Sunday, September 10, 2006

Beauprez: Lawyerful employment act Bill Ritter and Bob Beauprez were howling with Club 20 yesterday, according to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. From the article, "Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter accused his Republican opponent, Bob Beauprez, Saturday night of trying to 'train elk' as part of a wildlife plan he unveiled several weeks ago in Grand Junction. Ritter's comments, poking at Beauprez[base ']s proposal to decrease the wildlife disruption caused by oil and gas drilling, came during what had been a staid confrontation between the major-party gubernatorial candidates as part of Club 20's closing debate... "The Congressman's proposed plan would divert severance tax funds from the Department of Natural Resource[base ']s discretionary funds and use them to create secondary habitats for wildlife. During the discussion, Beauprez seized the reins from the former Denver District Attorney's cross-examination time and accused him of sitting on his hands and not confronting the issue as explicitly as he had... "Beauprez and Ritter also clashed during a discussion of what principles should guide watershed drilling, an issue the Grand Junction City Council confronted earlier in the week. Repeating comments he made at a Colorado Water Congress event last month, Beauprez told the crowd that science should guide how and when watershed drilling should occur. He added that in advance of any watershed drilling activity, local communities should have a forum to voice their concerns... "Ritter, however, told the crowd to rolling applause that science should come second to local residents' concerns. He said as governor he would seek to involve local residents in drilling debates. Ritter's comments followed several days on the heels of the Grand Junction City Council's approval of measures to increase energy industry accountability for watershed drilling... "After Beauprez called Amendment 38, which would expand Coloradan's ability to introduce ballot initiatives at all levels of government, a 'lawyerful employment act,' Ritter said he was proud to be among the first in his family to attend college and law school. Ritter subsequently accused Beauprez of having it both ways on Amendment 38, citing his support and then dismissal of the ballot initiative amendment. Beauprez, however, said he thought it was odd that politics was the only profession where changing your mind after careful consideration was a bad thing. Ritter said that it was the first time Beauprez changed his mind not based on lawyers." Category: Denver November 2006 Election 6:17:37 AM     Lake Powell at 49% of capacity Lake Powell did not get a chance to re-charge this year with enough water to meet downstream commitments to the lower basin states, according to the Mohave Daily News. From the article, "Federal officials say snowmelt into the Colorado River has fallen below average again this year. From April to July, when the river receives most of its snowmelt from the Rocky Mountains, the flow of water into Lake Powell was only 67 percent of average, according to the National Weather Service's Colorado Basin River Forecast Center in Salt Lake City. The center found about 5.3 million acre-feet of water flowed into Lake Powell during the traditional snowmelt season this year. That's roughly 3 million acre-feet less than the reservoir on the Utah-Arizona border is scheduled to release in the coming year to meet water orders downstream... "The below-average inflow only will worsen the situation at Lake Powell, which has shrunk to 49 percent of capacity amid seven years of drought." Category: Colorado Water 6:05:35 AM

© Copyright 2006 John Orr. Last update: 12/29/06; 12:10:28 PM.