Nebraska Field
An interesting shaped field near Minden. You can look at it in Google Maps. It is 2 miles west and a mile and half north of Minden, NE. Field is owned by Patricia Armstrong of New York, NY.
An interesting shaped field near Minden. You can look at it in Google Maps. It is 2 miles west and a mile and half north of Minden, NE. Field is owned by Patricia Armstrong of New York, NY.
CPNRD sues for access to data
The NRD complains that when it attempts to access data that it receives only "evasive responses, feigned cooperation, shifting legal interpretations and flagrant stonewalling"
Apparently, there are some people in the US Government that believe we need to import water from Canada into the US to help replenish the Ogallala Aquifer.
Story in the National Post
The Imperial Republican has a story on the ruling by the Supreme Court on the suit by the URNRD against the District Court.
Russ Pankonin has an editorial on the subject.
Kansas man drops water lawsuit due to pressure from neighbors
Kansas City KCTV story on irrigation that quotes WaterClaim
Grand Island Independent story on Hagel and Nelson introducing Legislation to provide funding for the Platte River Cooperative Agreement. Registration required.
I have placed on one page the vegetation studies that I have found so far.
It is on the left hand side under Studies.
Wyoming irrigators on the North Platte are likely to lose their access to water this year.
The Water Policy Task Force has decided to assign itself a new mission. The Task Force feels that it is being ignored by the Legislature that created it and the Governor's office that appointed them. And they are right. In fact, several Task Force members feel like they should disband themselves. But instead they have decided to change their focus.
Omaha World Herald Story on their new self assigned mission. Registration required. Basically they propose to study the problem and tell the Legislature what is wrong and then let the Legislature figure out how to fund it.
We can save them a bit of trouble. Much of the work they want a coupole of million dollars to do has already been done by WaterClaim and is available for free here on this web site.
Governor Heineman appointed Ann Bleed as director of the DNR today. I believe he did so because Ann faithfully follows and implements the Governor's policies.
100 employees
4 employees dedicated to keeping the State in compliance with interstate compacts
86 employees dedicated to expanding conservation
Continue reading "Conservation and the Department of Natural Resources" »
(Governor’s Press Release) Gov. Dave Heineman has received five applications from people seeking to serve as the director of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
Current Interim DNR Director Ann Bleed of Lincoln is among those who have applied for the post, along with Patrick Diederich of Lincoln, Dennis Grams of Lincoln, Darla Juhl of Stockton, Kan., and Terry Kubicek of Lincoln.
The Governor plans to review the applications in the coming days and begin the process for selecting which candidates to interview. Gov. Heineman hopes to announce the appointment of a DNR director in the coming weeks.
State law requires the DNR director to be a professional engineer with at least five years of experience in irrigation-related work.
Governor Heineman is taking applications for the job of director of the DNR.
John Thorburn - Manager of the Tri Basin NRD named as a finalist for the position of Exuctive Director of the State Environmental Trust.
Jody Gittins is also named. She has been the legal counsel for Senator Ed Schrock.
Story in the Lincoln Journal
The Upper Big Blue issues a statement.
For the past seven years, the entire state of Nebraska has experienced— and by all indications will most likely continue to experience—a severe drought. In fact, every state west of the Missouri River has had drought conditions that range from moderate to severe over the past several years. The drought is directly correlated with changes in the regional and global climate related to temperature trends in the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, among other factors. Drought conditions have caused decline of water levels at Lake McConaughy and Harlan County reservoirs, as well as low stream flows in the majority of the rivers that pass through Nebraska.
The Conservation and Survey Division has released some new groundwater maps. Click here to see the maps. The Omaha paper focuses on the 2000 to 2005 map. That is the one that they think maps their point most dramatically. Take a look at all of the maps for yourself.
If you look at the long term maps, there are several areas that are seeing a decline even without the effects of the drought. If we want those declines to stop, we must either stop irrigation or create water projects.
There are a number of people that prefer to stop irrigation. This group of naysayers says it isn't possible to do water projects anymore. At least they hope they can't be done and they do whatever they can to make sure their prediction is true.
WaterClaim believes we must create water projects that stablize the aquifer and maintain the streams, if we want to keep irrigated agriculture. We prefer the wise management of water instead of the shutdown of irrigation.
I have created a couple of Google Earth map overlays that will allow you to see where the ethanol plants are now and where they are planned.
If you already have Google Earth installed, you can open the overlay by
visiting the
Google Earth Community and downloading the overlay.
If not, you will need to install Google Earth first (available at http://earth.google.com).
As most know, there are a huge number of new ethanol plants that are being planned for Nebraska as well as some other corn belt states. I have created a Google Earth overlay that shows how many plants are in operation or are being planned for Nebraska. The icons are coded to indicate if plants are in production, under construction, or simply announced. They are also sized to indicate the size of the facility.
While many people worry that there will be a glut of ethanol plants, keep in mind that even if every bushel of corn in the nation were run through an ethanol plant, we will still produce less than 15% of the nations fuel needs.
Continue reading "Nebraska Ethanol Plants & County Corn Production" »
The Seattle Times has done a short review on a book called Ogallala Blue. The book appears to be another alarmest piece. This one compares the abuses of slavery to the problems of irrigation. The problem with such books is that they appeal to the fears that we all have. Look at the previous post where Penn and Teller mock some of the reasons people give regarding the purchase of bottled water. These fears are fueled by books like this. It is books like this that may end up causing America to make some foolish decisions on how to deal with water. It isn't that this one book is that significant or even reasonable; but it is the constant repetition of the fearmongering that influences the public and can cause it to make some foolish policy.
KNOP-TV did a story on WaterClaim's concerns.
The Bureau of Reclamation is considering a plan to retire 300,000 acres of irrigated land in some of the nation's most productive area. The Westlands Water District in California is being asked to stop irrigating a large number of acres.
Notice the estimated cost. Nebraska needs to immediately retire about 150,000 acres next to the stream and another 125,000 in about 15 years to stay in compliance via shutdowns. That means within 15 years all land within 2 miles of any stream or tributary has to be turned off to stay in compliance if we don’t do transfers. This article would give you an idea of the cost. They are estimating $2,467 an acre which is less than what Colorado is paying right now to buy out irrigation in the Republican River Basin.
Read the central California Record report
and the Kansas City Star version