Re: Nuclear power
At the end of last week’s article “Nuclear power in Western Colorado revisited,” geothermal power is mentioned as another option for the Craig or Hayden powerplants. In my humble opinion, this has about zero likelihood of success in my lifetime. A little geo-hotspot exists in the Yampa Valley, but the local geology and geography is very different from the unique basin and range where enhanced geothermal power is being developed commercially. That plant resulted from hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research in that specific basin over 15 years. It utilizes 40 square miles and requires 10 “little” power plants on the surface.
A month ago, the Moffat County Commissioners denied a permit for a 200 MW solar and battery project just west of the Craig power plant. The developers were ready to invest more than $300 million+ for this proven greenhouse gas-free generation. (OK, fossil fuels are used to manufacture and construct the arrays, but that’s offset in less than a year now.) That array would have required fencing 1,500 acres, but it would have been right under two existing 345,000 volt powerlines, reducing its impact on views and keeping the cost to consumers reasonable. The site included old oil or gas wells. The project would have replaced some of the property taxes from Craig Station, though not duplicated its employment.
Various groups seem enraptured with hopes for Greenhouse gas-free generation as long as it is not wind, solar and storage with backup. Many “just transition” schemes seem to revolve around preserving “thermal” generation and its employment profile. But if the goal is electricity which is almost free of greenhouse gases, at a reasonable cost any time soon, then we need to accept direct generation of electricity from solar and wind, expand storage as the “killer app,” and look elsewhere for jobs to replace those at the obsolete baseload fossil fuel thermal power plants.
Fred Porter
Carbondale

Senior parking
Will the scoundrel who made off with my “Senior Homeowner” parking sign, with a heavy cast iron pole and base, from 3rd Street and Garfield kindly return it? This behavior is not how to be a good Carbondale resident or visitor!
Laurie Loeb
Carbondale

Constitution education
I spent three weeks copying the United States Constitution by hand. Why? To learn. Fifty-five men including James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin attended the Constitutional Convention and collaboratively wrote our constitution in 1787. Jacob Shallus hand-wrote it. The Preamble Shallus capitalized these words: We, United States, Order, Union, Justice, Tranquility, Welfare, Blessings, Liberty, Posterity, Constitution, United States of America.
Those capitalized words reflect the values and intent of our forefathers to form a union of states into “one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” words we say in our pledge of allegiance. The capitalized words hold the hopes and principles of those early Americans for themselves and us.
The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Immigrants to this country must pass an oral test on it to become citizens. Do Trump and his Cabinet uphold what they swore to defend when they took office? What do their actions reveal?
Rather than justice, ICE detains and imprisons legal immigrants and international students with visas. Rather than order, we have chaos with the president’s new decrees, tariffs and firings daily. Rather than tranquility, we experience fear that some new decree will strip us of our rights to free speech, peaceful assembly, freedom of religion and the ability to petition the government to redress grievances. Posterity now is only for the billionaires.
Trump threatens news outlets that criticize his actions and makes them pay him to continue operating. He makes law firms defend his interests pro bono. He denies immigrants their rights to court hearings and condemns children to death worldwide by ending USAID.
Trump’s budget that Hurd voted for strips Medicaid and SNAP funding and medical research that aims for cures for cancer, ALS, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and AIDS prevention.
The estimated cost of Trump’s military parade: $45,000,000.
Join the NO KINGS gathering June 14 in Sayre Park, 10:30am to 12:30pm.
Illène Pevec
Carbondale

Affordable housing
Ms. Perry was right about trailer parks being an important part of employee housing. And then she went into a Trump Derangement rant without any suggestions on how to or who should help these situations.
These parks all house Glitzburg workers and I think some of those woke billionaires upvalley should be lining up to support their workers financially.
Like that one Dem rep said, the wealthy can never have enough cheap labor to wipe their fat butts.
But we must also stop the greed of the dirt pimps who are selling out these hardworking souls. These parks are truly the last affordable domiciles where workers can get ahead.
Screw the dirt pimp developers and save the parks, like George Stranahan did for Lazy Glen.
Bruno Kirchenwitz
Rifle

Summer love
One of my favorite memories of my daughter was a car ride home from the Carbondale town pool. She was a few months shy of 4 years old and, for the first time, had just swum with no swimmies.
Wiggling with excitement in her carseat, fidgeting with her hands, she said, “I’m amazed about myself! I’m PROUD because I didn’t do that before!” She took one more big, happy, high shouldered breath before rapidly changing (as small children do) to a very serious facial expression… “I want my snacks.”
Kaia was born with strabismus, commonly known as a lazy eye, which limited her peripheral vision and depth perception for the first four years of her life, until surgery. She was totally resistant to skis, bikes, and scooters — and in a town like Carbondale, where kids tend to be well ahead of the curve with mountain sports, this made us worry. But water has always been her happy place. She could spend all day, every day underwater, recovering diving toys, doing tricks, and exploring. It’s where she’s fully confident and herself.
I’m supporting the Let’s Make a Splash campaign for her, and for her younger sister who’s still in swimmies; so our whole community has a place at the center of town to cool off on hot days, make new friends, learn life-saving skills, and have fun in the water all summer long.
Please join me in bringing the Carbondale pool to life. Head to carbondaleconnect.org/pool to learn more or make a gift.
Rachel Bachman Perkins
Carbondale

Thanks!
Thank you to Mike Adams and Jackie Parker and all the other great folks at the American Legion in Carbondale for awarding me the American Legion scholarship this year. I’ll be attending Mesa Community College in Mesa, Arizona and the scholarship will pay a big portion of my tuition. It means a lot to me to have the support of this organization as I know they provide so much for the veterans and their families in the Valley. Thank you to everyone there who helps those who have served their country.
Cole Fenton
Missouri Heights

Un-Hurd
I went to Capitol Hill in D.C. a few weeks ago to speak to Senator Hickenlooper’s, Senator Bennet’s and Representative Hurd’s staffers about the importance of keeping the Endangered Species Act (ESA) intact and guided by science rather than short-term gains. The meetings with our senators’ staffers were productive and pleasant. Unfortunately Representative Hurd’s staff never replied to our emails requesting a meeting, so we decided to just stop by his office and see if the staff had five to 10 minutes available. I flew all the way across the country to his office on The Hill, walked in and introduced myself, and the two staffers were less than interested in me or the fact that I had come all the way from Basalt; nor did they take five minutes to hear my purpose for coming by. I decided to ask about when they expected the next town hall to be here in western Colorado and they had no idea when. I rolled my eyes and left them with some handouts about our stand on the ESA.
Reflecting on all this, it‘s important to remember to continue to show up regardless. It may not feel like speaking up really makes much of an impact. Yet, I believe we still must. There is not a better alternative. We still live in a democratic nation and the only way to save democracy is to be a practicing, participating citizen. It may be a very broken, imperfect system, yet it’s the only system we have, so we should exercise it to its max capacity. It’s possible that the people can save democracy and ultimately create a more just society for all if more and more people stand up, speak out, and show up. My 10-year-old niece wrote a letter to congressmen which I hand delivered copies to each of the offices we visited and took photos of the letters with the staffers and shared those with her. Teaching her the skills of civics and participating in democracy is something else I can do.
Representative “Un-Hurd,” the district elected you, you’re getting paid to represent all of us, and it is rather difficult to explain your behavior as a leader within a representative democracy. Listen to your people. We ultimately will decide if you get to keep your job or not.
Sarah Johnson
Basalt