Initiatives socialize water rights
Dear Editor,
Water is one of Colorado’s most important natural resources. This year, there are two ballot initiatives being proposed that, if passed, will change Colorado water rights forever. Initiative 3, missapropriately called “The Adoption of the Public Trust Doctrine,” is worded to allow for the confiscation of existing water rights. The key provision of this initiative says in part “… that the public’s estate in water in Colorado has a legal authority superior to rules and terms of contracts or property law.”
Dear Editor,
Water is one of Colorado’s most important natural resources. This year, there are two ballot initiatives being proposed that, if passed, will change Colorado water rights forever. Initiative 3, missapropriately called “The Adoption of the Public Trust Doctrine,” is worded to allow for the confiscation of existing water rights. The key provision of this initiative says in part “… that the public’s estate in water in Colorado has a legal authority superior to rules and terms of contracts or property law.”
That statement flies in the face of more than 100 years of established water law in Colorado. Initiative 45, entitled “Limits on Water Diversion,” would socialize water rights. It states in part “The public confers the privilege for the use and diversion of its water to any appropriator for the common good.” Yet fails to define or say who will define the term “common good.”
These two initiatives would modify Article XVI Sections 5 and 6 of the State’s Constitution in such a way as to potentially void the property rights of most agricultural water users and possibly even some municipal and industrial users. I’m sure these initiatives were well intentioned and meant to preserve in-stream flows and allow greater public use of waterways. However, they are poorly worded and amount to a state takeover and a socialization of water rights that I stand firmly against.
– Tim Hunter, Mancos
– Tim Hunter, Mancos
It’s La Plata County caucus time
To the editor,
Although the General Election won’t be held until November, Colorado political parties hold their caucuses in February and March. These local precinct caucuses are an opportunity for voters to choose candidates they wish their party to nominate.
To the editor,
Although the General Election won’t be held until November, Colorado political parties hold their caucuses in February and March. These local precinct caucuses are an opportunity for voters to choose candidates they wish their party to nominate.
Tiffany Parker, La Plata County Clerk and Recorder, states, “Precinct caucuses are organized by Colorado’s political parties to begin the process of selecting candidates and policy positions. To vote in a precinct caucus, you must be a resident of the precinct for 30 days, be registered to4 vote at your correct address no later than 29 days before the caucus, and be affiliated with the political party holding the caucus for at least two months. You do not need to re-register to vote in your caucus if your address and other voter information is current.”
The Republican Party caucuses will be Tues., Feb. 7. Caucus locations may be found at: http://www.laplatarepublicans.org/?q=node/132 or by email at laplatarepublicans@gmail.com.
The Democratic Party caucuses will be Tues., March 6. Caucus locations may be found at:http://laplatadems.org/VoterInformation/Caucus/CaucusLocationsandLeaders.aspx or by email at info@laplatadems.org.
Should the Constitution Party hold caucuses, they will be Tues., March 6. Caucus locations would be found at: www.americanconstitutionparty.com or by email at info@americanconstitutionparty.com . To determine your voter registration status and precinct number call 382-6296 or go to www.govotecolorado.com.
Make your voice count. Attend your party’s caucus!
– Marilyn Sandstrom, League of Women Voters La Plata County,Voter Service Committee
Anti-bag ban argument has holes
To the editor,
For some, the debate surrounding banning single-use plastic shopping bags has become a rallying cry around erosion of American freedom.
For some, the debate surrounding banning single-use plastic shopping bags has become a rallying cry around erosion of American freedom.
I agree that our republic faces real threats, but not from city ordinances such as smoking bans, leash laws and plastic-bag bans. Our country has thrived because of the rule of law, written by our elected representatives, law that is core to our freedom.
Bans on plastic bags are like any law that societies enact to protect the environment or people’s health. We remove lead from gasoline because it harms our environment. We ban smoking in public because it is bad for people. We mandate automobile mileage standards because they promote cleaner air and healthier Americans. Like these examples, removing single-use plastic bags from our lives will not reduce our lifestyle, but improve it.
Here are some compelling reasons to ban single-use plastic bags:
- Plastic bags are not “free.” Each year, 100 billion plastic shopping bags are factored into the price of our groceries. Everyone pays for these, whether we use them or not. Tack on after-market costs to the environment and our health, and the toll is much higher.
- Single-use plastic bags use 12 million barrels of oil per year. We will need every drop in the near future to transition beyond oil.
- Plastic is one of the biggest pollutants – a problem best represented by the enormous ocean “garbage patches,” which did not exist 25 years ago (and 80 percent of which come from land).
- Plastic bags are made to last forever yet are designed to be thrown away. Plastic takes upward of 1,000 years to biodegrade. Except for the infinitesimal amount incinerated, all of the plastic ever produced is still with us.
- Only a minute percentage of plastic bags is reused. They all still end up in our landfill, landscape and waterways.
- Plastic is toxic. It stays in our environment and finds its way into our food. Recently, 9 percent of fish in the Northern Pacific were found to have plastic in their bodies.
- Plastic bags are extremely difficult to recycle and therefore most aren’t. Less than 5 percent go through this reclamation process.
- Animals don’t mix with plastic. It kills and maims them by the millions, through ingestion, strangulation and entanglement.
If we acknowledge plastic bags are a problem, how can we best tackle it? Some advocate education – and so do I. But education alone simply has not worked – for the same reasons it did not work for smoking. For years, we knew that smoking was harmful, yet 25 years ago, I was vehemently opposed to smoking bans, and held the same litany of reasoning you hear today about banning plastic bags. Despite all the education in the world, I, and millions of other Americans, continued to smoke. It wasn’t until smoking was banned that I was forced to change my behavior, and I finally quit. Without the bans, I’d probably happily still be killing myself.
Although I am no proponent of big-box development in Durango, corporations such as Target and Wal-Mart have been incorporating bag bans into their business models for years. In 2009, Target banned plastic bags in all 283 of its Australian stores. Wal-Mart recently announced it will open six new stores in Washington, D.C., the first city to curtail plastic-bag use. Years before Durango even thought of a plastic-bag ban, corporations were preparing for them.
In dozens of U.S. cities, from Brownsville, Texas, to San Francisco to Telluride, there is not a shred of evidence that tourism is negatively impacted by bag bans. Being a leader shines positive light on communities that embrace the future before it fully arrives. Banning single-use plastic bags now, rather than in a few years, places Durango in a leadership role – one that is good for our image and good for business.
Paper or plastic? That question is like comparing a gunshot wound to cancer. Although paper biodegrades, is 100 percent renewable andeasily recycles, it is as resource-intensive as plastic. The best choice is to bring your own, which becomes second nature. But we all forget our bags sometimes. In most cities with bans, “greener” single-use bags are available for a minimal fee.
We can ask ourselves as a community, do we want to continue to be part of the problem or to proactively be part of the solution?
– Erich Bussian, Sustainability Alliance of SW Colorado