Draining Lake Powell! A couple of years ago the idea was so far out there it sounded like environmental "science-fiction."

But, today the idea is real! And, both sides are preparing to fight. Environment Specialist John Hollenhorst joins us with a special report. John, it's still hard for a lot of people to take this debate seriously:

It sure is. And some lovers of Lake Powell have worried they might add fuel to the controversy by fighting back. But now, they've decided they just can't let Lake Powell's enemies have the battlefield all to themselves.

((STACEY MAUGER/PAGE, ARIZ.: "I THINK IT'S THE MOST RIDICULOUS THING I'VE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE."))

A typical opinion in Page Arizona, a town that wouldn't exist without the Glen Canyon Dam and wouldn't be the same without Lake Powell. Now, Page is fighting back.

((STEVEN WARD/PAGE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: "THE WAY IT COULD HAPPEN IS BY APATHY. IF PEOPLE DON'T GET INVOLVED AND SAY 'THAT'LL NEVER HAPPEN,' THAT'LL HAPPEN!"))

Here's the man who started it all, Salt Lake doctor Richard Ingebretsen. Lake Powell Just over a year ago, he proposed the unthinkable. Lower Lake Powell and restore the fabled Glen Canyon.

((RICHARD INGEBRETSEN/FOUNDER, GLEN CANYON INSTITUTE: "I MUST ADMIT I DID NOT SEE THE WIDESPREAD INTEREST IN THIS COMING SO RAPIDLY."))

When the Sierra Club endorsed a complete unplugging of the dam, the idea took off. 120 articles in major publications.

((DENISE BOGGS/GLEN CANYON INSTITUTE: "IT'S WONDERFUL. AND IT SEEMS TO KEEP COMING..."))

There's been one Congressional hearing. And a growing number of workshops, speeches and debates.

((WAYNE COOK/UPPER COLORADO RIVER COMMISSION: "...DIRE IMPACTS OF WATER SHORTAGES, RATIONING, ECONOMIC CHAOS..."))

Ingebretsen's Glen Canyon Institute now has offices in Utah and Arizona with full-time paid staff. They've raised enough to budget 200-thousand dollars this year.

((RICHARD INGEBRETSEN/FOUNDER, GLEN CANYON INSTITUTE: "AND AS WATER LAWS CHANGE, OVER THE NEXT 50 YEARS, OUTDATED TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTALLY UNFRIENDLY PROJECTS WILL BE TAKEN OUT."))

Both sides are battling on the Internet. In Page, the "Friends of Lake Powell" can hardly believe the issue is being taken seriously.

((MACARIA CLARK/PAGE, ARIZ.: "I THINK IT'S JUST A BUNCH OF HOT AIR. I THINK IT'S STUPID. AND NOT RIGHT."))

The Friends of Lake Powell are also raising money, lining up celebrities for a national media campaign, aimed primarily at Easterners.

((STEVEN WARD/PAGE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: "WE NEED TO EDUCATE THEM. TO THE FOLLY OF THIS."))

((JOHN HOLLENHORST REPORTING: "HERE'S THE WAY RESIDENTS SEE IT. IF THE LAKE WASN'T HERE. THE POWER PLANT AND A COAL MINE WOULD BE OUT OF BUSINESS BECAUSE THERE WOULDN'T BE ENOUGH WATER. THE TOWN OF PAGE WOULD DRY UP BECAUSE THERE WOULDN'T BE ENOUGH TOURISTS. AND THE DAM ITSELF WOULD REMAIN AS A MONUMENT TO HUMAN STUPIDITY."))

((BILL WEST/PAGE BUSINESSMAN: "IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN A BIG MISTAKE TO FILL IT IN THE FIRST PLACE. BUT IT'S PROBABLY A BIGGER MISTAKE TO DRAIN IT."))

Lake Powell's 3 million visitors a year could be a strong lobbying force. But Ingebretsen says those visitors do not justify the drowning of Glen Canyon.

((RICHARD INGEBRETSEN/FOUNDER, GLEN CANYON INSTITUTE: "THAT IS THE WHOLE POINT, AND THE HEART OF THE DEBATE. YOU KNOW, YOU COULD FLOOD EVERY NATIONAL PARK AND GET MORE PEOPLE INTO IT. BUT THEN YOU RUIN THE PARK."))

((STACEY MAUGER/PAGE, ARIZ.: "I THINK WHOEVER, SOMEBODY NEEDS TO THINK OF ANOTHER HOBBY TO HAVE, OTHER THAN TO GO AROUND AND DO STUPID THINGS."))

Just this month The Friends of Lake Powell opened their own office to fight the proposal full-time. Their goal is to recruit a quarter-million members this year. So, the political impossibility is now a political fight, and both sides say it could go on for decades.