SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Daily News "Facts not coming out of City Hall"

Another special shout-out of thanks to Maurice Emmer.  For once again sticking to just the facts.

"Editor:

Mitzi Rapkin recently wrote a letter complaining about an article reporting on Matt Rice’s Congressional testimony. To be charitable, I assume Mitzi does not really know first-hand any of the facts, but that information is supplied to her by city managers and possibly City Council and she writes the information up in a pleasant, direct and professional way. So I do not blame Mitzi for distortions in her recent letter.

The main distortion of concern is the repeated claim that the penstock (pipeline) from Thomas Reservoir to the proposed Castle Creek hydro site was necessary because the city’s consulting engineer advised there was danger that required an emergency drain line. 

This is a pretty important matter because federal law prohibits the construction of any part of a power plant system without FERC approval. That approval could be avoided if there really was a pre-existing conduit (pipeline) that was going to be used for the power plant, but in this case there wasn’t one by any stretch of imagination.

So the city drew up plans for a penstock and related structures, including increased inflow to Thomas Reservoir from Maroon Creek (yes, they propose to take water from Maroon Creek, too), and then the engineer advised that those changes would create risk. The city thought it could call this proposed penstock a pre-existing conduit needed to reduce the risk and use the exemption, but of course that was silly.

How do I know this? I asked the city questions about the project. When I got their answers I asked for the documents supporting their answers. Guess what? The documents contradicted many of the city’s answers, rather than supporting them. You can read the documents too, if you want. If Mitzi wants to convince anyone the city is right, she easily can cite to specific documents that she thinks support the city’s assertions, rather than parroting claims that are fed to her by city management....." (Read more?  Click title)

"Unapologetic pursuit and tracking of patterns within the news others make since 2010."

SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Daily News "Aspen’s hydro process is criticized before Congress"

There is a plethora of related 'Aspen Hydro Project' stories to choose links from  in our archives.

So many choices that back up Matt Rice's testimony before Congress that it's difficult to narrow down to just one.

(sighs...rolls eyes....)

'SandBox Nanny' thinks the Aspen 'Mick Laws' should be rewritten to include:

"Always listen to what the folks have to say, especially Maurice Emmer."

(See related story by clicking here)

Brent Gardner-Smith:
"The city of Aspen’s proposed hydropower plant was used an example of what not to do when a project critic gave testimony last week in front of a House subcommittee in Washington D.C.

The Colorado conservation director for American Rivers, Matt Rice, on May 8 called into question the city of Aspen’s initial approach toward gaining approval for its proposed Castle Creek hydro plant. He testified in person and submitted written testimony to a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in support of the Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2012 (H.R. 3680). The bill seeks to reduce the regulatory hurdles for certain types of hydropower projects, including “conduit” projects. Conduit projects involve installing small hydropower generators in existing pipelines, canals and tunnels that were not designed or built to generate power....." (Read more? Click title)

"Unapologetic pursuit and tracking of patterns within the news others make since 2010."