President (To Win Colorado) See Full Big Line
(D) Joe Biden*
(R) Donald Trump
80%
20%↓
CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line
(D) Diana DeGette*
90%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line
(D) Joe Neguse*
90%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line
(D) Adam Frisch
(R) Lauren Boebert*
(R) Jeff Hurd
(D) Anna Stout
40%↑
40%↓
30%↑
5%↓
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line
(R) J. Sonnenberg
(R) Richard Holtorf
(R) Deborah Flora
15%↑
10%
10%
CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line
(R) Doug Lamborn*
90%
CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line
(D) Jason Crow*
90%
CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line
(D) Brittany Pettersen
85%↑
CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line
(D) Yadira Caraveo
(R) Gabe Evans
(R) Scott James
60%↑
30%↓
30%↓
State Senate Majority See Full Big Line
DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority See Full Big Line
DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
February 02, 2021 6:53 am MST
23 Comments
Six more weeks of winter according to Pug ….heck, we haven't even had one good week here in Western CO.
Is Ray Scott still improving the climate? . . .
It has been relatively warm and dry here in the western part of Garfield and in Mesa counties. We are, according to what I can observe from the drought maps, at the center of an area of exceptional drought.
I mean…it is a desert, after all.
Our irrigated desert works because the Colorado River works (for now) the rest of our area is seriously drought stressed and getting worse. The next decade is going to flat ruin this region and NM and AZ.
I fear you are right.
0ur homesite is not irrigated, and not riparian. The landscape last spring produced very little vegetation, and it dried up early. Almost no flowers
The signs of change are everywhere.
Same issues with our eastern plains aquifer. Over-pumping from years of federal farm policy subsidies put us on the Maize Super Highway with no regard for the long-term health of the world’s largest underground lake. In a few short decades we’ve managed to mine a pristine resource millions of years in the making to near-extinction. This landing is going to be very uncomfortable if we don’t start addressing this problem with the urgency it demands. Congress needs an Ogallala caucus.
The plundering of the ogallala may ultimately be judged as our worst environmental disaster. It will be far harder to reverse than the 30s dust bowl.
100%, V.
Like almost every other problem we face, we wouldn't have to invent a single new thing to solve it. What it will take is a set of public policies that will turn the ship starting, at a minimum, with the next Farm Bill. As the coal industry of 15 years ago, there is a lot of bureaucratic and regulatory inertia that keeps what we have in place. This is a natural resource crisis and we need leadership that doesn't fritter away time on Q and the Julesburg Jihad.
When I started working on land near Leoti, KS about a decade ago most of the water pumps would register about 350 GPM. Now, 150 GPM. Sad to see, but hardly anyone I know there wants to change their methods or make any sort of sacrifice.
Ditto for my neighborhood. We have one well that has, for nearly 50 years, pumped 2300gpm and has dropped to 1,900 over the last five years; it's an anomaly for the area. The vast number of wells in the Republican River Water Conservation District are experiencing drops in output as you mentioned. The carrot approach by the district hasn't yet yielded the kind of results we need to stay viable.
Our future isn't irrigated corn; the Ogallala only accounts for 11% of our national corn production. Advances in genetics mean increased production by growers in the midwest make up that difference every 5-10 years.
It's time for a radical departure from our 'old ways'.
Wow…if the will is there it can be done !
For comparison, the Netherlands is less than 1/10 the area of the Ogallala (41,500 sq km v. 450,000 sq km).
We've got nothing but opportunity before us if we'd seize the moment.
I know that on the rapidly diminishing fringes of the Ogallala salinity is a growing problem — even to the point that the remaining water that is available may not be actually suitable to sustained agriculture. Are you seeing any signs of that, here?
No salt issues but we do have elevated levels of nitrates in the water from years of over-applying nitrogen. That problem is more pronounced north of Wray in the valent sand where the water level is more shallow than south of town in the clay soils.
Not to mention, once you overpump an aquifer, you lose capacity (porosity) that can never be recharged.
One of my neighbors, with an interest in a Kansas/Nebraska farm operation, says this year looks like they will be making more money from wind energy leasing, and probably more money from federal farm subsidies, than from the profit on selling actual agricultural products. And since they have water rights, they don't have to do more than pay for the pumping, artificially limiting the true cost of farming.
It is a new world…
Today is Tater Tot Day
This is an appropriate item for Ground Hog Day. We in Park Hill have been fighting to preserve 155 acres of mature trees and green space for almost five years as densification happens all around this area. This is the latest development:
Is there any better moment than #GroundhogDay to watch My Pillow guy get smothered by a Newsmax reporter???
So., Wyoming governor wants Weld County?
Fine, take it. Will make Colorado more blue, will make Rep Buck's district possibly attainable for Dems, and Wyoming would still only have one representative in Congress.
University of Northern Colorado is a complication, however….
They can make it Southeast Wyoming State University and start the layoffs.
There is something deeply appropriate that I read about the results of the Bureau of Land Management's move out of Washington DC and throughout the west on Groundhog Day.
CPR's story (from a couple of days ago) has the cutline showing the impact: (my emphasis):
So, 87.5% don't move, 12.5% do. After the move a year ago, 100 positions [~30%] remain open.
The Colorado delegation wants to keep the HQ in Grand Junction … the story mentions separate letters from the 2 Senators and 3 ReQublican Representatives — no coverage in the story about the thoughts of the 4 Democratic Representatives.
These people are evil https://coloradoshealthcarefuture.org