Wednesday letters: 4-H judge, Boebert's delay, orphaned wells, climate change, Eco Dwelling comments - Glenwood Springs Post Independent

Wednesday letters: 4-H judge, Boebert’s delay, orphaned wells, climate change, Eco Dwelling comments | PostIndependent.com

Wednesday letters: 4-H judge, Boebert’s delay, orphaned wells, climate change, Eco Dwelling comments

Ruffling feathers

The Garfield County Fair was very nice and enjoyable this year. However, the man who judged the fair fowl was very unkind to some of the 4-H participants. He said right from the beginning of the fowl competition that “game birds don’t belong here. I will not touch them.” This was resolved later to some degree. He was very “into” the chickens and asked many questions of their owners. For the turkey and game bird owners he asked a few general questions and left it at that. How unfair to those 4-H kids who had worked all season to have praise-worthy, prize-winning birds. This man, whomever he was, should never be asked back to a Garfield County Fair.

Jill Richards, Silt

Boebert turbulence

Apparently Lauren Boebert experienced flight delays and cancellations when trying to fly home from Washington D.C. this weekend. Typical of her misdirection and partisan hyperbole she blamed Pete Buttigieg and of course could not resist a dig at his sexual orientation.

The fact of the matter is that there were ground stops and cancellations all up and down the East Coast due to severe weather. Lauren not only denies human-caused climate change but she jokes about it in the middle of the hottest summer in human history. Lauren cannot even acknowledge bad weather for her flight delays!

As an election denier Lauren failed to uphold her oath to her office.

As a notably loud voice in the boycott of Bud Light Lauren should take note that hundreds of Americans have been laid off due to the boycott.

Lauren continues to raise alarm about the crisis at the southern border with much drama and finger pointing and instead of working toward any sort of immigration reform, instead uses her time to draft legislation making the AR15 the national gun in the midst of historically high incidents of mass shootings.

Lauren represents the epitome of anti-intellectualism rampant and embraced in today’s Republican party. It is a mockery of Abraham Lincoln every time she or Marjorie Taylor Greene are invited to speak at a Lincoln Dinner. Abraham Lincoln lacked much in formal education but he was relentless in his pursuit of knowledge. The same cannot be said for Lauren Boebert or any number of current GOP Representatives. CD3 needs and deserves better representation. Representation that embraces science and doesn’t mock it for the sake of a laugh.

Representation that acknowledges the real and true results of an election rather than the lies of a sore loser.

Marco Antonio Diaz, Redstone

On orphaned wells

First, a disclaimer: I’m a left-leaning Independent who believes the government should provide a social safety net for its citizens who need it — and if it takes tax dollars to do it, so be it. That’s what the government of, by and for the people is all about.

But, when I think about my tax dollars going toward plugging orphaned gas wells abandoned by the oil and gas industry, it makes me wretch. According to a story in the July 28 Post Independent, Garfield County and the state of Colorado are planning to use $1 billion from the 2021 federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to cap non-producing or low-producing wells.

Cleaning up orphaned wells is certainly a worthy cause. These holes in the Earth Mother are leaking methane, a powerful and fast acting greenhouse gas. But why do the taxpayers have to pay for it? The oil and gas industry made this mess and, presumably, it made a ton of money off the endeavor. The industry should be required to use some of those resources to clean up after itself.

And is this industry a benevolent entity whose efforts are directed toward the common good? Hardly. It seems hellbent on destroying the planet, if not with its greenhouse gas producing fossil fuels, then congesting our oceans and landfills with petroleum-based plastics. It’s been spreading misinformation about climate change for decades.

Last year, the federal government subsidized the fossil fuel industry to the tune of $1 trillion, a year in which the industry cleared a record $4 trillion in profits. I call this corporate socialism, particularly heinous in this case because they don’t need it.

The industry, along with the Garfield County commissioners, is balking at a Bureau of Land Management lease and bond rule that would require the industry to cover the cost of capping orphaned wells up front. Fairness doesn’t often have much to do with business, but that’d be a lot fairer than having the taxpayers pick up the tab.

Get off the public dole, oil and gas.

Fred Malo, Jr., Carbondale

Fight climate change

“Fight Climate Change” is a good mantra, but to what end if it ends in a slogan passed onto the powers that be? What is the “who or why” of wildfires? Why are private jets allowed to eclipse the CO2 of the life of several gas-powered automobiles on a single trip? Does everyone know we are at the end of an ice age that existed 10,000 years ago? We will keep warming erratically but fail if we don’t put meaning to the slogan “Fight Climate Change.”

Fred Stewart, Grand Junction

Waller doesn’t represent Garfield County P/Z

On July 19 our Rifle City Council held an annexation hearing for the Eco Dwelling/Fritzlan Ranch development, to be built west of our hospital.

Caleb Waller, a resident of Silt, shows up at our Council hearing, telling us how we should be conducting our City business. He tells the City Council he’s on the Garfield County Planning and Zoning Commission and proceeds to say, “You guys don’t want us (Garfield County) to fix this problem,” referring to affordable housing in Rifle.

The problem is Mr. Waller wasn’t representing Garfield County Planning and Zoning or any other Garfield County entity. He goes on to say, “If we (Garfield County) fix this problem… it’s going to put pressure on the cities.” “It’s going to be a burden on the taxpayers of Rifle… and beyond.” He also said, “If you don’t accept what John Kuersten and Eco Dwelling are proposing, you will be forced to do something radical.”

He said a lot more, but it wasn’t on the County’s behalf. Who was he representing?

Spoiler Alert! I left a voicemail with Sheryl Bower, the Garfield County Community Development Director. I relayed Mr. Waller’s remarks and referred her to the Post Independent article that quoted him. Ms. Bower called me back and this is what she said: Caleb Waller’s remarks did not reflect the views of Garfield County, nor did he have authorization to speak on their behalf. She said he made representations that were not true.

Eco Dwelling ‘s next phase proposes one hundred twenty three, 900-square-foot modular homes on W. 16th St.

I am appealing to Rifle residents to participate in the decisions of your City government. Whatever your opinions on growth and affordable housing may be, please participate, or someone else will decide for you.

Mary Bridges, Rifle
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