Thursday, November 6, 2008

Truth and Tall Tales Say hello to Truth and Tall Tales. They're, "A miscellany of book reviews, rambles, opinions and outright lies." Here's the link to their post today on Golden and the Tricerotops Trail. Back in our college days Coyote Gulch toured the brewery there many, many times just to get the free beer. 5:38:36 PM

	Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Amendment 52 goes down to defeat 65% to 35% From the Denver Post (Jeffrey Leib): "The contest over Amendment 52 turned into a battle largely between water and asphalt, and water won...As of late Tuesday night, the measure was getting trounced, with 63 percent against and 36 percent in favor. 'I think Coloradans made it very clear with their vote that they don't think messing with the constitution is the right solution, especially when it comes at the cost of Colorado's water projects,' said Heidi Van Huysen, spokeswoman for Responsible Colorado, a campaign committee set up to defeat the measure." More Coyote Gulch coverage here. Category: Colorado Water 8:56:09 AM

	Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Vote! If you didn't take advantage of early voting get out there today -- no matter how long it takes-- and VOTE. If you need a ride to your polling place (Denver County only) email us at coyotegulch [AT] mac [DOT] com. Category: 2008 Presidential Election 6:35:48 AM

	Thursday, October 30, 2008

CoyoteGulch.net outage If you were trying to get here today using http://www.coyotegulch.net/ we apologize for an outage this morning. Power went down and the UPS didn't keep the server up and running. 5:11:56 PM

	Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Amendment 52 would hurt efforts to comply with the Platte River recovery plan The Denver Post is running an article about opposition to the proposed Amendment 52. From the article: Amendment 52 -- which would redirect some oil-and-gas severance-tax revenues from water to highway projects -- is drawing fire from water officials and conservation groups across the state. "At a time when we are under pressure to get more out of our water resource and protect the environment, this would seriously hamper us," said Harris Sherman, executive director of the state Department of Natural Resources. At risk, Sherman said, are more than $50 million in funds to do water supply planning, offer low-interest loans for local water projects and for programs to control invasive species, manage forest health and help endangered species. Over time, the revolving loan fund for water projects administered by the Colorado Water Conservation Board would see about $134 million less in its account, Harris said. Supporters of the proposal reject the criticism, which they say is aimed at defeating the proposal in favor of a Ritter administration amendment to use severance-tax money for college scholarships. "This is all about politics," said Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, a sponsor of Amendment 52. Penry said that when Gov. Bill Ritter chose to seek the severance-tax change through the ballot rather than the legislature, those seeking more money for highways "were forced to put our own proposal to the voters."[...] Groups including Trout Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited, the Northern Colorado Conservancy District, the Greeley Water Board and water conservation board say redirecting dollars slated for water will hurt the state. "We know that we are facing a growing population and a need for water projects," said Chris Treese, a spokesman for the Colorado River District. "This just hurts." The Denver Water Board also voted to oppose the highway proposal. "The endangered species fish recovery program on the Colorado and (South) Platte rivers is funded with this money, and losing it could affect our compliance with the Endangered Species Act," said Denver Water Commissioner Susan Daggett. More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here. Category: Colorado Water 6:09:07 AM

	Monday, October 27, 2008

Amendment 52 Here's an analysis of Amendment 52 from the Grand Junction Free Press. From the article: [Jim] Spehar, a former Grand Junction City Council member and Mesa County commissioner, joined a bipartisan group of community leaders at a press conference Friday to speak against Amendment 52, which they say would earmark funds for maintenance and construction along Interstate 70 at the expense of state water projects. State Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, former Republican state Rep. Matt Smith, Grand Junction City Council Member Linda Romer Todd and Tom Burke, former chairman of the Colorado Wildlife Commission, also spoke against the measure. State Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, coauthor of Amendment 52, admitted Friday that part of the purpose of Amendment 52 is to counter Amendment 58. Amendment 52 proposes to change the state constitution in regards to the allocation of revenues from state severance tax; Amendment 58 would change state law without amending the constitution. Amendment 58 would eliminate a state tax credit given to the oil and gas industry which would boost state severance tax collections by $321 million in budget year 2010. The increased revenue would go toward college scholarships for in-state residents, wildlife habitat, renewable energy projects, transportation projects in energy-impacted areas and water treatment grants. Colorado's current severance tax rate is the lowest among eight Western energy-producing states. Amendment 58 would raise the state's rate to the third lowest. Companies pay Colorado severance taxes to extract nonrenewable resources from public lands. Currently state severance taxes are split between local governments and the Department of Natural Resources. Half of what the DNR receives go to the Colorado Water Conservation Board. Amendment 52 would not change the tax credit given to energy companies. According to the Colorado Secretary of State Web site, three energy companies -- Plains Petroleum and Exploration of Houston, Berry Petroleum in Bakersfield, Calif., and Occidental Oil and Gas Corporation of Los Angeles -- each contributed $100,000 in July to pay help get Amendment 52 on the ballot. Amendment 52 would change how severance taxes are distributed... A "massive" funding shortage for Colorado's roads and bridges is the motivation for Amendment 52, Penry said. But amending the Colorado Constitution to fix roads is "wrong," Buescher said. "We should not put transportation policy in our state constitution. Times change. It may not work in 15 years. It's putting water against transportation." Spehar said the Colorado Municipal League also opposes Amendment 52, saying the state constitution is the "wrong place to do this kind of work." Romer Todd agreed. "We're not against funding transportation; it's just the wrong mechanism," she said. Club 20, Colorado Water Congress, Colorado Water Conservation Board, Colorado River Basin Roundtable, Colorado Farm Bureau and the Colorado Farmers Union oppose Amendment 52. More Coyote Gulch coverage here. Category: Colorado Water 6:05:38 AM

	Sunday, October 26, 2008

Coyote Gulch outage We're having troubles with the broadband at the Holiday Inn in Cortez. We'll try to post later today from Denver. 8:15:40 AM

© Copyright 2008 John Orr. Last update: 11/6/08; 7:02:56 PM.