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Monday, January 21, 2008
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Theo sends along this link to a Valley Courier article about opposition to oil and gas exploration on the Baca National Wildlife Refuge. From the article:
How the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to mitigate the effects of proposed drilling on the Baca National Wildlife Refuge was released yesterday in a draft Environmental Assessment [pdf]. The EA offers three alternatives including a proposed action that sets standards for the planned exploration with the goal of not degrading the refuge's surface. The other alternatives are no action, which means the USFWS would accept plans to drill without setting any standards for surface protection, and to have no drilling on the refuge.
Plans by Lexam Energy Exploration to drill two 14,000-foot wells on the refuge has drawn opposition from environmental groups as well as residents of the Baca Grande near Crestone, which neighbors the refuge. Lexam, a Canadian company, wants to drill the wells to explore for gas and oil on the refuge. The company owns 75 percent of the oil and gas rights on the portion of the refuge that was former Baca Ranch, which included the historic 100,000-acre Baca Grant. The remaining 25 percent of the oil and gas rights are held by ConocoPhillips. It acquired the oil and gas rights before the refuge was authorized by Congress in 2000 in legislation that also authorized the creation of the neighboring Great Sand Dunes National Park. The surface rights to the land were acquired by the federal government in 2003 when the first 3,300 acres were transferred from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and was later increased to 92,500 acres through land purchases and transfers that included the Baca Ranch, state land and other private land.
The San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council filed suit last May against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the refuge, asking the court to require there be a review of the environmental impacts of drilling on the refuge. Work on the Environmental Assessment began last August with a public meeting to discuss the process and begin identifying issues and areas of concern. A federal court ruling in December said Lexam couldn't proceed until the federal government completes a public review of the proposed drilling as mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act. In developing the action alternatives, Mike Blenden, director of the San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex, said USFWS staff was careful to focus on a plan to minimize surface disturbance on the refuge and, at the same time, recognize Lexam's legal right to explore its mineral rights under the surface. "We've layed out what we feel is a viable alternative," said Blenden...
How drilling would affect aquifers continues to be the biggest concern of the environmental group. Canaly called the valley's aquifer system very complex with many inter-relations between aquifers. Drilling 14,000 feet through 30 layers of strata raises issues of how communication between aquifers will be affected, she said.
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
8:07:53 AM 
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According to The Summit Daily News (free registration required) expansion of the Old Dillon Reservoir is in the works. From the article:
The U.S. Forest Service will soon begin a formal review of plans to enlarge Old Dillon Reservoir. The proposal to increase the reservoir's surface area from 10 acres to about 16 acres has been in the works for several years. Pending completion of the Forest Service analysis, work could start on the ground in 2009, said County Commissioner Tom Long. The project is a partnership between Dillon, Silverthorne and Summit County. Long said all those entities could benefit from an increase in capacity. Right now, the reservoir, built in the 1930s, holds about 46 acres feet (and acre foot equals about 326,000 gallons). As envisioned, that capacity would increase to more than 200 acre feet, Long said.
"It's a strategic spot ... it would be valuable water," Long said. The project could be developed at a cost of about $40,000 per acre foot. For the sake of comparison, Long said water from Clinton Gulch reservoir costs about $35,000 per acre foot. The water could be used in exchange (to replace water used upstream) or to put wet water into the Lower Blue below Dillon Dam. Long said the new "wet water" in the reservoir could be used as part of the county's well augmentation plan. Some of the water could go into Dillon Reservoir and used directly by Dillon. Silverthorne and Frisco could potentially also make direct use of the water, Long said, adding that the latter town has not yet been approached.
Category: Colorado Water
7:41:56 AM
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Attorney Lee Miller poured a little water on the flames of enthusiasm over the deal for drought management on the Colorado River at last week's meeting of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, according to The Pueblo Chieftain. He claims the devil is in the details. From the article:
The basic provisions of a historic agreement by seven states to share the Colorado River are simple, but a series of other agreements will be needed to make it work. "Once you dip down and deal with the details, it's a morass," attorney Lee Miller told the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District board last week. "It's like layers and more layers of an onion."[...]
While the agreement was much ballyhooed, it wasn't until the following day that the other agreements were hammered out, he added. The operation of the Colorado River is vitally important to the Southeastern district, because it is responsible for overseeing the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project, which brings water from the Western Slope into the Arkansas Valley. If downstream states call for water, it could mean curtailment of diversions with decrees after 1922, when the Colorado River Compact was signed...
One of the key provisions of the December agreements was the acknowledgement by Lower Basin states (California, Nevada and Arizona) that water deliveries from Upper Basin states (Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico) do not have to meet annual limits, but can be delivered on 10-year averages. Previously, Arizona in particular had insisted that releases from Lake Powell must total 8.23 million acre-feet annually - 7.5 million as required by the compact, along with 750,000 acre-feet to meet one-half of Mexican treaty requirements, less 20,000 acre-feet of inflow above Lee's Ferry. The agreement now recognizes the Upper Basin's share is 75 million acre-feet over 10 years, while not fully resolving the Mexican treaty obligations. In some years, the Upper Basin states deliver more water than the year-to-year average. That will allow the Bureau of Reclamation to operate Powell and Mead in tandem, rather than arbitrarily requiring releases from Powell...
Currently Lake Mead is about 50 percent full, while Powell is 45 percent full. The goal of the agreement is to operate the reservoirs so they rise and fall in tandem to avoid draining Powell. Shortages and surpluses are specifically defined by elevations in Lake Mead, along with administrative adjustments and provisions for declaring intentionally created surpluses, Miller said.
The seven-state agreement also recognizes the contribution of water and use of tributaries to the Colorado River. There were also provisions in the final agreement added by Interior to an agreement reached by the states to protect levels for hydroelectric power generation. There are still details being worked out in some of the agreements among the Lower Basin states, but it appears Colorado will enjoy more certainty about its water supply, at least until 2026.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Category: Colorado Water
7:27:03 AM
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From The Pueblo Chieftain: "An all-day irrigation management workshop will look at recent research and demonstration projects, with an emphasis on managing water and nutrients more efficiently. The workshop will be from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Jan. 30 at the Gobin Building, 105 N. Main St., Rocky Ford, and is sponsored by the Colorado State University Extension Service, CSU Arkansas Valley Research Center and the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District. Topics include crop water requirements, irrigation scheduling, drip irrigation, salinity and nutrient management. To register, call 719-254-6312."
Category: Colorado Water
7:14:15 AM
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© Copyright
2008
John Orr.
Last update:
1/31/08; 9:21:22 AM.
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