Remember the heroes
July 6,1994: “WE SHALL NOT FORGET.”
This is a promise we as a community made almost 30 years ago this coming July 6. The Storm King Fire erupted on that date, taking the lives of 14 wildland firefighters that had come here to protect us. They are Tamera Bickett,Kathy Beck, Scott Blecha, Levi Brinkley, Robert Browning, Douglas Dunbar, Terri Hagen, Bonnie Holtby, Robert Johnson, Jon Kelso, Don Mackey, Roger Roth, Jim Thrash and Richard Tyler. If you have moved here after that date you might not even be aware of the importance of that date. Take some time and venture down to the Storm King Monument at Two Rivers Park where there are pictures and a short history of each of these individuals. There will be well over 100 family members and friends here between July 4-6. There will be an Honor Guard Ceremony at Two Rivers at 4 p.m. on the 6th. I ask that you as individuals or business owners wear or display purple ribbons during this time in remembrance. Thank you.
Greg Little, Glenwood Springs
Be careful of leaving pets in cars
High temperatures are here, and many of us are going on road trips this summer. I would like to remind everyone that if you plan to take your pet along, it is not a safe idea to plan on leaving your dog in your car while you are enjoying daily activities. The interior of a vehicle can reach 102 degrees in 90 minutes on a 75-degree day (weather.gov), and studies show that cracking the windows makes little-to-no difference. If you plan to take your pet, plan ahead to find pet-friendly accommodations (check out roadtrippers.com or bringfido.com) so that everyone can enjoy our wonderful country as you travel.
If you do see a pet trapped in a hot car, make a reasonable effort to locate the owner. If you cannot, call the local non-emergency police number. Stay with the animal until assistance arrives.
Emily Stec, New Castle
Kudos to Xcel on power line project
For those who’ve watched, an amazing construction ballet has been in progress in our town. Xcel has been upgrading the power lines from behind the pool to the new sub-station near South Canyon. The helicopter work is the highlight of what has had to be an incredible amount of planning, coordinating, communication and construction execution. In about five minutes the helicopter picks up a new pole at the staging area, transports the pole to the permanent location and sets the pole in place. That it looks so simple is proof of the success of all of the work that went into making it happen. Congratulations and thank you for all of those individual efforts involved in making it look so simple.
Ray Schmahl, Glenwood Springs
To “save the land,” we must make compromises
I stopped by Carbondale’s First Friday celebration of Thompson Divide’s protections (“Wilderness Workshop celebrates 20 years of protection for Thompson Divide,” June 12 post) and that’s a great accomplishment. Then I watched a few convoys of flatbeds loaded with O&G equipment roll up Colorado 133 this week on the way to some new wells off Muddy Creek. They should remind us that every fossil fuel well gets depleted. To get off the treadmill of “Save this land, stop that drilling,” we need to move at a much faster pace at converting from fossil fuels to renewable-powered electricity, heat and vehicles.
Wind and solar development will affect a lot of land. But good solar pays back upstream carbon greenhouse gas emissions in under six months and the sun never gets depleted. Though the panels may be replaced in 30 years with more efficient ones, the sites can be utilized forever. Statewide, to meet renewable goals that are only ten years out, 100 square miles of solar will be needed. In my humble opinion, the acreage is tolerable. Building it over parking lots or canals is not realistic, as these cost 4-5 times as much as racks in a field. My house has rooftop solar, but after 15 years of net-metering and better from Colorado utilities, rooftop solar generates one-third as much electricity as solar farms in Colorado.
Right now, environmental and local opposition to section-sized solar will probably cancel proposed projects near Norwood and Durango and Santa Fe. The project approved in Delta County two years ago seems stuck in design. The Ute Mountain Utes have proposed an eight square mile project, but the BIA could hold it back. The BLM’s supposed “opening millions of acres” to solar contains some fine print which is a showstopper on much of that land.
So, folks who are accustomed to “Save the land” campaigns may need to make a few compromises and weigh the relative merits and demerits of these projects.
Fred Porter, Glenwood Springs
