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LIKE I WAS SAYING 30 AMERICAN RURAL 30 DRAWING BOARD 31 Viewpoints
LETTERS
Zinke’s Questionable Position on Coal Sales
The Obama administration is pres- ently trying to correct what it believes are inappropriate sales of Montana coal deposits – by which the coal companies involved are trying to avoid paying the state of Montana the full value of its coal. The person most strongly resist- ing these corrections is Montana’s own congressional representative, Ryan Zinke, whose recent election to the US House appears to have been greatly facilitated by the same fossil fuel cor- poration involved in the contested sales. The question then, of course, is whose interests is Zinke serving in this case? Surely, the citizens of Montana would prefer to receive the full value of their assets, would they not? An additional question for Mr. Zinke would be – are you really suggesting that Montana’s future depends on becoming a “carbon pusher” to our already carbon-contam- inated world?
And just for the record, I did read Congressman Zinke’s letter in the July 23 issue of the Beacon in which he tried to explain his position on this issue. It included some financial mumbo-jumbo that still leaves the state of Montana short about $19 million per year and implied that Montanans need not be concerned about basic laws of science that are operative elsewhere. For exam- ple, he describes the generation of new jobs via the development of “clean coal” technologies – even though there is no such thing as a clean coal power plant. He surely knows that that every single carbon atom in those two-mile-long trains arriving at all coal-fired power plants is converted to carbon dioxide and emitted into the atmosphere. He also surely knows that coal is one of the dirtiest forms of fossil fuel producing only half as much energy per CO2 mol- ecule emitted as natural gas while also emitting other pollutants, such as mer- cury. I am sure that Congressman Zinke and his friends at Peabody Energy Co. all know all of this – they are surely not that dumb. They just hope you are.
Eric Grimsrud Liberty Lake
LWCF Helps Make Summer in Montana Great
Summer is in full bloom and whether your adventures with your friends and family take you fishing, hiking, or bit- ing into a locally sourced burger, you might have the Land and Water Conser- vation Fund (LWCF) to thank. Created by Congress in 1964, LWCF has been
used to create city parks, purchase con- servation easements to protect family ranches, expand national forests, and increase hunting and fishing access across our state. And it does it without a single dollar of public taxes. Instead, the fund’s primary source of income is from royalties paid by oil and gas companies drilling offshore in waters owned by the American people.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) was created by Con- gress in 1964 using primarily the roy- alties from offshore oil and gas devel- opment on federal property. It was a pretty great idea. Take some of the fees paid by energy companies to extract a public resource and invest it back into protecting other natural resources. Through the years, Montana has done well by the fund. It has been used to cre- ate city parks, purchase conservation easements on family ranches, expand national forests, and increase hunting and fishing access across the state. In fact, 70 percent of Montana’s fishing access sites were created with LWCF money.
Today, the fund is at risk and, if it disappears, it jeopardizes the heritage of our public lands. It’s set to expire on September 30, 2015 if Congress doesn’t act to reauthorize it. That’s less than 100 days from now – barely a Montana summer. Montanans don’t want to see that happen. A University of Montana survey found that 71 percent of Mon- tanans support LWCF and poll after poll demonstrates bipartisan support for the value of public land by citizens across the West. Businesses want to locate in places with clean air and water and plenty of public land for recreation. Plus, Montana’s visitor and recreation industry, which is highly dependent on public land, brings in billions of dollars in direct spending along with state and local taxes. It also creates more than 60,000 jobs.
The outdoors is more than a way of life in Montana; it is integral to the health of our state economy and the essential to the livelihoods of many local commu- nities. You see, the fund isn’t just about providing parks or fishing access sites. LWCF money has helped purchase con- servation easements on family ranches, like that of the Rappolds on the Rocky Mountain Front. The family has been in ranching since 1882 and can’t imagine another way of life. Their easement not only enabled the family to continue the current operation, it made it possible for the next generation to join the family business. That’s why ranchers, timber companies, municipalities, sportsmen and many more urge Congress to fully support this important program.
For now, most of us just want to get out and savor all the joys of summer. We know how fleeting the season is in our beautiful state so we don’t have a minute to waste. But, let’s not take our bounty for granted. Make sure Congress knows that you support the LWCF and its reauthorization.
Eleanor Morris The Nature Conservancy in Montana
Confusion Surrounds Negotiations with Iran
The words hit me head-on. It was during a PBS roundtable discussion on the situation surrounding the nego- tiations on the Iranian nuclear bomb building capability.
Four people were talking about the need for more sanctions, less sanctions, more military threats and action or less military involvement, and all the back and forth around these opinions. Then one man on the panel said these words which hit me head-on: “You can’t bomb knowledge and ideals.” Knowledge and ideals, of course, can range anywhere from horrible to honorable.
We all know the U.S. levels of frus- tration, politically partisan posturing and confusion surrounding the negoti- ation strategy with Iran. It seems to me, though, that as the cooler heads prevail in this strategy the world is taking and it is the only sensible actions with Iran at this point in time. We in America don’t hear much about the attitudes of the international team of negotiators. We constantly, however, hear U.S. talking heads, politicians, pundits and people of means speaking as wise authorities on the subject.
It seems that in America our mili- tary might, our deep and abiding belief in strong military power, and our love of heroic feats in battle drive much of peo- ple’s “knowledge and ideals.” This whole discussion, in my view, makes questions like these very important for all of us to consider: (1) What sort of a society are we? (2) What sort of a democratic soci- ety do we want to be? (3) What are we teaching our kids about life? (4) What are the guiding principles America lives by? (5) Are these principles presently working?
It just seems that before all our so-called leaders and media organiza- tions go too far pointing the fingers at others around the world, we have some mighty huge concerns right here at home in the teaching and learning arena which forms “knowledge and ideals.”
All change toward peace begins with each of us within our minds.
Bob McClellan Polson
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LETTERS
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AUGUST 5, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM