdrawals or risk draining the river. The dip in river levels started about a week ago when Denver Water, the state's largest water provider, began reducing flows out of the Williams Fork Reservoir, which feeds the Colorado River. As of Wednesday, the reservoir was releasing about 50 cubic feet of water per second - normal flow is about 150 cubic feet per second for this time of year, water managers say... "Denver Water officials said they've increased flows out of Dillon Reservoir and decreased flows out of Williams Fork in an effort to help fill the Grand County reservoir. Also influencing diminished flows out of Williams Fork, they said, was the call to lift seasonal flow requirements for endangered fish in the Colorado River. Denver Water typically meets that obligation through flows out of Williams Fork." Category: Colorado Water 5:59:36 AM     Oil and gas drilling Sante Fe Newmexican: "Environmental groups Wednesday issued a report, 'Hollow Promises from the Land of Enchantment,' saying a comprehensive review of BLM's process for leasing oil and gas permits shows a consistent failure to protect wildlife and mitigate damage from drilling operations. Santa Fe-based Forest Guardians, The Wilderness Society in Colorado and the Southwest Environmental Center published the report... "Proposed oil and gas drilling on Southern New Mexico's Otero Mesa -- home to what some scientists say is the last unfragmented piece of Chihuahuan Desert grassland in the U.S. and Mexico -- is as contentious as proposed drilling in Northern New Mexico's Valle Vidal. Otero Mesa's black gramma grassland hosts agave, yucca and more than 345 of the world's 1,500 cacti species. Its habitat hosts a large pronghorn herd, aplomado falcons, mule deer and prairie dogs, a keystone indicator of grassland health, according to Chihuahuan Desert biologist Walt Whitford. Hunters, scientists and environmentalists fought drilling on the mesa's 2.1 million acres. But in 2005, BLM issued its resource management plan to allow oil and gas drilling on 1.8 million acres in Otero Mesa. BLM documents say only 5 percent of any drilling site can be disturbed and a total of 1,589 acres will be impacted by well pads, roads and pipelines. BLM says at most 141 exploratory wells could be drilled. The plan permanently protects 35,000 acres as aplomado falcon habitat. New Mexico Energy and Minerals secretary Joanna Prukop said Wednesday that the federal agency failed to consider the state's 'very reasonable recommendations' for protecting Otero Mesa while allowing limited gas development. She spoke during a teleconference regarding the 'Hollow Promises' report... "Steve Henke, BLM's Farmington district manager, said limited exceptions to some drilling requirements have been granted under guidelines developed with local environmental groups and the state Game and Fish Department. BLM's Rundell said she believes only two instances of actual groundwater contamination have occurred. Most instances are surface leaks from pipes or tanks that are cleaned up quickly, she said." Category: 2008 Presidential Election 5:46:40 AM     Effluent dominated streams Effluent from sewage treatment plants in Boulder and Denver are bending the gender of fish downstream, according to a study cited by the Denver Post. From the article, "Some of these strangely sexed sucker fish have male and female organs, and others have sexual deformities, according to a study by University of Colorado researchers... "The paper, published this month in the journal Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, is the first peer-reviewed study documenting the reproductive problems of fish downstream from Colorado wastewater-treatment plants. Similarly odd fish have been found in England and in the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., Environmental Protection Agency officials said. Although gender-deformed fish have been found in Front Range streams in the past few years, skeptics argued that any number of pollution sources - even natural effects - could be the cause. The CU scientists now say they've confirmed that wastewater effluent is to blame. The new results raise concern about whether the stuff people dump down drains - from urine to cleaning products to cosmetics and medicines - can alter the hormonal systems of other animals, researchers said. Healthy male minnows placed in diluted effluent from Boulder's treatment plant stopped making sperm within two weeks, said Alan Vajda, a CU research associate and another author of the new report... "There is, however, no evidence yet that the so-called endocrine-disrupting chemicals found in wastewater are concentrated enough to cause significant problems in people, Norris said. People are bigger than fish, he said, and don't live in water... "The CU research team has been given about $800,000 in EPA grants to continue investigating the strange fish maladies downstream from state wastewater-treatment plants, Vajda said. Other EPA offices are also funding similar work around the country on endocrine-disrupting chemicals in waterways, Tyler said. Also, the EPA has recommended limits for some of the chemicals, such as the nonylphenols found in cleaning products. Boulder wastewater-plant officials cooperated with the research, helping set up a mobile laboratory on site. 'It's valuable information not only for Boulder, but for other people in this industry,' said Floyd Bebler, the city's wastewater coordinator. 'It's happening all over, especially in the effluent-dominated streams ... of the West.'" Category: Colorado Water 5:34:35 AM

© Copyright 2006 John Orr. Last update: 12/29/06; 12:09:47 PM.