The Feb. 16 issue manages to spotlight the “I want”/”I don’t want” schizophrenia of many who claim to love the environment. First, the article “Wind setbacks”: How can some of you look in the mirror after expressing rabid support for alternative energy sources like wind, if you insist that the turbines that generate the energy […]
Letter to the editor
Posted inMarch 16, 2009: Innovate
Scattered to the winds
I am one of the residents of the San Miguel valley in New Mexico where the company Invenergy is looking into locating industrial-size turbines (HCN, 2/16/09). My neighbors and I have been researching the impact of the wind industry, and many of us are concluding that in the push for renewables, it is preferable to […]
Posted inMarch 16, 2009: Innovate
The half-life curse
Hannah Nordhaus’ excellent exposé “The Half-life of Memory” is troubling on many fronts, but none more so than the quote from Jim Kelly given by Wes McKinley (HCN, 2/16/09). As one of the plant engineers at Rocky Flats, Kelly’s statement that “we didn’t need to pollute like that” is an indictment of the whole sordid […]
Posted inMarch 16, 2009: Innovate
Collateral damage
Regarding your story on the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant: I was new in Boulder in the early 1950s, when the announcement was made that this large defense plant would be located between Boulder and Golden (HCN, 2/16/09). Ever since, I have pondered the question, “Why would our government locate a prime defense plant (target) […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
Let Cody pay
Your story, “Political guns,” says: “The park bosses hope to make the Sylvan Pass mission safer by buying three new over-snow vehicles for rescues, ambulance and crew transport. They also want to install more concrete reinforcement for the howitzer position and a hut where rangers can huddle for warmth. But such safety measures could cost […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
Long day’s journey
Mr. Thompson’s “Editor’s Note” and Mr. Moore’s article “All Aboard” failed to mention a couple of key points about traveling on Amtrak (HCN, 2/02/09). Although Mr. Thompson and his family paid for berths when they took the train, most Americans who take Amtrak travel in coach class. With children’s tickets at half price, the journey […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
Political Sabotage
Denver Johnston’s letter to the editor claims HCN failed to provide “diverging viewpoints” on the Bush administration in the Dec. 22 issue (HCN, 2/02/09). Unfortunately, the people of the Bush administration who concocted the present disaster did not do so from merely divergent viewpoints, inadequate facts or confused values. They worked diligently and deliberately to […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
Remembering Rocky Flats
Regarding your story “The Half-life of Memory,” I had the pleasure of serving on the Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board (RFCAB), and in 2000 we had the chance to tour Building 771 (HCN, 2/16/09). The DOE considered 771 to be the most dangerous building in America. The opportunity to walk through a building that was […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
Stewardship, not politics
My husband and I count ourselves among those “who care about the West,” and we are activists on behalf of the natural environment. This does not mean, however, that we stand at the political left; nor do we want to be bombarded with liberal bromides. Case in point: “Putting our house back in order” by […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
Train in vain
Nowhere in “All Aboard” do I find concern about what increased rail will do to small rural communities like mine (HCN, 2/02/09). We are facing a proposed railroad yard, the ninth largest in the nation, smack across from a state park and a new affordable housing development, which will destroy the upper Santa Cruz Valley, […]
Posted inFebruary 16, 2009: The Half-life of Memory
Culture and family
Besides being a way to ensure that only Indians got the pitiful and paltry benefits that the federal government was giving to the Natives they made treaties with, blood quantum was an insidious way of permanently removing the land and memory of a people (HCN, 1/19/09). What has happened to many Native families is a […]
Posted inFebruary 16, 2009: The Half-life of Memory
“Five-fingered humans”
I’m a white boy who grew up on the Blackfeet rez in north-central Montana. I have distant Cherokee cousins, but my blood quantum is less than 1/16th, so I never thought it worthwhile to seek out the potential benefits, if tribal membership of an ancestor could have been proven (HCN, 1/19/09). I consider myself a […]
Posted inFebruary 16, 2009: The Half-life of Memory
The long arm of the Hoffman
Ray Ring’s excellent article on the Wyoming political pressure that has kept Yellowstone Park’s eastern entrance open in winter despite the high cost, considerable danger, and minimal snowmobile traffic neglected to mention a key background factoid on this issue (HCN, 2/02/09). Cody, Wyo., for years had a powerful ally in its demand to keep Sylvan […]
Posted inFebruary 16, 2009: The Half-life of Memory
DOE and the volcano
Judith Lewis’ story “Mountain of Doubt” in the Jan. 19, 2009, issue of HCN provides an admirably accurate and balanced description of the history of Department of Energy-led efforts to establish Yucca Mountain as a safe repository for the nation’s high-level nuclear waste. Beyond the politics, Lewis explains, “Doubts about Yucca Mountain’s geologic suitability have […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2009: Non-navigable River Blues
Pay to play — with water
Regarding your recent story “Up in Smoke,” while the Bushies may have outsourced with a particular vengeance, the Forest Service’s downsizing actually started early in the Clinton years, with “government reinvention” (HCN, 12/22/08). The story does touch upon a real dilemma for the Forest Service: Whatever it thinks its mission is, it does not have […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2009: Non-navigable River Blues
Blood quantum myth
Regarding your “Blood Quantum” story, back before the first European contacts, marriage outside the tribe was the norm (HCN, 1/19/09). In my studies on biology and genetics, I learned that our Native elders did have extensive knowledge of biology, ecology, genetics, lethal recessives and the like. The only difference is that Western science quantifies, categorizes […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2009: Non-navigable River Blues
Ich bin ein stupid-zoner
In Ed Quillen’s article “Change We Could Believe In,” the term “stupid zones” is defined as “an area that is stupid to build in on account of predictable dangers — avalanches, forest fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, mudslides, floods, etc.” (HCN, 12/22/08). A quick search on the Web site for the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association reveals […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2009: Non-navigable River Blues
The center did not hold
The thing that has kept me reading HCN through the years has been the balanced reporting and presentation of different viewpoints, a refreshing voice in a nearly bipolar political world. But I have to say that I am sensing a shift in the flavor of HCN articles and editorials. The Dec. 22/Jan. 5 issue is […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2009: Non-navigable River Blues
… and the rivers clapping their hands
Thank you for your Dec. 22/Jan. 5 issue “What a Mess.” The entire Beltway community — Republicans, Democrats, media/corporate America — is busily sweeping the ugly, and illegal, Bush legacy under the red carpet being rolled out for Obama. Bad enough that the Constitution lies crumpled in the trash (not the recycle) bin, but most […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2009: Blood Quantum
Bass-o-matic
Regarding your story “Ultimate Solution?”, it has been observed that history repeats itself because people don’t learn (HCN 11/21/08). To some extent that may be true. What is certainly true is that history repeats itself because untruths repeated often enough take on the trappings of truth. This came to mind when I read the article. […]