An update on the CDPHE pro bono environmental attorneys, and starting a look at water in Colorado.
An update on CDPHE connecting people with pro-bono lawyers to represent them as a party to Air Quality Control Commission hearings.
I wrote a little while back about CDPHE connecting what they termed "community groups" with pro bono lawyers so that these groups could become a party to AQCC hearings.
I did end up asking for the list of attorneys and received the below.
I emailed everyone on the list the text you see in the screenshot. Thus far I've had no response from anyone (after a wait of a few days).
If I hear from anyone, I'll update, but for now this is where the story ends.
If you know of anyone who would like to be a party to an AQCC hearing (say, a group of farmers or ranchers concerned about rulings on methane from Ag), reach out to these folks.
My guess is you'll be told either nothing or a polite no thank you I'm not interested or available, but you would at least be reminding these folks that there are decent, hardworking people who disagree with the rulemakings out there, not just environmentalists.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jhWBvy6WmBZypGfz2tbImLMzWKuUTOj_xMES30EuKeY/edit
Looking into water in Colorado.
After posting about a group of San Luis Valley counties getting together to fight the taking of their water for the Front Range recently, I heard from a reader who had something to share.
Coincidentally, I also spoke with a friend about some issues with similar things happening on the Western Slope.**
Both of these things seem to be pointing toward something: I think perhaps I should educate myself (and, I hope, you) more deeply on some of these water issues around the state. As is often the case with things I post, I'd like to help the layperson get a nodding familiarity about water in this state, and I'd also like to help the folks who don't live in areas where the water is being bought up or moved elsewhere to know about the issues of those who do live in such areas.
Expect to see the fruits of this learning over time on this site. I've got a lot of catching up to do and research among the many other calls on my time and attention, so I can't tell you a schedule.
In the meantime, I'm going to start (as I myself did when I was born) on the Western Slope.
The article below is an older one (2021), but it is a good introduction to some of the issues involved here. The article details how water speculation is happening on the Western Slope and what people were thinking back then (along with what they were thinking about DOING about the problem).
You see, while there are some protections against buying land merely to sell the water rights to, say, a thirsty Front Range, the story is somewhat complicated. Quoting the article:
"Under Colorado law, a water-rights holder must put their water to “beneficial use,” meaning continuing to use the water for what it was decreed in order to hang onto it. But Colorado also treats the right to use water as a private-property right. People can buy and sell water rights, change what the water is allowed to be used for and, if given a court’s blessing, move the water from agricultural use to growing cities."
There are some protections against rampant speculation, but, as anyone who's dealt with courts and lawyers could tell you, if you have an advocate clever enough (and a judge receptive enough) you can make any claim of "beneficial" stick. It's a matter of right people at the right time.
At the same time, with selling water rights you run up against the problem of property rights. If I owned a property, should I not be allowed to do with it what I'd like? I can even sympathize with the barest "buy and dry" schemes: if you are in your 60's and living on the land you've farmed and ranched your whole life, none of your kids want to take over your operation, the neighbors are all facing the same, and you need money to retire why in the hell would you not sell?
These are complicated, tough questions. They are also tough balances to strike between competing interests. There is also (as was hinted at in the article) a whole lot of emotions related to change that creep in here: change related to new people coming in, change regarding changes to the industry, etc.
I look forward to learning more and hope you do too. More as I have it.
Let me also say that I'm not an expert and am open to you correcting things I share and sharing your own views and information. Please feel free to add to comments or to write me with ideas, corrections, etc.
**Dont' know if I've mentioned, but I actually grew up on the Western Slope (in a little town called Cedaredge) and there are still friends of the family who live there.
https://www.aspentimes.com/news/regional/colorado-is-examining-water-speculation-and-finding-its-all-the-problems-in-one/