Who needs math when you have scare tactics??

Share some comments here in a bit, but first want to share some highlights from this article in the KDMiner.com last Friday...

"The vast majority of people don't understand where their water comes from and it's not a problem or an issue until the water stops," Tom Whitmer said during Tuesday evening's Mohave County Republican Forum meeting.

Whitmer, the Arizona Water Resource Department Regional water planner, covered a variety of water-related issues in the talk.

...

Area aquifers

Some of the results of the study show that the Hualapai Valley aquifer which supplies some of Kingman's water has about 3.8 million to 10.1 million acre-feet of water and recharges at a rate of 2,000 to 3,000 acre-feet a year, Whitmer said. The Sacramento Valley aquifer, which serves both Golden Valley and Kingman, has about 3.6 million to 9.5 million acre-feet of water and recharges at a rate of about 1,000 to 4,000 acre-feet per year. The Detrital aquifer, which serves White Hills and parts of Dolan Springs, has about 1.5 to 3.9 million acre-feet of water and recharges at a rate of about 1,000 acre-feet a year, he said.

Recharge rates are affected by elevation, temperature and rainfall, Whitmer said. The problem comes when people withdraw more water from an aquifer than what is being recharged into it.

In at least two of Mohave County's aquifers, depletion could be a problem, he said. The Detrital aquifer is in the best shape, with less than 300 acre-feet a year withdrawn.

The Sacramento Aquifer is bordering on unsafe yield, he said. Approximately, 3,700 acre-feet of water is withdrawn from the aquifer a year. With a recharge rate of only 1,000 to 4,000 acre-feet a year and the current drought, the area could be taking out more water than is going in.

The Hualapai Valley Aquifer is in the most danger, he said. Approximately, 9,050 acre-feet are taken out of the aquifer every year. The recharge rate of 2,000 to 3,000 acre-feet a year can't keep up, Whitmer said.

Be sure to read the whole thing, I copied from the latter part of the article mostly.  Full disclosure, the only information I have about this meeting where this gentleman shared information comes from the article I linked above.  I'm certain that plenty more interesting bits of information was available... at least I'd hope so (it is not an in depth sit down and interview type of article).

As readers may know this 'water' issue we are having in the Kingman area becomes a topic of great conversation from time to time.

Time to take a closer look at the information shared in the KDMiner.com article.

In at least two of Mohave County's aquifers, depletion could be a problem, he said.

Could be a problem?? To be fair I'd like to know if something more specific was said. Size of the problem... how soon the problem... that sort of thing.

With a recharge rate of only 1,000 to 4,000 acre-feet a year and the current drought, the area could be taking out more water than is going in.

Again with the 'could be' stuff. I should have been at the meeting... long drive, but maybe I would have had these questions answered.

The other thing I'd want to know...

The Sacramento Valley aquifer, which serves both Golden Valley and Kingman, has about 3.6 million to 9.5 million acre-feet of water

Does that mean, on the low side, that there is 3.6 million acre feet of water that can be used??

These are answers I loved to know more about, even if it means adjusting my views on my perception of the 'water problem' we are supposed to be having.

Coming up on two years ago I wrote this blog post and I ask that you give it a read if you have the time. Covers similar examples of putting math to the data that is known, just like I am going to do with the information shared in the KDMiner.com article.

More disclosure, all data collected for the math equations that follow come from either linked media articles or linked government documents from Arizona web sites.

We will solve for the following...

the results of the study show that the Hualapai Valley aquifer which supplies some of Kingman's water has about 3.8 million to 10.1 million acre-feet of water and recharges at a rate of 2,000 to 3,000 acre-feet a year

...

Approximately, 9,050 acre-feet are taken out of the aquifer every year.

I'm up for a challenge... so we'll solve for how long it would take to use up ONLY HALF the water resources in the Hualapai Valley aquifer. Not only that, we will assume that it will never, ever, rain again in Mohave County -- so no recharge.

Still not good enough. So we will double the amount of water used annually, measured in acre feet, and round up to 20,000.

This is going to be simple math -- but double check my work anyway.

Half of the low estimate of 3.8 million acre feet equals 1.9 million acre feet.

Add Zero for recharge

Rate of water used equals 20,000 acre feet annually.

1.9 million acre fee divided by 20,000 acre feet annually equals... 95 years.

95 years to use HALF. Should I say it?? Fine, much can happen in 95 years. Leaving me to ask the question... who are we to decide on a non problem now, for what might not even be a problem then??

Unless the questions I shared earlier are answered, and the answers allows me to be swayed by facts, the math says we don't have a water resource problem. The only potential problem I see is a water resource delivery infrastructure problem... the kind that tax payers pony up for when no one else wants to invest in the area. As a tax payer I know that future costs for such improvements will be needed, even if the area is not growing. Defraying the costs with an additional amount of people equal to the current population would certainly make those high cost types of improvements easier to afford.

And this is why it is a fundamental growth issue. If the community was really thinking about helping our future generations of Kingmanite's (not even born yet) then we should be working hard and competing for local investment and development. IF the planets lined up just right and everything fell into place (which it certainly will not) it is possible that the folks here today wouldn't have to pay for any of it for years. Accounts could be set up to save money for future infrastructure needs perhaps?? (yeah, I'm being waaaayyyy too optimistic there)

I posted on the KDMiner.com site yesterday this tidbit...

Now you watch... the folks that will respond to me won't attack the math or the facts.

That was validated quickly. Too bad because it might actually be an interesting discussion and the sharing of the facts would be something I'd look forward to.

Link to more MOCO posts including public data regarding local water supply.

It went down like this...

Last week the Arizona Corporation Committee approved Hualapai Valley Solar’s Certificate of Environmental Compatibility (CEC).

Good news -- bad news sort of thing here. I'll start with the bad, the ACC is requiring HVS to only use a water supply of effluent for its water needs. This probably means the project will be put on hold at this point because there is no effluent resources or means of transport of effluent available in the area. The City of Kingman and HVS have been engaging in talks about allowing HVS to use the effluent resources in Kingman, but another problem... it is likely that there isn't enough effluent being produced because the population is not great enough.

Gee, the good news... well the ACC approved the application.

Just as a reminder, the Arizona Corporation Commission is a '4th' branch of government in the state of Arizona. Most folks out in the outer area, the area of Arizona that doesn't make up Maricopa County, watch the ACC put the brakes on economic development in those outer areas. I'm working on getting some information of solar projects similar to the HVS method of energy production in the Maricopa areas just to see if, once again, the ACC screwed the chances for more economic development opportunities in Mohave County.

For now I'll leave you with the press release from HVS.

Arizona Corporation Commission approves Certificate of Environmental Compatibility for Hualapai Valley Solar

Phoenix – The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) voted to approve the Hualapai Valley Solar’s Certificate of Environmental Compatibility (CEC) on Wednesday, October 20th. The CEC, the final State approval required to begin construction, approves the project's power plant, interconnection, and transmission plans. The ACC expressed that there is a shift towards dry cooling in the Southwest USA and that wet cooled power plants are unlikely to get any more approvals. In its decision, the Commission found that the “Project is in the public interest because it aids the state in meeting the need for an adequate, economical, and reliable supply of electric power.”


From the outset, the solar plant was designed to use an evaporative cooling system supplied with reclaimed wastewater. The CEC also allows the company to use hybrid (water and air) cooling technology if sufficient reclaimed wastewater is not available. Hualapai Valley Solar and the city of Kingman are evaluating all possible sources of reclaimed wastewater for use by the project. Since a binding Memorandum of Understanding was signed in December 2009, the city and HVS have been working on a reclaimed water purchase agreement that would supply more than half of the water needs of the project from the city's upgraded Hilltop Wastewater Treatment Plant. The current plant treats approximately 1.5 million gallons per day of wastewater, an amount that is expected to rise over time as residents switch from septic tanks to the city sewer system. The agreement for the output of the Hilltop facility is expected to go before the City Council as early as November.

The Hualapai Valley Solar Project is a proposed 340MW parabolic trough power plant. The plant’s design incorporates 7 to 8 hours of additional output once the sun is down through the storage of heat in molten salt tanks during the day. It is located approximately 28 miles north of Kingman, Arizona, is sited on private land, and has firm transmission located a few miles from the site.

More links

havasunews.com

Inane comments from the water worry warts (again)

Don't have time to slice and dice all the rather stupid remarks that are being made by the folks that pretend to care about water in the Mohave County area.  But for craps and giggles here is one...

The original content found here at this link...

Posted: Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Article comment by: az mac

I am going to say most people here will not qualify for the jobs they will offer. Many of the jobs will be temporary. Now it comes down to the water they will use. I guess they are going to allow them all the water they want. Get ready for a big hike in water rates on top of what is already coming.
Mary Smith
You just may find your self living like they did in the 1800s. If all the taxes come about like planned then prices will go sky high and most will not be able to afford very much. More jobs will disappear. We all ready have over 60 million without jobs and 41 million on food stamps.

Yes this is about the solar plant deal that uses some water to make the thing work.

It is obvious that 'az mac' has no clue about the jobs that will be offered by the power plant -- either that or s/he thinks all of you in Mohave County, or nearly all of you, are idiots.  Barely any of you good people in the Kingman area could qualify for a job at the plant.  The water worry warts don't think very highly of their neighbors and it shows.  They are the most greedy and ill mannered people in the county.

Now on to the water use and again 'az mac' inserts foot into mouth.  The plant will own property, if the plant is ever allowed to be built.  In other words the plant will be an owner of private property in the state of Arizona and the county of Mohave.  Private property owners that have requested the state and other authorities for use of well water get to use all the water they want.  Let that one sink in folks.  There are NO meters on private wells in this area.  Nobody can tell a private property owner with a well that they are limited with how much water to use.  Yet here is a company that will move to Mohave County and agree to use a limited amount of water... thereby giving away some of their property rights.

I'd love to see the state threaten to put in meters on private wells -- as a staunch private property rights proponent I'd be against such a thing of course -- but I'd love to see some of the reactions when the water worry warts own rights are threatened.  And really folks, if the water levels were as bad as the people with zero data say it is, the state or the county would be installing water meters and limiting amounts of water private property owners use.

So big hikes in water rates are right around the corner because some solar plant will be drawing a limited water supply with authorization by the state and local governments??  Just once I'd love to see any one of these idiots back up their idiotic statements.  Again, if they didn't have scare tactics... they'd have nothing.

As for the rest of the remark made by 'az mac' to Mary Smith is concerned, yeah no one wants their taxes raised at the federal level at a time like this... but no one is going to live like it is the 1800's again (hey another scare tactic, wow).

But what do I know... I wouldn't qualify for a job at the plant.  Hmmm... that almost begs a challenge.  I just might have to get out the old resume and apply for a permanent job at the new plant (whenever it gets built).  I'll make a bet now that I can, in fact, get a job at the plant... and I'm a self described big dummy.

One thing for sure... the wells will run dry of water in this county way before the well of stupid asinine comments (like bats will choke to death on dust) from the water worry warts will.  So at least they got that going for them.

I told you they were batty

Folks you cannot make this stuff up.  Who am I referring to as batty??  Think the water worry warts (WWW).

The Hualapai Valley Solar LLC (HVS) project seeks final approval for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility (CEC) permit from the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) at an upcoming meeting in Phoenix later this month.  While I haven't been blogging about this subject since I began working in eastern New Mexico late last year, I have been following along as best I possibly can.

I ran into some information that I wanted to share to perhaps bring you up to speed (you might know a heck of a lot more than I do at this point) to what has been happening in the process.  Last I heard the HVS group has been subjected to many public meetings and have met with some opposition from the local water worry warts.

There was a meeting back in June at the Powerhouse in Kingman where HVS asked the ACC to lift the stay on the permit needed to proceed.  The water worry warts, of course, filed a response to HVS's request.  HVS then followed up with a letter... and this is the information I ran into.

Wish I could share all of it with you but it is a 18 page PDF document -- but I'll share my observations on a few points I read.  First, keep in mind that the information comes from the legal representation of HVS. The letter is a response to the information the WWW's offered to the ACC.  I don't have the WWW stuff so I'm only going on what is in the letter from the legal representation of HVS regarding this matter.

Okay a few observations...

The first part of the letter is a reminder of information brought forth by the hydrology studies -- that there is plenty of water for all in Mohave County even with the solar plant up and running.  It gets more detailed as it goes along.

This includes a bit about the hydrologist that was hired to do the study.  The hydrologist is a registered geologist with a graduate degree in hydrology and has 30 years of experience investigating hydrogeologic conditions.

The hydrologist has been conducting groundwater studies in the Hualapai Valley since 2005.

The hydrologist put together a comprehensive groundwater flow model that simulates the effect of groundwater pumping on groundwater levels in the Hualapai groundwater basin.  That information was shared with staff hydrologists that work for the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR).  After a thorough evaluation ADWR approved the model.

The conclusion of the reports were included in a technical memorandum issued in November of 2009.

The conclusion basically said that if HVS was to use 3,000 acre feet of water for thirty years, the project's incremental impact will be less than 1 foot of water level change for wells in the nearest residential areas.

Now according to the letter, neither WWW representative provided any evidence to contradict the hydrologist's analysis and conclusions regarding water levels and impacts on wells in the areas in the Hualapai Valley.  In fact the WWW response was mainly a complaint about Mohave County's water related zoning and planning decisions.

Can you believe it??  I can.  The WWW representatives have been wasting official time at public meetings for many years in Mohave County.


But there is more...

Even without one shred of evidence, the main WWW representative insisted that the HVS project would require 8,000 acre feet of further depletion of the Hualapai Valley aquifer.  Just because she (the WWW representative) says so.  Hardly compelling.

Then the WWW representative testified that all of the most recent solar projects in California and Nevada were of the 'dry cooled' variety.  According to the letter from HVS this is incorrect.  Shocking.  I doubt the WWW folks would know dry cooling if it hit them up side the head.

HVS responded by speaking of the Abengoa Mojave Solar project that is in the planning stage in California.  Staff at the California Energy Commission released an assessment on May 25th of 2010 concluding "the proposed use of groundwater for industrial cooling would not significantly impact existing groundwater levels in the HVGB wells, the basin balance, or the quality of groundwater in the basin".  The full assessment can be found at the California Energy Commission's website (docket number 09-AFC-5).  The full assessment suggests the evidence overwhelmingly supports the Commission's decision to authorize wet cooling for that project.

The letter also goes into why it would be more costly to use dry cooling as well as they are less efficient to do what they are supposed to do (create energy).  Fairly interesting stuff... all of it covered in prior meetings.

Lastly I want to share, from the letter, the 'other' reason as to why the water worry warts are against the HVS project.  You will be able to tell that they really racked their shared brain for this one.  WWW representative number two wants the state to do an environmental impact study and a promise to protect wildlife, including bats.  That is correct folks... the WWW's are batty for bats.

According to WWW number two the HVS project would release particulate matter into the air as the water evaporates and that could be toxic to bats.  The particulate matter in this case??  Dust.

Of course WWW number two did NOT provide any evidence that dust is toxic to bats according to the letter by HVS.  An expert that testified in a previous meeting for HVS stated that he is "not aware of any studies anywhere that suggests that bats are dying from eating dust".

So all along it wasn't about water... how could it be??  The WWW's do not have any evidence that water usage in Mohave County right now is detrimental to the future of the area.  So they come back with 'save the bats'!?!?

WWW representative number two also shares a worry that the roads leading to the proposed solar project would get increased use during construction and wants some government agency to include some sort of condition to further impose the folks behind the project.

The WWW sure looks like they pulled out all the stops... all without any documented evidence to back up their claims.  Fantasy world.  What is IN that well water anyway??

This seems to be looking pretty good for the HVS project in terms of getting the required authorizations from all the different levels of government and bureaucracies.  Within the last couple of days the Hualapai Tribal Council approved/signed a Memorandum of Understanding with HVS that will allow them to pursue renewable energy projects together on Tribal Land that will share interconnection and transmission resources of the HVS project. It was another big milestone for the Project.

As for the WWW's... I'd say point and laugh at the most.

The big one...

So maybe you heard about it... it might be kind of a big deal.  Yep folks there is a killer asteroid on the way to earth right now and the estimated time of arrival is the year 2182.

So how does this affect the great folks here in Mohave County Arizona you might ask... I'll get to that in a minute.  First thing though the important bits from the linked article...

The asteroid, called 1999 RQ36, has a 1-in-1,000 chance of actually hitting the Earth at some point before the year 2200, but is most likely to hit us on 24th September 2182.

It was first discovered in 1999 and is more than 1,800 feet across. If an asteroid of this size hit the Earth it would cause widespread devastation and possible mass extinction.

Oh.  Still long odds I see.  Not as long as the other killer asteroid zooming around in space with a chance to give it to us real good in 2036 (a chance as in a one in 250,000 chance) but still.

Let's imagine that science was actually good enough today to be definitive about tomorrow and 1999 RQ36 is locked and loaded with a delivery date of 9/24/2182.  What would we (you or I or they or anyone) do??  I figure it this way.

1) It is the year 2010 right now a goodly number of folks are going to say that they won't be around for the show some 170 years from now so no big deal.  Fair.

2) Some folks will be very pessimistic and feel that nothing will be able to stop the impending collision.  They'll say this today -- maybe even on the Internet -- even though 170 years ago things like the Internet, computers, and space vehicles were impossible in that time.

3) Others will want to do something about the approaching menace.  These folks will begin a concept called problem solving.  Even though in the year 2010 the problem is not going to be felt by the people of this era, there will be people that will begin work on solutions -- knowing that it will be people in future generations that will actually solve the problem.  But the solutions have to start somewhere and for a impending problem as large as total destruction the sooner the better.

4) Still others will simply want to move.  Sure that may be tough to move off this planet right now, but it is an option.

These are just my opinions as to what people would do faced with an impending dire situation.  Because there is only a 1 in 1,000 chance that 1999 RQ36 is going to hit the planet some 170 years from now, I put myself in the first category above.  However I could see being part of the third or fourth category if there was something more definitive about the future.  There may be plenty more options and I won't argue those.  So why share this on a local blog??

Well, we here in the Kingman area of Mohave County are said to have some impending problem in the future.  That's right some of the very brightest and most 'enlightened' minds in the county have said the aquifers from which this community draws its water only has about 100 or 200 years worth of water left before it runs dry.  Yet these same folks haven't a care to actually do anything about changing the future -- well the future they represent anyway.

Just like in my example above the 'enlightened' want to do zilch about the problem putting them in the second category and to make matters worse, not allow anyone else to do anything about the impending problem either.  Think about it folks, anytime someone brings up the beginnings of any sort of possible solution to some far distant problem they scream that it is impossible.  These folks are simply the most greedy among us.  Sad that they cannot see the damage they are doing to the future.

Oh sure, they'll say they are protecting the future -- but they are the ones saying that the water will be all gone come a couple hundred years or so -- just how are they protecting the community for the kids and grandkids??  The grandkids will know that they may only have 50 to 100 years of water left, which will put them in the fourth category from my earlier asteroid example but they will no doubt have many different places to choose from to move to.  The grandkids might be able to find other solutions but their backs will be closer to the wall than if WE had begun to find solution for the problem... if the problem actually exists in the manner the 'enlightened' among us insist it does.

There is no future for Kingman if there is no water.  No matter how much we save today, tomorrow, and the next day we are still using water and will eventually use it all -- again if the 'enlightened' are as correct as they say they are.

The biggest problem for everyone on both sides of this perhaps impending problem is that as of today it doesn't feel like a problem.  Gonna get in a shower today, brush the teeth, make some lemonade, wash the car, run through the sprinklers, and even do some laundry.  All possible right now because for our community water is abundant TODAY.  We have more than we could use TODAY.

But what about tomorrow??  IF the problem is as big as it is represented by the 'enlightened' where are the folks that fall into the third category from my example above??  Maybe many of them have already exercised the fourth category or simply fall into the first one??

Where are they coming from, where are they moving??

Think back to the year 2008... looking at the IRS data map at the link below...

http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/04/migration-moving-wealthy-interactive-counties-map.html?preload=04015

...It appears there was plenty of out bound migration out of Mohave County. 

Rather interesting map that you can click on any county to look at migration in the year 2008.

Green jobs job fair...

Received the following from Facebook today...

- RENEWABLE ENERGY INFORMATION FAIR

Are you interested in a career in the renewable energy industry?

Come find out about Training and Green Career Opportunities.

March 17, 2010 11:00 AM until 8:00 PM

Kingman High School - 4182 North Bank Street

Mohave and La Paz Counties anticipate major renewable energy

projects in our region and are preparing for the many jobs associated

with these facilities. This fair will help you prepare to apply and/or

train for jobs in renewable energy construction and operations. The

application process for training will include eligibility determination

and a series of assessments.

Find out more at one of the ninety minute orientation sessions beginning at 11:30 AM, 2:00 PM or 5:30 PM. Capacity is limited to 550 per session.

Complete a CAREER PLACEMENT INVENTORY online at: www.co.mohave.az.us/energycareers, print it out and bring it to the fair. This will help us place you in a career pathway and/or funded training.

Also, here's a link to the press release on this event.

Check it out, check it outers.

Local quote of the day...

From the comments at this link...

Posted: Friday, February 26, 2010
Article comment by: Allodial Title

This county is out of control. I moved here 2 years ago. Back east when I needed a permit to have more than allotted animals on my property, I went to the City office, paid my 25 dollars and was given a permit. But here in Mohave County, not so simple. You need a use permit, 300 plus dollars if you just want to own more than 4 dogs. 500 plus if you plan on breeding and selling, because now your commercial. They also then inform you that you must send a letter to your neighbors, and if they have a problem with it, you will be turned down. Now what the county doesn't tell you is that if they turn down your request, you will never see the money you put out just to ask permission. But they will tell you that you can try again in a year. They must think of the residents of this county as stupid. Why would I give them another 500 dollars, when they turned me down the first time? Our rights have so eroded that an unelected bureaucrat in the county government believes that he has the authority, the right and power to tell me if I can stick a shovel in my ground. Mohave County residents, it's time to take our land, and our constitutional right to own land back from this county.

Tyrrany In Mohave County, AZ

The following video was done yesterday during the arrest of one of our local residents at the Mohave County Administration building prior to the Board of Supervisors meeting.

Seemingly less answers while more questions raised as our County Manager Ron Walker tells an attendee after the arrest that not only are weapons not allowed in the building but the American Flag is not allowed to be brought into the building either since it is a "banner or a plaque". Tyranny in Mohave County, or a man blinded by his own arrogance? Is it me or does he sound like he is making it up as he goes along?

Judge for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M63k9GEBis

it's a hot and bitter cup we are sipping....

Most of you have heard or read something about the county's latest fiasco, brewing like cowboy coffee on an open fire pit. The issue specific is whether or not the county's assumed oral policy prohibiting the disbursement of brochures and pamphlets by the general public on county property is in violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It is an oral policy, not written and no one knows who or when they accepted it, since never written it was never officially adopted and is left up to the county officials to act upon based upon their individual interpretations of AZ Statute 11 Art 410 which states:



11-410. Use of county resources or employees to influence elections; prohibition
A. A county shall not use its personnel, equipment, materials, buildings or other resources for the purpose of influencing the outcomes of elections. Notwithstanding this section, a county may distribute informational reports on a proposed bond election as provided in section 35-454. Nothing in this section precludes a county from reporting on official actions of the county board of supervisors.
B. Employees of a county shall not use the authority of their positions to influence the vote or political activities of any subordinate employee.
C. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed as denying the civil and political liberties of any employee as guaranteed by the United States and Arizona Constitutions.



The salt added to the grounds of this brew is that a local resident, citizen and taxpayer was prohibited from dispersing his materials made that reflected the voting record of Senator John McCain prior and during the McCain Town Hall held in Kingman, Arizona, November 13, 2009, in the public owned county administration building. Luca Zanna was predominately ignored during the McCain Town Hall as he politely kept his hand raised for over 45 minutes in request to speak. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gOxD39_--g But Luca Zanna is not one to be ignored. He persisted until John McCain himself handed Mr. Zanna his microphone to address him with. Luca Zanna is very dynamic to be sure and can appear to be quite exuberant, but he is also one of the most respectful and sincere people I have known since living here. Impassioned sure, terrorist------NOT. As he and Buster Johnson have related to me, once he was asked to stop passing out his materials and told that he was in violation of the county rules, he politely and respectfully stopped. (Do you hear the striking of the match.)



As most of you know Buster Johnson is the county Board of Supervisor for District 3. What some of you may not know is that Buster Johnson is the Chairman of the Republican Central Committee. It was through his party affiliations and work as Chair that he was able to convince Senator John McCain and his staff that Mohave County should be the site of a scheduled Town Hall event and in doing so brought the event here as a public service opportunity we have been long denied. And it was as the Chair he was approached by one of Senator McCain's security guards paid for by our tax dollars, to tell Mr. Zanna and others to stop passing out their materials, "for security reasons" on the publicly owned property. And yes, he is the same security guard taking pictures of Luca Zanna during the McCain Town Hall in the video. (Just the back log for the campfire.)



In his quest for answers from the county as to just what is this policy, where is it posted, who does it apply to, are you sure it even exists......Mr. Zanna approached several county officials by phone call, email and in person. Yet his emails and questions were unanswered. Even when the county attorney revealed that they had just always fallen back on AZ 11art 410 and everyone had agreed that this is how they would do it, no one could explain or show Mr. Zanna where the county residents had ever participated in this decision. If it isn't written down, then how could they have approved it? If it isn't written down then how does anyone know when someone or party is in compliance or non-compliance? How do you know it is even in compliance with the State Statute itself? Since the county could not or would not answer his probes, he addressed the Board of Supervisors in an open meeting, yet still the same results. (Ignite the kindling now.)



What followed next was a production on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVhy0hlfdfM reflecting how Mr. Zanna was starting to feel about being ignored. And he submitted a couple of letters to the local media. BOS Tom Sockwell felt he was being personally attacked and responded with an article in the Daily Miner of his own, http://kingmandailyminer.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=35736&SectionID=36&SubSectionID=73&S=1 Mr. Zanna started getting attention, the issue was being brought out, still no answers though to some very relevant questions. (We got smoke!)



The economy is slow, news is slow. We don't have much going on in Mayberry these days. People are out of work, out of money and don't have much to do but read the paper and the Internet, watch TV and youtube and they have the time to get involved in local affairs. The Daily Miner and other media venues have picked up on Mr. Zanna's plight. Support for his stance is growing. And the fact that the government is responsible for people being out of work and out of money and out of answers and out of patience is making us all irritable. Now there is a recall petition for Mr. Sockwell and a possible complaint to the State Attorney General. (We got flames!)



Ron Walker decided it was time for him to join the name calling, http://kingmandailyminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&subsectionID=73&articleID=36024, which like Supervisor Sockwell's retort, just added more heat to the pot just starting to boil. Oh yeah right we were making coffee. The county still needs a written definition of how AZ Stat. 11 Art. 410 will be followed and the written guidelines there of printed out for the public. But who wants to work that out while we all are too busy fueling the fire? (Uh, Ron Walker is the County Manager who is in charge of directing staff to put such definitions and guidelines down on paper to be reviewed and adopted by public approval via the representation there of, our Board of Supervisors.)



Maybe if our county representatives and officials had taken the time they have had writing articles to openly degrade private citizens to sit down with Mr. Zanna and discuss his genuine concerns reasonably over a cup of coffee something would have been resolved by now. Instead we have a media frenzy that makes Mohave County politics shine like the Dukes of Hazzard on steroids. And we are still out of work and out of money and wondering why the developments that could change things for us locally are continuing to locate their projects to the southern counties of the State. What we need is a fresh pot of coffee!

'The Big Dummy' speaks... (no not me)...

No doubt that I read the KDMiner.com pages for the latest -- almost -- daily information about things happening in the Kingman area. It is the only such media outlet that is -- almost -- daily that puts their articles, opinions, etc. online for all to see. The content that is produced by the employees at the Miner is what it is... and since it has no competition, again online, it is the best available. However, to me the 'gold' I find at the KDMiner.com site comes from the content that the readers leave on either articles or opinion pieces.

I found a couple of comments that I wanted to further spotlight here on MOCO and they will appear below. Click here for the link to the letter to editor from Wednesday's edition. Go ahead and read the original letter for complete context where the following two posts are addressing. The title of the letter is 'Smart' people back at it again.

The two responses come from the same person who uses the moniker 'The Big Dummy', and here is the first one... with some of my thoughts along the way...

Posted: Thursday, January 28, 2010
Article comment by: The Big Dummy

Mr.Stultz and other naysayers,

You clearly don’t know much of anything but rumors about the Griffith power plant, power plants in general, electric distribution, or electric markets. Before you try to compare Griffith to any other power project you should know something about which you speak first.

For yours and other’s edification I’ll lay out some accurate information for you.

I love it so far... and it gets so much better.

About 25 people work at the Griffith plant and last time I talked with an acquaintance there all but one called Mohave County home. That’s about the number they said would work there when the project was proposed. Don’t believe it? Check the Miner archives. Unlike a solar plant, every one of Griffith’s workers need to be a skilled power plant technician. A lot of jobs at photovoltaic and concentrating solar plants are window washers that don’t need to know a lot nor do they get paid that well. I expect the core number of skilled plant operators at one of these new solar plants will be about the same as Griffith. In any case, Griffith never promised large numbers of permanent workers so why are you complaining?

So much good stuff here... I love the 'check the Miner archives' thing there -- which of course most folks against new development simply won't do. The part about have skilled technicians... yeppers... important in this kind of investment and endeavor. Having newly relocated higher skilled level employees will not be a bad thing for this community or it's tax base.

If you are still not happy that at least 24 of our own got great paying jobs at Griffith, something you do need to think about is how many local businesses are still in business, benefit, or have increased their staff because of Griffith? It is likely local repair shops like RAM Enterprises, Laron Engineering, Sky Hi crane, United Rental, and others are happy to have places like Griffith around. If more power plants get built in our area these businesses are likely to expand and new businesses start up. Power plants need skilled workers to support them during times of major unscheduled and scheduled repair and upgrades. The point, Mr. Stultz, is that large industries often create even more decent jobs indirectly.

Sounds exactly like economic development to me.

County water records show that since Griffith began operation in 2001 it has averaged under 1000 gpm; or under 1613 acre ft per year. That is well below what they could use. The plant has always paid all the County expenses in maintaining and operating the wells. The plant also checks the aquifer level every month and sends the data to the County and guess what, it’s all at the County Water Department for you to see and believe it or not the Sacramento Aquifer is not being sucked dry by Griffith. I can’t remember if the USGS survey identified localized water level depression in the Griffith well field but if they did, so you and other know, that phenomenon is common and normal around an active well. There are limits to those depressions to protect aquifers against subsidence; and yes Griffith also has to do aquifer subsidence surveys annually in accordance with ADEQ. Maybe Mohave Engineering is another company happy to have Griffith around? In light of this, I have no idea where you get the information to make such a claim about the aquifer.

The water worry warts make 'claims' all the time... yet they never have any proof to back up their claims of dire emergencies lying in wait because some new projects want to move into the area.

The first water contract was that the plant paid for the water they used plus an expensive hi demand charge under certain usage conditions. However, the plant had a large amount of the water system capacity locked up in that contract. Power plants have to secure enough water to run full capacity at any time so they have to lock up that capacity. Due to the plant’s low usage it looked like there was a lot of water available and the county wanted to sell it elsewhere, which Griffith, or any other power plant, wouldn’t allow. The water contract renegotiation was a sweet deal for the County. Whether Griffith runs or not the County gets paid for the full amount of water the plant needs available. The result, the County is making a lot more money off Griffith’s water contract without supplying any more than the usual amount they use. Instead of complaining that Mr. Walker made a bad first contract, why don’t you be glad he acted in the best interest of the County, at least in this case, in realizing the deal needed to be renegotiated?

A simple estimation of the County property taxes on Griffith show that the 10 million dollar investment the County made in infrastructure for the I-40 Industrial Corridor has been, or very nearly, paid for. If I recall, I think the tax assessment on Griffith alone is right around a million dollars per year, so those taxes alone have almost paid for the entire investment. In addition, we now have the prison, Unisouce’s peaker plant, and a block making plant operating out there now. Also, property tax assessments don’t change if a facility isn’t in production for a time. For such a smart guy I can’t believe you’d make such a stupid comment.

Again... economic development.

Unless you have some inside information you can’t honestly say the plant only runs when California needs the power. But even if they did, what do you care? Is it the tired old complaint that they use our water and sell the power to another state? If so, then you’d better start complaining about Mineral Park that’s been using 3000 gpm of your water for decades and selling your copper and other minerals to companies in other states for a profit. And by the way, their mine expansion is set to raise that water consumption to 6000 gpm. What do you feel about Arizona coal that went to Nevada to make power for them? Was that a problem for you? A smart guy like you surely knows that’s how industry works. Natural resources in one area are mined, cut, fished, or whatever and shipped somewhere else for processing, or manufacture, and sometimes to another place for distribution. Are you upset that rock quarries in our area shipping boulders and gravel to Las Vegas? They have to use some of our water for dust abatement so is that okay with you if the product ends up out of state? What about those poor people in Wyoming whose natural gas gets piped down here to Arizona to keep or homes warm? Would it be okay with you if they got upset that their un-renewable natural resources go out of State and they wanted to cut us off? So we take from others but are not willing to give? Is that how it is? How is using a little of our water for local projects that also benefit other States a problem?

And I'm just willing to bet that the original letter writer or any of the many water worry wart types that comment at the KDMiner.com site won't even try to attempt to answer any of the above questions... too bad too... would love to see the spin.

Let me ask you a more pertinent question. First let’s first assume that the Hualapai solar project will run at full capacity, 24/7, for 30 years and we assume the smallest estimated quantity of water in the Hualapai aquifer of 4 million acre feet and we assume no recharge for those 30 years. In this unrealistically high estimate only 3% of the aquifer would be used. You are all so very smart, I assume you’ve already done the calculations. My question is this, knowing how small a portion of the aquifer could be used what is the basis for opposing these plants based on water use?

Simply an incredibly smart and effective way to ask a similar question that I've been asking of the water worry warts... my question simply is 'when??'. Since they won't answer my easy question they won't attempt to answer this one either. The water worry warts HAVE NO DATA TO BACK UP THEIR ASSERTIONS.

Another fact about Griffith is that it is a merchant plant. There are merchant plants all over the United States and this time of year they, like Griffith, are sitting idle because it’s not real hot, not real cold, and manufacturing facilities are not running at full capacity. Merchant plants will, however, sometimes run even under these conditions when base load plants go off line for routine or emergency repairs. So even though a merchant plant may not be on line it serves as an important backup to increase the overall reliability of the US electric grid. The location of Griffith and the grid upgrades that they provided to our tristate area have also greatly enhanced the reliability of our local power distribution system – so Mr. Stultz’s power is less likely to go out from a single transmission line failure.

Judging from the unsubstantiated claims and unreasonable comparisons you made, Donald, it looks like you might want to reconsider who the big dummy really is.

All right, maybe 'The Big Dummy' didn't have to go there... but I'm not holding it against him/her. The water worry warts have said much worse about the pro development, pro property rights, and pro free enterprise folks in the Mohave County area.

So 'there appeared a second post in response to three attempts to take 'The Big Dummy' to task... the lame responses fail to impress and the follow up comment from 'The Big Dummy' shows why.

Posted: Saturday, January 30, 2010
Article comment by: The Big Dummy

Thank you for the support Mr. Stokes and Guess Who.

WES, maybe in all your rage you didn’t notice you are arguing with me? How funny. I’m glad you are exercising your rights and are politically involved. It’s more than most do. However, I don’t think you’ll be able to sway too many people to see things your way when your comments are laced with so much hate and anger. Your passion is powerful; make sure it’s always based in truth and not anger. Good luck with your effort!

Everyone else,

Ron Walker is not behind the moniker of the Big Dummy. I’m a Mohave County citizen that because of my educational background, where, and who I work with; I have experience in and access to much of this information first hand. All sources for what I say about taxes and Griffith water use is public record. I’d be a fool to lie when the numbers are available for anyone to see. I tried very hard to present nothing as biased or intentionally un-factual. If you are a lover or a hater of using water then the facts are going to seem biased, but it’s your personal bias. The facts, by definition, cannot be biased.

Whoever 'The Big Dummy' is... I want him or her to know that they are welcome to comment on this blog site anytime... I'd honor the wish to remain anonymous as well. This is great scissor use.

I’ve not read any HVS hydrology report or been to the public meetings. I used numbers published in the Miner and some common sense conservative assumptions and ran my own simple calculations that almost any of you could do as well. According to one of the No Names I guess they match pretty close to what HVS’s people came up with. I think that’s pretty cool! That means those HVS hydrology people aren’t fudging the numbers!

I've done the math as well... it was easy and it is very difficult to argue with.

If it weren’t for my associations and concern for repercussions I’d have used my real name, and I wish I could because I believe it would actually lend credence to my comments. I do hope my thorough commentary helps cut through the misinformed rants so my fellow citizens can make an informed decision about supporting or opposing these projects.

For years I've been trying to get more people to bring forth information that can be used in public... but for whatever reason the folks with a plethora of knowledge in this area just don't nearly as often as needed. I guess they have their reasons... but we are all missing out. Again, I'd let this person posting under the moniker of 'The Big Dummy' to post here at this site.

To Ron Walker; Clearly, some citizens hate your policies very much. I personally think you and the Board could do a better job in getting information to the citizenry, it would help clear up all that distrust so many people have. Think of the positive though, now you know how these folks really feel! I am offering you an apology for un-intentionally causing people to think The Big Dummy post was from you and for bringing such vitriol out against you. I am sorry about that.

Heh.

And finally...

To the Kingman Daily Miner,

Thank you for posting my comments. Could you PLEASE do us all a favor and publish the Griffith tax assessment, summary of the terms of their water contract with the County, and the record of their water usage? Since Griffith was built there has been so much misinformation about that place; some of it your fault. For the sanity of our County, please publish the records! It’s really too much for someone to put in as a letter to the editor. If you can’t pick on just them then how about a nice spreadsheet that shows ten year averages of tax payments, water use and cost, and # of employees of the top 25 property tax paying businesses in the County for the last 10 years? You have my thanks in advance.

Yeah... how 'bout it Miner??

Like I said before, you can find gold in the comments at the KDMiner.com. The above was such an example. Would love to see more folks like this get involved in the discussion.

Never was 'your backyard' NIMBY's

According to this mornings article at the KDMiner.com, the proposed solar plant near red lake received one more green light needed to begin development. Read more about that right here.

Of course that is great news if you are hopeful for positive economic development and/or simply believe in private property rights in Mohave County. However, I wanted to blog a bit about a different article that appeared the day before, this one actually. Below are my favorite parts...

KINGMAN - Two Mohave County residents who hoped to participate in Arizona Corporation Commission's Line Siting Committee's review of the Hualapai Valley Solar project Tuesday morning were disappointed.

HVS is asking for a certificate of environmental compatibility for its proposed 340-megawatt concentrated solar power plant to be built about 27 miles north of Kingman near Red Lake.

Residents Denise Bensusan and Susan Bayer filed to become interveners in the committee process in December. An intervener is allowed to call and cross-examine witnesses as well as present testimony to the commission.

You know that every now and then I have a beef with the editor of the Miner, he calls people fed up with federal waste and spending racists and gets his young writers in trouble with readers for ridiculous headlines, and once again another crappy headline. Notice above from the article is starts out by saying 'Two Mohave County residents'... yet the headline says 'Residents denied part in solar plant review'. The headline makes it sound as if ALL residents were denied the chance to speak in front of the Line Siting Committee... and I'm sure it was done on purpose.

Okay, back to the good stuff...

On Tuesday morning, both women were questioned as to why they wanted to become interveners.

Both said they were concerned about the impact the proposed solar plant would have on their community, the wildlife and the water table in the area.

"This is our neighborhood, our backyard," Bensusan said.

No... for the 1,000th time, it is NOT your backyard. You don't own it... never have -- never will.

I have to tell you, the reader, that over the years that the two women in this article have been appearing at government meetings to 'intervene' with private property rights in Mohave County I have been told many times about the property that one of them owns (not that I have ever cared one way or the other -- I've never written about it and won't here either). I will share only this, the location is out in unincorporated county area which likely means she has a well -- and the well does not have an imposition such as a meter on it -- which likely means she has rights to the water (from some aquifer) under her land. Yet here she always is, telling other private property owners what they can and can't do... yes of course it is silly.

Once again, unless your metes and bounds happen across the particular 4,000 acres or so in question where the solar field will be located -- AND -- your name is on that legal description... IT IS NOT IN YOUR BACKYARD!!

Committee member Gregg Houtz asked if both women had participated in the approval process at the county level.

Both said they had, but they felt that their voices were not heard.

Priceless... oh their voices are always heard, but there is a difference between hearing and listening.

Committee member Barry Wong made a motion to approve intervener status for the two residents. The motion failed for the lack of a second.

Chairman John Foreman told Bensusan and Bayer that because the motion failed, they would not be able to act as interveners, but they would be allowed to testify before the committee at a later time.

Again headline writer at the Miner... notice 'two residents'.

Also... I wish I was there for those precious moments.

"I feel that eliminating both of us is defeating the meaning of the (line siting) process. The community has a lot to say about what's happening in their neighborhood," Bensusan said.

Since when have these two women been considered the community?? What have they done and accomplished to earn the right to speak for the community?? Sure, I'll always support their right to speak for themselves (I love the entertainment), but dern it I'm tired of them pretending to speak for something more than their imagination.

last one...

"You have not been eliminated from this process," Foreman said. The two residents would have the opportunity to submit comments and evidence into the record for consideration by the committee, he said.

The committee has had previous experiences with residents wanting to act as interveners; some have been able to act as interveners very well, others have not, he said.

And the committee spoke to which category these two would have fallen.

See folks, this is the type of stuff that I have come to miss about being in Mohave County on a more regular basis. I used to be sarcastic in promoting these events as entertainment, saying that for the money it was the best form of entertainment (at least in Kingman) around. But basically '/sarcasm off' these days as this here is good entertainment. For realzzzz!!

Next step for the HVS solar project is a date in March with the Arizona Corporation Commission. Hopefully the lights will remain green along the way. Respecting private property rights and expanding the tax base in Mohave County will pay off for the community, no I'm not speaking for the community when I say that... just a prediction.

Kingman Colorado River allocations just another deposit in the bank.

Arizona House of Representative, Nancy McLain is keeping her promise to once again initiate a bill this coming session to pass legislation to lift the industrial use only allocation from the remaining 3500 acre feet of Colorado River water allocations still held by the city of Kingman. Water availability is a concern to all of us. Many of us fail to understand the terms, laws or the regulative authorities involved through out the State. Many base our opinion and understanding of information relayed upon what is applicable or tangible to us.

The Colorado River is regulated by the Federal Bureau of Reclamation. It would serve us well to understand that this is not State regulated water, although the state of Arizona does have authority to regulate its allotted water from the Colorado River. This is done primarily in conjunction with the Central Arizona Project, an active management area (AMA) better known as CAP. For now, forget what you may think you know about groundwater, surface water, AMA's, property rights, wells and basins. It is important that we all understand how the Colorado River allocations came to be:

http://ag.arizona.edu/AZWATER/arroyo/101comm.html

Keep in mind that this agreement created a "bank" so that receivers could maintain their allocation excesses to prevent or ease the short term drought conditions or future availability declines. This was the beginning of the term "banking water", or to bank water credits. Originally intended to be shared among the States within their designated regions, as the demand for water became more prevalent in other States, the banked water is now being looked at by the Lower Colorado River Basin States as a solution for places as far from the river itself as San Antonio, Texas. Which brings into play the yet to be determined, "third party impact".

http://cedb.asce.org/cgi/WWWdisplay.cgi?9602671

How Arizona may be affected seems alarming:

http://westernfarmpress.com/mag/farming_arizona_faces_potential/

Remember, we are talking about Colorado River allocations now, not basins or wells or even Arizona surface water. The point needs to be made that Arizona has other resources as I am sure do the other seven states benefiting from the Colorado River allocations. This is key since Mohave County is sitting on four very large basins and though most of us in our area think that the Colorado River water has nothing to do with us, it does. As these allocations become less available, our basin water will become more vulnerable to the demands of the larger populations in the southern portions of the State.

Bullhead City and Lake Havasu City are "river communities". They have been very successful in keeping up the pace with their allotted river allocations and the politics that go with preserving those allocations. They have actively participated with Phoenix in banking their allocation excesses so why would they need to change legislation to purchase the remaining 3500 ac ft of industrial use only allocations from Kingman? Two thoughts come to mind. When you "bank" water, you are not storing actual water in a big reservoir to keep in reserve for when you need it. You are banking "credits", the water doesn't exist, it is just your interest or entitlement to that water that exists. So even though they have credits or water banked in Phoenix, it does not mean that Phoenix has the actual water to back those credits up. The river level rises and falls depending upon actual rainfall/snowfall run-offs, demand of use and the codes of threat advisory Homeland Security feels the dams may be under. It cannot be accurately predicted from one year to the next. CAP banks its credits with the other participating states of the Lower Colorado River Basin, which means it may not have the available water to access to send back down the line.

The other is as simple as the reasoning behind our Nation's current economic crisis that we have all been trying to sort out, greed. It is easy to bank credits that investors and lenders earn revenues from through the trade of shared interest, and we do all love to see those statements that show that our interest or account balance has grown. (Just ask Bernie's investors) But when the water banking bubble bursts, it is going to take more than a Stimulus Plan, Bailout or printing more money to keep us afloat. It will be Mohave County's actual water supply and economic development with it on the line to secure that Bullhead City, Lake Havasu City and the great state of Maricopa continue to thrive.

Now think wells, basins and surface water. That is where the "third party impact" is going to play out for us locally. Maybe it is also time to re-think pipeline and re-visit other possible solutions or explore new options. It is past time that we started considering the influence of the Colorado River allocations to Mohave County, we have to catch up with available resource options, educate ourselves politically, become as water savvy of the Colorado River allocations as we are groundwater. Bullhead City and Lake Havasu City are very versed on the applications and terms surrounding the Colorado River allocations, for them groundwater language, specifically aquifers not regulated by AMA's, and its applications are what is lacking fluency. Do not think for one moment that will hold them back or the MCWA from selling Kingman's allocations literally, down the river.

http://www.azwaterbank.gov/awba/

Unemployment map...

Check this out... it is a map that shows county by county unemployment rates starting back in January 2007. Mohave County is hard to miss on this map... unfortunately.

Updated:

Property rights vs. water...

Local governmental decisions are expected tomorrow on the two proposed solar plants in Mohave County. Here is a link to a nice little preview of the county supervisor meeting, and a blurb worth noting...

If the Board approves the amendments, both solar companies will still have to get all of the necessary federal and state permits before they can start construction.

See folks, it is not the end tomorrow... for neither side... whichever side you may be on.

I'm simply on the side of the property owner and I feel that the local government should respect private property rights to the very last degree. The decision the supervisors make will have much less to do about water than property rights.

UPDATED:

According to the writing of Donna Crouse in the comments below... both proposed solar projects passed the Mohave County Board of Supervisors at today's meeting. Thanks so much Donna for the update.

Solar plant discussions part deux...

Just a reminder that the Mohave County Planning and Zoning Commission will continue the meetings on the two proposed solar power plants tomorrow September 16th at 10:00am at the county administration building on Beale.

I was not there last week and haven't watched the video of the meeting online or otherwise. Judging from the articles published so far, it sounds like only the Albiassa owned plant made it to the public discussion. I am more interested in the Hualapai Valley Solar project (the one near the Red Lake area) as they are the group talking about using waste water produced by the residents in the Kingman area. I see it as a smarter way to use the 'precious' resource rather than allowing it to simply evaporate away after one use.

So if you are in the area, stop by and check out this meeting. Feel free to give some updates in the comments, share with everyone your take.

As a reminder of what went down at last weeks meeting, my good friend Dave Hawkins sent me the following article that will appear in this weeks Standard. It is posted below all italicized and all that.


Article provided by Dave Hawkins

Consideration of requests related to proposed development of a major solar power facility southeast of Kingman featured plenty of familiar debate between those who support and oppose the project. But discussion at the September 9 meeting of the Mohave County Planning and Zoning Commission also included exchanges between a couple Commission members and Mike Horner, the Litchfield Park resident who owns the land where the 200-megawatt AlbiasaCorp. facility would be built and operated.

Member Mehdi Azarmi said the operation's consumption of groundwater has been the key issue of concern all along and that project officials need to be more specific and factual in that arena. Azarmi and Commissioner Carl Flusche said varying numbers keep surfacing in discussions.

``You gotta (sic) start being up-front and straight shooters with the people because otherwise you're not going to get the results that you want," Flusche said.

Horner responded that groundwater consumption was forecast between 1,000 and 4,000 acre-feet per year when the project was initially announced. He said engineering and design analysis has refined that figure to a current consumption expectation of 2,275 acre-feet per year.

Flusche said Commission members received e-mail and other communication from citizens who complained they didn't get straight answers during the series of public information meetings that project officials held in previous months. Horner said the complaints come from critics who can't reasonably consider the merits of the project.

``The data that was given at some of our meetings was not the data that some of the opponents were looking for and that's probably the reason that they blew up your phones or sent you 15 e-mails," Horner said. ``Anybody who knows me knows I'm probably more direct than courteous. I'm very direct and if I know it I will tell you what it is, and if I don't I'll tell you I don't know, but I'll find out. I don't come to these meetings to try to pull the wool over anybody's eyes."

Project critics, as they have whenever the solar facility has been the subject of a public meeting, spoke critically of use of technology that will consume groundwater. They repeated their concern that the water is consumed locally to generate power that will be sold elsewhere to the highest bidder.

Project officials and their supporters repeated their point that the power plant will serve as a stimulus to the local economy and take a necessary progressive step forward as the nation turns to cleaner energy production and the need to wean itself of its foreign oil dependance. They again noted the 1,000 jobs that would be provided during project construction and the 100-plus people who would be put to work to run the facility.

The discussion gobbled up about two hours, and the Commission adjourned the meeting without voting on Albiassa matters or other requests related to the larger Hualapai Valley Solar facility proposed north of Kingman. Both projects were to come back before the Commission in a continued hearing scheduled September 16.

(Look to future editions of the Standard for continued coverage of the solar power project proposals)

No jobs, but plenty of water...

Truly horrible for the area is the news that appears today at the KDMiner.com website...

Released Tuesday morning, the Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment Summary shows that total employment for the Kingman-Lake Havasu metropolitan area fell 9.3 percent from July 2008 to July 2009, the sharpest year-over-year decline among all 372 metro areas monitored by the BLS. Another Arizona city, Prescott, came second, shedding 8.9 percent of its workforce over the same time period, with Reno, Nev., coming in third at 8.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the shower worked this morning. Plenty enough water to brush the teeth. I managed my normal two glasses of water for drinking. And oh yes the toilet worked just fine.

It is becoming clear, this community must choose to either use the assets it has to attract more industry and commercial opportunities -- and the vast quantity of water in the aquifers is just one of those assets, or accept the fate that this area is dying a painful death.

Fun with data... from the USGS water report (UPDATED)

In the comments from my last blog post, frequent commenter and soon to be contributor here at MOCO provided a link to the USGS report with the following name...

Ground-Water Occurrence and Movement, 2006, and Water-Level Changes in the Detrital, Hulapai, and Sacramento Valley Basins, Mohave County, Arizona

... whew!! That is a long title to a report.

Donna was nice enough to give me a paper copy of this report last year at some point. It has been sitting in my office ever since. I have cracked it open a few times to give it a read, it can be interesting if you are into that sort of stuff -- or perhaps if you are 'enlightened' (and sadly I am not according to the water worry warts). For the most part, I'm not into that report. I admit that I have very limited knowledge of water; where it comes from and how it ends up falling from my incredibly luxurious shower head.

However, I checked out the link that Donna left in the comments. And online, there is data to be found in the Appendixes. See this link for the list of the various ways that you too can view the data. I obviously clicked on the .xls link to open a spread sheet because I just love me some data in the afternoon, especially data that deals with 'net water level change' that was reported on 208 wells found in Mohave County in the three aquifers referred to in the long title of the document.

Oh you should see the data in all its glory. But click on that (appendix #2) for yourself. I'll need you to check my math... and folks that is all I'm providing in this blog post. Just some math. I do not pretend to be 'enlightened' about all things water... I certainly did not attend college to get a degree in hydrology (more like booze, babes, and parties -- no wonder I didn't finish)... all I'm doing is mining the data... and please check my math (as you now know what I was up to in my learning years).

Before moving on to the data, I have been told something about this report (that you can read online). According to the source of the information... the data in this report IS the data that will come out in the final USGS report sometime in 2010. The same report that some water worry warts say that we should wait on before we allow for more growth opportunities to flourish here in this community. Now I can't corroborate on this. I frankly do not know if this is the data that will be used in this long awaited for USGS report or not... really I don't. And I'm not here to say that it is. But it is a report offered by the USGS and it was prepared in cooperation with the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR).

All I know is that the report was done by these government agencies and that they were nice enough to include an .xls link to a spread sheet with the data they reported on. It is this data that I will focus on in this post.

So are you ready?? (Dang, you could have read the whole USGS report by now instead of reading the lead up to the data findings that I'm about to share)

As I mentioned earlier, this USGS report has data on 208 existing wells, all within the three aquifers in Mohave County. The average water level change for all 208 wells shows an average loss of 1.75 feet from the time the water level of each well was originally read through to sometime in the year 2006.

Oh... you just know I'm not going to stop there. Much more breaking down of the data to do. But I'm starting with the overall figures for all of the 208 wells in the report.

Did you know of the 208 wells that 113 of them have actually had an increase in water level?? That is right, more than half of the wells studied have increased in water levels since they were first read and records kept. Before we start to party, 90 wells have decreased in water level. The remaining 5 recorded no change.

The figures for the 5 wells that saw the biggest drop in water level from the beginning of records through to 2006 were as follows; 134.8 feet, 69.9 feet, 66.7 feet, 55.7 feet, 52.7 feet. Now the figures for the 5 wells that saw the biggest increase in water level were as follows; 107.8 feet, 48.8 feet, 47.8 feet, 43.7 feet, 41.1 feet. The median figure for all 208 wells showed an increase of .4 feet.

As I moved along with my handy dandy data and spreadsheet, I saw the need to break out information from each aquifer... and I will do that below. But keep in mind something else and that is the element of time. You see not all of these water levels were originally recorded in the same year. Recording first started on 28 wells in 1963 through 1965 (according to the data). In 1978 through 1980 another 64 wells had their water levels first recorded. Then in 1995 and 1996 the government found the time to record the water levels in 116 additional wells (if you are checking my math at home, 28 + 64 + 116 = 208, right??). So yeah, of course I needed to break out the data further... and I will... but the following data is an overall look at the wells in each of the three aquifers according to the USGS report.

In the Hualapai Valley aquifer there are 100 wells. Measured in feet, the average net water level change shows a negative 5.41 feet per well.

There are 17 wells in the Detrital Valley aquifer and the average net water level changes shows a negative 4.22 feet per well.

Again folks, I'm doing averages here.

Now in the Sacramento Valley aquifer there are 91 wells and I found that the net water level change actually showed an increase of 2.73 feet per well. Yep, that is right, an increase in the average water level. How about that?? In a desert no less. A desert in a drought.

Math check... 100 + 17 + 91 = 208 right??

I could stop right here but the element of time had me intrigued to see what the averages might show over the varying lengths of time. The net water level changes (NWLC) for the wells originally recorded around 1964 (42 years) show an average loss in each well of 1.6 feet. The NWLC for the wells originally recorded around 1980 (26 years) show an average loss in each well of 0.8 feet. The NWLC for the wells originally recorded around 1996 (10 years) show an average loss in each well of 2.3 feet.

Now for the fun stuff, I'll be breaking the data down by year and by aquifer... this will be fun I promise.

I'll start with the Detrital Valley aquifer. It has the least amount of wells and there were only two time frames where original recording of water levels were done (three in each of the other aquifers).

There was one well that had an original recording from the 1964 era. That well has since increase its NWLC by 6.2 feet... an average annual increase of 0.148 feet a year. (Doing the math at home?? I divided the 6.2 figure by 42 years and I will use 42 years for all the of the 1964 era original water level recordings from here on out... 26 for the 1980 era water level recordings... and 10 for the 1996 era water level recordings). The other 16 wells showed an average drop in NWLC of 4.875 feet per well... an average decrease of 0.488 feet per well per year.

Still following?? Still two more aquifers to go.

Now we'll tackle the Sacramento Valley aquifer. There are 16 wells in that aquifer that recorded the original water level from the 1964 era. The average NWLC shows a decrease of 0.9 feet per well... an average decrease of 0.02 feet per year. There are 30 wells in this aquifer that first recorded water level in the 1980 era. The average NWLC for these wells shows an increase of 6.9 feet per well... an average increase of 0.265 feet per year. There are 45 wells in the aquifer that recorded water level in the 1995 era. The average NWLC for these wells shows an increase of 1.232 feet per well... an average increase of .123 feet per year.

One more to go... at a later time I may put together a table for easier viewing but don't have the time for that right now.

Last up is the Hualapai Valley aquifer. There are 11 wells in this aquifer that first recorded water level in the 1964 era. The average NWLC shows a decrease of 3.5 feet per well... an average decrease of 0.082 feet per year. There are 34 wells in the aquifer that first recorded water level in the 1980 era. The average NWLC shows a decrease of 7.6 feet per well... an average decrease of 0.294 per year. There are 55 wells in the aquifer that first recorded water level in the 1996 era. The average NWLC shows a decrease of 4.435 feet per well... an average decrease of 0.443 per year.

And there you go. Just the data and nothing but the data. Like I said earlier, I may put together a table that makes it easier to read the data that I broke out. Just don't have the time at the moment.

Draw you own conclusions and share them in the comments. Would love to see some input from the water worry warts as well. What does this data mean?? Your turn.

Post updated for data tables...

Data tables for applicable data used in this blog post.

Wells first recorded by era and subsequent NWLC averages

Era	1964	1980	1996
Total Number of Wells	28	64	116
NWLC	-1.6	-0.8	-2.297
NWLC average per year	-0.039	-0.032	-0.230

Wells located in aquifers and subsequent NWLC average

Aquifer Location	Hualapai Valley	Sacramento Valley	Detrital Valley
Total Number of Wells	100	91	17
NWLC	-5.41	+2.73	-4.22

Wells broken down by aquifer and era with NWLC averages

Aquifer Location	Hualapai Valley	Sacramento Valley	Detrital Valley
1964 Era Wells	11	16	1
NWLC	-3.5	-0.9	+6.2
NWLC average per year	-0.082	-0.020	+0.148
1980 Era Wells	34	30	N/A
NWLC	-7.6	+6.9	N/A
NWLC average per year	-0.294	+0.265	N/A
1996 Era Wells	55	45	16
NWLC	-4.435	+1.232	-4.875
NWLC average per year	-0.443	+0.123	-0.487

More Kingman Daily Loyd crap...

Why?? Just because (it is a popular answer from the water worry warts these days). Here is the latest from the comments on his blog...

Posted: Thursday, August 20, 2009
Article comment by: Loyd

As a 5yr old kid I used to go out in the chicken yard and watch the roosters strut around after they had just been amorous with the girls. They do this cocky strut thing with their neck feathers all fluffed up making a bunch of deep-throated clucking sounds.

There is comedy gold to be had right here after this paragraph. No, seriously, there is... but I'm going to leave it be.

These label pinners are doing precisely the same thing, less the neck feathers of course, since the county P&Z did their customary trashing of the general plan Wednesday. The pinners act as if they have just planted a seed and the birth of new industrial plants is now virtually assured.

First, the KDLoyd.com wrote something about me being all ego-centric and all... as in I shouldn't suppose that at least some parts of his latest blog post really do not have anything to do with me whatsoever. Well, since I coined the label pinning term 'water worry warts' (comes up third in a Google search that leads you to this post from July 2nd of this year)... I sorta took some umbrage to his blog post and responded, to which I was lectured by the KDLoyd. My bad, dude.

Now since in fact I am a so called 'label pinner' allow me to show everyone how I responded to the news of the P&Z commission voting in favor of two agenda items from this post...

I was there this morning for the public input on item number 13A. I was there last week as well and I must commend everyone that spoke either for or against the issue. While I am biased on this issue (in the 'for' category), I think both sides did well in front of the commission.

Sadly, I guess, I think the roosters got one on me here. As you can see, I'm clearly not doing the chicken dance. I've never called for silence from the other side of this issue. In fact I wanted to hear them out and in some ways I believe they made some significant points.

The pro-growth crowd has a long way to go for real a footing on important issues. We are simply not nearly engaged or organized enough to have any confidence that the elected leaders will side with us on what we believe are important issues (private property rights, supporting free enterprise, common sense, etc.)... not yet anyway.

Back to the KDLoyd stuff...

I will leave my hat in the ring with the silent majority here in Kingman. They are not vocal or boisterous, but they can be a formidable force in the voting booth. I think they have a very good cumulative memory for the performance along the way of those they entrust with the helm of our local governments. When the ship goes off course, they will right it -- of that you can be sure.

Silent majority?? I didn't see the fair KDLoyd at either P&Z meeting so I'll inform him that there was a majority there and they weren't silent. The meeting dragged on for over a week, many hours worth of public input was delivered by the majority and they did not use silence as a tactic.

Also, the KDLoyd has proudly expressed his support for the district 1 Mohave County Supervisor, Gary Watson, at times. Says he even helped Mr. Watson gain victory in the election. This is the same Gary Watson that is likely to cast his vote also in approval for the same agenda items covered at the P&Z meetings... I base that on this article from the KDMiner.com's website. I'll share a clip from that article below...

The whole issue revolves around private property rights, he said. It's not fair to say no to these businesses who want to invest in the county. They have as much right to develop their property as anyone else in the county, he said.

When asked why the county couldn't use the County Planning and Zoning ordinances to show that a project wasn't a fit for a particular area. Watson countered with a question of his own: how can the county tell one property owner that they can't rezone their property to make a profit and then turn around and let another rezone their property?

"We have to be fair to all," he said.

Again... Mr. Watson is Loyd's guy.

Leave your hat in the ring there Loyd... you see I'm ready to throw my hat down into the rink once the hat trick for approvals on the biofuel plant and the two solar plants are complete.

Back to the KDLoyd stuff for one final bit...

The only worry is that a lot of damage can be done which, in some cases, may not be reversible. I have not seen a time in over 60 years here where this area has been under such a great risk.

Basically when all else fails in trying to make a point... settle on scare tactics. Oh noez!! The sky is falling!! There won't be any water in the next millennium!! That new plant thingy will blow up!! More people might live in my neighborhood!!