The photo I used to illustrate this editorial dates from 2018. The presenter was Finance Director Larry Walton, and the outlook wasn’t entirely sunny…
Author: Bill Hudson
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can't seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.
EDITORIAL: Speculators Buying Up Colorado Water Rights? Part Seventeen
“How do you strike that balance? Where individuals use or benefit from this resource, but because it’s a resource ‘of the people’ and is necessary to all life, it’s important to make sure it’s available to everyone…”
VIDEO: Jim Fox Demonstrates an Immune System Treatment During the COVID Pandemic
“A strong first response will repel the initial COVID attack before the disease progresses deeper into the lungs, affecting other organs…”
EDITORIAL: County Commissioners Budgeting Zero Property Tax Dollars for Roads, Part Two
“So, we’ve got enough money right now to start and finish a one-courtroom courthouse, but we will continue to seek grants until we get to a three-courtroom courthouse…”
EDITORIAL: Speculators Buying Up Colorado Water Rights? Part Sixteen
“So, we’ve talked about property rights. We’ve talked about flexibility, and a program that allows for uses. We’ve talked about conditional water rights. One of the things that [the term] ‘speculation’ brings to mind for me, is “price” and ‘use’…”
EDITORIAL: County Commissioners Budgeting Zero Property Tax Dollars for Roads, Part One
But as Commissioner Maez makes very clear, the BOCC had warned us. If we didn’t approve the sales tax increase, the BOCC was going to build the justice center anyway, using Certificates of Participation…
EDITORIAL: Speculators Buying Up Colorado Water Rights? Part Fifteen
“You know, we do see a lot — within the South Platte Basin — of entities buying up water rights with the intention of drying them up in the future… definitely something we’re working on, to come up with different options…”
EDITORIAL: Speculators Buying Up Colorado Water Rights? Part Fourteen
For more than 125 years, our Colorado courts have been granting water rights holders the privilege of making a profit selling the “right to use” publicly-owned water…
EDITORIAL: Speculators Buying Up Colorado Water Rights? Part Thirteen
The new Anti-Speculation Law Work Grooup will hold its first official meeting today, Wednesday October 7, at 12 noon MDT, via ZOOM. This public meeting is scheduled to last from noon until 2pm…
EDITORIAL: Speculators Buying Up Colorado Water Rights? Part Twelve
In its draft budget, SJWCD plans to contribute about $2,500 to the San Juan Headwaters Forest Health Partnership…
EDITORIAL: Speculators Buying Up Colorado Water Rights? Part Eleven
I did not read through the documents, but I noticed that the oldest document under Case Number CA0073 was a handwritten court decision dated 1896…
EDITORIAL: Speculators Buying Up Colorado Water Rights? Part Ten
“A governmental entity has the burden of demonstrating three elements in regard to its intent to make a non-speculative conditional appropriation of unappropriated water…”
EDITORIAL: Speculators Buying Up Colorado Water Rights? Part Nine
I have to agree with attorney Eklund. In light of current Colorado water law, there is absolutely no ‘speculation’ involved in purchasing a farm with senior water rights and continuing to operate the farm in a traditional matter…
EDITORIAL: Speculators Buying Up Colorado Water Rights? Part Eight
“The Colorado River doesn’t have a water scarcity problem; it has a planning and zoning problem…”
EDITORIAL: Speculators Buying Up Colorado Water Rights? Part Seven
Of the four essential — dare we say, sacred — resources necessary to life on earth, two have been converted, in modern times, into items of private property that can be traded, rented, bought and sold….
Wolf Creek Season Tickets On Sale Now, Priced to Sell
Fans of Wolf Creek Ski Area have one week to buy season passes at discount prices. This week… From the Wolf Creek website: The Pre-Season Pass Sale began Saturday, September 26 and will run through Sunday, October 4, 2020! Season Pass pricing for the 2020-2021 ski season is available at the Season Pass Pricing page. READ MORE
EDITORIAL: Speculators Buying Up Colorado Water Rights? Part Six
Some argue will that, so long as the water is put to a ‘beneficial use’ there’s nothing wrong with a water district or a farmer or a rancher making a few bucks “leasing” water to a needy neighbor…
EDITORIAL: The Ruins of Prosperity, Part Eight
According to Mr. Riley’s September 7 real estate summary, it looks like Pagosa Springs real estate brokers, this year, might sell as many as 20 homes priced at more than $1 million…
EDITORIAL: Speculators Buying Up Colorado Water Rights? Part Five
On Monday, the SJWCD Board met (via Zoom) with a prominent water consultant named Erin Wilson, of Lakewood, Colorado-based Wilson Water Group. Quite a few people attended the meeting…