UPDATE: Read below-- Part of Plan Cheyenne - This should scare everyone to death -( concerning groundwater in Laramie County Cheyenne, WY )- All new wells should be charged a graduated fee starting at $5000

UPDATE:  I found out at this time is not part of Plan Cheyenne - but it is still Important to what is happening here in Cheyenne, WY. 


This should scare everyone to death.  Be sure to open the attachment and read the minutes.  Farmers are important but we need to be careful on how we re-distribute money and that is what they are basing this on if you read between the lines.

The following is from Russ Dahlgren, a hydrologist I use who is very much in favor of our ability to practice our private property rights.  He is also able to wade through some of the garbage put forth in some of these "committees" and "boards" which are, once again, stacked in favor of the special interest group.

Marc W.


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As you may know, there has been a lot of discussion concerning groundwater in Laramie County recently. A groundwater model covering the Laramie County Groundwater Control Area (which is approximately the area east of I-25, excluding the area immediately around Cheyenne) was completed in April 2014 by the State Engineer's Office and their consultants. This has started a rather rapid series of events.

On April 24, 2014, the Laramie County Groundwater Control Area Advisory Board recommended to the State Engineer that there is not enough groundwater in the Control Area to satisfy all of the groundwater users in the Control Area.

During their May 23rd meeting, the Control Area Board recommended, among other things that the fee for new well permits be increased to at least $5000. Refer to the attached pdf file for a brief summary of the discussion and recommendations from the May 23rd Control Area Board meeting.

The stated purpose of the increased fees is to provide funds for the "government" to buy out irrigated land, and then retire and abandon the irrigation wells, in the hope that this will decrease groundwater pumping and restore the water levels in the aquifers. Essentially what this means is that the irrigators, who are primarily responsible for the groundwater declines, are trying to make the rest of us pay them and buy them out, because they have mined a substantial amount of the groundwater under their farms. When I say primarily responsible, the vast majority groundwater level declines in the irrigated areas of Laramie County are due to irrigation wells. And even with the declining yields in some irrigation wells due to lower groundwater levels, approximately 90% of the groundwater used in Laramie County is still used for irrigation.

Another important recommendation by the Control Area Board and many irrigators in the eastern part of the County is to extend the Control Area Boundary west, to include more of the "greater Cheyenne" area and the areas to the west. The idea is that the expanded Control Area will provide greater management the groundwater in the county. Of course this will allow the Control Area Advisory Board, who is primarily made up of farmers and irrigators, to have a more active role in the regulation of groundwater, and in turn any development on more areas of the County.

My first recommendation to you is to immediately file applications for any wells that you see needing in the foreseeable future. Currently, stock and domestic well permits cost $50. Miscellaneous use wells cost $75.

My second recommendation is that you need to take the time to keep up with the current situation and possible new regulations. I have seen proposals by the irrigators and others in eastern Laramie County that will seriously impact economic development throughout Laramie County.

I have seen comments from this "group" that the State Engineer should prohibit any new wells in the Control Area, including those that tap deeper aquifers.

I have seen comments that the State Engineer and Laramie County should prohibit new subdivisions that rely on groundwater.

I have seen comments that the State Engineer should restrict pumping of the Cheyenne City wells.

I have seen comments that the State Engineer should regulate existing domestic wells, to the benefit of irrigation wells.

I have seen comments that existing groundwater users should be required to pay an annual fee for use of groundwater. Again, the primary purpose of this fee is to buy out irrigators.

Don't get the wrong idea about me. My family is from an irrigated farm in western Nebraska. I appreciate and understand irrigated agriculture.

But the idea currently being circulated is that the irrigators are innocent victims of the growth in the City of Cheyenne, and of developers, and of big bad oil companies. Other people have stole the irrigators water. The fact is that the irrigators own pumping is the root cause of the problem.

This side of the story needs to be presented. Otherwise, we may be unable to complete any new development, which relies on groundwater, from any aquifer, no matter how deep, for its water supply. The irrigators and other groundwater users in the eastern part of the County are becoming pretty vocal.

Russ D.

LCCA Advisory Board Mtg – 5/23/14


The following recommendations were approved by the Board to give to the State Engineer as he considers what to do with the model and his current order:

1. Extend the current temporary order until May of 2016. (an amendment to include all aquifers below Laramie County failed on a 2-2 vote.)

2. All new wells should be charged a graduated fee starting at $5000. The funds would go into a conservation or preservation fund for the Laramie County aquifers. (This is to buy out irrigated lands to reduce the amount of withdrawal.)

3. All users on a graduated scale should pay a fee for their water use. (This should be tied to property taxes.)

4. The entire county should be included in the control area. (This died earlier in the meeting because the motion excluded the city of Cheyenne.)

5. Adopt Lidstone’s attachment #3.

6. LCCA board supports SE & BOC in implementation.

7. SE should get input from NRCS, Conservation District, users, & industry prior to implementation & implementation should occur by September, 2014.

Thoughts:

A motion requiring all wells of 50 gpm or greater to be metered and have at least annual reporting died on a 2-2 vote as the board was worried about the cost to the farmers.

I expect this to be a longer term implementation as this will have to go to the Board of Control to expand the control area and they will have to hold a hearing. Also I expect the fees would have to go to the legislature for approval and determination of a mechanism on how to spend the fees.

The Advisory Board talked extensively about the city of Cheyenne and the use by subdivisions. They thought everyone should have skin in the game and should pay fees for their water use.

The big deal is where is the money coming from to buy out the irrigated lands to reduce the water use. The farmers want to be bought out to convert from irrigation to dry land farming.

Plan Cheyenne - By Bradley Harrington Cheyenne’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA): A Dinosaur That Needs To Disappear

May 21, 2014

 

The DDA: A Dinosaur That Needs To Disappear

 

By Bradley Harrington

 

“The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools.” - Herbert Spencer, “Essays: Scientific, Political and Speculative,” 1891 -

 

Cheyenne’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA) just can’t seem to get any respect these days. And deservedly so, given its history, the way it spends money and some of its recent actions in particular.

 

First established in 1984, the DDA was formed to “plan and implement the restoration and improvement of the property within its boundaries.” So, has it accomplished any part of that mission in 30 years?

 

Uh, no. Sorry, but it’s been, to put it mildly, an absolute bust. As Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce President Dale Steenbergen so trenchantly observed last week:

 

“‘When I look out the window of my office, I see a lot of empty buildings,’ Steenbergen said. ‘We believe that those empty buildings are caused directly by the regulatory environment in this community.’” (“Things tense for City, Chamber,” WTE, May 16.)

 

Well, Mr. Steenbergen, you nailed that one - and kudos to you for having the guts to stand up and say so.

 

Now, to be fair, not all of those empty buildings are to be blamed on the DDA - City regulatory policies in general, which were actually the main focus of Mr. Steenbergen’s comment, have much to do with that as well.

 

There’s certainly no denying, however, that the DDA has played a significant role in vacating those buildings: after all, consider some of the things the DDA sees fit to establish rules and regs on when it comes to downtown development:

 

“Building form and orientation, exterior surface treatment, facades, roofs, doors and windows, lighting, equipment, off-street parking, pedestrian circulation, equipment and service areas, fences and site walls, site lighting, rehabilitation principles, painting and color, treatment of storefront components, awnings, signage, additions to existing buildings, and minimum maintenance guidelines.” (“Downtown Guidelines,” DDA website.)

 

I’m appalled: I don’t see the proper shape of downtown business toilet seats on the list. Just an oversight, I’m sure.

 

As for spending money - taxpayer money, that is, through both mill levies and “TIF allocations,” which routinely comprise about 95 percent of the DDA’s budget - well, that’s a story unto itself. Consider some of these budgetary boondoggles, for instance:

 

► For the last three fiscal years, DDA staff salaries have consumed 39-42 percent of budget.

 

► And that’s not even counting things like consumer print ads, uniforms, equipment, board retreat and meetings, bookkeeping, legal counsel, lease payments, and other DDA operating expenses. Run the figures through the cruncher for FY2014 and you end up with a piddling 30 percent of DDA money actually being spent on “projects.”

 

► And when one examines what passes for a DDA “project,” one can only wonder if these people have lost their minds. So desperate to get somebody, anybody, to open a business downtown, despite all of the bureaucratic red tape they have placed in the way, the DDA is even willing to use your tax dollars to subsidize rent payments:

 

“A proposal now under review would give grants to new businesses downtown to help pay their rents.” (“DDA wants to help businesses pay rent,” WTE, May 13.)

 

Just the kind of businesses we want downtown, right? Incompetent losers who can’t even pay their own bills. Brilliant! Will the DDA also nix their required levy/TIF allocation payments as well? Nah, probably not.

 

Sounds like a litany of gravy-train, corporate-welfare, make-work schemes to me. I can only wonder how it feels, as a downtown business taxpayer, to be forced to pay these DDA people protection money for the “right” to be told what to do, when to do it and how to do it - and to watch their competitors be subsidized with that loot the whole while.

 

And people wonder why downtown buildings are running on empty? You have got to be kidding me. Most developers fled to the relatively unrestricted freedoms of Dell Range Boulevard long ago.

 

Once in a great while, however, justice does prevail: for, two years from now, Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power - the biggest victim of this levy/TIF abuse - will be moving its service center outside of DDA boundaries.

 

And the losses the DDA will sustain when that Cheyenne Light move completes? “DDA board members expect to lose about $500,000 by July 1, 2016, which is most of its budget.” (“DDA’s future in limbo when funds disappear,” WTE, March 23.)

 

Well, cry me a river. Goodbye and good riddance. And, who knows? Maybe, once this DDA dinosaur disappears, its current staff can find work digging ditches for the developers that will start flocking back to downtown afterwards.

 

Bradley Harrington is a computer technician and a writer who lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming; he can be reached at brad@bradandbarbie.com.

 

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U.N. Taking Over City Councils Across America! - Stacy Lynne educates We Are Change Colorado about the International Council on LOCAL Environmental Initiatives. An arm of the United Nations Agenda 21 and how they are using "GREENWASHING" to take over America.