Saturday, January 6, 2001
Cloud seeding plan losing partners
Counties drop out amid
budget woes
By John Starbuck
Reporter-News Staff Writer
An areawide project designed to pull rain
from the skies is still on track, despite county budget crunches
that have forced half of the proposed participants to withdraw,
officials say.
The West Central Texas Weather Modification
Association was created with the intention of seeding clouds in
19 counties. That number has dropped to nine, with three of those
still undecided.
With dwindling participation, officials
have changed their scope to include primarily the area’s
southern rim. They have started filing papers for the four-year
project’s scheduled start-up on May 1.
The association would have pilots drop chemicals
into clouds. By fertilizing clouds, the group hopes longer rains
will quench the thirst of lakes, aquifers, crops and dry grasses.
To cover the project’s overhead, association
officials asked each county to divide the annual portion between
different entities, such as cities, the county and water districts.
Coleman County Judge Sherrill Ragsdale said
his county can’t afford the $6,000 obligation of the $18,000
annual cost. The commissioners are scheduled to examine the issue
Monday.
“There’s no way we will do $6,000,”
Ragsdale said Friday. “I guarantee you that.”
On Thursday, the Coleman City Council delayed
until Jan. 18 a decision on using funds for cloud seeding. The
aldermen want to confer with the county and water district on
the cost.
Officials appear to favor setting aside
some money in Eastland County, although the county commissioners
won’t decide until Monday, County Judge Brad Stephenson said.
The project has received commitments from
Callahan, Comanche, Nolan, Runnels and Taylor counties. Brown
County commissioners are exploring funding options.
Coke County, although in the plans for cloud
seeding, was not formally approached because AEP/West Texas Utilities
has agreed to pay its $80,000 price tag for that county’s
four-year participation.
WTU offered the money because the project
could drop additional water on a watershed that serves Oak Creek
Lake, where the utility has a power plant, said Brad Helbert,
executive director of the West Central Texas Council of Governments.
The council is helping oversee the cloud seeding program.
Helbert said the association’s governing
members are confident enough about the project’s future that
they have hired a meteorologist to work part-time on planning
matters.
“We feel we can still put the program
together with those entities that wish to participate,” he
said.
Correspondent Billie Mercer contributed
to this story.
Contact regional writer John Starbuck
at (800) 588-6397, 676-6728 or starbuckj@abinews.com.
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Copyright ©2001,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps. Publications
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