Progress Now Action

Water experts of all stripes were left questioning the prudence of Republican presidential candidate and Arizona Sen. John McCain after he told a newspaper the critical 1922 water compact between seven Western states should be revisited.

"I don't think there's any doubt the major, major issue is water and can be as important as oil. So the compact that is in effect, obviously, needs to be renegotiated over time amongst the interested parties," McCain told The Pueblo Chieftain. "I think that there's a movement amongst the governors to try, if not, quote, renegotiate, certainly adjust to the new realities of high growth, of greater demands on a scarcer resource."

The Colorado River Compact governs how seven Western states, including Colorado and Arizona, share the Colorado River.

"Conditions have changed dramatically," McCain said...

John Redifer, a member of the Colorado Water Conservation Board and political science professor at Mesa State College, said McCain's position makes sense in light of Arizona's needs, but not as a national policy.

"I wonder if he is running for president of the United States or for something in Arizona when he makes those statements," Redifer said. "I'm really kind of surprised that someone running for president … that needs to carry the state of Colorado would make a statement like that."

Colorado's statesmen also questioned McCain's plan, with Congressman John Salazar, D-Colo., saying he is "totally disappointed in McCain."

Salazar, via his spokesman, Eric Wortman, pledged to fight McCain's plan.

"Over my cold, dead, political carcass," Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer said...

"Senator McCain's position on opening up the Colorado River Compact is absolutely wrong and would only happen over my dead body," Salazar said. "It's an anathema to the fundamental principles of Colorado's water rights and our compacts."

The senator said that when the state's compacts with the lower basin states were negotiated, everyone knew at the time that those states would grow in population faster than Colorado. As a result, the upper basin states' water rights needed to be protected.

"We did not want California to gobble up all of the water supply on the Colorado River, and they would have done that under the doctrine of equitable apportionment," Salazar said. "In my view the compact is sacrosanct. I will fight tooth and nail to make sure that it is not opened up."

Salazar isn't the only Coloradan to be distrustful of downstream states. Two years ago, his successor in the attorney general's office, Republican John Suthers, created a special legal team to prepare for a possible - some believe, likely - lawsuit from those states in an effort to gain more Colorado water.

Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, said there's no need to renegotiate the compact.

"Just last year, the seven states entered into a new implementing agreement, and that agreement is working as intended," Ritter said. "It would be sheer folly to re-open the compact at a time like this when all of the states are working cooperatively on this issue."

McCain stressed that he has no intention of taking additional Colorado water, but emphasized that talks should occur...

Orion Energy Partners, which is drilling in the Garfield Creek State Wildlife Area south of New Castle, approached Garfield county commissioners on Monday for permission to build a four-person man camp at their drilling rig. An Orion official said it would reduce traffic to the site and resolve their employee housing problem, according to Tuesday's Post Independent. http://www.postindependent.com/article/20080812/VALLEYNEWS/359092623/1083&ParentProfile=1074

One little hiccup in the plan is that Orion had already put up their man camp before asking for the commissioners' OK. But no worry, new county regulations go into effect in September that will allow man camps to house up to eight roustabouts without special permitting, thanks to Republican Commissioners Larry McGown and John Martin. Under these new regs, oil-and-gas man camps can even be erected on private property without the owner's permission. Other individuals and industries, like ranchers and tourism/ski companies, were not given the same privileges -- even on their own land. http://coloradoconfidential.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3547

Martin faces a re-election challenge and no doubt private property rights and his special treatment to oil and gas companies are sure to be subjects of conversation during his campaign.

Democratic Party where is the spine?  Or will?  Or brain to understand our Constitution and Bill of Rights?  If the Democratic Party is paying for high dollar "consultants and pollsters" then it is our contributions that they are wasting or else why would Congressional approval ratings be this low?  This is from the Rasmussen Report released on July 8, 2008:

The percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time in Rasmussen Reports tracking history. This month, just 9% say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Most voters (52%) say Congress is doing a poor job, which ties the record high in that dubious category.

After capitulating to Mr. Bush's demands for unlimited power to spy on Americans merely on his word.  I have read that Democrats on the Hill are ready to "negotiate" on opening up the coastal waters of America to oil and gas drilling.

This is not the "third way" or "triangulation" but out right betrayal of the Democratic party base.

My partner is fed up with Obama and his FISA capitulation and his "nuanced" position on abortion (his words give no comfort for the reproductive health of women).

As far as I can tell there is no Democratic Party leadership on the key issues that face this country.

Passage of another 160 billion dollar fake "emergency" spending bill for the illegal wars in Iraq/Afghanistan without any fight to put in place a "timetable" for withdrawl.

Passage of HR 6304- The FISA Amendments- which allows for a president to spy on Americans with the active and complete legal protections from citizens who feel that their fourth amendment right has been violated due to the drift net method of electronic surveillence that the CIA, FBI and NSA prefer.  (Over 21,000 MyOb members strongly urged him not to capitulate.)

And now...talking about negotiating with the Republicans on opening up our coastal areas for oil and gas drilling?

It is enough to make one move to a country that is progressive and has national health care like...Germany or Switzerland! 

UNAFRAID is the title of my latest book. Its subtitle is A NOVEL OF THE POSSIBLE, and it's my effort to lift up our absurdly low level of expectations about politics. It's possible, and if we don't we are NOT going to take our country back, no matter how many campaigns and candidates say we will.

What do I mean? Well, for starters, please spend a minute sampling the book. You'll get it in an instant. Then tell me what you think...

What will Mr. Bush leave for the children when families go to our national parks?  Under the radar he is having his EPA rewrite long standing rules that will encourage coal power plants to be constructed much closer to our national parks.

Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post reporter, writes:

The new regulations, which are likely to be finalized this summer, rewrite a provision of the Clean Air Act that applies to "Class 1 areas," federal lands that currently have the highest level of protection under the law. Opponents predict the changes will worsen visibility at many of the nation's most prized tourist destinations, including Virginia's Shenandoah, Colorado's Mesa Verde and North Dakota's Theodore Roosevelt national parks...

For 30 years, regulators have measured pollution levels in the parks, over both three-hour and 24-hour increments, to capture the spikes in emissions that occur during periods of peak energy demand. The new rule would average the levels over a year so that spikes in pollution levels would not violate the law...

"It's like if you're pulled over by a cop for going 75 miles per hour in a 55 miles-per-hour zone, and you say, 'If you look at how I've driven all year, I've averaged 55 miles per hour,' " said Mark Wenzler, director of the National Parks Conservation Association's clean-air programs. "It allows you to vastly underestimate the impact of these emissions."

Why is this important to the health impact on our national parks?

Yesterday, the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group, issued a report estimating that the rule would ease the way for the construction of 28 new coal-fired power plants within 186 miles of 10 national parks. In each of the next 50 years, the report concludes, the new plants would emit a total of 122 million tons of carbon dioxide, 79,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, 52,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, and 4,000 pounds of toxic mercury into the air over and around the Great Smoky Mountains, Zion and eight other national parks.

I would argue that the most noticeable sign is visible but there are invisible signs that would adversely impact the national parks, including higher levels of fallout of mercury and increased acidity in local water sources which will lead to higher mortality rates of wildlife and vegetation die off.

It is immoral for Mr. Bush and his cohort to only act in their own economic interest because he won't live long enough to see the harm that his policies will do to our children and grandchildren.

So fire up your phones and email and call and write your elected representatives to tell them that they must halt through legislative means this act of betrayal to our children.