UTAH

US to hold back Lake Powell water to protect hydropower

SALT LAKE CITY – U.S. officials announced what they called extraordinary steps on May 3 to keep hundreds of billions of gallons of water stored in a reservoir on the Utah-Arizona line to prevent it from shrinking more amid prolonged drought and climate change.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation plans to hold back about 480,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell to maintain Glen Canyon Dam’s ability to produce hydropower for millions of homes and businesses in the region. That’s roughly enough water to serve 1 million to 1.5 million average households annually.

Tanya Trujillo, the bureau’s assistant secretary of water and science, said keeping the water stored in the reservoir would stave off hydropower concerns for at least 12 months, giving officials time to strategize for how to operate the dam at a lower water elevation. The lake currently holds less than one-fourth of its full capacity and the dam produces electricity for about 5 million customers in seven U.S. states.

The decision will not have any immediate impacts on the amount of water allocated for the region’s cities. And it won’t affect farms that rely on the Colorado River, which already face mandatory cuts in central Arizona.

But it illustrates the compounding challenges facing Mexico and the seven U.S. states that rely on the Colorado River, which supplies water to about 40 million people and a $5 billion-a-year agricultural sector.

The action is one of several that have been taken to shore up Lake Powell. The Bureau of Reclamation has also ordered releases from other reservoirs upstream from Lake Powell, including 500,000 acre-feet of water from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir on the Utah-Wyoming border announced last month. Releases from Flaming Gorge as well as Blue Mesa reservoir in Colorado and the Navajo reservoir in New Mexico were ordered last year.

Shoring up Lake Powell may allow water to continue flowing through the turbines at Glen Canyon Dam and keep its hydropower-generating capacity intact, but that’s only one of several interests that officials are juggling in managing reservoir levels.

NEW MEXICO

State regulators adopt clean car rule

ALBUQUERQUE – New Mexico regulators have adopted more stringent motor vehicle emissions standards as part of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s push against climate change.

The rule was adopted on May 5 by the state Environmental Improvement Board following a joint public hearing with air quality officials who oversee the Albuquerque metro area, which is New Mexico’s most populated region.

Following in the footsteps of California, the new rule will take effect July 1. It will require reduced emissions in cars, trucks and SUVs starting with the 2026 model year.

The state is calling for more electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles to be sold in New Mexico. Meanwhile, utility officials are still working on plans to ensure they have enough capacity to meet future electricity demands as more solar and battery storage facilities are brought online to replace coal-fired power plants.

Despite criticism by some interest groups, state officials are touting the new clean car mandate as a way to eliminate an estimated 130,000 tons of greenhouse gases and over 1,700 tons of ozone-forming pollution in the state by 2050.

Transportation is the nation’s largest source of greenhouse gases and among the top sources in New Mexico.

Some auto dealers have said they shouldn’t be mandated to carry a certain volume of electric cars, and other critics have raised concerns about whether electric vehicles could pose financial hardship for rural residents.

Legislator to pay $250 fine in ethics settlement

SANTA FE – A New Mexico state representative has agreed to pay a $250 fine under a settlement with the State Ethics Commission stemming from her drunken driving arrest in February.

The commission said Albuquerque Democrat Georgene Louis violated the state Governmental Conduct Act by seeking favorable treatment from Santa Fe police during her Feb. 13 arrest Fe by mentioning that she is a legislator.

Under the settlement, the commission agreed not to seek a civil enforcement action against Louis, accusing her of violating the act.

Louis, who has apologized for her “lapse in judgment” and announced she won’t run for reelection this year, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated DWI,.

Police videos from her traffic stop show her telling an officer that she had been at a Super Bowl party at a friend’s house.

“I haven’t had much sleep,” Louis said in the video. “I’m a legislator, we haven’t had much sleep.”

WYOMING

Crypto power issue gets informal panel

CHEYENNE – State lawmakers are moving ahead with consideration of a renewed attempt to help ensure there is sufficient electricity and at low rates for virtual currency miners that some want to attract to Wyoming.

Following an April 25 hearing in Casper of a committee of legislators at which testimony was heard about deregulated power zones, the process has begun to start stakeholder discussions through an informal sub-panel of legislators.

Members of the working group, which could be upgraded to a subcommittee, come from both legislative chambers and both political parties, noted Rep. Mike Greear, R-Worland, who chairs the House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee.

The goal of the new informal group is to try to break a stalemate between those who want to allow the establishment of such deregulated zones, and electricity providers and their allies who fear that carving out such a market for any company to serve could undermine stability in the state’s power market, possibly raising prices for retail customers. A subcommittee plans to meet in June to “hash out some of the issues,” Greear said.

The meeting will have a way for the public to participate remotely, according to PSC General Counsel John Burbridge, who is helping to arrange things.

“My understanding is it’s a public meeting,” Greear said of his expectations for when the PSC does convene the gathering. It’s “designed to have a conversation around the issues.”

In order to get the participating legislators’ expenses compensated and pay them for the day at the PSC, Greear said that the virtual currency energy group members could wind up being considered a subcommittee of sorts, perhaps under the aegis of the legislature’s minerals committee.

NEVADA

Cops: Body in barrel in Lake Mead was gunshot victim

LAS VEGAS – The body found inside a barrel on the newly exposed bottom of Lake Mead after the lake’s level was depleted amid drought is that of a man who was shot, police said on May 3.

The killing probably happened between the mid-1970s and the early 1980s because the victim was wearing shoes that were manufactured during that period, said homicide Lt. Ray Spencer, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

The barrel was found on May 1 in the Lake Mead National Recreational Area by boaters who informed authorities.

Drought has dropped the water level of Lake Mead on the Colorado River in southern Nevada and northern Arizona so much that Las Vegas’ uppermost water intake became visible in late April.

Lake Mead and Lake Powell upstream are the largest human-made reservoirs in the U.S., part of a system that provides water to more than 40 million people, tribes, agriculture and industry in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and across the southern border in Mexico.

The Clark County coroner’s office will try to determine the man’s identity.