Senate Committee Passes Key Wildfire Mitigation Bill thefencepost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thefencepost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
KUNC/LightHawk Lake Powell is impounded by Glen Canyon Dam, near the Utah-Arizona border, shown here in fall 2018.
Declining levels at the second-largest reservoir in the U.S. have spurred officials in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico to search for ways to prop it up.
Lake Powell on the Colorado River is dropping rapidly amid one of the southwestern watershed’s driest years on record. It’s currently forecast to be at 29% of capacity by the end of September the lowest level since the reservoir first started filling in 1963. Its sister reservoir downstream on the Colorado River, Lake Mead, is also approaching a record low this year.
Fountain puts brakes on development, cites lack of water supply csindy.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from csindy.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Posted by Jan Wondra | May 11, 2021
Statehouse Bills Moving through Committees Could Impact the State’s Housing, Water, Transportation, as well as Public Safety
The hyper-busy 2021 legislative session is rolling along at a pace that can make it hard for the general public to keep up, let alone read the dozens of bills passing through committees prior to reaching the floor of the Colorado General Assembly. The activity is partly the result of the COVID-shortened 2020 legislative session. Four bills have come before committees during the first half of this week that could have both statewide and local impact.
It is important to note that bills that pass through the Finance Committee and are assigned a budget line appear to have a better chance of becoming law.
Two local irrigation districts are looking to replace the aging Grand Valley Power hydroelectric plant by the Colorado River near Palisade with a new, adjacent plant after deciding against trying to keep the old plant running.
The Orchard Mesa Irrigation District and Grand Valley Water Users Association expect to spend some $10 million, not counting cash spending and in-kind contributions to date, on what is to be called the Vinelands Power Plant. It will replace a plant that dates to the early 1930s.
The existing plant is owned by the federal Bureau of Reclamation but administered by the two local irrigation entities, with Orchard Mesa Irrigation overseeing day-to-day operations and Grand Valley Water Users diverting water for it. The local entities hold a lease of power privilege contract granted by Bureau of Reclamation to operate and maintain the existing plant, and will be negotiating a new lease with the agency for the new plant.