Western Water War

As Coeruleus pointed out, Colorado is becoming a battleground between Big Oil and Big Water. Oil shale developers want to squeeze oil out of the Colorado River Basin, but there's a catch ...

... "There are estimates that oil shale could use all of the remaining water in upper Colorado River Basin," said Susan Daggett, a commissioner on the Denver Water Board. "That essentially pits oil shale against people's needs." ...

... and if you didn't know, that water is all accounted for.

Indeed, perhaps John McCain's biggest gaffe in last year's presidential campaign was an offhand remark about opening the Colorado River Compact to negotiation. Talk about becoming an overnight pariah to an entire state.

The Colorado River slakes the thirst of Arizona, California and Nevada after Colorado and the Upper Basin states get their share. And the fast growing cities of those states, as well as California's increasingly drought-plagued agricultural producers, are likely to raise all kinds of hell if the water thirsty oil shale industry doesn't leave any for them.

As I wrote earlier this week, global warming-related droughts are already hitting California and much of the West is covered with poorly tended, half dead forests. Between bark beetle infestation and Forest Service cutbacks, that corner of the country isn't just dry, it's covered in kindling.

So now the fossil fuel interests that are worsening the climate want to take even more water out of a thirsty region to dig up fuel that, when used, will make the whole situation worse.

Bright. Real bright.

(Photo credit: Gonzo fan2007 on Flickr.)