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Water Law
CU-Boulder Law School Studies Possible Reforms to Colorado River Management
Demands on the Colorado River by the seven states in its basin are not sustainable. A complex web of treaties, compacts, laws, and court decisions govern who can use the river's water and when. But over the last several decades, those rules have not kept the yearly demand for water from exceeding the average flow.
March 29, 2010--Water-conservation bills flowing at Capitol (Denver Post)
A suite of bills aimed at boosting water conservation efforts are working their way through the legislature this session. Two bills have passed, and two are pending. The two bills that have been approved include one that requires plumbing codes in the state to consider water conservation.
March 27, 2010--Both sides float initiatives over rafting issue (Durango Herald)
Opposing sides in the battle over river rafting threatened to take their case straight to state voters Friday. Both sides filed two dozen possible ballot initiatives to either affirm or deny the “right to float" down Colorado rivers. Both sides also said they would be happy to forget about the ballot initiatives if they get their way in the Legislature.
March 20, 2010--Rafting bill is thrown overboard (Durango Herald)
Opponents of a “right to float" bill for rafters have sunk it by turning it into a study. Technically, the bill is still alive, but all it does now is ask the Colorado Water Congress to study the issue by Oct. 1. The Water Congress is a private group made up of people interested in water. It is the most prominent water lobbying group in Colorado.
March 18, 2010--Water, Ute bills pass House vote (Cortez Journal)
The House passed two bills Wednesday by Rep. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, dealing with fines for illegal water use and a Southern Ute commission. Senate Bill 27 allows the attorney general to slap a $500 per day fine on people who illegally use surface water.
March 3, 2010--Water-rights owners sue state - again (Durango Herald)
Lawyers for senior water-rights owners sued the state government Monday in La Plata County and five towns, saying the state engineer is failing to protect water-rights owners from gas and oil companies. Gas and oil companies remove water from the ground after they drill wells.
February 27, 2010--House passes water bill (Durango Herald)
Ordinarily, it's a no-brainer for the Legislature to approve an annual bill that accepts hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government for water projects. But not Friday in the House. The federal government puts up the money in low-interest loans as long as the state pays for a fifth of the costs and the state Legislature OKs the projects on the list.
February 17, 2010--House passes rafters' legislation (Pueblo Chieftain)
A bill that allows rafters to go aground on private property passed the House on Tuesday and awaits the governor's signature to become law. Sponsored by state Rep. Kathleen Curry, unaffiliated-Gunnison, HB1188 sparked debate over commercial rafters' rights to travel public waterways and the rights of property owners. In the end, rafters won out, as the bill passed 40-25.
February 7, 2010--Telluride group files legal challenge to Energy Fuels mill water (Montrose Daily Planet)
A Telluride conservation nonprofit filed a legal challenge on January 26 in Montrose District Court to the proposed Energy Fuels (EF) Pinon Ridge yellowcake uranium mill, based on their belief that EF cannot prove they have the capacity to exploit and utilize water beneficially, and that they cannot avoid polluted water discharges from the mill.
February 4, 2010--Water transfer bill passes committee (Pueblo Chieftain)
Opponents said Rep. Sal Pace’s proposed law to mitigate economic and ecological impacts of originating communities in water transfers duplicates processes already in place, but the bill passed through committee by a 9-4 vote.
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