Dear HCN,
We were surprised to read
HCN’s fawning interview with Floyd Dominy (HCN, 8/28/00: Floyd
Dominy: An encounter with the West’s undaunted dam-builder), a man
who is obviously proud of his role in destroying significant
portions of the Colorado River watershed. Floyd is the (washed-up)
Darth Vader of Western rivers, and rather than unmask him, you just
let him mock you.
Perhaps the most grotesque part
of Dominy’s résumé is the long, slow death sentence he
pronounced on the Grand Canyon below Glen Canyon Dam. Had it not
been for the intervention of Dave Brower and the Sierra Club, Floyd
and Interior Secretary Stewart Udall would have annihilated Grand
Canyon rather quickly, with Bridge Canyon Dam and Marble Canyon
Dam. Your interview failed to mention any of
that.
Floyd was, of course, the callous
mastermind responsible for flooding (temporarily) one of the
world’s most beautiful places – Glen Canyon on the Colorado River
and San Juan River. With Congressman Wayne Aspinall shoveling the
money west from Washington, Floyd managed to wipe out thousands of
priceless archaeological and ceremonial sites, as well as hundreds
of miles of habitat for native (now endangered) fish and wildlife.
And you let him get away with bragging on
this?
The Colorado River is temporarily “a river
no more,” in large part because of Floyd’s work as commissioner of
Reclamation.
We don’t need reminding about how
big a fool old Floyd is, but we surely could benefit from some
coverage of the benefits accruing from our ongoing efforts to make
the Colorado a river again.
David
Orr
Moab, Utah
The writer heads the Glen Canyon Action Network.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Stop that fawning.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
