_ Yesterday the Western Colorado Congress of Mesa County held its annual meeting and election of officers for the coming year. The meeting was designed to focus on the work that has been done by members over the years, and to note the challenges that remain.

I think that the gathered members were surprised to learn that their President, Benita Phillips, is a registered Republican. The perception is that no Republican could possibly work with a bunch of tree-hugging environmentalists. At one point during the evening, Benita launched into an impassioned speech about how no Republican, prior to the Reagan era, ever considered that there should be any kind of trade-off of jobs for environmental justice. Protecting the environment doesn’t destroy jobs, and in fact, may create them.

One example is the work that Western Colorado Congress of Mesa County has done to protect the riverfront as it passes through Grand Junction. It is unfortunate that a perception exists that the work was all about destroying a local company, Brady Trucking. WCC-Mesa is not against any business, so long as it does not damage the long-term livability of our community.

The work to protect the riverfront was in support of the Grand Junction master plan, which envisions the real estate along the Colorado River as an attractive place for families to recreate and for wildlife to continue to thrive. The master plan envisions a large park that is adjacent to the current Brady Trucking property. In fact, at the corner of the park closest to the Brady property, the plan calls for an amphitheatre, adequate for musical concerts, outdoor plays, and all manner of public meetings.

Imagine if just that one enhancement existed. It isn’t hard to imagine businesses being attracted to the area to serve the concert-going public. In fact that is exactly what happened when San Antonio, TX cleaned up its water front and invested in walking and bike paths. Now on any evening in San Antonio, it is possible to see families walking along the riverfront, stopping in for dinner at one of many restaurants, and lingering over drinks on an outdoor patio, as the rest of the world drifts by. Right here in Colorado, Pueblo and Denver have both invested in making their riverfronts attractive and safe places for people to congregate. The businesses attracted to those redeveloped riverfronts employ lots and lots of people.

Grand Junction’s riverfront can be just as appealing to both families and businesses, so long as it does not revert to an industrial junk yard. The only mammals that enjoy playing in junk yards are four legged rats. Western Colorado Congress of Mesa County is working on behalf of a vision of the riverfront that includes development and families. There is no vendetta against development.  There is a vendetta against anything that threatens the health of the community or the river.

P.S. Kevin King, Western Colorado Congress of Mesa County is not working on the Rocky Ford Cantaloupe problem because they are not grown in Mesa County. Given that you are against any kind of regulation, it is amusing that you think we should be working on cantaloupe regulation. For the record, we are gearing up to support local farmers who want to sell more product locally, including value added produce.

Homework

Grand Junction's Comprehensive Plan

Western Colorado Congress of Mesa County

The Los Angeles Times published an article this week, which bore the title “Too Dirty to Fail.” The lead sentence is attention grabbing: “Since the beginning of this year, Republicans in the House have averaged roughly a vote every day the chamber has been in session to undermine the Environmental Protection Agency and our nation's environmental laws.”

Politicians ran on a platform of “Jobs Now,” which seems to mean do everything possible to ensure that corporations have no regulations and citizens have no rights. Anything that multinational corporations don’t like is described as job killing.  We constantly see that argument in reader’s comments to online versions of the Sentinel and letters to the editor. Citizens believe the story they’ve been told by captains of industry.

 Herman Cain said that Blacks have been brainwashed into voting for Democrats. Reality is that workers, especially here in Happy Valley, have been brainwashed into voting against their own best interests. People are convinced that we can’t have jobs and a vibrant economy if we regulate industries that pollute the air we breathe, the soil that grows our food, and the water we drink. Reality is that without regulations this High Desert that we call home would be uninhabitable. Without regulations the cost to clean up any environmental disaster falls to taxpayers, not the industrial polluters. Regulations protect human health against the excesses of corporate greed.

Today the Denver Post is reporting that the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling paving the way to enforce Clinton’s roadless rules pertaining to 49 million acres of roadless forests and grasslands. In Colorado the ruling protects 4.4 million acres of National Forest, which represents about a third of Colorado’s National Forests. There are some exceptions incorporated in the ruling, including an exemption if fire danger is high.

This ruling will irritate the oil and gas industry in Colorado, and they will send their attack dogs out to bark about jobs. Jane Danowitz, director of the Pew Environment Group's U.S. public lands program said, "Without the roadless rule, protection of these national forests would be left to a patchwork management system that in the past resulted in millions of acres lost to logging, drilling and other industrial development.” A “patchwork management system” is exactly what the industry wants, and why they were working on a separate Colorado roadless rule that allowed mining and drilling on public lands.

In the GOP war on the environment, a battle was lost in federal court yesterday. But the environment hasn’t yet won the war. When you hear about getting rid of regulations because they kill jobs, ask which jobs are going to be lost and which pockets are going to be lined. You may find that the jobs being protected are jobs that have been outsourced to foreign soil.

Homework

Too Dirty to Fail ßread this! It debunks the theory that regulations cost jobs.

Denver Post Story About Reinstatement of Roadless Rules

Pew Charitable Trust's Environmental program

Yesterday was Father’s Day, but I didn’t celebrate and just couldn’t motivate myself to write a column about it. Last Father’s Day my father was suffering after a stroke in a nursing home. This Father’s Day his ashes are in a grave in metro Denver. I know there are other fathers, and they should be celebrated if they are good fathers, but I just couldn’t do it.

3,000 Protest Against Fracking

A story that caught my eye was one about Canadians protesting fracking. 3,000 of them marched through the streets of downtown Montreal chanting anti-drilling slogans. Quebec has ordered a study of fracking, but the protestors said it wasn’t enough—there should be a moratorium on drilling until the study is complete. They were also concerned that of the 11 member panel appointed to study the issue, eight had ties to the industry. Even Canadians have regulatory capture!

Politico: America is Going to Hell

Politico reported on a survey conducted by Weber Shandwick and Powell Tate in partnership with KRC Research. Considering that I blogged about my theory that anonymity fosters rudeness the other day, it was interesting to read that I’m not the only one concerned about the way that we talk to and treat each other.

Try a little kindness today.

Miami Herald Reports that Weiner's Regisnation is Bad for the Environment

Go to the link. Weiner was a strong voice for the environment in Congress. Yes, Kevin, hell is freezing over. I even agreed with something said by American Partiot and Voter2010 about our County Commissioners at the Sentinel’s website.

Republicans have been attacking the Environmental Protection Agency for years. Scott Tipton, Representative from Colorado’s Congressional District 3, has vowed to defund and dismantle the agency. This is not a new story.

One of the greatest environmental controversies coming out of the Bush Administration was its directive to close the EPA libraries. In fact, they closed the doors on some of the branches and started packing up books ostensibly to send them to an office where the collection would be digitized. When researchers and congress pushed back, the EPA was directed to come up with a reorganization plan, but funding was cut to the agency. The plan was due to be completed in Fiscal 2011.

Many people felt the Bush Administration wanted the EPA gone so that the oil and gas industry could thrive in an environment with no regulation. The EPA is at cross purposes with industry’s desire to maximize profits. There is no doubt that regulations increase company expenses. But regulations also fulfill the mission of the EPA as described at their website:

“The mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment.

EPA's purpose is to ensure that:

• all Americans are protected from significant risks to human health and the environment where they live, learn and work;
• national efforts to reduce environmental risk are based on the best available scientific information;
• federal laws protecting human health and the environment are enforced fairly and effectively;
• environmental protection is an integral consideration in U.S. policies concerning natural resources, human health, economic growth, energy, transportation, agriculture, industry, and international trade, and these factors are similarly considered in establishing environmental policy;
• all parts of society -- communities, individuals, businesses, and state, local and tribal governments -- have access to accurate information sufficient to effectively participate in managing human health and environmental risks;
• environmental protection contributes to making our communities and ecosystems diverse, sustainable and economically productive; and
• the United States plays a leadership role in working with other nations to protect the global environment.”

Homework

2006 Attempts to Dismantle EPA Library

2007 Article About Closing the EPA Libraries

2007 Report to Congress About EPA Libraries

2008 Article About Closing the EPA Libraries

2010 Article About Reorganizing the EPA Libraries

Laws Establishing the Authority of the EPA