The Biggest Water Grab In Our Nation's History

The Owens Valley water grab (by Los Angeles) may be the most infamous so far. But if you consider the land effected, the Rural Nevada water grab by Las Vegas is much bigger. The land area where water will be taken approaches the size of Vermont. Over 100 aquifers will be effected.

Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) has given the water grab the Orwellian name of the Groundwater “Development” Project (GWD). The Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) states that SNWA has applied to “convey” approximately 200,000 acre feet per year of groundwater from Clark, Lincoln, and White Pine Counties. And the coal fired power plant SNWA wants, to power the many GWD pipeline pumps, will take another 8,000 acre feet from valleys even further north. If you're familiar with river flow capacities, this may not sound like a lot. For example, the Colorado River flow is about 7 million acre feet per year. But remember, there are no rivers here. This is the desert.

So, why would Las Vegas want to take water from the desert? The answer is long and complex, but it comes down to; because they can. However, there may actually be a hidden motive; that's where the biggest profits are – even though there is a better option.

We have a motive:

SNWA has already agreed to transport water from Rural Nevada to a new housing development, Coyote Springs, for 5000 dollars an acre foot. SNWA may not charge that to all of their customers, but we can utilize this established price for rough calculations of potential revenue. SNWA intends to pump water from Rural Nevada for at least 70 years. OK. Here are the numbers:

200,000 acre feet/year X 5000 dollars/acre foot X 70 years = 70 Billion Dollars

And SNWA estimates that the pipeline network will cost 2 billion dollars. Damn! A billion dollars a year of potential profit. This makes hitting the lottery look like chump change! Talk about a temptation. Maybe it's enough of a temptation to lie about this being the best option – for the customers. Maybe it's even enough of a temptation to lie about the real cost of the pipeline.

Will the GWD project really cost 2 billion dollars? An independent evaluation, conducted by Mifflin and Associates, estimated the project at from 12.4 billion dollars to as much as 20 billion dollars! That's up to ten times what SNWA is telling us. If the million or so tax paying residents of Las Vegas heard that number, they might choke at the thought of having to pay 20,000 dollars per person (for water may not be there).

Worth noting is that SNWA is a quasi-municipality. Windfall profits shouldn't be an issue for a municipality like it would be for a corporation. Yet, we don't know what might happen sometime in the next 70 years. Just because nobody is talking about privatization, doesn't mean nobody's thinking about it. Even if right now; nobody intends to get filthy rich off of Nevada's water, somebody will eventually try – and the stage is being set.

Not only is Las Vegas growing, but so is Pahrump, Jean, and Primm. SNWA may not legally be able to charge for Rural Nevada's water, but as mentioned with Coyote Springs, they can charge for delivery. And if a private company can be a part of that, there is potential here for an immoral amount of profit – at Rural Nevada's expense.

We have a far less environmentally disastrous alternative:

One thing that hasn't been talked about much is the fact that deep water aquifers tend to have a lot of dissolved salts in them. There could be substantial additional costs for water treatment. The Nevada groundwater from deep aquifers may have to be desalinated.

Desalinated? Hey wait a minute. If we're going to have to desalinate the water anyway, why not just desalinate sea water. Las Vegas could build desalination plants off the coast of California and trade that water for a bigger allotment of Colorado River water. This has got to be cheaper than drilling, pumping, piping, and desalinating Nevada water.

So, why wouldn't SNWA want to desalinate sea water? The answer is simple. Why pay to desalinate sea water, when you can get paid for taking water from Rural Nevada? Why increase the supply of fresh water, when you can claim that water is scarce? Why go begging to California, when you can push Rural Nevada around?

Considering the legal morass we call water law, SNWA's options may be limited, however. California is presently taking three times its allotment of water from the Colorado River, and is fighting tooth and nail to keep it. I've heard rumors that Californians are even watering their dry lake beds (to keep dust down – and air quality standards up – to get highway funds). California farmers are taking as much water as they want with impunity – and they somehow have control over Hoover Dam's floodgates. Lakes Mead and Powell are being emptied because of this water greed. But suspiciously, all of the lakes downstream of Lake Mead are near capacity. Because of this, it's very likely that SNWA believes that California will do whatever it takes, right or wrong, to get as much water as they can take. There is a possibility that if SNWA were to desalinate water for California; the communities on the coast would just take the desalinated water, while the farms near the Colorado River would just keep taking more than their allotment. Apparently, when it comes to water, it's a jungle out there.

But wait a minute. This is America. We pay taxes to our Federal Government to enforce the rule of law, not the law of the jungle. Our Department of Interior is supposed to see that reasonable rulings apply. And this one is a no-brainer. The whole world is short of water, and there's plenty of water in the oceans. Simple common sense would lead America to the desalination of sea water. So, why is the Department of Interior (DOI) promoting the draining of our groundwater reserves? This is not just an environmental issue. This is not just a long term economic issue. This is a National Security issue.

We have a possible illicit scenario:

Maybe the Department's own inspector general, Earl Devaney can explain. He recently testified that “Short of a crime, anything goes at the highest levels of the Department of the Interior.” That could explain why common sense doesn't seem to matter.

Corruption may help to explain why the DOI ordered the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to drop their protests to the GWD water grab. The BIA didn't even get to consult with us Indians before they did what they knew every one of us would be against. Many very dedicated and ethical front line Government employees put in a lot of work into these protests to show that the water grab was a bad idea, and they were ordered to stand down. There is no reasonable explanation. Could it be that officials of the Department of Interior just give in to the biggest bully, or are some of them on the take? Either way, it would mean that the right decisions are not being made. If so, maybe Rural Nevada should be more angry with the Department of Interior than Southern Nevada.

Whatever the circumstances, SNWA has decided to emulate Los Angeles with their water grab of Owens Valley. SNWA is buying up as many ranches in Spring Valley as they can. Southern Nevada has far more political influence in the State of Nevada than these Rural areas, and they are using it. Their head, Pat Mulroy, has even implied that SNWA will use their political influence to fire the State Engineer if his water ruling doesn't suit SNWA's desires. And what do they want? Tens of billions of dollars worth of water, under other people's feet, for free.

With the latest technology, there is a better way; offshore desalination powered by wave energy. I roughly estimate the cost to be about $3 billion to $6 billion (and you wouldn't ever have to pay for power or fuel) – far less than the $25 billion the GWD pipeline and coal fired power plant might end up costing (and this estimate excludes the price of coal, which over the course of decades, would raise the price of the GWD by billions). Of course, this is a bigger issue than just convincing SNWA to do the right thing. This won't work if we can't fix the Department of Interior. People of influence have already fixed politics in their favor – and will resist real reforms, to keep their profits coming in. It will take millions of us, actively participating in the day to day operations of our Government, to fix things.

In my opinion, we are witnessing systematic corruption at the highest levels. And if we continue to allow illicit profits to be more important than doing the right things, collapse of our system is inevitable. Moreover, the collapse of our environment will go hand in hand with it – leaving us with no alternatives in the future.

How to Stop the Construction of Coal Power Plants

Everyone write this letter:

To my electric power company,

I draw the line here. This is my commitment. My future power will be generated by sustainable and safe technology. I am considering no longer purchasing power from your company. I am considering installing my own power generation equipment. I am considering helping others build and install their own windmills and solar panels. And I am even considering supporting, or even helping start local alternative energy companies all over the country.

It doesn't have to be this way. You can do the right thing – and build alternative power generators instead of coal fired power plants. Personally, I'd rather not be bothered with having to generate my own power. But I will not continue to support a system that perpetuates the production of tons of deadly pollution, strip mining ecocide, and Global warming devastation.

You haven't fooled me, with your “clean” coal stories. I know that 90% of the coal fired power plants in America's immediate plans for construction are not even close to clean – and that nobody has yet to build even one truly “clean” coal power plant.

You haven't fooled me with your “cheap” coal stories. Once we build all of these coal fired power plants, and commit to decades of coal dependency, it's obvious the price of coal will go up – and in fact, there's a substantial risk of Enron style price gouging.

You also haven't fooled me with your “cheaper than alternative energy” stories. We taxpayers are stuck with the bills for all of the subsidies and tax breaks that make coal fired power plants appear cheaper. If our government had any common sense, coal would be heavily taxed and alternative energy would be subsidized. Someday soon, this will happen, and coal won't be so cheap anymore. But most importantly, no matter how cheap coal may appear on your ledgers, we all know that coal is far more expensive to everyone and every thing on Earth in the long run.

Much more than your bottom line is at stake – but your bottom line is at stake. Your decision to build coal fired or alternative power generators will determine my, and many others' decision to purchase power from you. Please, make the right decision. And don't try to fool me with nuclear power until you've figured how not to generate nuclear waste.

Thank you,

Address __________________________________

_____________________________

City, State, Zip _____________________________

The Accurate Pen

What we have here is the greatest opportunity ever in history – and it only involves you writing a couple of letters.

We have an opportunity to avert the worst disaster humanity has ever witnessed – Global warming and mass ecocide. That's right, we can make a difference. We must at least try. This is critically important. Our efforts might even avert what could end up being the last straw for our civilization. Let's face it, every civilization before us has collapsed. Are we next? It's starting to look like it. Will it happen soon? I don't believe that it has too.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it won't be the worst disaster in human history. But, all indicators are that global warming is really bad – and if it gets as bad as some scientists predict, it could lead to mass extinctions (an article in National Geographic suggests as many as a million species). Let me remind you that humanity is not above being one of those species slated for extinction.

So, we've barely recorded a rise in the Earth's temperature, and we get hurricane Katrina – and all the others, including a big typhoon in China just a few of months ago (that wreaked far more havoc than Katrina).

In the Oceans, increased hurricane severity isn't the only sign. Seventy percent of the Oceans' coral is sick, dying, or dead. Red tides and dead zones have popped up from out of no where.

Allow me to speculate for a moment; but if we can heat the atmosphere, and we can heat the oceans, maybe we can heat our Earth's crust too. If so, maybe even the Tsunami of 2004 was avoidable. If so... expect more.

Just how bad does it have to get before we notice and take action?

I think most of us already know that burning coal for power has been very bad for the environment. We also know that it is an avoidable process. Neither wind, solar, geothermal, wave, or tidal generators produce any greenhouse gases. And, alternative power generators have no equivalent of the smoking trains or barges that deliver coal – and the smoking bulldozers, loaders, and trucks that mine coal. In spite of what the coal companies try to tell us, the technology for alternative energy is available here and now. There are existing examples of all of these alternative power generation methods, making a profit, somewhere on the planet. I have listed some of them on other entries of my blog. And no, I haven't listed supposedly "clean" coal.

Even if the coal power industry built only “clean” coal plants – and they have yet to build even one, there is still this matter of strip mining ecocide. Or, as Discover magazine quotes a local from the Appalachian coal mining area; “Even if you could get marshmallows to come out of a power plant's smokestacks, you can't wash the blood off coal.”

But what can we do?... We can assert ourselves. The most important thing Americans can do now is let our power companies know how unhappy we are that they intend to build more coal fired power plants. We are the customers. We make the decisions. And we've decided that this is a bad idea.

The time is now. The opportunity may be passing us by. Because; after they've started construction – once they've spent real money, it will be ten times harder to stop them.

Actually, I've been a little lazy so far, myself. I would rather pay a reasonable bill and turn on a switch to get my power. But, this is losing its appeal to me. I don't want to be responsible for Global warming, pollution, and destructive mining practices. If they build a coal fired power plant near me, I won't buy any of their power. I'll put up my own windmills and solar panels. And I'll store the energy, either in flywheels or generate hydrogen... I really don't want to bother, but I will. And there are probably millions of others, maybe even you, who feel the same way.

The problem for the power companies is that they don't know what our tipping point is. They don't know when we'll decide that we've had enough. They don't know how close they are to driving us away as customers. We need to let them know – before they spend billions of dollars on out-dated, polluting, water wasting power plants – that we won't buy power from.

Write you local power company, and let them know where you stand. Many of the people within that company want to build alternative energy generators. Give them a stronger voice.

Imagine, just writing a letter could change history. This is your opportunity to change the power companies' minds, and maybe even save our civilization. Together, we have far more influence than you ever thought possible. Tell others. E-mail your friends. Notify organizations that you think might care. Post it on your blog, website, MySpace, or YouTube. But, do it now. This opportunity won't last long.

Just think, if enough people write their power companies, we could force them to stop the construction of all the coal fired power plants in the US – and significantly slow Global warming.

Here is a sample letter. Cut and paste it into your letters if you like.

_____________________________

To whom it may concern;

I am considering no longer purchasing power from your company. I am considering installing my own power generation equipment. I am considering helping others build and install their own windmills and solar panels, once I have mine up and running. I am even considering supporting local alternative energy companies.

It doesn't have to be this way. You can do the right thing and build alternative power generators instead of coal fired power plants. Personally, I don't want to be bothered with having to generate my own power. But I will not continue to support a system that perpetuates the production of tons of pollution, Global warming, and strip mining ecocide.

You haven't fooled me, with your “clean” coal stories. I know that 90% of the coal fired power plants that are in America's immediate plans for construction are not even close to clean.

You haven't fooled me with your “cheap” coal stories. Once we build all of these coal fired power plants, and commit to decades of coal dependency, it's obvious the price of coal will go up.

And you also haven't fooled me with your “cheaper than alternative energy” stories. We taxpayers have to pay for all of the subsidies and tax breaks that make coal fired power plants appear cheaper. If our government had any common sense, coal would be taxed and alternative energy would be subsidized. Someday, this will happen. And who will pay? The ratepayers.

I draw the line here. This is my commitment. My future power will be generated by sustainable and safe technology.

Much more than your bottom line is at stake – but your bottom line is at stake. Your decision to build coal fired or alternative power generators will determine my, and many others' decision to buy power from you. Please, make the right decision.

Thank you,

Rick Spilsbury

noshootfoot.blogspot.com

What They Actually Think About "Clean" Coal

This is a picture of the Mojave Generating Station, near Laughlin, Nevada. As you can see, there is absolutely no pollution coming out the the smokestack... The reason you don't see anything, however, is because this coal fired power plant has been shut down.

The owners of this plant would rather shut it down than upgrade the pollution control equipment. Here's an indicator of what they really think about “clean” coal.

Of course, the power companies didn't actually shut it down on their own. They were forced to – after they lied in 1999 that they would put on the equipment... and after 6 years, still hadn't.

What? The coal industry lied!!! Need I be more sarcastic?

(Side note: This plant was one of the dirtiest emitters of mercury in the country. But the pollution control equipment wouldn't really have helped that.)

Ironically, in a way, I somewhat agree with the coal fired power industry. I feel that the pollution control equipment would been more or less a waste of money. All it would have done is transfer the pollution problem to the ground. Since it's physically impossible to make these poisons disappear with scrubber technology, all they would have accomplished would have been to keep them out of the air and concentrate them in a sludge pond.

Will sludge ponds leak? Absolutely. There is no such thing as a perfect container – and sludge ponds are far from perfect. 75% of US coal fired power plants use unlined, unmonitored landfills and surface impoundments.

The Mojave Generating Station may be shut down (for now), but the poisons it released will be here for us to deal with for a very long time... You can see this plant's sludge ponds in the picture (but you can see they're actual size much better on Google Earth). And, just in case you hadn't noticed, those “surface impoundments” (sludge ponds) are less than a mile from the Colorado River.

Much Much More Expesive Coal Plants

Hey! Is anybody out there paying attention? The CEO of Duke Energy just announced that the cost to build one of their coal fired power plants just increased by 50% - up one billion dollars! And the cost to build one of their ““clean”” coal plants almost doubled.

I'm no economist, but I would think that's bad for business. Yet, somehow, Duke Energy's stock is up... Oh... yeah... They don't have to pay the extra billion dollars... taxpayers and ratepayers do.

Guess what? When you try to rush through the construction of over a hundred coal fired power plants, you end up with a sellers' market. The CEO of Duke Energy put it well: “Part of the cost increases is just because (these firms) can do it right now.”

Did he mean “do it”... or do us?

Think about it. For an extra billion dollars, you could build a lot of windmills and solar panels.

My guess is that, if Congress doesn't pass another Energy Bill pork barrel giveaway (with billions in subsidies for coal) – the coal industry won't be competitive. You know, you can call me a dreamer, but my dream is that someday we pass an Energy Bill that gives subsidies to wind and solar instead.