Colorado attorney general vows: ‘We are going to protect our water

The lawyer basic’s workplace will do all it will possibly to guard Colorado’s water; that’s a promise made by Colorado Lawyer Normal Phil Weiser throughout a cease in Sterling Wednesday morning.

Weiser was on a tour of northeast Colorado and met in Sterling with representatives of native authorities, regulation enforcement, schooling, psychological well being suppliers and others.

Through the assembly, Weiser stated he doubts the not too long ago resurrected Perkins County Canal plan will ever see fruition. He stated Nebraskans are as puzzled about Gov. Pete Rickett’s thought to finish the deserted canal as Coloradans are.

The canal, which was began within the Nineties after which deserted, would divert water from the South Platte River close to Ovid and carry it into Nebraska for storage there. Ricketts not too long ago breathed new life into the scheme and has secured round $50 million for a feasibility research.

“The Nebraska thought just isn’t born of affordable dialogue,” Weiser stated. “We don’t know the place it’s coming from, however it seems to be extra (politically motivated) than any actual want for water. We’re going to work to guard our water.”

The AG stated Coloradans shouldn’t be overly involved in regards to the Perkins undertaking, calling it a “product of 1 second in time.”

Whereas water storage, conservation and artistic allocation concepts are laudable, Weiser stated, these concepts must be good for everybody concerned. He pointed to the plan to drill into the aquifer underneath the San Luis Valley and pipe water to Douglas County because the type of “purchase and dry” scheme that must be prevented.

“We gotta’ be fairly good in how we spend money on water infrastructure,” Weiser stated. “Now we have to be all-in and construct infrastructure the suitable manner. We have to guarantee that once we’re speaking about communities’ future, the communities are literally on the desk.”

Weiser’s second main precedence is the persevering with opioid epidemic, which has induced drug overdose deaths to skyrocket in Colorado. He stated in 2021 Colorado misplaced extra lives to drug overdoses than to auto crashes and gunfire mixed. He stated he’s most involved about fentanyl, which is being mass-produced in Mexico and smuggled into the U.S. in ever-growing portions.

“We’ve received loads of work to do on this epidemic. One factor we (must) do is figure collectively to offer remedy and restoration applications,” Weiser stated.

That can take discovering new approaches to remedy and to educating the general public, particularly teen-agers, on the risks of drug overdoses.

On the subject of regulation enforcement, Weiser stated the COVID pandemic has been particularly arduous on law enforcement officials and regulation enforcement on the whole.

“What we all know is that we’re shedding individuals from this vital career,” he stated.

The AG’s workplace is pushing to get extra money for recruitment and retention of officers, and particularly psychological well being remedy for first responders.

Weiser additionally spoke about bettering security within the jail system, each for inmates and staffers, and about getting higher entry to psychological well being for all Coloradans.