The price of that guacamole you love to
snack on is probably going to climb. California’s
farmers, already struggling with drought, are facing even drier
times, and some avocado growers are hacking down trees to save
water.
California has withered under drought for much of
the last decade, and this year could end up being the driest on
record for the southern part of the state. The watershed of one of
the region’s primary water arteries – the Colorado River – is also
unusually dry, and its major reservoirs are only about half full.
The state has, in large part, learned to live with those shortages,
but now things may get tougher. In December, a court order will
limit the amount of water that federal and state agencies can pump
from the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta, which provides
drinking water to 25 million people as well as irrigation water to
countless farms. The ruling, which could cut by one-third the 1.1
trillion gallons of water pumped annually, is intended to help the
Delta smelt, an endangered fish whose numbers, long in decline,
have plummeted by 93 percent over the last year. In all likelihood,
nature won’t make up for the Delta’s diminishing water:
Climatologists expect this winter to be even drier than usual due
to the oceanic phenomenon known as La Nina.
The potential
crisis could give a boost to Republican Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s proposed multibillion dollar bond package, which
would fund water projects, including three new dams in the state.
Sayonara. Sen. Pete – Domenici, that is – New
Mexico’s senior Republican senator, announced Oct. 4 that he will
not seek re-election in 2008. That leaves a wide-open
race for the seat, which the six-term senator was almost sure to
have held had he chosen to run. Domenici’s brought a lot of money
into New Mexico and has been a strong supporter of conservative
policies nationally. But his legacy – good or bad – is most likely
to lie in his support for nuclear energy. Last year, he helped
clinch the deal to bring a nuclear enrichment plant to New Mexico.
He has also pressured the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to be nicer
to industry, pushed for nuclear-friendly provisions and subsidies
in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and has advocated for the Yucca
Mountain federal repository. The nuclear industry has returned the
favors, contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to Domenici’s
campaign coffers.
There weren’t supposed to be
grizzlies in the Clearwater National Forest of Idaho. Or at least
that’s what the feds said. So, the guy from Tennessee who
was hunting black bear on Sept. 3 and ended up shooting a grizzly
instead probably can’t be blamed. Though environmental groups have
been claiming for the last decade or more that there are grizzlies
in the area, the shooting marked the first officially confirmed
sighting since the 1940s. U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials are now
warning hunters in the area to take a close look at target bears
before pulling the trigger.
Grizzlies have had a tough
time elsewhere, too. Two bowhunters killed a mama bruin with cubs
near Libby, Mont., in late September. They claimed self-defense.
And in Yellowstone, a 250-pound female grizzly was found dead.
Apparently, another grizzly killed her during a fight.
There was a time when folks in the once-isolated
polygamist community of Short Creek could go about their daily
lives without much outside scrutiny. These days, though,
just about everyone is getting a glimpse into the Fundamentalist
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints community, made up of
Hilldale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.
During much of
September, the national media – obsessed as always with sex –
couldn’t pull its gaze away from the trial of Warren Jeffs, the
church’s leader, who was ultimately convicted of being an
accomplice to rape. His crime: arranging a marriage between two
cousins, one 14 and one 19.
It’s not yet clear how the
verdict will affect the FLDS towns. But even after the Jeffs
brouhaha dies down, the attention may continue. Short Creek is just
not as isolated or remote as it once was; Hilldale is in Washington
County, the fifth fastest-growing county in the nation.
Gambling on green
Sin City’s all
about excess consumption, making it an unlikely place to be on the
cutting edge of enviro development. But throw in some healthy tax
incentives, and even Las Vegas can go green: A half-dozen large
projects are currently in the works there. The biggest is
MGM-Mirage’s Project CityCenter, which will sport its own power
plant, recycle some of its water and recycle or reuse 80 percent of
the materials left over from the demolished parking lots and hotel
that previously occupied the lot.
The CityCenter Casino
Resort in Las Vegas, top, will include The Harmon (400-room hotel
and residences), the 350-unit towers of the Veer luxury condos, and
the 1,500-unit Vdara (condo and hotel).
$7
billion Amount MGM-Mirage expects to spend building
Project CityCenter, its massive new “green” development on the Las
Vegas Strip.
9 megawatts Capacity of
on-site power plant that will provide 10 percent of the complex’s
power.
9,000 Number of single-family
homes this could power.
48,000 Tons of
greenhouse gases MGM-Mirage estimates will not be emitted from the
project thanks to energy-efficient technology.
373,470 Estimated tons of carbon dioxide the
project will emit each year.
1
Estimated percent that building costs increased in making the
project green.
$390 million Estimated
tax breaks the project may qualify for under a Nevada green
building law passed in 2005.
76
Footprint, in acres, of the project.
4,800 Number of hotel rooms contained in the
project.
94,600 Gallons of water used
per room each year by the MGM-Grand Casino, another property owned
by the same company.
$518 Average
amount the Southern Nevada Water Authority spends per person on
developing new water supplies.
$1
billion Amount of tax dollars that could be lost over the
next decade from just seven proposed projects, under the Nevada
green building law.
2 Number of years
the law had been in effect before lawmakers voted to reduce its tax
breaks.
-Christine
Hoekenga
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Two weeks in the West.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
