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Show Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, September 3-6, 2005 The Park Record A-14 FIVE PARCELS 15 MINUTES FROM PARK CITY Super-sized dam could be cash register water to thirsty cities. The watchdog organization Environmental MediaNews Group Wire Service Working Group speculates in a At a time when some dam engi- March report that the new conneers are biting the environmental tracts "will set up the districts to bullet and tearing down the con- reap windfall profits by reselling crete that once defined their exis- water at much higher prices." tence, the Bureau of Reclamation is trying to figure out how to make More water than land the largest dam in Essentially, Reclamation has California even bigger. committed to delivering about 1 The Bureau is in the process of million more acre-fect of water renewing its 25-year contracts than is available in the Central with the more than 200 water dis- Valley Project today. To capture tricts that receive water from the that water, the agency is consider20 dams and reservoirs that make ing an array of possibilities: up the Central Valley Project, or enlarging either Shasta Dam near CVP. Redding, Los Vaqueros Dam in The Bureau has been able to the San Francisco Bay area, or make full deliveries to the districts Friant Dam near Fresno; or buildin only 13 of the last 17 years. But ing a brand-new dam northwest of late last year, Reclamation Chief Yuba City. The Bureau is also conJohn Keys pledged to deliver full templating storing water on quantities to water districts under islands in the Bay Delta or in the new contracts. At the same underground aquifers. time, the Bureau has promised to The most likely option, meet growing urban water demands and restore the San because of its comparatively Francisco Bay Delta under the cheap cost, is raising Shasta Dam. Currently, the reservoir can hold CALFED program. more than 4.5 million acre-feet of Doing all this will require water. Adding another 6.5 to 18.5 expanding dams or developing feet to the dam will increase its other water projects, all at taxpay- storage capacity by 6 percent to 14 er expense. Ironically, this could percent. The environmental give water districts more water impact statement on the dam-raisthan they can actually use, at ing should be finished by 2007. incredibly cheap prices: $15 for an One of the biggest beneficiaracre-foot, or 325,851 gallons. ies of a taller Shasta Dam will be Cities can pay between eight and Westlands Water District, 33 times that. arguably the largest agricultural Although most irrigation dis- district in the United States. With tricts say they just want to make more than 600,000 acres and neartheir supplies more reliable, some ly 600 farms, Westlands receives critics claim that the districts will 14 percent of the water in the be able to market their extra CVP. By HILARY WATTS 19X North 200 West - Kama* Meadows s 141 Acres-$2,895,000 1000 Plus Water Shares Included Beautiful property! Hydrology study has been completed and approved by corps of engineers. Included in price is 1088 shares of Beaver shingle water. Each share .30 acre feet of water, 2 stre through property. Greatforhorses. &^ 1* For a virtual tour: wwiv.obco.com/J92300 l);i\v SCHORI Owner/Agent Office: 433-631-4917 Mobile 435-901-2222 dschori@pitrculah.rom p Prudential Utah Real Estate Each nf.ee indcocnJanfy coned WE DESIGN, YOU RECLINE, SELECT FROM FIVE RICH LEATHERS: Claret, Chestnut, Na\y, Bronze, Hunter Green and Henna. But to cope with dwindling supplies in dry years, Westlands, like many water districts, has fallowed land and lined ditches with concrete. Farmers in Westlands have already taken 11 percent of their land out of production, and the Bureau of Reclamation is now considering fallowing another 39 percent because it is contaminated with selenium. Nonetheless, Westlands' new contract will guarantee it the same amount of water it was promised 25 years ago. "That?s the irony of all this," says Hal Candee, senior attorney with Natural Resources Defense Council. "They're proposing to renew the contract at the full amount, while simultaneously the same agency wants to take half the land out of production." Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., who has long pushed to reform the CVP, has raised concerns about the districts reselling their water. In a February letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Miller asked whether the government was essentially trying to "outsource the management of the CVP water supply to current CVP contractors - who collect substantial personal profits from sales." Bureau spokesman Jeff McCracken says the view that water districts will sell any excess water is "probably an illusion." He says, "No one is getting rich selling CVP water.'1 Will water flow south? The most likely customer for water is the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, . which supplies water to 18 million people in Los Angeles and San Diego. After California agreed in 2003 to end its overuse of Colorado River water, the agency has been scouting out replacement supplies within the state. Metropolitan has tried to lease Central Valley Project water several times, though it has never actually completed a deal. In 2002, Metropolitan signed a $125 per acre-foot deal with one CVP customer, the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District north of Sacramento. But the agreement only allows Metropolitan to lease water from farmers whose rights pre-date the water project - and only during drought years. Metropolitan is still interested in pursuing actual CVP water. "We'd consider any seller," says James Roberts, the chief deputy general counsel for Metropolitan. One hurdle that has kept his agency from pursuing CVP water more aggressively is the $50 to $60 per acre-foot fees the Bureau would impose on such transfers. Those, he says, "would put that seller at quite a disadvantage." That's likely to change, however, as demand for water increases and the market gets tighter during the next 25 years. Says Candee, "It's safe to say that heavily subsidized CVP water is an extremely valuable asset for any irrigation district." High Country News (www.hcn.org) covers the West's communities and natural-resource issues from Paonia, Colorado. Mold dangers become evident after hurricane By JENNIFER BROWN & KATY HUMAN that has gotten wet," he said. Rice is among dozens of scientists trying to make their way to Louisiana and Mississippi to study everything from emergency response techniques to infectious disease and mold. They're searching for rental cars and places to stay, hoping to collect what some call "perishable data" that could help during the next disaster. The University of Colorado's Natural Hazards Center has begun to hand out small grants of a few thousand dollars to help researchers get into the field. MediaNews Group Wire Service $1299. Sit back and relax in this beautiful leather, wing-chair recliner. Made by Hancock & Moore - makers of exceptionally fine leather furniture. ELD REDGE 4750 South 900 East • Salt Lake City UT 84117 www.elclredgefurniture.com • 801.261.1414 After the waters recede from New Orleans, returning residents will have to deal with potentially toxic mold that will cling to walls and ceilings all over the city. "It's going to be the plague after the flood," said Colorado State University researcher Doug Rice, who will help hotels, hospitals and other businesses clean moldy buildings. "It will impact every building "We're trying to learn about improved emergency response. what makes organizations and Another hopes to understand communities able to organize, to what happened to the poor, fishbe creative, resilient," said ing-based community of Grand Kathleen Tierney, director of the Bayou, south of New Orleans. center in Boulder. Rice said mold can get "out of People's memories of disas- hand" two to four weeks after a ters are notoriously faulty, hurricane. Tierney said. Days matter for In healthy adults, mold can researchers who want to under- cause headaches, runny noses stand just how ad hoc communi- and shortness of breath. Toxic cation systems form, or how molds are more dangerous and thousands of evacuees are organ- can cause memory loss, skin ized into emergency shelters. rashes and severe headaches, and One social scientist wants to can be deadly for HIV patients learn whether a new federal and others with immune system emergency system is leading to deficiencies, Rice said. Sept. 3rd, 4th & 5th Sidewalk Sale At the Chateaux By KERRY BROPHY STEIN ERIKSEN SPORT PERFORMANCE SALES-RENTALSERVICE www.stoinarikson.com 435.658.0680 A n DOWNHILL, FREERIDE & CROSS COUNTRY 435.649.2787 All Summer Clothing 1/2 Price Summer Gifts & Accesories 30-50% off 04/05 Sid Wear 50-75% off Ballet • K a r a t e RENTAL BIKES ON SALE SUMMER GEAR 1/2 PRICE ALL 2004/2005 SKIIS & SKI WEAR 1/2 PRICE • Lyrical • T a p • Jazz • H i p H o p PARK CITY DANCE ACADEMY OF PERFORMING ARTS m PARK CITY KARATE Award Winning Performance Teams Travel Opportunities State of the art facility Annual Recital at Park City Eccles Center Annual Nutcracker Production Full Curriculum Registration Monday - Thursday 4:3O-7pm • Limited Space available Registration Info: 435-658-2345 Helping landowners opposed Visit www.parkcitydance.com High Country News Wyoming's new "splitestate" law was meant to give property owners more control over energy development on land where the underlying minerals are owned by someone else, usually the federal government. Now, the law has hit a huge obstacle - the Bush administration. Years of lobbying by ranchers and environmentalists persuaded the Legislature to pass the law in February. It was intended to help landowners protect about 12.5 million acres of private land on which the federal Bureau of Land Management controls the vast majority of oil and gas leasing. The state split-estate law holds energy companies to much tougher standards than does the BLM. It requires companies to pay landowners for any loss of income or "loss of land value" caused by drilling, for instance. That broad definition covers impacts to all aspects of ranching and farming, as well as to dude ranches, bed-and-breakfasts, and hunting and fishing operations, says Laurie Goodman, president of the Landowners Association of Wyoming, which pushed for the law. The BLM, by comparison, requires companies to pay landowners only for damages to crops or to land improvements, such as stock ponds. In a June 13 letter to Wyoming officials, Kathleen Clarke, head of the BLM, said the state law imposes "inappropriate ... economic burdens" and potential delays on companies. So, she concluded, the state law should not apply to private lands where the BLM handles oil and gas leas-, ing. But Wyoming Attorney General Pat Crank vows to enforce the state law on those private lands, even if it means court battles. Crank says Wyoming "doesn't need Clarke to tell us what is and isn't reasonable." High Country News (www.hcn.org) covers the West's communities and naturalresource issues from Paonia, Colorado. |