River’s problems can’t be blamed on global warming

Speaking of global warming, a new Department of Interior study is sorely lacking in perspective.

The Bureau of Reclamation, after compiling data from other climate change alarmists, reported Monday that a warmer planet would hurt water supplies throughout the West, especially along the drought-stricken Colorado River. Southern Nevada, which relies almost exclusively on the Colorado for its drinking water, eventually could see flow decreases of between 8 percent and 14 percent per year.

If you believe that changes in the planet's climate can be blamed on mankind's ever-cleaner, increasingly efficient energy consumption, this troubling news is cause to renew demands that governments take over the global economy and dial back our collective standard of living a century or two.

But if you know anything about the chronicle of the Colorado River, the warnings of the global warming crowd are a few decades late.

The 1986 book, "Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water," by Marc Reisner, pointed out that the original allotments of Colorado River water, determined early last century, were never sustainable to begin with. That's because drought -- such as the one that persists today -- is a historically normal condition along the river, Mr. Reisner documented.

Now, however, overreaching political agendas ask that we set aside Mr. Reisner's seminal work and blame future Colorado River shortages on climate change. What a crock.

The Colorado River is indeed in trouble, and regional water planners must pursue alternative supplies to protect our economy and our way of life. But the global warming canard has nothing to do with the problem.