The Colorado River is headed for a major flood this summer, and a Denver newspaper is worried about reduced stream flows.
Talk about old news. The Interior Department this week determined that global warming will reduce stream flows in wester river basins, reducing the water available to an already thirsty U.S. Southwest.
For years scientists have been issuing warnings like these, and for that same amount of time, the past administration and past congresses have not only ignored those warnings but enthusiastically worked to discredit them.
As the EPA has worked to take control of a country that refuses to believe what is impossible to deny, illogical and misguided deniers have worked hard to become their own undoing.
We are now at the crossroads of disaster. And even at this point, with heatwaves that kill thousands and with the arctic ices melting before our very eyes, former-Vice President Dick Cheney and his ilk scoff at reality and push for exploiting energies that threaten our very existence. Few things in American history parallel such a degree of greed and irresponsibility. Perhaps nothing will.
Unfortunately the dim-witted population of Denver metro controls the voting results in Colorado.
h/t to Dave G
There is a very good reason why the warnings have been ignored. That is because these warnings have been around for quite some time and to date they have been totally inaccurate. Any reasonable person would thus conclude that these warnings have no basis in fact.
Andy, watch for an uptick in happy feel good movies….
…people have enough doom and gloom on their plates right now and this crap is not playing well
mainly because the “news” is just re-cycling old scare stories….
Since we now know that global warming causes more moisture (snowrain), where are they going to go with it now…………
Still trying to have it both ways…….
There is a difference between a periodic flood and the steady flow that can be used for irrigation and other use. It isn’t exactly news that people want more water now than the Colorado River can produce.
Water management is a different topic. This discussion is about climate claims.
The two issues are connected. Water management needs to take into account expected droughts and resources need to be effectively allocated according to expectations. Our expectations of drought intensity and frequency increase according to global warming models, but even without that increase the problem remains.
I’m not disagreeing with you that at some point in the not-to-distant future we will again have water shortages. The west has always been like that. My point in this article is that so far I don’t see much indication that climate model forecasts have been accurate.
What steady flow?
Damns were built because no one is stupid enough to believe that………..
Sorry, “steady flow” isn’t the best term. Of course there are regular flood events, but this doesn’t mean that there is enough water for irrigation and other purposes. The majority of the time the river is not at flood stage and current infrastructure doesn’t allow us to hold this excess water in reservoirs.
Current technology does allow us to maintain the excess water in reservoirs and the Colorado river system is an example of that ability. Increased use of the water has detrimental effects as the water allowances are 120% of average flow and depend on excess precipitation in the Rockies to maintain. Not only are allowances greater than average flow but customers have tended to take more than their share of water from the river.
There was a proposal to construct another dam between Boulder and Glenn Canyon but environmental issues stopped that. If the current policies had been in effect when the system of dams were built the dams in this country would not exist.
I’m Canadian. My question is… based on “As the EPA has worked to take control of a country that refuses to believe…”, can you voye for an “EPA Party”, if not who runs America?
Statements like “the EPA has taken control of the country” are just silly.
The entire article is just silly as are most claims made by the Chicken Little Brigade!
Just saw two reports re the EPA.
First they are using their usual moving goalpost trick as well as their usual junk science to shut down Shell activities in AK. One write up here:
http://antigreen.blogspot.com/
Second, just saw a report that they are trying to list a lizard in Texas as Threatened or Endangered (couldn’t tell from the report) which will effective shut down drilling in West Texas.
This is great because it will focus people’s attention on just what this listing racket is all about and the absolute junk science it is based on… ‘Conservation Biology,’ which is actually far worse and deliberately dishonest than AGE crisis junk science and has some serious manipulative Pinnochios at the top.
A degree in ‘Conservation Biology’ is really a certificate of indoctrination and union membership to a professional liars club.
They finally seem to be so far over the top than even some of their worshipping clones might catch on. Might.