|
2- San Miguel Basin Forum, Thursday, December 10, 2009
<br />Letter: Prime Farmland May Be Turned to Dry Land Due to Revisiol
<br />Dear Friends and Citizens of
<br />Nucla, Norwood, Naturita and
<br />Paradox:
<br />We need your help. Every day
<br />I fight for what is right. I fight
<br />the environmentalists who want
<br />sucker fish protected, prairie dogs
<br />protected, and all those who fight
<br />the mining industry, oilfield indus-
<br />try, and the ranchers and farmers.
<br />I've seen all of these communities
<br />pull together for the better good.
<br />That is why we need your
<br />help now.
<br />U nder
<br />The
<br />W4fre
<br />PRE-THR
<br />I spend a lot of time watching
<br />for odd things people do that sepa-
<br />rate them from Border Collies and
<br />Angus Bulls. In other words, how
<br />do we humans differ from higher
<br />life forms?
<br />. Border Collies, Angus Bulls
<br />and most other animals think
<br />about now. Today is all that exists
<br />for them. Their rules are simple.
<br />If you are happy today, your life
<br />is happy. No regrets. No guilt.
<br />No,"if only's." Humans seem to
<br />spend more time on thoughts of
<br />If you read the Forum last
<br />week, you will see there is a
<br />Public Notice that Western Fuels
<br />put in the paper, very small print
<br />and very little details requesting
<br />a Permit Revision. This greatly
<br />affects many of you. This 139 page
<br />Revision is to allow Western Fuels
<br />to return PRIME FARMLAND,
<br />irrigated pastures and haylands,
<br />back to DRY LAND consist-
<br />ing mostly of sagebrush. If this,
<br />Revision is approved, it will allow
<br />Western Fuels to reclaim any farm
<br />
<br />Hoi sari
<br />EE
<br />Pre-THREE.
<br />Never heard of it? I'll be
<br />you've not only heard of it, you
<br />probably have talked about it in
<br />the past few months. Pre-three, or
<br />to use it's longer name, Pre-three
<br />dollar per gallon gas. The entire
<br />country has established this'as the
<br />bench mark to separate earlier,
<br />more innocent times when gas
<br />was a mere two dollar-seventy-
<br />five cents per gallon rather than
<br />modern time's three plus per gal-
<br />lon price. in true human form,
<br />ground, any lands that they do,
<br />back into dry land (reference area
<br />to match the area next to the air-
<br />port). This means our place, right
<br />now. Our beautiful farm, even
<br />though the contracts were signed
<br />in 1998. Western Fuels wants to
<br />put the Sunshine place back to dry
<br />land, sagebrush. For 20 years we
<br />will have to do without produc-
<br />tion.
<br />This means NO Irrigation,
<br />NO fertilizing, NO grazing, just
<br />sagebrush and shrubs. This greatly
<br />affects us. Most of you remember
<br />the Sunshine Comer of Morgan's
<br />Ranch just west of 27 Road. This
<br />piece of property they want to
<br />put back in dry land, sagebrush.
<br />This will remain a minimum of
<br />10 years and possibly. indefinitely
<br />depending on Bond Release and,
<br />then after bond release, if that
<br />can ever be accomplished, the
<br />Farmer (Mr. Morgan) can put-his
<br />own property back into the alfalfa
<br />fields or crops they were in bef4
<br />it was mined.
<br />This will affect Benso
<br />Lloyds, Johnsons and Richards
<br />well as Garveys and many mor
<br />Most of you remember
<br />beautiful alfalfa and corn fie
<br />and it was known as one of
<br />most beautiful farms in the co
<br />try. Western Fuels, DRMS, NR(
<br />have all documented this to be
<br />only property that is totally Pr
<br />Farm Land, the only irrigated C
<br />Continued on Pag
<br />Editorial:
<br />In Response
<br />Dear Mr. Goodtimes,
<br />In response to your recent letter to the citizens of the West End, I guess my first question would be: Ho
<br />stupid do you think we are?
<br />Do you actually think that we would believe that you, as the founder and as a personal member of SheA
<br />Mountain Alliance; didn't know what the organization was going to -do if Montrose County approved the sp
<br />?cial use permit? That your fellow commissioner, Joan May, as the former director of this organization, didr
<br />know?
<br />Do you think that those of us who attended the permit hearings missed the part where your county planni
<br />Mike Rozycki, suggested a lawsuit during his commentary to our commissioners? Do you think we miss,
<br />your editorials through the months of permit consideration, in which you accused Energy Fuels of bait ai
<br />switch tactics (Scattering Doug's Ashes in Cali, July, 2009)? Do you think we missed the part of that editori
<br />that read, "Call your local enviro group and get involved. Let's not turn Western Colorado into a dump',
<br />grounds for other states' radioactive wastes."
<br />Did you forget that you wrote that or were you just hoping we would?
<br />How about your editorial entitled "Open Letter to Naturita/ Nucla," published in September, in which y,
<br />stated, "Montrose County is actively seeking a 1000-year stigma as a radioactive wasteland, after even Neva
<br />rejected that status" or, a few lines later, where you state, "Take the fact that the environmental assessment i
<br />the Pinon Ridge project isn't completed but your county seems to be moving forward with approvals befr
<br />even knowing if your claim of "no impacts" has any scientific basis or riot. That's, an issue for citizens in S
<br />Miguel County, where environmental impacts are thoroughly researched and weighed before land use de,
<br />sions are made (and vested)."
<br />Is that taking a "neutral" position on the matter, Mr. Goodtimes? Is that not challenging another count:
<br />decision-making? Do you think we can't read?
<br />And about those. neutral decisions, such as your claim that San Miguel. County isn't giving financial st
<br />nnrt to .QhPPn Mnnntain Alliane-p in 10141 ac they hayP in yPare naet Wit annan+ntly thinir nip rlnn't iinr6reta
|