Thursday, July 12, 2012

Feds list ways to save the Rio Grande

Rethinking water supply and demand along one of the West's most important river systems is among the recommendations being considered by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and other officials in a report released Wednesday on conservation efforts along the Middle Rio Grande. Salazar stopped in Albuquerque to host a town-hall meeting with state, federal and community leaders to discuss the 180-mile stretch of the river that cuts through central New Mexico. Salazar appointed an eight-member committee in January to work with the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a plan for the river that incorporates water management, endangered species concerns and educational and recreational opportunities. Some of the committee's recommendations call for more aggressive water conservation, a system for building a strategic water reserve and development of more upstream storage under the state's water delivery compact with Texas. The committee also suggested developing the Rio Grande Trail, which would extend through as much of the wooded area along the river as possible. Granting access would require approval from various federal, regional and tribal officials...more

It's the other way around:  The river needs to be saved from the feds.

Now what are these "officials" really after.  The article says:

In the report, the committee likened the effort to campaigns that have been aimed at preserving other iconic American landscapes, such as the Florida Everglades.

That means they are after one thing:  M-O-N-E-Y

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