Kelly Zito has an intriguing look at California water managemente in today’s San Francisco Chronicle, looking at the incredibly disjointed way urban-suburban Northern California’s system is managed as compared to the relatively centralized role of the Metropolitan Water District in Southern California: Ana Sarver jogs 5 miles along the Contra Costa Canal every day. But …
Why it is so hot in Albuquerque this week, teevee edition.
Doug MacEachern has a fascinataing discussion in today’s Arizona Republic about the canals of Phoenix. I remember being struck the first time I visited Phoenix by these strange concrete waterways. I’d driven up to the north end of town to make a pilgrimage to the (sorta) Frank Lloyd Wright Biltmore, an oasis of a thing …
Continue reading ‘Water in the Desert: Benefits Left Untapped’ »
My Albuquerque Journal colleague Mike Coleman has a post this morning that illustrates the complexity of the science-politics-policy interface surrounding the cap-and-trade legislation now slogging through Congress. It’s about Harry Teague, a newly elected conservative Democrat from New Mexico who represents a very conservative district with a strong oil and gas component to its economy. …
My Albuquerque Journal colleague Mike Coleman has a nice example in today’s paper (might be behind paywall, a bit of a crapshoot there) of the horse trading now underway in an attempt to win passage of the Waxman-Markey climate bill: Rep. Harry Teague, a southern New Mexico Democrat, this week persuaded the authors of a …
Continue reading ‘Waxman-Markey Horse Trading, a Case Study’ »
New Mexico drought conditions forecast to improve
Here’s what a housing bubble looks like. Housing prices. Red is Arizona, green is Nevada, blue is us here in New Mexico. The three states track together since the 1970s (off to the left of what’s displayed in this graph). Prices in Arizona and Nevada shoot up beginning around 2004, then collapse pretty dramatically. Click …
Is salt cedar evil?
It has long been my tradition to celebrate my birthday by riding my age, but this year’s attempt got a bit fouled up. I’m not really old enough for my current age to be a huge challenge, so I usually try to dress it up a bit for fun. Last year, for example, I spent …
So remember all that stuff about the Colorado River not having enough water to meet needs? Turns out the Rio Grande is in a similar heap of hurt (ad walled): There are a lot of ways to slice and dice water data. But the message on Gretel Follingstad’s PowerPoint slide was simple. On the right …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere, Rio Grande Shortfall Edition’ »