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<br />" <br /> <br />Sunday. J?ecember' 21. 1997 <br />~~, ..-:-"J"I <br /> <br />;:,t:.Ltl,lUI'l U <br /> <br />""'., <br /> <br />~"I <br />"" <br />'-, <br /> <br />DAMS & DEMOCRACY <br /> <br />; <br /> <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />TNo..-POII I hM...... <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Drain qebate exhilarating <br />By Ed Marston was stadedl took tuTtIs calling the pl0- <br />T'" pronnul to drain Lake Powell poul "certifiably nutty" and oUIer dJoice <br />r- corrtmellts. It was asiftbe natioa was <br />is exhilarating. Not necessaryily still in the 19sQs, with dams still seen as <br />beeauseitisagoodidea,batbe- solutWm to..-l.'--o rather tbaD pro!)- <br />cause it.sipilies UIIIt democracr kms ~..........- <br />~~ ~':;'-t _ rWnoeracy's hrin v.11en it vel. <br />comes to aatural resOurces _ ba~ final- In rulily,wtet' "development" tclday ~' <br />Iy pent'lrllted the West means managing many dams and reser- <br />Glen Canyon Dam, which Im~nds fllirs so as to mimic the way riven once <br />Lake Pl;liorell behiDd II ebbed and nowed. Even Glen Canyon <br />eoncrete sl.b, was Dam has bern pushed in thot direction. <br />authnriz~ and built And in a tIozea or more plaees, irrvestiga- <br />roughty ill decade be- Uons of dam removalat1! under wa"in- <br />fore Congress passed duding tbe federal darns along the Snake <br />the Naliooal Envi. River. where mighty runs of salmon have <br />ronmelltal Policy slom to a trictle. In a VP.l'}' few places. <br />Act. lbe Endanllered dams are coming down. <br />Species Act, the The eveutual sc=ale of dam removal has <br />Clean Water Act and yet to be determined, and bdore tbis <br />other statute~. Be- movement grows larger, it net'ds intelli- <br />cause of the lack of genteJ:ammation. n.t is especially true <br />environmentilllaws, Manton of the proposal to drain Lake Powell, <br />and ll1'{-au~e of the wbicb: is used by millkms of prople each <br />politics of the interior West and betause year for reaNtion and electricity, and <br />the frderal government had more mooey which contains waler equal to two yean' <br />than God. dams wm thrown across III flow or the Colorado River. But ~ idea <br />enormous number of strums in the West also has eaonnous JK'1Iular appeal outside <br />wbcther or not they made economic. eco- of - and even in parts of - the West. <br />logj~al or even ctImmOl'l sense. There is at leaslthe danger that the deci. <br />The dam building was produ~ by an <br />era dominated by a handful of wt!$tern Please see DRAIN on 2G <br />cvngressmen in the 1950S. Tbl' leader was <br />Wayne Aspinall of weslern Colorado, <br />bead ofwllatwasthettcaUedtbelnlerior <br />and Tn.'<\llar Affain Commiltf'e of the U.s. <br />lluuse ofnepreseatatives. Aspinall et al <br />pushf1ItbeWes1inasiftgledireetiounot <br />jlL~ by building dant$, but by testing nu- <br />clear lreapons above and below IftlUDd, <br />bymiflingland..~itsotherqloes. <br />and b, building I'OlUb in andclUfCllttillJ <br />on naUooal forms. It was not so mtlCtl <br />wbat they did as bow they did it They <br />brooked no opposiUoll and were cc:ctemp. <br />tuous of anyone ..base values diflered <br />from their own. <br />'Jbeit iDteIleclual heirs stili nile !he <br />West's congn:sskmat detegaUon. After the <br />Sierra Club voted in favor of draining <br />Lake Powell, the West's House metnben <br />beld a hearing in la~ September with the <br />sole aim of discrediting tbe idea. Western <br />represmt:ltives. U.s. Sen. Ben Nigb\horse <br />Campbtll and most ..itmoRs (~ declt <br /> <br />FALSE FLOOD: Wlfer &boots from <br />Glen Canyon bam Into the <br />Colorldo Rlyer in these March <br />1996 photos in a test 10 see if <br />management policies mimicking <br />the mer's naMal flow could better <br /> <br />,\s:llllCle'-d PnU,.... Aobbln. <br />hendle sediment and other <br />resources. And while the Sierra <br />Club has voted to drain Lake <br />Powell, enYitonmentalists must be <br />careful to consider eve'yone's <br />yalues before rushing Into eetion. <br /> <br />Erosion never sleeps <br />By Penelope Purdy <br />RHring'fOaming'SUbliml!!aOd <br />potent, Lava Falls pre5l.'nts <br />boaters witbone of the most <br />dtallengingstretcbesoftbeCoI. <br />orado River as it slicts tJInluIh the C,..nd <br />_on. <br />But Lava Falls abe offen a les&orl in <br />humility, for Ute formidable rapids are <br />merely the aftermath of a duel between <br />riverandroct-.ndtheriverwon. <br />Nearwbattoday is called Lan Falls, a <br />utural c1amOllC'estood, 1,500 feet high, <br />boIdingbacS a1ake 140 miles long. In <br />fact. over !be eons. some 11 utural clams <br />haft formed 10 the Gruel Canyon, oRm <br />the Pl'OCfIetJofftlclDicactlvity. <br />Nooe emts ncnr, becaase Ute pmmful, <br />'plltiebt riftr eftfItaally cut tbem all to <br />..- <br />Mlny geologists say the same fale <br />awaits G1eri Canyon Dam - maybe not in <br />U1eDeZtdec:alk~DOtaceotury <br />benCt,bat in the oufatbomable mU1ennia <br /> <br /> <br />by ..bh:h tarlb <br />writesitshl51ory. <br />Even DOW, the CIlI- <br />orado Plaleall's <br />weird and ..e.in. <br />spiriDgl'lldsc.~is <br />being transformed by <br />grarityil!ldwa'm-. <br />Combined with the <br />migbty thrust of <br />plaletectonics,thc5e <br />Ut.aDie forftS ripped <br />Q~D a gargantllilD <br />Purdy gash iD the Earth- <br />a mile deep, 11 mile across. 210 miles <br />loag_thatstartJataplacena~~'s <br />Ferry and ehds near the Guild Wasb <br />Clifb. It'. ealled, appropriately, lbe <br />G_c..,... <br />And just Ilpstream from Lee's Fm')' is <br />lI"bere Glen CaDyon Dam now rears 710 <br />feet aboVe tile natural canyon 800r. H('re, <br />a political batUe rages belwteD hnm.:m$ <br />Please see ERODE on 2G <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />