Drop in Lower Powell may mean higherelectric rates

GUNNISON – If not quite the epic winter that young people today will tell their grandchildren about, it’s been a decent and better winter than usual in the headwaters of the Colorado River.

That means that the giant turbines at Glen Canyon Dam, which creates the impoundment of Lake Powell, will continue to generate electricity this year and maybe next. That electricity goes to Durango and Telluride, plus Gunnison, Winter Park and Taos, among other places in the Rocky Mountains

In the future, who knows? Compared to the 20th century, the period from 2000-14 has seen many drought years and just a few big runoffs. As of January, Powell was at 40 percent of capacity and Lake Mead, farther down the river, was at 48 percent.

If drought returns with a vengeance, Lake Powell could be drawn down to such a low level that there’s no water to make electricity. That would have ripples, so to speak. According to a Feb. 4 memo from John McClow, Colorado’s representative in Colorado River matters, electrical rates could increase dramatically, by two to four times.

Here’s how it works. Many electrical cooperatives in the Rocky Mountains get their electricity from Denver-based Tri-State Generation and Transmission, which serves a four-state area. It gets a substantial amount of power from the Western Area Power Administration, an agency set up to sell the electricity.

If WAPA doesn’t have power from Glen Canyon and other dams of the West, it will presumably have to buy electricity from other sources, such as coal-fired power plants or natural-gas generating units.

But there’s another twist. The revenues from hydroelectric generation are used to fund endangered fish recovery in the Colorado River and its tributaries. The potential loss of hydro power is just one aspect of the ever narrowing razor’s edge of water supplies in the Colorado River Basin. Dependent on the water from that basin are cities from Denver and Cheyenne to Los Angeles.

 

Telluride hears pitch about Marriott

TELLURIDE – A developer who thinks he can entice a high-end hotel operator like a Marriott or Starwood is courting Telluride, and Telluride is interested.

But Randy Edwards tells the Town Council he needs 50 units, not just the 37 that current zoning allows. The location is on an existing parking lot along the town’s main street.

“The Marriott has its Autograph line of hotels, but it uses the same reservation system, which is a beast,” Edwards told the Telluride Town Council, speaking to the marketing power of the hotel chain.

“Right now, we only have one Marriott hotel in a Colorado ski town, and that’s in Vail. And they run at around 85 percent occupancy. They have Marriott rewards holders that might come during shoulder seasons.”

Rooms would average 375 square feet in size, notes The Telluride Watch.

Telluride’s two newspapers say the Town Council didn’t say yes to the concept, tentatively called Hotel Ajax. For one thing, there isn’t a formal proposal. And the waiver from zoning would likely draw opposition. But the council is clearly interested. The town has shed full-service hotel rooms, although a high-end hotel was built several years ago at the adjoining town of Mountain Village.

 

Mormon curtains to remain in Park City

PARK CITY, Utah – In its laws regulating wine and liquor, Utah always has been out of step with the rest of the country. It will stay that way.

While some arcane laws have changed, the state law still requires a separate dispensing area sometimes called the “Zion curtain,” a reference to the Mormon church that dominates the state. New restaurants are required to erect an opaque partition that prevents customers from viewing the pouring or preparation of alcoholic drinks.

One proposal before the Legislature, reports the Park Record, would have eliminated the requirement of this out-of-sight area with a simple notice at the public entrance alerting customers to the fact that alcoholic drinks are prepared and dispensed in public view.

The bill got shot down, though. Why isn’t exactly clear. Even one of the supporters of the  Mormon curtain conceded that it’s the “dumbest thing in the world.” It seems to have to do with the idea that the curtain discourages under-age drinking.

 

Telluride notches up renewables

TELLURIDE – Little by little, Telluride continues to put money into renewable energy. The town government’s most recent plan is to purchase solar panels for the town’s extensive affordable housing, in which 20 percent of residents live.

The panels wouldn’t be on the housing units themselves. Telluride sits in a box canyon, and some places get absolutely no sunshine on the short days of winter.

A much better place is 80 miles west, in the Paradox Valley. There, a company called Clean Energy Collective, has a solar farm with 4,784 photovoltaic panels. The town is buying 475 of them, at a total cost of almost $330,000.

Residents of the affordable housing can opt directly into the ownership, but their ownership of the panels will not go with them when they leave the deed-restricted units. Rather, ownership will stay with the units

Telluride’s government earlier purchased 215 panels in the solar array in the Paradox Valley to offset electricity for municipal operations. The town has taken a variety of other steps, including a small hydro system.

 

The unintended results of conservation

ASPEN – There’s probably a name for it, but the “efficiency paradox” will do. It afflicted Denver after the big drought of 2002. Denver Water urged customers to conserve water, and they did an admirable job of it.

The conservation habit continued after reservoirs filled again. But then, the water utility was getting less revenue, so it had to raise rates. What’s up with that? asked customers. We use less and we pay more?

That same problem is confronting Aspen, where the municipality has both an electrical and a water utility. The problem is more apparent on the electrical side. Town residents overall have decreased energy use 3.4 percent annually since 2008. That is creating stress on the revenue side, says Lee Ledesma, the city’s utility finance manager.

She tells The Aspen Times that the city puts tens of thousands of dollars into the energy-efficiency program through rebates for energy-efficient upgrades to lighting, refrigeration, heating and air-conditioning. Recently, the program’s focus has shifted from residential to commercial customers.

Also in the works, reports The Aspen Times, is a water-efficiency program for the Roaring Fork Valley, which will include Aspen and four other towns. The Community Office for Resource Efficiency received about $93,000 in grants for the efforts, plus $10,000 from Aspen.

But once again, saving water is only part of the story, says Ledesma. Revenues must still be delivered, because a pipe costs roughly the same whether it runs at 95 percent of capacity or at 80 percent capacity.

 

Jasper bighorns find home in Dakotas

JASPER, Alberta – Some 24 bighorn sheep that had been living on the edge of Jasper National Park were caged and then released in North Dakota.

The Jasper Fitzhugh explains that the last known bighorn sheep native to North Dakota died in 1905, but a half-century later, wildlife officials decided to reintroduce the species. With this new transplant from Jasper, North Dakota has about 350 bighorns.

Alberta will still have about 6,500 bighorn sheep living outside of its national parks. In the past, it has donated sheep to British Columbia, Nebraska, New Mexico, Washington and Utah, among others.

“The reason we do this is it helps to ensure the long-term sustainability of bighorn sheep in North America,” explained Carrie Sancartier, a spokeswoman for Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development.

 

Early-warning system for floods is approved

CANMORE, Alberta – Eventually, Canmore would like to see Alberta take responsibility, but for the next several years it has committed to installing an early warning system on Cougar Creek. The creek flooded last year, the water made more powerful because of debris flow.

The town spent $600,000 to understand what happened on Cougar Creek and expects to spend $14 million in short-term mitigation, reports the Rocky Mountain Outlook. The creek, however, is just one of about nine that originate in the steel-walled mountains above Canmore.

 

Whistler teched up for TEDActive talk fest

WHISTLER, B.C. – To prepare for the 2010 Winter Olympics, Whistler got fiber-optic cable. From that platform, the town’s five-star Fairmont Chateau Whistler has now further upgraded to one gigabyte of Wi-Fi.

That greater Internet connectivity will be of value this week when the TED talk series comes to British Columbia. The main conference will be held in Vancouver, where 74 speakers and performers will present. Among them are Sting and Bill and Melinda Gates, plus a good many scientists and technologists.

While the 1,200 people paying top dollar will be at the Vancouver lectures, sort of an overflow crowd of 700 will be at the Chateau Whistler for a session called TEDActive. Those attendees will come from 65 countries.

Now 30 years old, TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. The lecture were previously held in Southern California.

Tourism officials in Whistler tell Pique Newsmagazine that it’s a good fit. “The TED conference and TEDActive are all about inspiration and innovative thinking, which aligns completely with our meetings brand,” said Karen Goodwin, Tourism Whistler’s vice president of market development. “The very vibe of Whistler cultivates an environment of innovation and invigoration. Whistler inspires great thinking.”

Barrett Fischer, chief executive of Tourism Whistler, amplified the Whistler-TED nexus.

“TED reflects technology, entrepreneurial thinking, innovation, creativity and in fact we’re seeing more and more groups in this type of genre who are considering Whistler because of the match to the brand,” she said.

Chris Anderson, the curator of TED and a California-based publisher, has a house in Whistler.

 

Breckenridge decides art piece isn’t right

BRECKENRIDGE – Last year, Breckenridge put out a call for a sculpture to grace the new roundabout at the town’s north entrance. Of the 260 responses, the town settled on a piece called “Syncline,” by Albert Paley.

But the sculpture won’t go into the roundabout. Gary Gallagher, a councilman, said he thought the piece was better viewed up close, on foot, rather than in a car navigating the roundtable.

“We want an iconic piece, that the Eiffel Tower is to Paris or the (Gateway) Arch is to St. Louis,” he told the Summit Daily News. “It has to represent something more than itself. I don’t see any piece speaking to Breckenridge, certainly not when you enter the town.”

– Allen Best

More Mountain Town News can be found at http://mountaintownnews.net

 

More Mountain Town News can be found at www.mountaintownnews.net