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Saturday, April 5, 2008
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SLV Dweller: "As evidence Alamosa's water crisis may nearly be over, outside incident management team members packed up and went home on Thursday. Nevertheless, salmonella cases continue to rise in Alamosa, but the increase has more to do with not using water than using it, and likely due to person-to-person contact. The total number of salmonella cases had reached 372 with 99 confirmed, 14 hospitalized and 0 dead. It is day 4 With showers, but day 16 with no drinking water. However, The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment told residents this afternoon that they should boil water for at least one minute before drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, or using it to wash fruits, vegetables or utensils and plates."
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Category: Colorado Water
12:25:47 PM 
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Stewart Udall (via High Country News): "Oil lies at the epicenter of a critical energy crisis. Petroleum is a finite resource and is the most precious, versatile resource on the planet. Cheap oil played a crucial role in the development of American power and prosperity, and sustains the military machine that dominates the world today. Oil is now nearing a historic transition that will alter the civilization Americans have come to take for granted.
"As world oil production reaches its apex and begins its inevitable decline, it will have a radical impact on everyday American life. It will take bold political leadership and awareness on the part of individual citizens to craft a full-scale, creative response. I watched with admiration in 1974 as my friend, President Gerald Ford, persuaded Congress to adopt a 55 mph speed limit to reduce our reliance on imported oil. He also got a law passed which mandated production of more fuel-efficient automobiles."
Category: Climate Change News
9:21:39 AM
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Here's a look at the Upper San Juan Water Quality Forum from The Durango Herald. From the article:
Water-quality is the wobbly leg on the regional-planning stool when compared to the other two supports - water quantity and land use, said the opening speaker at the two-day Upper San Juan Water Quality Forum that began Thursday at Fort Lewis College. "I hope this forum will help you think about integrating the three pieces," said Dick Parachini, the watershed program manager in the Water Quality Control Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. "If you do, you can set yourselves up for success, and we want to help you."
Parachini's presentation, "Watershed Planning: A Glimpse of the Past for a View of the Future," aimed to get generate a regional response to water-quality issues. Parachini traced the history of water-quality planning, which he said began on a national scale 36 years ago with the federal Water Pollution Control Act. While significant progress has been made on managing point-source pollution, success in controlling non-point-source pollution has been limited, he said. Point-source dischargers are entities such as industries and cities that need a permit and use a pipe to dispose of waste. Non-point-source pollution comes from storms, septic systems and runoff from agricultural, mining and construction operations.
In Colorado, lack of funding at all levels and lack of local initiatives hamper water-quality planning, Parachini said. A good place to look for remedies is the local level where land-use planning is a vested interest, he said. "The best planning is done at the lowest common denominator," Parachini said. "Section 208 (of the Clean Water Act) is a good starting point."[...]
Forum sponsors hope two days of dialogue will produce suggestions for cooperation in the region, which covers Archuleta, La Plata, San Juan, Montezuma and Dolores counties. Representatives of government, water agencies, environmentalists and researchers are looking for answers. Matthew Box with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe said before giving the opening invocation: "If you're not at the table, you're on the menu." Laura Brown was sent to the forum on a reconnaissance mission by her Durango employer, Russell Engineering. "I'd like to learn about storm-water management and riparian ecology because we do a lot of land-use planning," said Brown, a civil engineer educated at Montana State University...
Among issues scheduled for discussion at the plenary session Thursday and workshops today are invasive species, storm-water runoff, waste-water treatment, wetlands and damage from nutrients. Win Wright, a consulting hydrologist, and Koren Nydick, director of the Mountain Studies Institute, collaborated on a presentation on mercury, which they said is an air- and water-quality issue in the San Juan Mountains. The presence of mercury has resulted in the posting of fish-consumption advisories at McPhee, Narraguinnep and Vallecito reservoirs, they said. Wright, who has tracked storms through computer modeling, has found that 51 percent of airborne mercury that falls on Vallecito reservoir originates in the Four Corners, where there are major coal-fueled power plants. "Mercury monitoring began only recently," Nydick said. "But we know that it's not just a watershed issue but an airshed issue." The forum is sponsored by San Juan Citizens Alliance, the San Juan Institute of Natural and Cultural Resources, the Colorado Division of Wildlife, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and San Juan Regional Conservation and Development.
9:12:55 AM
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Here's a look at the Northern Integrated Supply Project from The Fort Morgan Times. From the article:
An official of a water project in which Fort Morgan plans to invest more than $36 miilion over the next 12 years urged city officials Thursday to actively support the project as the approval process moves forward. The Northern Integrated Supply Project, known as NISP, is proposed by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District. It involves the construction of a five-mile-long reservoir northwest of Fort Collins and a smaller reservoir northeast of Greeley to supply water to the 15 participating entities. The reservoirs would be filled by diverting water from the Cache la Poudre and South Platte rivers. The participants -- which include Fort Morgan and the Morgan County Quality Water District as well as other municipalities and water districts like Fort Collins-Loveland, Erie, Fort Lupton and Lafayette -- have committed to invest in the project in return for a percentage of the water yield based on their level of investment.
Carl Brouwer, manager of the project management department for the NCWCD, briefed members of the Fort Morgan Water Advisory Board as well as several city council members and other officials Thursday on the status of the project. The final enviromental impact statement for NISP is due to be released to the public on April 30, Brouwer said. While the district's original plan was to have the EIS done by the end of 2006, just getting it completed is significant, he said. "Getting to that point is a huge deal," he said. "A lot of projects peter out before reaching this point." NCWCD has been working on NISP for four years, Brouwer said, which is a relatively short time compared to many projects of similar scope. After the EIS is released, a 90-day public comment period will ensue, he said, and those who are involved with the project will need to participate and express their support. The final EIS will "generate the most press coverage we've seen so far, until the project is actually built," he said. The EIS, which is coordinated by the Army Corps of Engineers, looked at some 200 alternatives and examined all of the environmental impacts of the project, Brouwer said. "The science says it's going to be OK," he said. The proposed reservoir was found to be the "least damaging practicable alternative," Brouwer said.
An EIS also looks at the alternative of "no action," or not going forward with a proposed project. Brouwer said no action in this case would lead to the drying up of some 40,000 to 60,000 acres of agricultural land. "The costs and impacts of no action would be double the cost of NISP," he said. Brouwer said NISP is opposed by a "very small but very vocal" group of people who claim it will dry up the Poudre River. He said that is not true, and it will be important for participants in the project to educate the public about what the project actually involves...
Members of the city water advisory board seemed unanimous in their support for NISP. "I don't think anybody can question how important this is to Fort Morgan," said board Chairman Jack Odor. Two public hearings, one in Fort Collins and one in Greeley, will be scheduled sometime in the middle of the 90-day comment period -- probably in mid-June, Brouwer said. After the comment period, if any specific deficiencies are identified in the EIS the Army Corps may decide more work is needed. Brouwer said the biggest potential setback would be if the EIS "missed a huge alternative," but he said that's unlikely because the process examined 200 different potential actions. Once the final EIS is approved, NCWCD would work with the Army Corps on project permits. The goal is to start work on the large reservoir in 2011 and have it online by 2015, he said. With a 9 percent stake in NISP, Fort Morgan is the third-largest investor, behind Erie and the Lefthand Water District that serves a large area around Boulder. The Morgan County Quality Water District is involved for a 3.25 percent share.
If you want to hang out with the "small vocal minority" and some proponents Monday night is your chance. From email from Save the Poudre:
Update: Corrected location information here:
April 7th, 6:30-9:00 pm
Panel Discussion on NISP/Glade Reservoir
Front Range Community College Student Center, next to Fort Collins
Harmony Library (follow the signs)
April 7th, 6:30-9:00 pm, Panel Discussion on NISP/Glade Reservoir, Fort Collins Harmony Library Sponsored by Fort Collins Regional Library District and CSU's Center for Public Deliberation. Topics include NISP's impacts, benefits (if any), drawbacks, and alternatives. Our side will be presented by a whole host of friends, including Gary Wockner, Mark Easter, Laura Pritchett, Matt Evans, Phil Cafaro, and David Roy. The other side has quite a slate of heavyweights too; it should be a valuable and lively forum. Tickets are free at the door 30 minutes before the program. We'd love to see a great turnout!
More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.
8:05:37 AM
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Here's an update on state efforts up in Leadville from The Bouder Daily Camera. From the article:
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter said state officials are taking seriously Lake County's concerns about another partial tunnel collapse that is complicating efforts to remove the threat of flooding in the hills above Leadville...
In a letter Friday sent to Commissioner Mike Hickman, Ritter said the state has responded "vigorously and effectively" to the county's emergency declaration in February over water from the LMDT. In his own letter earlier this week, Hickman had urged the state to spend $3.5 million to drill a well and pump water out of the Canterbury Tunnel, which once provided drinking water to Leadville. Hickman said a partial collapse in the Canterbury Tunnel is sending clean water into the mine pool behind the LMDT that's contaminated with cadmium, lead and mercury. He said pumping water out of the Canterbury Tunnel could lessen the amount of water that would need to be pumped out of the LMDT and treated by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Reclamation.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.
Category: Colorado Water
7:46:21 AM
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From The Montrose Daily Press: "Although Energy Fuels Resources Corporation is dozens of approvals away from getting the green light on its Pinon Ridge uranium mill, a bond the state would require of the project is being debated. This financial surety is money made available to the state by the company for decommissioning operations, including waste clean-up. The bond was referred to at recent open houses as a way of addressing public and environmental health concerns. It was also criticized by those who say such bonds fall short of true clean-up costs. As part of its licensing application, Energy Fuels must come up with an amount, a financial assurance or a surety, it estimates would cover the cost of decommissioning its facility, said Steve Tarlton, unit leader, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Radiation Management Unit."
More from the article:
The estimated amount would include costs of site monitoring, operation shutdown, decommissioning contracts and legal expenses. The Cotter uranium processing mill within Fremont County has two warranties with the state: one related to its Superfund issues is about $6 million; another warranty for mill operations is around $14 to $15 million. Before a company receives a license, it is required to provide financial insurance. Regardless of the method, all the money must be directly available to the state, and the amount cannot change without state approval, Tarlton said. Public hearings are held as part of the licensing application review. Once a license is issued, all items in the financial assurance are annually evaluated and modified, he said. "We might adjust the amount up or down based on what's happened at the facility during that year," Tarlton said. For example, Energy Fuels is proposing to build several enclosures for storing radioactive waste produced by the mill. The act of closing these cells, if approved by the state, could reduce the company's financial warranty "because a potential problem has been eliminated," he said. "We try very hard to keep those financial sureties amount current throughout the life of the license."
The formal review process does not start until the company submits its application, which it has publicly stated it plans to do at the beginning of next year, Tarlton said. DPHE has a little less than 15 months to review the application and make a decision on it. This timeframe cannot be delayed.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
7:40:50 AM
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© Copyright
2008
John Orr.
Last update:
5/1/08; 7:37:27 AM.
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