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<br />Drain debate exhilarating
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<br />By Ed Marston
<br />The proposal to drain Lake Powell
<br />Is ('xhilarallnJ;:. Not neccssaryily
<br />Iwcause it is a good Idea, but lIt'-
<br />cause it signifies that df'm()('racy
<br />and science - drffiocracy's twin when it
<br />comes to natural resources - have final.
<br />Iy penl.'traled tht:! West.
<br />Glen Canyon Dam, which impounds
<br />Lake Powellb{.hind a
<br />cone'rete slab. was
<br />authorized and built
<br />roughly a d('('ade he-
<br />fore Congress passed
<br />the National Envi.
<br />ronmental Policy
<br />Act, the Endangered
<br />Spf'ries Act, the
<br />Clean Water Act and
<br />othpf statutes. Be-
<br />C80se of the lack of
<br />rnvironmt'nlal laws, Marston
<br />and hrcause of the
<br />politics of the Interior West and h<>callSf.'
<br />the federal govemmf'nt had more money
<br />than God, dams were thrown across an
<br />enormous numher of strt'ams In thl' West
<br />whf'thf'f or not they made ('('onomic, eco-
<br />loglcalorev(>nC'Ommonsrnse.
<br />Th(' dam building wa~ produC't>d by an
<br />era dominated by a handful of wl'stern
<br />congressmen in the 19505. Thf' lead('r was
<br />Wayne Aspinall of western Colorado,
<br />ht'ad of what was then callffi thf' Interior
<br />and Insular Affairs Commillf'e of the U.S.
<br />IIousl' of R('presentatives. Aspinall ('t al
<br />pushf'd thr West in a singlt' dirrction not
<br />jU!!t by building dams, but by testing nu.
<br />clear Weapons above and below ground.
<br />by mining land whatever its othrr values,
<br />arK! by building roads in and d('arcutting
<br />on national forests. Il was not so much
<br />wbat they did as how they did It: They
<br />brooked no OPIJosition and were contemp-
<br />tuous of anyone whose values differed
<br />from thf'lrown.
<br />Their intellectual heirs sUIl rule the
<br />West's congrf'ssional dl'legatlon. After the
<br />Sierra Club Vllted in favor of draining
<br />I.ake Powell, thr. West's House ml'mhers
<br />held a hearing in latl' Seplemlwr with the
<br />sole aim of discrediting the idea. Western
<br />repreSl'ntCltives, U.S. Sl'n. Ben Nighthnrse
<br />Campbell anll most witnesses (the deek
<br />
<br />
<br />-
<br />
<br />was stacked) took turns calling the pro-
<br />pOS<l1 "certifiably nutty" and other choice
<br />comments. It was as if Ihe nation was
<br />still in the 19505, with dams still seen as
<br />solutions to problt:'ms rather than prob-
<br />lcmsth{'msclves.
<br />
<br />In reality, water "development" today
<br />means managing many dams and reser-
<br />voirs so as to mimic the way rivers once
<br />ebbed and flowed. E\'f'O Glen Canyon
<br />Dam has bN>n pushed in that dirt'Ction.
<br />And In a dozen or more places, investiga-
<br />tions of dam removal are under way, in-
<br />cluding the fedt'ral dams along the Snake
<br />River, whl're minbty runs of salmon have
<br />slowed 10 a trickle. In a ver}' few places.
<br />dams are C'Oming down.
<br />
<br />The eVl'nlual scale of dam removal has
<br />yet to be delcrmined, and belore this
<br />movement grows larger, it needs intelli-
<br />gent examination. That is especially true
<br />of lhe proposal to drain Lake Powell,
<br />which is used by millions of people each
<br />year for recreation and t'lectridty, and
<br />which conlains water eflual to two years'
<br />flow of the Colorado River. But the idea
<br />also bas enormous popular appeal outside
<br />of - and even in parts of - the West.
<br />There is atleasl thedangcrthatthedt'Ci_
<br />
<br />Please see DRAIN on 2G
<br />
<br />Lake Powell
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<br />The Demoer PosI
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<br />FALSE FlOOD: Water shoots from
<br />Glen Canyon Dam into the
<br />Colorado River in these March
<br />1996 photos In a test to see If
<br />management policies mimiCking
<br />the river's natural flow could better
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<br />TI'1eDenverPostlKenlMeirels
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<br />AUOClalod PreSSIJefl Robbins
<br />handle sediment and other
<br />resources. And while the Sierra
<br />Club has voted to drain Lake
<br />Powell. environmentalists must be
<br />careful to consider everyone's
<br />values before rushing into action,
<br />
<br />Erosion never sleeps
<br />
<br />By Penelope Purdy
<br />
<br />Roaring, foaming, sublime and
<br />potent, I.ava Falls presents
<br />boaters with one of the most
<br />challrngingstf(>tehesoftheCol_
<br />orarlo River as It s!ic'f's througb the Grand
<br />Canyon.
<br />But Lava Falls also offers a lesson in
<br />humility, for thf' formidablt' rapids are
<br />mer("ly the aftermath of a dud betwcen
<br />river anll rock - and thf' river won.
<br />Near what todav is called Lava Falls, a
<br />natural dam once stood. 1,500 If'f't high,
<br />holding back a lakf' 140 miles long. In
<br />fact, over tbe eons, snme 13 natural dams
<br />have formed in the Grand Canyon, often
<br />the products ol volcanic activity.
<br />None exists now, becausl' thp powerful.
<br />patient river eventually cut them all to
<br />pieces,
<br />~1any geologists say thl' same falt>
<br />awaits Glen Canyon Dam - maybe not in
<br />the next decade, perhaps not a century
<br />bence, but in theunfathomahle millf'nnia
<br />
<br />by which Earth
<br />writes its history.
<br />Even now, th{' Col-
<br />orado Plateau's
<br />weird and awe-in.
<br />s[Jiring landscape is
<br />being transformf'd uy
<br />gravity anll wat{'r.
<br />Combined with the
<br />mighty thrust of
<br />platf' tt'Ctonics. lht~se
<br />titanic forel's rippt.'d
<br />open a gargantuan
<br />Purdy gash in the Earth _
<br />a mile df't'p, 18 miles across, 270 miles
<br />long - that starts at a plal'f' named Lee's
<br />Ferry and end!; near the Grand Wash
<br />C!i(fs. It.s called, aplJroJlriately. the
<br />Grand Canyon.
<br />Alld just upstream from IA'e's Fl'rry is
<br />where Glen Canyon Dam flOW rt'ars 710
<br />feel above thl' natural eanvon floor. Ill'rf',
<br />a political battle ragt:'s between humans
<br />Please see ERODE on 2G
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