U.S. Senate candidates Mark Udall and Bob Schaffer had an opportunity to show their water chops at this week's Colorado Water Congress meeting. Here's a report from The Durango Herald. From the article:
The U.S. Senate candidates did find plenty to fight about...ranging from the Republican Schaffer's support of 2003's highly unpopular Referendum A to the Democrat Udall's votes on the Animas-La Plata dam.
Schaffer mocked Udall for initially voting "present" - neither yes nor no - on approving the Animas-La Plata Project. "The person you're going to send to Washington, D.C., to be your United States representative ought to have clear and decisive positions on water projects," Schaffer said. Udall said at the time of his vote, he still had unanswered questions about the project. He voted in favor of the dam on the final floor vote and said Schaffer had missed that vote. Udall currently supports A-LP and "I'll continue to support it," he said.
Udall drew attention to another old battle - 2003's Referendum A, a multibillion-dollar bond for unspecified Colorado water projects. Udall opposed it, while Schaffer backed it. Udall said its fatal flaw was refusing to guarantee that Western Slope water would be protected. Voters in every county rejected Ref A, which Udall said showed that urban voters do care about the state's rural heritage.
Schaffer pledged to stand up to federal agencies that claim water rights or seek to take water for endangered species or environmental reasons. He criticized Udall's co-sponsorship of the Clean Water Restoration Act, which, if passed, would give the federal government broad new powers over water, he said. Udall co-sponsored the bill in the last Congress, but he pulled his name from it in 2007 after hearing concerns from farmers and homebuilders, said his spokeswoman, Tara Trujillo.
Udall stressed that cooperation on water is possible in Colorado and happens fairly often. But he worries about a new era of confrontation brought on by shrinking water supplies and global warming. "No matter how well we plan, or manage, or even litigate, Mother Earth reminds us that she's in charge," Udall said. It's important to cut greenhouse gases to slow down the warming, he said. To cope with growth, Udall favors water conservation, sharing with farmers and expansion of existing reservoirs. Schaffer said he tends to be in favor of more storage, or reservoirs. "I think storage makes imminent sense in just about every basin in the state, in addition to other strategies," he said.
