25d ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 11/18/2007
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

-11-
Terry L. Anderson, executive director of the libertarian Property and Environment Research Center in
Bozeman, Mont., said he found this study more believable, because more targeted analyses of individual
sectors in different geographical regions "can be reasonably informative. I have more faith in micro
studies than the more sweeping ones."
GEORGIA DROUGHT AND PROPOSED LEGISLATION TO SUSPEND THE ENDANGERED
SPECIES ACT: Lawmakers from Georgia have introduced S.2165, which legislation if passed would
suspend Endangered Species Act protections in times of extreme drought. The Georgia Congressional
Delegation argues that the legislation is good common sense that would help the average citizen and
businesses alike to cope with the severe drought conditions currently plaguing the southeastern U.S. The
bill, if passed in its current form, would apply nationwide. Opponents argue that lack of adequate drought
planning and appropriate limitations on growth are as much to blame as the drought. We have attached a
copy of S. 2165 hereto.
THIRSTY STATES EYE GREAT LAKES FOR FUTURE SUPPLIES: Drought-ravaged states in the
Southeast and Southwest are starting to explore options for tapping the five Great Lakes, the largest
source of freshwater in the world, for their future water needs.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), a candidate for president, suggested earlier this month that water
from the lakes could be pumped to thirsty states like his own in the future.
Regional governors have been consistently resistant to the idea, with fellow Democratic Gov. Jennifer M.
Granholm of Michigan giving a resounding "no" to Richardson's proposal.
In response, the leaders of the eight Great Lake-area states and two Canadian provinces have proposed a
regional water compact that would strengthen a ban on water diversions from the lakes. Such a proposal
would have to work through state legislatures and Congress.
WESTERN STATES STRATEGIZE TO AVERT IMPENDING SUPPLY CRISIS: Water managers
and communities in the West will have to diversify their water sources to meet skyrocketing demand for
the region's most precious resource, experts said at a Western Governor's Association conference in Salt
Lake City late October.
Population growth and skyrocketing demand for water is pressing much of the West to come up with new
water sources, many state officials said. In Texas, for instance, the population is expected to more than
double between 2000 and 2060, from 21 million people to 46 million, boosting water demand by 27
percent, said Weir Labatt of the Texas Water Development Board. Like several other states, Texas is
developing astate-wide water plan to meet the challenge, he said. "We're spending a lot of human and
financial resources on this," he told attendees at the conference.
Cities are feeling the crunch, too. Will Toor, a county commissioner in Boulder, Colo., noted that the
Denver area's population of 2.7 million people will add another 1.6 million people in the next few
decades.
Climate change and drought were at the forefront on water managers' concerns.
Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist with the University of Arizona who serves on the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last week, said
the West should brace for a drier future. "We're committed to a good deal more warming -- double what
we have now in the West," he said.
Flood Protection • Water Project Planning and Finance • Stream and Lake Protection
Water Supply Protection • Conservation Plaiming