NCAAbbs

Quote:

U.S. Sen. John McCain tried to back away from his comments that the Colorado River Water Compact should be renegotiated, but leading Colorado Democrats said they don't believe him...

"My recent remarks may have been mistakenly construed as a call to rescind the Colorado River Compact and commence negotiations for new water allocations," McCain wrote to Allard. "Let me be clear that I do not advocate renegotiation of the compact."

In an interview with The Pueblo Chieftain last week, the presumptive GOP nominee for president said the compact needs to adjust to new realities of high growth and a water supply that is becoming increasingly scarce...

"I think the word, 'renegotiate,' does not have double meaning," Ritter said in a conference call with Salazar and the press on Wednesday. "It is about opening it up and negotiating it again, and the fact that he's willing to do that again has to demonstrate in my mind, given the context of it, a bias for the lower basin states. His desire still to renegotiate it . . . was really pretty direct."

McCain's comments created a firestorm in the state with Democrats and Republicans alike denouncing the notion, saying McCain could lose votes over it in Colorado and New Mexico, which have been called possible swing states in this year's presidential race between McCain and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.

Ritter said that at best, McCain's letter to Allard showed him "flip-flopping" on the issue.

"The verbiage with The Pueblo Chieftain was very clear," he said. "This is a reversal of direction, but it's a reversal that I think Colorado voters have to pay clear attention to because on the West Slope, I'm not sure there are more important issues than the issue of the scarcity of water."

Our view: McCain is screwed on this one, and has negatively impacted his chances of winning Colorado in November. There's an argument that he might have been better served sticking to his original statement, maybe expounding on it to make the case better for his natural position that sprawling downstream states are going to need more Colorado River water. That would have been respectable, if no less dismaying to Upper Basin states.

But the weak-minded backpedaling from his clearly articulated position doesn't help him in the least--from suspicious Coloradans with no reason whatsoever to believe these new platitudes, to third parties around the country who care nothing for Western water battles but take note when presidential candidates fold up like an accordion.

http://coloradopols.com/showDiary.do;jse...aryId=7098

RockyMtnRamfan Wrote:

As the Pueblo Chieftain reports:

Quote:

U.S. Sen. John McCain tried to back away from his comments that the Colorado River Water Compact should be renegotiated, but leading Colorado Democrats said they don't believe him...

"My recent remarks may have been mistakenly construed as a call to rescind the Colorado River Compact and commence negotiations for new water allocations," McCain wrote to Allard. "Let me be clear that I do not advocate renegotiation of the compact."

In an interview with The Pueblo Chieftain last week, the presumptive GOP nominee for president said the compact needs to adjust to new realities of high growth and a water supply that is becoming increasingly scarce...

"I think the word, 'renegotiate,' does not have double meaning," Ritter said in a conference call with Salazar and the press on Wednesday. "It is about opening it up and negotiating it again, and the fact that he's willing to do that again has to demonstrate in my mind, given the context of it, a bias for the lower basin states. His desire still to renegotiate it . . . was really pretty direct."

McCain's comments created a firestorm in the state with Democrats and Republicans alike denouncing the notion, saying McCain could lose votes over it in Colorado and New Mexico, which have been called possible swing states in this year's presidential race between McCain and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.

Ritter said that at best, McCain's letter to Allard showed him "flip-flopping" on the issue.

"The verbiage with The Pueblo Chieftain was very clear," he said. "This is a reversal of direction, but it's a reversal that I think Colorado voters have to pay clear attention to because on the West Slope, I'm not sure there are more important issues than the issue of the scarcity of water."

Our view: McCain is screwed on this one, and has negatively impacted his chances of winning Colorado in November. There's an argument that he might have been better served sticking to his original statement, maybe expounding on it to make the case better for his natural position that sprawling downstream states are going to need more Colorado River water. That would have been respectable, if no less dismaying to Upper Basin states.

But the weak-minded backpedaling from his clearly articulated position doesn't help him in the least--from suspicious Coloradans with no reason whatsoever to believe these new platitudes, to third parties around the country who care nothing for Western water battles but take note when presidential candidates fold up like an accordion.

http://coloradopols.com/showDiary.do;jse...aryId=7098

You are being pretty selective with your "Parts of the story". I hope the readers here go to the link and read the whole thing. It's not in keeping with the perspective you are attempting to present here.
I'm keeping the link for future reference so don't attempt to remove it.
http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2008/0...898517.txt

Colorado has had water litigation all of it's life. One of the most regrettable arguments came when the Denver Water Board wanted to build more capacity on the South Fork of the Platte and some environmental decision prevented it. Seems as though it would maybe, just a maybe, eliminate some trout fishing hole in the area to be covered by the dammed up source and that would be too big a loss for the fishies and their fishermen to endure. 03-melodramatic When there are practical matters that need attention, leave it to something, no matter how trivial, that relates to an environment "Change" to get in the way. Result:

Humans: 0 - Environmental musings: 50 +

The Salazar brothers, Ritter and Udall ... obstructionists for human progress. They should go.

I love the "Comments" section at the end of the article you cleverly copied and pasted from. 03-muttering It seems they understand the real issues better than the writer of the article. Take a look at the comments:
http://coloradopols.com/showDiary.do;jse...aryId=7098

There are more water attorneys in Colorado than any other specialty. Watch them enjoy this and their fees soon. Hello Gorsuch and Gang!

BTW, what specialty do you bring to the table anyway? To have you appear is great, but your mindset resembles something from farther West ... like Berkeley.

You really could do well with a "Fat Tire" . 04-cheers

Next.

tigertom Wrote:

There are more water attorneys in Colorado than any other specialty. Watch them enjoy this and their fees soon. Hello Gorsuch and Gang!

I nearly lost a trivia contest with a question about Ann Gorsuch. She had gotten married about a week before. I had to explain to our teachers that her married name changed to Burford, which is how I gave the answer.

This is coming from a Drill Here, Drill Now person. Republicans caring about the environment, that's a good one.

RockyMtnRamfan Wrote:

This is coming from a Drill Here, Drill Now person. Republicans caring about the environment, that's a good one.

It's not as much about environmentalism than regional conflict. The wars between Colorado and Arizona/California are not likely to cause bloodshed, but the real shooting wars of the next century are more likely to be about water as they are oil. India and China are the most likely countries to be the next superpowers, but they both face serious crises with water supply - the US will have some of the same problems.

RockyMtnRamfan Wrote:

This is coming from a Drill Here, Drill Now person. Republicans caring about the environment, that's a good one.

The EPA was created by a Republican. Teddy Roosevelt was a WELL known environmentalist. MOST (though certainly not all by any means) hunters and fisherman are VERY concerned about maintaining healthy herds/schools, and a large component there is the environment.

It is entirely possible, and apparently likely that intelligent people can disagree with your choice of party. It's really pretty ignorant of you to assume that either party has a monopoly on the issues.

Seriously dude... I'll even cut you slack on the selective editing (we all have our biases) but you don't need to resort to childish tactics when people disagree with you.

My favorite quote from the article...

Quote:

In Arizona, Gov. Nancy Napolitano, a Democrat, told The Associated Press that she hoped McCain misspoke "because he obviously doesn't know that we actually went in and revised that compact and signed that agreement" in 2007.

It doesn't surprise me that an Arizona Senator doesn't know every detail of State politics... but it surprises me a little that the Colorado Governor seems to not remember "revising" the document that McCain said needed to be "renegotiated". Is there REALLY that big a difference in those terms??

Quote:

"I think the word, 'renegotiate,' does not have double meaning," (col gov) Ritter said in a conference call with (col sen) Salazar and the press on Wednesday. "It is about opening it up and negotiating it again, and the fact that he's willing to do that again has to demonstrate in my mind, given the context of it, a bias for the lower basin states. His desire still to renegotiate it . . . was really pretty direct."

tigertom Wrote:

There are more water attorneys in Colorado than any other specialty. Watch them enjoy this and their fees soon. Hello Gorsuch and Gang!

I've heard that Colorado has the craziest water regulations in the country. If I recall correctly, I heard a story where a guy was trying to collect rain water and got ticketed for it because that water should have been allowed to drain off his property and end up as part of the water supply. The law makers of Colorado must have studied under the politicians of California.

smn1256 Wrote:

tigertom Wrote:

There are more water attorneys in Colorado than any other specialty. Watch them enjoy this and their fees soon. Hello Gorsuch and Gang!

I've heard that Colorado has the craziest water regulations in the country. If I recall correctly, I heard a story where a guy was trying to collect rain water and got ticketed for it because that water should have been allowed to drain off his property and end up as part of the water supply. The law makers of Colorado must have studied under the politicians of California.

It would seem that way. They do have some funny ones. Water "rights" are traded like stocks there. T.Boone Pickens is actively buying them. His thrust is WATER ... not the wind/electricity sham.

RockyMtnRamfan

tigertom

I45owl

RockyMtnRamfan

I45owl

Hambone10

smn1256

tigertom