NORTH FORK TIMES
SURFACE CREEK NEWS
SPORTS
POR LOS NINOS
STARS & STRIPES
GRIDIRON REMATCH
Celia Roberts’ 2013 calendar celebrates children of the world, B4 cel
Ce Cedaredge businesswoman organizes military ball, C1 org
Ced edaredge, Hotchkiss square off in playoffs; Delta is at home, B6
DELTA COUNTY
NOVEMBER 14, 2012 VOL. 129, NO. 46
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INDEPENDENT
www.deltacountyindependent.com
Oxbow turns waste into electricity BY HANK LOHMEYER Staff Writer
Oxbow’s West Elk Coal Mine at Somerset is now producing up to one megawatt of clean electricity fed directly into the DMEA grid using waste methane from the mine as fuel for the 1,500 hp engine that turns the electric generator. The only installation of its kind in an active coal mine west of the Mississippi River was opened for display last week to dozens of invited guests and dignitaries. The project is a partnership of Oxbow and Vessels Coal Gas which operates a similar coal mine methane-fueled genera-
tor in Pennsylvania. The one-megawatt generator at West Elk will soon be joined by two more of the units to produce up to three megawatts of electricity. “Annual (electric) output is expected to exceed 24 million kilowatthours of electricity, enough to meet the needs of 2,000 average American homes,” according to information provided about the project. Coal mine methane that fuels the electric generation normally goes unused. It has to be vented to the atmosphere to protect miners underground. The West Elk project will put the unused energy in that “waste meth-
ane” to work providing enough electricity to run a full year of operations for the Aspen Skiing Company — four ski mountains, three hotels, and 17 restaurants, according to information provided. The for-profit generating enterprise involves cooperation among Oxbow, Vessels Coal Gas, Gunnison Energy Corporation, Holy Cross Energy and Aspen Skiing Company. The project has been under conceptual design and development for at least five to seven years, speakers at the event noted. It was delayed while a buyer for the electricity was sought. Holy Cross Energy eventually stepped up
to purchase the power, which is not benefitting from renewable energy credits that can be granted by the Legislature. The project could also produce big economic benefits reaching $2 million in taxes, royalties and payroll annually, project partners say.
The West Elk project is the “greenest of the green” in terms of environmental benefit, too. The $6 million facility “may provide as much theoretical climate protection as would the installation of $400 million of solar photovoltaics,” say the partners.
Groundbreaking planned for long-awaited truck route BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor
Delta City Council has tentatively planned a groundbreaking ceremony for Confluence Drive, the city’s alternate truck route, on Dec. 7. Last week, the contract with Hamon Contractors was finalized and a construction management contract was awarded to Stantec, the firm that designed the four-lane road that will take motorists off Highway 50 at Gunnison River Drive to a re-entry point near the Stockyards Restaurant. “It’s been a process,” commented city manager Justin Clifton. It’s been such a process Clifton is the third city manager to be directly involved with the project. The bottom line is $17,969,000 for construction. City of Delta public works
director Jim Hatheway, a team from Stantec and a team from Hamon went through the bid sheet line by line to shave costs wherever possible, Hatheway reported. “We started at $18.5 million, so we moved in a very positive direction,” Hatheway told council members last week. In addition, Hamon reduced its profit by $85,000, which council members took as a sign of the contractor’s willingness to work with the city. “That’s better than all the coffee mugs,” councilmember Ray Penick commented. Councilmember Mary Cooper, who has served on the city’s construction committee with councilmember Ray Penick and former councilmember Guy Pfalzgraff, was eager to make the motion approving the contract, a motion that passed unanimously.
Cooper observed, “It’s a reflection of the importance of the project to Hamon that they’re here this evening.” In separate action related to the alternate truck route, a change order was approved allowing Stantec to transition into a construction management role. “We’ve been through a very arduous process on this as well,” Hatheway said. To verify the cost proposed by Stantec, Hatheway said the city went to a strong competitor and asked them to provide a cost estimate of their own. Jacobs estimated the cost at $440,744, above Stantec’s proposal of $429,000. Finally, council members budgeted additional money to Stantec for engineering support. During construction, Hatheway explained, there TRUCK ROUTE TO A3
Photo by Pat Sunderland
Honoring veterans Air Force veteran Bill Hendrick and his wife Wanda join Delta Middle School students in the pledge of allegiance at a Veterans Day Assembly Monday. Students honored those who had served our country and learned about the experiences of a soldier currently serving in the U.S. Army. PFC Shawn Wright, a graduate of Delta High School, was the keynote speaker at the patriotic assembly.
INDEX
Cedaredge man killed
Accent ........................... A4 Activities ....................... A7 Agriculture .....................C8 Back Page ................. D10 Bruin Tracks ................C3-6 Business ........................ A8 Church ............................B5 Classifieds .................. D1-2 Editorial ......................... A2 Legals ......................... D3-6 North Fork Times ........B1-4 Obituaries ..................... A6 School Zone .................. A5 Sports ..........................B6-8 Surface Creek News ...C1-7 TV Listings ................. D7-8
Jerry Lischke, 60, of Cedaredge was killed in a head-on accident Tuesday morning on Highway 65. The Colorado State Patrol reports Lischke was alone in a 2000 Hyundai Accent, driving southbound near mile marker 5. His car crossed the center line as it rounded a long sweeping righthand curve, colliding with a northbound 2012 Ford F350 driven by Samuel McKinley, 35, of Fruita. Lischke was pronounced dead at the scene. McKinley was transported to Delta County Memorial Hospital with moderate injuries. The crash occurred at 9:27 a.m. Traffic was rerouted for clean-up.
Photo by Hank Lohmeyer
Mike Ludlow, executive vice president for Oxbow Mining LLC (left) and Brad Robinson, president of Gunnison Energy Corporation, discuss the Elk Creek Mine’s methane powered electric generation project at Somerset last week with State Sen. Gail Schwartz. Schwartz told the DCI, “My bill to give the project renewable energy credits failed to get out of the Senate. I plan to run a bill this year. Senator-elect Baumgartner may also have a similar bill.”
Psychiatrists differ on Yager’s sanity BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor
Nathan Yager’s murder trial entered the third week Tuesday with testimony from Dr. Karen Fukataki, a forensic psychiatrist who believes Yager was in a disassociative state when he murdered his wife Melinda in January 2011. Yager has been charged with second degree murder and has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The trial is moving more quickly than anticipated. Tuesday morning, attorney Stephen Schweissing began presenting the defense’s side of the story. After two interviews with Nathan, the first just 10 days after Melinda’s murder, Dr. Fukataki said she found Yager to be insane at the time of the act. She based her findings on the fact that Yager remembers charging at Melinda, he remembers the blood, and he remembers driving from the scene in Paonia, but he can’t recall two “significant” occurrences that tragic afternoon. First, she testified, Nathan does not remember taking out a knife and severely cutting Melinda’s neck. Second, he doesn’t remember how he fractured his left hand, although he admits striking Melinda. Dr. Fukataki said Nathan is right handed so it’s unlikely he would have used his left hand to hit Melinda.
He is also unable to recall visiting the district attorney’s office the day before the murder, although there is no reason for him to deny that event, Dr. Fukataki testified. Disassociative disorder is a result of feelings that are too intense for the conscious mind to handle, she said. There was evidence Nathan Yager was under tremendous stress, to the point he began disassociating, she testified. She also diagnosed Nathan with depression. The “mental disease or defect” became evident to the victim herself, who in December 2010 asked the court to order Nathan Yager to submit to drug testing. She found his behavior so erratic, his demeanor so different, she was convinced he was on drugs, Dr. Fugataki testified. The court ordered the drug test, Nathan submitted to hair analysis, and the test came back clean. The symptoms described by Melinda in that court filing are consistent with depression, and possibly depression with psychotic features, Dr. Fugataki said. The jury will balance her testimony against that of Dr. Richard Astafan, an expert in forensic psychiatry who is a consultant at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo. When an insanity plea is entered, Dr. Astafan explained, the court orders YAGER TO A3
Project 7 water is ‘harder’ than normal Residents of Delta, Montrose and Ouray will notice a difference in their drinking water this winter. Due to the constraints of construction on the DMEA/UVWUA hydroelectric power stations on the South Canal, Project 7 has lost some flexibility in supply. This means that the quality of water will have more mineral content than normal. Although the water is still safe to drink, it will be roughly twice as “hard” as normal. Hardness is a non-scientific term that generally means how hard it is to make soap suds ... This winter
it will take much more detergent than usual to wash clothes or dishes or even shampoo your hair. Scientifically that relates to 250 mg/L of hardness as CaCO3 versus a typical winter hardness of 120 mg/L. The Project 7 water supply varies seasonally, with a low of 60 mg/L in the summer (aka snowmelt, soft water) to a high of 120 mg/L in winter due to underground springs in Blue Mesa and the Gunnison Tunnel. Everything should return to normal next spring when the UVWUA turns the Gunnison Tunnel back on for the year.