Laserfiche WebLink
<br />the Yampa River basin (Upper Colorado River <br />Commission, 1965-77). Sections of the Federal <br />Water Pollution Control Amendments Act of 1972 <br />(Public Law' 92-500) and the Colorado River <br />Salinity Control Project Act (Public Law 93-320) <br />have particular significance. The setting, review, <br />and modific.ation of stream and effluent standards <br />by the States of Colorado and Wyoming also have <br />relevant application. The interactions between <br />water quantity and water quality entail several in- <br />stitutional difficulties, as demonstrated by time of <br />passage of separate legislative articles and the <br />specification of separate administrative bodies <br />responsible for enactment of these articles. Many <br />of these difficulties will be overcome with time and <br />with the setting of precedents. However, within the <br />context of this basin assessment, it is hoped that <br />certain vested institutional interests can be made <br />more interactive and that legislative incom- <br />patibilities can be resolved through rational discus- <br />sion of both physical and economic implications. <br /> <br />TECHNICAL INFORMATION <br />IN PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT <br />OF REGIONAL WATER- <br />RESOURCES IN AREAS OF <br />COAL-DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL <br /> <br />By IVAN C, JAMES II and PHILLIP E. STARK' <br /> <br />Not until he reached a BOd hutat the other end of the town did <br />he make a bargain worth mentioning; here he happened on a <br />widow with two half-grown boys; the widow was Danish and ran <br />a small poultry farm. <br />."Yes, indeed, she needed potatoes, for both hel'8elf and the <br />boys, and for the birds as welli she hadn't any money in the <br />house. but she had the chickens. ... Wouldn't he trade BOrne <br />potatoes for a fowl or two? <br />-Of COUlBe he would: Per Hanss was more than willing; after <br />dickering awhile, he bartered nine pails of potatoes for three <br />young chickens. <br />-This is 8 mighty profitable deal-he thought-The Hall- <br />ings are good people, but the Dane8 are even better. <br />.....Listen. Mother, perhaps you'd just a8 800n take three <br />pailfuls more and give me the fourth hen?" ."The widow <br />agreed to that at once and Per Han8a felt that now he had made <br />a fme bargain indeed. <br />The widow, too, seemed very well satisfiedj they beamed in <br />mutual gratitude, filled with generous thoughts. <br />(R51vaag, 1927) <br /> <br />'Former Director, Routt County Department orEnvironmentlll Health, Steamboat <br />Spring8. Colo. <br /> <br />,... - <br />~....-. <br /> <br />{ftSOI <br /> <br />10 the rural Dakotas of the 1890's where this <br />vignette occurred. the monetary economy was not <br />well established. The bartering exemplified in- <br />volved formalities and the investment of time and <br />effort little used in today's market economy. <br />The bargaining that Per Hansa and the widow <br />undertook is a microcosm of the much more com- <br />plicated bargaining that takes place between <br />various interest groups involved with energy de- <br />velopment and water-resources planning. Perhaps <br />the differences are even more striking than the <br />similarities. <br />For Per Hansa and the widow, there was no quea- <br />tion of property rights-he owned the potatoes. she <br />the chickens-the question was the ratio at which <br />they would be exchanged. If they could not come to <br />an agreement, the trade would not be made. and <br />they each would be no better off than before. Per <br />Hansa may have been willing to trade up to four or <br />five pails of potatoes for a chicken, and the widow <br />may have taken as little as two; so even both <br />were better off after the trade, theidndividual abil- <br />ities to bargain may have determined how much <br />better off. <br />Property rights of individuals to enjoy clean <br />water and air, and the rights of productive enter- <br />prises to discharge residuals into the environment <br />are less well defined than the rights that Per Hansa <br />and the widow exercised through ownership. Lack- <br />ing a market mechanism for their determination, <br />prices for environmental amenities are usually not <br />known. Permitting requirements allow for signifi- <br />cant amounts of public involvement and political <br />input to the process. A multiplicity of interests also <br />distinguishes this process. It is oversimplifying to <br />categorize the interest groups as either "pro- <br />development" or "anti-development." Although <br />such feelings may exist, other issues concerning the <br />management of the social and environmental ef- <br />fects of energy development may be of even greater <br />importance. <br />Although Per Hansa or the widow each could <br />have prevented the completion of any trade, in the <br />decision making for energy-development the <br />relative abilities of the various parties to effect, <br />veto, or otherwise influence the decision making <br />process, in accordance with their desires, are not <br />well defined. The myriad of requirements involved <br />with the leasing, development, transportation. and <br />conversion of energy gives many opportunities for <br />review of the development process and also gives <br />many points where opposing interests may express <br /> <br />10 <br />