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Drought in USA on Wednesday, 04 July, 2012 at 03:45 (03:45 AM) UTC.
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U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has issued a drought disaster designation for 62 of Colorado's 64 counties, making federal assistance available for at least some of the farmers and ranchers in those counties. Vilsack notified Gov. John Hickenlooper of the disaster declaration on Tuesday, according to members of Colorado's congressional delegation, who were alerted to the action on Tuesday morning. Vilsack wrote the governor that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has reviewed loss assessment reports and determined that there were sufficient losses in 62 counties -- all of Colorado's counties except Delta and San Juan -- to qualify them as "primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by drought, excessive heat and high winds that occurred from Jan. 1, 2012, and continuing." Delta and San Juan counties have been named "contiguous disaster counties." Vilsack said the disaster designation makes farm operators in both the primary and contiguous counties eligible to be considered for assistance from the federal Farm Service Agency, provided other eligibility requirements are met. That assistance includes emergency loans. Hickenlooper, who'd written Vilsack last week seeking the drought assistance, said in a Tuesday afternoon statement that "this federal disaster declaration will give farmers and ranchers in Weld County and nearly every other part of the state much needed relief." Vilsack said farmers in eligible counties have eight months to apply for that emergency loan assistance. The Farm Service Agency will consider each emergency loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of production losses, security available and repayment ability.
"The entire state of Colorado has been severely affected by hot and dry conditions that have hampered the production of our agricultural producers," said U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet. "The designations from USDA will provide much-needed assistance to farmers to help offset their losses due to drought. Agriculture is a critical part of Colorado's economy, and these resources will help producers weather a difficult growing season." U.S. Sen. Mark Udall said, "The losses that face Colorado's agriculture producers are mounting and now that this declaration has been made, Colorado's farmers and ranchers will have access to additional resources to get them through these tough times." Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, and Bennet, D-Denver, had written Vilsack last month, asking for federal assistance for Colorado's drought-threatened farms and ranches. So had at least two other members of the state's congressional delegation, U.S. Reps. Cory Gardner R-Yuma, and Scott Tipton, R-Cortez. Weld County commissioners have backed their county's farmers continuing push to get state permission to pump water onto their parched fields from an underground aquifer in the South Platte River Basin -- something Hickenlooper said last month that Colorado Attorney General John Suthers' staff has advised the governor's legal staff that Hickenlooper doesn't have the legal authority to do. Weld's commissioners had then sought a formal legal opinion from Suthers, asking the attorney general to consider legal points raised by Weld County Attorney Bruce Barker in support of the groundwater pumping proposal.
Weld commissioners' spokeswoman Jennifer Finch said Tuesday that Suthers' office has declined the commissioners' request for a formal legal opinion on the pumping issue. Meanwhile, the Weld commissioners announced Tuesday that they were sending letters to about 30 ditch companies and others holding senior rights to surface water -- senior water rights holders whose rights have been held to be jeopardized under the onetime practice of pumping from the aquifer. The Weld commissioners are asking those senior water rights holders' consent to allow Weld farmers to pump from those wells for up to 30 days this summer, in order to irrigate their fields during the drought. For about six years, South Platte River Basin farmers have been prohibited by court decisions and state engineer's orders from using the wells that were long ago drilled into the aquifer. Weld County commissioners wrote that farmers who rely solely on ditch rights to water their fields "are now completely out or very short of water, and their crops are dying in the field."
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