July 23, 2007
Good Monday afternoon,
A fight is brewing between a mining company and Denver over water rights to the Colorado River. And the fight is likely to heat up as oil and gas drillers look to develop Colorado’s front range.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5639047,00.htm
In more news on the proposed Desert Rock coal-fired power plant in Navajo country, a group of anti-coal plant Navajo protestors have joined with the San Juan Citizens’ Alliance and an environmental law firm to file a public information request seeking more information on how much San Juan water the plant might use.
According to the Alliance, the plant will need 4,950 acre feet of water a year for the next half century – approximately 1.6 billion gallons of water a day. Alliance members say a draft Environmental Impact statement currently available for public review, indicates there isn’t enough ground water for the project. That means the water needed for cooling and for utilizing pollution control measures, will need to come from the river.
The Navajo Nation and New Mexico officials are hopeful a San Juan River water rights settlement will be approved by Congress this year. San Juan Alliance folks don’t think the water should go for coal-fired power plants.
The Desert Rock EIS link and more info from the company building it, Sithe Global, is available HERE.
Hasta luego y ojala que viene la lluvia!
