McCain Wants A Water War
McCain Wants A Water War
Our guest blogger is Alice Madden, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund and Majority Leader of the Colorado General Assembly.
Last week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told The Pueblo Chieftain that the 1922 Colorado River compact, which determines water sharing for Colorado and other upper basin states with lower basin states like Arizona, California, and New Mexico, “obviously needs to be renegotiated,” citing “the new realities of high growth”:
I don’t think there’s any doubt the major, major issue is water and can be as important as oil. So the compact that is in effect, obviously, needs to be renegotiated over time amongst the interested parties.
As Jonathan Adler reminds us, “In the West, whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting.” Has John McCain forgotten where he comes from? His cavalier attitude about the distribution of western water should send a chill down the spine of anyone who hails from west of the Mississippi.
But even scarier — Sen. McCain seemed oblivious to the hard work on this very issue completed just last year. The seven states of the Colorado River basin worked together to craft a new agreement within the 1922 compact to deal with the increasing problem of drought and lower basin water demands. This agreement, signed by the states and the federal government on December 13, was praised by Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne, the former Republican governor of Idaho: “You have steered around the cataracts and sharp boulders of litigation and acrimony. You have found the serene waters of partnership and cooperation.”
McCain’s reckless comments threaten all of that hard work. And that is why the condemnation of McCain’s remarks in Colorado has been swift and bipartisan:
“Senator McCain’s position on opening up the Colorado River Compact is absolutely wrong and would only happen over my dead body.” — Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO)
“He will not get a more fierce fight from a United States senator than he will have from me.” — Bob Schaeffer (R-CO)
“On this issue he couldn’t be more wrong. Nothing is more crucial for Colorado than water, and I oppose any suggestion that the federal government should get involved in how we share it with Arizona, California or any other state.” — Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO)
“It would be sheer folly to re-open the compact at a time like this when all of the states are working cooperatively on this issue.” — Gov. Bill Ritter (D-CO)
I have an idea. Why doesn’t the Senator from Arizona turn his attention to how to help the region deal with the looming threat of global warming? “Scientists have predicted a 10 to 30 percent reduction of water flow in the Colorado River,” the Sierra Club’s Rob Smith explained to the Denver Post, “due to long-term drought and higher temperatures associated with climate change in the Southwest.” Instead of proposing an agenda with water conservation and stream restoration, McCain is promoting a unsustainable expansion of water-hungry non-renewable energy projects in the West.
McCain should spend less time inside the DC beltway and more time with real Coloradans, so he can discuss real solutions instead of trying to reopen old wounds.
UPDATE: Apparently Mitt Romney has been brought in to bat clean up: McCain didn’t say that. Never happened. But if it did, he didn’t mean it.
5 Responses to “McCain Wants A Water War”
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Of course he said it, and he meant it. Well, as much as he ever means anything he says.
Senator McCain is a loose cannon, who will say and do anything to become President. What a sad, terrifying, precipitous drop from the picture painted by the press just a half-decade ago. Though one has to wonder, wasn’t he always actually this way? There is a mountain of evidence which suggests that he was and always has been, reaching far back into his hot-shot days as a naval aviator.
God help us all if he ascends to the Presidency.
August 20th, 2008 at 5:28 pmIf water is the new oil, McCain has to find a way for corporations to get their mitts on it.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:10 pmWhen you get down to the issues, McCain is absolutely the WORST. His support of so many things i care about blows my mind.
Check out this new video from Iowa Democrats about his “equal pay” stance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKrqzyKw0gk
August 20th, 2008 at 9:57 pmMs. Madden,
You ask: “Has John McCain forgotten where he comes from?”
In a word, “No.”
John McCain is no westerner. Like the Bush family, he has drifted around this country wherever opportunity will bring him his next free meal.
Born in Panama, McCain was a “military brat,” following his father as he pursued his career. He became an Arizonan the way Prescott Bush became a Nutmeg Stater: by virtue of pure, unmitigated opportunism.
The fact is, the roots of the McCain family lay NOT in the American West, but in the pre-Civil War South. McCain’s forebears were slave-holders and supported the pro-slavery side, riding to the Confederacy’s defense from Mississippi.
McCain has only a passing knowledge of or interest in western water issues. He’s a carpetbagger.
August 21st, 2008 at 7:58 amJASONLIBERTY… Thanks for that:) I just wrote about that in another section of these comments. Women need to wake up and do their research and not listen to one thing that comes form this man’s mouth. If it comes out…it’s a lie.He might be happy to have us all barefoot and in the kitchen. It’s an insult to all women! But then again, I guess we know that the real McCain would treat his first wife like crap, and leave her and his child for an heiress, who he then calls “the C word” and offers her up to the masses at Sturgis for a chance at Miss Buffalo Chip…big ole biker orgy! Yep…he’s sure got MY best interests at heart. (NOT)I have no respect for this…NOT FIT TO BE PRESIDENT
August 26th, 2008 at 7:46 pm