Feds spend $2.4 million on cloud seeding for Colorado River
The Southern Nevada Water Authority on Thursday voted to accept a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to fund cloud seeding in other Western states whose rivers feed the parched desert region.
Paid not to farm? Expanded Colorado River program divides farm community
With water levels in Lake Powell and Lake Mead at record lows, federal officials are ready to spend tens of millions of dollars to get farmers and other water users to conserve this year and keep the reservoirs from falling farther.
Colorado River senators meet quietly to facilitate states’ water talks
Senators from Arizona and the six other Western states in the Colorado River basin have been quietly meeting “for about a year,” to facilitate difficult discussions between the states over the future of the river.
Snowy winter may not mean enough runoff to replenish the Colorado
Recent data shows a snowy start to 2023 for the Colorado River basin, with heavy winter precipitation in the Rocky Mountains projected to boost spring runoff into Lake Powell to 117% of an average year’s flows.
Bills would fund research of psilocybin mushrooms to treat PTSD, depression
Arizona lawmakers are giving a big thumbs up to the party drug known as Ecstasy and turning on to hallucinogenic magic mushrooms, too. But don’t take this wrong – they’re not pushing the drugs for the usual recreational uses. Instead, bills that would fund a $30 million research program to study psilocybin mushrooms in treating post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression, and another to le[...]
Documentary film works to preserve the legacy of Arizonan Stewart Udall
John de Graaf says there was a time when a list of Arizona political icons would have included Barry Goldwater, John McCain and at least one other – Stewart Udall. But de Graaf worries that Udall, an Interior secretary widely recognized as the modern father of conservation, is being forgotten, a slight that he hopes to reverse with a recently released documentary.
Chaplik pushes bill to require businesses to accept cash
Republican Rep. Joseph Chaplik of Scottsdale wants to be sure that Arizonans don't get turned away from businesses in the state because they want to use "legal tender'' or cash to pay.
California releases its own plan for Colorado River cuts
California released a plan Tuesday detailing how Western states reliant on the Colorado River should save more water. It came a day after the six other states in the river basin made a competing proposal.
California is lone holdout in Colorado River cuts proposal
Six Western states that rely on water from the Colorado River have agreed on a model to dramatically cut water use in the basin, months after the federal government called for action and an initial deadline passed.
Rain, snow won’t be enough to end West’s drought
The West has been slammed by wet weather this winter: An “atmospheric river” has pummeled California with weeks of heavy rain and the Rocky Mountains are getting buried with snow. That’s good news for the Colorado River, but climate scientists say the 40 million people who use the river’s water should take the good news with a grain of salt.
Ignoring gas planning means utility customers lose
It is time for Southwest Gas to let the public in on its infrastructure plans before the Arizona Corporation Commission allows customers to be charged hundreds of millions of dollars that may have otherwise been avoided.
Law protects export of sacred Native American items from US
Federal penalties have increased under a newly signed law intended to protect the cultural patrimony of Native American tribes, immediately making some crimes a felony and doubling the prison time for anyone convicted of multiple offenses.