Can Colorado Prevent Newcomers Settling Here - Because of a Water Shortage?

This question came to mind as one processed Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper's recent 'State of the State' speech in which he said (Denver Post, Jan. 30, p. 2A):

"Population growth in Colorado has to figure out a way to use a lot less water or the growth will stop.It's pretty much, I mean, black and white. We find a way to use a lot less water per person or we don't have more people coming here. There is no magic."

This was part of Hick's push for a comprehensive Colorado Water Plan given the dreary current projection that the state faces a 163 billion gallon projected water shortfall by 2050. This is based on the projection that Colorado's current population of 5.3 million will grow to 10 million by then. Along with expansion of "industry" (he doesn't mention fracking by name - but that's definitely one culprit as I will show) this will "leave 2.5 million people parched."

So "preventing people" coming here could manifest in a number of ways. For example, they may already arrive and settle but find - as the forlorn folks coming to the Banning Lewis Ranch subdivision (in El Paso Country)learned too late - there's no water to shower with or wash their dishes. Worse, water "taxes" could be levied on top of utility bills (some proposals have reached $2,700 per household per year).

Why so many coming to Colorado? Many reasons! Many come as retirees as an alternative to a hot, humid place like Florida. Many are mountain lovers and this state boasts the highest average altitude in the nation. Others arrive because of the state's legalization of pot - opting to live in a state where they won't be hounded for their pot habits.  Many other families are moving here because the state's MJ oil business (the oil cannabidiol-  known as "Charlotte's Web" e.g.

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2014/12/colorado-promised-land-for-marijuana.html

provides one of the last chances for their afflicted children - suffering from Dravet syndrome - a rare form of epilepsy which completely disables a child's language and social skills.

Whatever the reason, it means the state will either have to develop expensive new water delivery systems - which will have to be paid for by higher utility bills - or find other means of enhancing efficient water use. A 344- page draft released in December lists potential delivery projects costing $18-20 billion. It also mentions the possibility of innovations such as "toilet to tap" systems whereby sewer water can be re-used, e.g.

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2014/11/thanks-to-frackers-well-soon-be.html

This would conform with the Colorado Water Plan's  mandate that Colorado residents must "re -use all available waste water as a pre-condition before state officials accept new trans-mountain projects".

The major obstacles to this innovation according the draft, include:

 

- The huge costs of water cleaning using multiple filter cleaning systems

 

- The legal obligations in Colorado to deliver water downstream

 

- The disposal of the contaminants purged from waste water - mainly thousands of gallons a day of super -concentrated salty mixes that must then be injected into deep wells or buried. The mixture is so toxic it can destroy skin on contact.

 

 - Safety and monitoring: This entails installing water monitoring and testing systems sensitive enough to track a wide array of pathogens (including E. Coli. cryptosporidium etc), suspended particles and hard to remove specialty chemicals (i.e. tossed out contraceptives, diet pills, laxatives, anti-depressants

-The "Ick" factor - i.e.  when consumers know the water ingested was only recently used to flush the effluent of another's bowels.

 

But arguably none of these extreme measures - including water rationing - would be needed if fracking wasn't out of control in Colorado.

 

Nowhere has our Neoliberal guv,  in any of his speeches, accepted any responsibility for allowing frackers to run amuck - drilling up to 50,000 frack wells across the state with each one consuming up to 5 million gallons each. The projected total water lost to fracking by 2050 actually will  exceed the shortfall noted earlier by nearly 37 billion gallons! (Using a 4 million gallon per well average consumption for each well and replacement well.)

 

In other words, by banning fracking - like New York has (and New York isn't even an arid state like Colorado)-  the state could immediately reduce its water burden and water loss. It would then enable those newcomers to live here without suffering from draconian measures..

 

Alas, this is unlikely to happen because the tentacles of the oil and gas industry extend throughout our state's political system. Oil and gas fracking lobbyists influence even the so-called environmental oversight groups by creating  pretenders like the "Environmental Policy Alliance".  (Which has been used in advertisements to dun anti-fracker activists as "flat Earthers".)

 

If you plan to come to Colorado to live, for any reason, be sure you're aware of our water limitations, many of which are directly linked to water-intensive fracking that places profits and business above human resources.

 

Inside Look At How Frackers Target Environmentalists - And Why We're in Big Trouble

The map shown, from Food and Water Watch, tracks the ongoing movement against fracking. The map tracks local measures against hydraulic fracturing, as well as statewide efforts to stop or restrict it. It designates exactly where shale gas plays are located throughout the nation and which communities have been successful in taking action to protect their water and their environment by passing resolutions, ordinances or bills against fracking.

Other maps at  different sites (e.g. FracTracker) show the encroachment of fracking into water supplies across the nation,  e.g. http://maps.fractracker.org/latest/?webmap=b26c43968bf8435388cbd4b33f2c4b3d

something that bears close attention given the increasingly adverse effects on our water supplies. See e.g. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/06/15/2163531/fracking-is-already-straining-us-water-supplies/

But as anti-fracking activism rises to meet the challenge the frackers and especially the oil and gas lobby, have not been idle. Indeed, as a recent Bloomberg news story has revealed, one of their top lobbyists - Rick Berman - is teaching the fossil fuel companies how to fight back against green activism. Berman himself was featured on a '60 Minutes' piece which noted how he had to "play hardball"  vs. 'Mothers Against Drunk Driving'. Evidently, it wasn't enough that drunks kill thousands of innocents on the roads each year, Berman had to find a way to fight against one of the primary groups battling drunken driving. So hell, why not fight for the rights of the assholes who want to poison our air, water and soil too - to grab a few extra gigatons of oil (kerogen) from the Earth?

The Bloomberg piece noted a private confab held at the elite Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs not long ago, in which arch-lobbyist Berman confronted the oil and gas honchos and basically told them that if they wanted to keep all their operations going they had to learn to "fight dirty". As he told the gathered planetary exploiters (and please understand the whole world is now being fracked): "You can either fight dirty or lose pretty".

Uh, how about not fighting at all? How about doing what Japan is now doing and make a sweeping move toward green energy - putting tens of thousands to work and limiting CO2 effects on the atmosphere? (E.g. 'Japan Sees Green Boom, Glut', Denver Post, Nov. 2, p. 4K) Of course, in Japan, the influx of solar, wind, geothermal etc. projects is crucial given that all 48 of their nuclear reactors are now idled and they must import nearly all other energy sources (oil, gas). So it becomes critical to cut that dependence. In the U.S., meanwhile, the finding of kerogen stores as well as natural gas beneath our feet has led to the frenzied drive to grab it - but at the cost of our health.

Anyway, back to Berman and the tactics he imparted to the gathered oil-heads. And let us bear in mind here, the Repukes' win wasn't all about dumb turnout but also oil money ($95.5m worth) funding the campaigns of pro-fracking whores in congress. Still, despite the vast money influx, the oil bunch is worried about the anti-fracking movement.  Hence, Berman's call to use "fear and anger" as part of any campaign to advance the fracking cause. As he put it:

"You have to get people fearful about what is on the table, and you have to get people angry that they are being misled"

But the problem is that it's precisely the opposite: people are in fact being misled about the "benefits" of fracking. I detailed much of this earlier in connection with two articles published in the Mensa Bulletin, e.g.
http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2014/06/mensa-bulletin-looks-at-two-sides-of.html

One of the primary strategies advocated by Berman entails using opposition researchers to dig into the finances of board members serving on environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Since these are public groups the information is publicly available. The extracted material is then used to prepare agitprop for both online and billboard ads.  (For example, one particular billboard ad cited refers to Yoko Ono - a top anti-fracking activist and says: "Would you take energy advice from the woman who broke up the Beatles?"- playing on people's stupidity and/or short memories)

Environmentalists were initially worried about such attacks, but ultimately found they "didn't gain much traction with the public or press" - showing that the oil & gas fiends had radically underestimated the intelligence of the American people.

Failing that, the lobbyists and companies blew $2m to use "humor"- based ads to try to get the message across. Throughout Colorado in August, one then beheld a 60-second ad, sponsored by an industry front group called "the Environmental Policy Alliance" that  opened with a picture of a house and a sign outside that read 'Anti-fracking Meeting Tonight'.   A narrator then does a voice over: 'Wonder who's driving the conversation about fracking in Colorado?' The scene then shifts to four people sitting at a table, including one holding a sock puppet and another munching on spray cheese and cheese balls.

The man holding the gavel then says: "Last week's meeting on whether the Moon is really made of green cheese was very enlightening."

 Despite all the money, the ad basically misfired - the idiots who prepared it failing to realize it  wouldn't work in a state which ranked second in the nation in the number of people (per capita) holding college degrees.  So, instead of  the populace perceiving anti-frackers as space cadets, they saw the ad proponents painting THEM that way!

Indeed, polls showed that two initiatives put forward by Jared Polis for local control, garnered way more signatures than needed to be on the ballot and also that a majority of Colorado citizens wanted them. The ads didn't make a dent so, in desperation, Governor Hickenlooper had to call an emergency back door meeting with Polis and oil-gas execs to try to get them off the ballot. After lots of cajoling, wheeling and dealing, Polis removed them and  agreed to a "compromise". This included setting up a 20-person commission which  would take six months to make "recommendations" and then the state legislature would have its say in making new laws.

A Denver Post report on the incident observed how representatives  from the two largest fracking companies - from Texas- cheered wildly at the news.

Why are we in big trouble? Because -  while the pro -frackers use their nefarious research teams to dig out board members of Sierra Club, NRDC etc. and mock them, THEY themselves are protected by the rules of dark money donations. Which, according to Berman "are run through organizations that are insulated from having to disclose donors".

Neat! But not for the rest of us - who face the fact this dark money influx enables the vermin (like Berman)  to fuck us all as well as the planet, to a far-thee -well.

Watch the flick "Interstellar" this weekend if you get the chance. Because the dustbowl Earth depicted therein is exactly what we are headed for if the Climate denialists and frackers get their way.

Have Fracktivists Been Played In Colorado's Fracking Wars?

The past two weeks have been tumultuous in Colorado's fracking wars. First, we who oppose poisoning and despoiling our state with frack wells were mocked in an ad put out last week which actually compared us to 'Flat Earth believers'.   The 60-second ad, sponsored by an industry front group called "the Environmental Policy Alliance"  opens with a picture of a house and a sign outside that reads 'Anti-fracking Meeting Tonight'.   A narrator then says: 'Wonder who's driving the conversation about fracking in Colorado?' It then shifts to four people sitting at a table, including one holding a sock puppet and one munching on spray cheese and cheese balls.

The man holding the gavel then says: "Last week's meeting on whether the Moon is really made of green cheese was very enlightening."

Ho, ho, ho! Har, har, hardee, har, har! You really want to broadcast an ad like that in a state which ranks second in the nation in the number of people (per capita) holding college degrees? Would you not think that strategy would backfire on your sorry asses? Well, 'No', according to Anastasia Swearingen a "senior research analyst"  at the front group.

According to Anastasia (seriously):

"We're trying to bring attention to the fact that everyone from the Environmental Protection Agency to officials in the Obama administration to state regulators, have all said fracking is safe."

Okay, missy, we can walk you through the objections to that PR spatter: 1) The EPA - like the DOE which earlier (2013) did a gamed water study on fracking effects on water in the Marcellus Shale, are ultimately agencies hostage to political winds. They also will follow the lead of the administration in office which brings us to (2)  the Obama-ites fondness for fracking based on their dual  false belief that: a) it enables the U.S. to have "energy independence" (a canard exposed in Richard Heinberg's book 'Snake Oil: How Fracking's False Promise Imperils Our Future') and b) that it lowers greenhouse emissions (also skewered by Heinberg).

As for state "regulators" (3), in the case of Colorado they fall under the "Colorado Oil and Gas Association" an industry -state alliance designed explicitly to quash anti-fracking momentum or incentives, including possible challenges as embodied in the two initiatives that sought to award local control over fracking.

The second momentous event, which the press only noted in passing, but which (to me) showed how the ad backfired, is that the signed petitions for the local regulation initiatives topped the 100,000 mark (81,000 each were needed to be approved to get on the November ballot).  This was from a total of barely 60,000 the week before. Clearly, educated people in Colorado saw the ad, became infuriated and sought out the local control petitions to make their point.

The topping of the 100,000 petition signatures mark obviously inspired fear and dread in the state's bought out whore regulators and the fossil fuel industry.. They had to find a way out or there'd likely have been hell to pay if Colorado imposed local control initiatives similar to those that already passed in New York.  (Recall, as per an AP report published July 1 (Denver Post , p. 15A),

"New York's top court handed a victory to opponents of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas by affirming the right of municipalities to ban the practice within their borders."

This State Court of Appeals "affirmed a mid-level decision by an appeals court that said state oil and gas law doesn't trump the authority of local governments to control land use through zoning." )

Anyway, the state's Neolibs and frackers found their solution this past week by somehow getting Jared Polis (who sponsored the two  local initiatives) to agree to a "compromise". Thus, on Tuesday, both initiatives backed by Polis were withdrawn. What did he get in return for the "compromise"?  Well, let's see now....according to the Denver Post:

"A 20 - person commission was announced Monday as part of a compromise to keep two oil and gas oriented initiatives from the fall ballot."

And what, pray tell, will we see from this commission?

"The commission will have 6 months to make recommendations to the legislature which will then consider further legislation."

Oh, terrific! Six months to make "recommendations" and then the (bought out) legislature will have its say in making new laws. Anyone want to bet which way they will go? Here' a clue: The two largest fracking companies - from Texas- cheered wildly at the news. Can you figure it out now? Because never mind the legislature, the 6 month span will allow the drillers to put down 5,000 more frack wells, threatening our air, soil and ground water, see e.g.

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2014/05/now-fracking-pollutes-soil-as-well-as.html

So, fracktivists are "flat Earthers" and "Moon made of green cheese" believers? Check out the information in the link above then tell me that with a straight face.

But never mind, the frackers and their whore politicians got their wish, and somehow Polis complied, enraging the state's anti -fracking activists who aptly noted the closed door negotiations (always a bad sign) failed to protect health, safety and property from the ravages of fracking. In the words of Russell Mendell of Frack Free Colorado: "We are outraged."

What is the deal with Polis? According to one columnist's view (Vincent Carroll, yesterday in DPost) he "was at his centrist best".  Polis evidently confided to Carroll that "those who want to ban fracking are like those who want to ban fluoride in water". Which, in fact, is not a bad idea at all - given the nature and origins of this practice, e.g.

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2011/01/lowering-fluoride-levles-in-h2o-good.html

So we can then conclude that Polis has likely been playing us all. Sadly, if those initiatives are pulled, it means all those 100,000+ who've signed the petitions will likely not be tricked into doing so again  - for another sham cover by a lying politico only seeking to protect his own hide. Meanwhile, the Neoliberal Dem Governor Hickenlooper has resorted to his usual codswallop, describing (yesterday's Denver Post) the push for the local control initiatives and the action by five municipalities to place bans on moratoriums for drilling as "a rebellion".

Well, fuck!  Of course it's a rebellion because the citizens were acting the part for once - as opposed to being infantile consumers-  concerned only with getting their next Ipad or smartphone. Thus, they saw where their politicians and "leaders" were taking them - to the destruction of their health, property and future welfare!  They realize that unless they rebel they will be ground under by the Neoliberal- fossil fuel dependent state!

In fact, citizens were merely following codes of zoning conduct that have already been well established in this country. I mean, we don't allow porno emporiums to be within a mile of schools, so why the hell would we allow a fracking well to be within a mile of homes, or schools? And in terms of deleterious effects, including pumping benzene into ground water, and methane into the air, as well as contaminating soil, it can be argued the fracking is much worse.

As for Jared Polis, only time will tell whether the Dem pol who once appeared on 'Gasland' with Josh Fox is sincere or merely a game player like most politicos - trying desperately to play both sides (centrist and populist) just to grab votes.

As for residents of the state, it is alarming that so many - including letter writer Steven Katich in yesterday's Denver Post, still have their blinkers on and really believe this latest farce to be a compromise. According to the deluded Katich:

"(Hickenlooper) did what is best for the state and the nation: create a framework that represents all the parties in a setting that ensures a civil conversation aimed at balancing our need for energy and protecting the rights of local municipalities and the environment."

The problem, of course, is that this "compromise" does no such thing. It merely concocts another "commission" to waste time while the frackers go wild and ravage our natural resources and health. There is also no "balance" of interests, nor will there ever be. The entire regulatory edifice in Colorado is stacked against the citizens and in favor of the frackers.

Why do you think the gas frackers from Tex-ASS cheered when the deal was announced? Clearly, those like Steven Katich are the very type of  brainwashed folks that the oil and gas frackers adore.