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Thursday, February 8, 2007
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Scott McInnis hopes to avoid a nasty primary run against Bob Schaffer according to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. This is a good idea. Bob Beauprez was never able to lose the "Both Ways Bob" tag hung on him by Marc Holzman in last year's gubernatorial race.
From the article, "A spokeswoman for presumed 2008 U.S. Senate candidate Scott McInnis said Tuesday the former congressman hopes to avoid a messy, divisive primary in the vein of 2006[base ']s primary battle between Republican gubernatorial hopefuls Bob Beauprez and Marc Holtzman. Susan Smith, a spokeswoman for the former Grand Junction congressman, said McInnis was hoping the party will unite behind his candidacy. 'The concern is that it would cause further damage to the party,' Smith said of a primary. 'We want to learn from the past couple election cycles.' McInnis, who has all but formally announced his candidacy, could find himself pitted against former Front Range Congressman Bob Schaffer, who told the Fort Collins Coloradoan last month that he has not ruled out a run for retiring Sen. Wayne Allard's seat. Schaffer, who ran for retiring Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell's seat in 2004, lost to beer magnate Pete Coors in the Republican primary."
Of course McInnis is hoping to wrap up the nomination without a primary.  Thanks to Colorado Pols for the link.
Category: Denver November 2008 Election
8:10:18 AM 
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Biofuel from algae is the subject of this article from WorldChanging.com They write, "As we inch closer towards a post-carbon economy, the future mix of energy sources is slowly bubbling to the top. One potential addition to this mix is the large-scale production of oil-containing algae. Jamais brought GreenFuel to our attention last year, but, as with most things in the sustainability realm, the momentum behind algae has grown tremendously since then. New companies, new methods, and a changing landscape indicate that biofuel from algae is poised to play a larger role. Unlike other plants that are currently being using for oil production such as soy, palm, corn and jatropha, some strains of algae contain as much as 50% oil. Once algae is grown, harvested and pressed to extract the oil, the remaining residue can be processed into ethanol, or burned directly in a power plant. The oil can then be processed into biodiesel using the ethanol (or methanol from another source). The National Renewable Energy Lab also believes jet fuel from certain strains of algae is possible."
There's some good detail in the article, read the whole thing.
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
7:09:34 AM
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Is there enough water to develop energy resources on the western slope without making Colorado a national energy sacrifice zone? The White River Roundtable and Colorado River Roundtable are asking the state for some dough to try to answer that question, according to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. They write, "Two northwest Colorado water basin roundtables are expected to ask the state for money to study how much water may be available for energy development in the region. That critical question was overlooked in 2003 when the state took on the Statewide Water Supply Initiative, or SWSI, a water needs assessment and availability study that examined the state's water supplies basin by basin. The water supply report, issued in 2004, acknowledged it didn't account for the water needs of potential natural gas and oil shale development throughout the state, said Chris Treese, external affairs officer for the Colorado River Water Conservation District. When the study was being developed, commercial oil shale development wasn't foreseen, he said. Now, faced with questions about how much water the natural gas and oil shale industry and related power plants will need, Treese said, the Yampa and White River Basins Roundtable and the Colorado River Basin Roundtable are expected to ask the Colorado Water Conservation Board in March for $300,000 to get some answers. The state, he said, needs to figure out if it needs to reserve water for the energy industry...
"The problem all along, he said, is that oil shale extraction technology is still being developed, so it's difficult to guess how much water the industry will need. Historically, he said, the oil shale industry needed between one and five barrels of water for every barrel of oil it produced. Some in the industry say they may have a zero net water demand, he said, and others say oil shale extraction may produce water. Quantifying the energy industry's water needs and figuring out how much water is available to the industry is 'absolutely critical,' said Cathy Kay of the Western Colorado Congress. 'That's something you should have done first before you went into the oil shale business.' She said that even if the industry uses one barrel of water per barrel of oil it produces, that's still millions of barrels of water the industry will need. 'We don't know what they're going to do to the water, how they're going to clean it up,' she said. 'There will definitely be drawdowns.' But most importantly, she said, she is concerned the potential for the industry to use up all the water that's left in the Colorado River Basin could prevent other industries from locating in Colorado...
"Water availability in the Piceance Basin shouldn't be a problem for oil shale companies, the report stated. Based on 1981 hydrological data, the report estimated that enough water exists in the basin for oil shale companies to produce 3 million barrels of oil daily. Shell already is purchasing senior water rights for its oil shale projects, recently spending $14 million for the YZ water right on the White River in Rio Blanco County, [Jill Davis, spokeswoman for Royal Dutch Shell] said. She called it a 'very senior industrial water right. It's our intention to only have industrial rights because we want to work in combination with the (agriculture community),' Davis said, adding the company doesn't want the state to build reservoirs to supply water for oil shale development."
Category: Colorado Water
6:50:42 AM
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Climate change is being accelerated so policies are needed to help populations adapt. Here's an article about the subject from the Denver Post. From the article, "In the face of global warming triggered by people burning fossil fuels, it's not enough to turn to the wind and sun for electricity, a new report says. Countries and communities also need to become better at handling normal climate variation - dry years and wet ones, good years for bugs and bad years for crops, said University of Colorado science policy professor Roger Pielke Jr. Energy policy changes could make it less hot a century from now, but people are already dying from floods, tropical diseases and crop failures related to capricious weather, Pielke said in a paper appearing today in the journal Nature. Helping vulnerable people - including residents of New Orleans and other hurricane-prone areas - become more resistant to today's weather problems will also help them deal with a warmer future, Pielke and three co-authors wrote. 'Climate change is unavoidable,' Pielke said. 'We need to invest in adaptation.'"
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
6:45:21 AM
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© Copyright 2007 John Orr.
Last update: 3/3/07; 7:09:18 AM.
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