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Colo. Senators Split on Immigration Vote, other news
June 26, 2007 5:30 PM
Colorado's senators split their votes on whether to go forward with an immigration reform bill that the White House favors. Those wanting to continue work on the bill carried the day. Twenty-four Republicans joined 39 Democrats and one Independent.
Colorado Democrat Ken Salazar voted to continue with the bill, while his Republican counterpart Wayne Allard voted not to. Allard said he "could not in good conscience support this flawed process," and that lawmakers can do better than the bill currently before them. He says he will now do all that he can to focus on supporting amendments to address what he calls "serious flaws" in the legislation. There are currently some 26 proposed amendments that the Senate is considering, the bill faces another make or break vote in the chamber as early as Thursday.
The bill in question would provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented workers already in the country, and proposes a guest worker program. Supporters say it has many practical provisions, critics call it amnesty.
More local news after the jump: Ft. Carson Soldiers Killed in Iraq, Dust is Depleting Snowpack Faster, Greens Skeptical of Oil Shale Study and Granby Fire Now Contained....
For the second time in two days the Pentagon has announced the death of a Ft. Carson Soldier in combat in Iraq. It said Sgt. William Edward Brown, age 26, from Phil Campbell, Alabama was killed Saturday from wounds suffered from insurgents who attacked his unit with indirect fire. Sgt. Campbell was a crew chief on a blackhawk helicopter with the 227th Aviation Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division at Ft. Carson.
On Thursday, Private First Class Jerimiah J. Veitch of Dibble, Oklahoma was killed when his vehicle was struck by a rocket propelled grenade. The 21-year-old was assigned to Ft. Carson's 2nd Brigade Combat Team.
To date 207 Ft. Carson soldiers have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, out of a total of 3,563 members of the U.S. military.
Scientists say dust blown onto Colorado's mountain tops is making the snowpack melt faster.
It doesn't happen every year but in dry years with sustained wind storms, dust kicked up by cattle, mining machinery and recreationists lands on top of the mountains. The dust, darker than the white snow, absorbs more sunlight, making the snow melt more than a month faster than normal.
That's according to scientists at the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center, based on a study performed in Colorado's San Juan Mountains.
Researchers say it's a problem found around the world but particularly in the Southwestern U-S. Lead investigator Tom Painter says grasses used to hold most of the dust down in the region but more has been freed up by a century of human settlement.
Environmentalists say that questions about water and air pollution must be answered before the federal government moves forward on commercial oil shale development in the region.
The U-S Bureau of Land Management is writing an environmental impact statement looking at the potential impacts of large-scale development of oil shale in western Colorado, eastern Utah and southwest Wyoming.
The B-L-M expects to release a draft plan later this summer.
The document is a programmatic E-I-S -- which means it will look overall at the potential impacts. More in-depth environmental reviews will be done later on specific projects.
Environmental groups say the B-L-M shouldn't be in a rush to write a document that would guide development until the industry is more sure about its plans.
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Shell Frontier Oil and Gas Company recently decided to postpone work on an experimental federal lease to refine its technique for mining oil from shale.
B-L-M officials say the 2005 federal energy bill directed the agency to move forward on the environmental review.
Life is getting back to normal at the Y-M-C-A camp near Granby now that firefighters have fully contained a 50 acre wildfire on the property.
Daily activities resumed today at the camp at Snow Mountain Ranch after over 300 ranchers and counselors had to be evacuated yesterday.
"There's lots of trees in the area that have been killed by pine-bark beetles that pose a big fire risk."
But Grand County Sheriff Rod Johnson says the Y-M-C-A did a great job of cutting down dead trees and clearing live ones from near buildings.
The cause of the fire isn't known but Johnson says there hasn't been any lightning in the area for a while.
Posted by Eric Whitney on June 26, 2007 5:30 PM | Permalink
