The bland-ing of Durango
Dear Andrea Allison,
(Editor’s note: The following letter was submitted as a response to the spokeswoman for Denver-based Gold Buckle Brewing, which bought out Durango Brewing Co., in July. Last week, employees of Durango Brewing were notified the local taproom was closing.)
After reading the excerpts from your rather happy-go-lucky press release, where you admit to firing my friends without notice or proper severance deliberately to prevent them from being able to find other employment, I wonder if perhaps you haven’t severely misjudged the community your new acquisition resides in. I write as a long-time and loyal patron of DBC who has seen, and welcomed, many changes at the brewery over the years. I have also witnessed the incredible hard work and loyalty of the staff throughout, despite an obvious lack of support from management. That hard work and dedication is what led to an incredibly warm and welcoming atmosphere, which led to massive local customer loyalty. That, and some awesome beer and burgers of course.
My father, a businessman who specialized in corporate mergers, used to say that the biggest lie in business is that nothing will change after the buyout. We all knew some change was inevitable. But us long-time and loyal customers had hopes that you would show some sensitivity to the community you were now a part of. How utterly disappointing to instead see a disregard for the impact of your actions on the lives of your employees and your attempts to blandly rationalize your actions away.
It’s obvious that your new business will have no relation, other than a name, with the neighborhood pub we all came to love.
While I welcome you to the community and wish you well in your new endeavor, I feel no need to patronize another blandly corporate business that will simply take my money away from Durango. You’ve shown exactly how much you don’t care for the people who work for you, and that’s not a value I associate with Durango. I’m not calling for the boycott of a business, simply stating that I choose not to spend my money at yours from now on.
– Taylor P Libby, Durango
Stop the Silverton bashing
To the Editor
(Editor’s note: the following letter is written by Bill Simon, who is a member of the Animas River Stakeholders Group. However, the letter represents the opinion of Bill Simon, citizen, and is not meant to represent the opinions of the ARSG.)
The recent Animas River Stakeholders Group meeting was generally non-corrosive, thoughtful and calm; unlike some yellow journalism tended to portray. True, Superfund was not given consensual support but then the conversation has just begun. Many newly interested citizens expressed the need for solid unbiased information based upon science, existing regulations and experience. ARSG is dedicated to providing this information to broaden community awareness, develop environmental stewardship and provide a forum to influence decision making. The continuation of negative comments made about the Silverton community, ARSG and the EPA require further response.
The Silverton community has long supported the numerous mine reclamation projects of the ARSG as has the myriad of collaborating local, state and federal agencies. So why bash Silverton? It has its own pristine drinking water sources and has no need for irrigation water since there is no agriculture within the county. Yet, its citizens have led the effort to remediate the mining legacy of pollution for over 21 years. With the exception of the significant support provided by the Southwestern Water Conservation District, the downstream citizens and political entities that actually use the water have provided no funding and little interest – until now.
The ARSG has received regional and national awards for its accomplishments in remediation. In spite of those predicting failure, ARSG has been effective in reducing zinc and copper concentration by 70 percent in Mineral Creek and a smaller but significant reduction has been obtained in the Upper Animas above Silverton. The discharges brought about by previously permitted mine(s) in the Gladstone vicinity of Cement Creek have effectively overwhelmed our gains, but that does not reflect upon our abilities but rather upon the questionable abandonment of a discharge permit by a regulatory agency. While it was never the intent of the group to deal with permitted discharges, since regulatory agencies exist for that purpose, it is only after the discharge permit was abandoned that ARSG chose to search for a viable treatment solution for the additional discharges. Because of the void left by the permit abandonment and liability issues related to ARSG not wanting to get stuck with liability for others’ pollution, the ARSG invited the Superfund arm of the EPA in to provide characterization of the new discharges surrounding the Gold King and American Tunnel bulkheads. Nevertheless, Silverton citizens have recently been portrayed as obstructionist, selfish, obstinate and greedy, and that the ARSG “piecemeal” approach has “failed.” However the EPA has rightfully taken responsibility for the only failure of which I am aware.
Silverton has been comprised of people who toiled in the mines, not owned them. Most of their paychecks went south to Durango for commodities, equipment, transportation, milling, smelting and entertainment, while profits were dispersed (unevenly) throughout the nation. And who benefited from the metals produced if not the citizens of this nation? It is time we all realize our role in this legacy of pollution! It is unfortunate that Durango, La Plata County and the communities and tribal nations south have offered little help. But with renewed concern and collaborative participation they can still become a part of the solution as stakeholders.
Whether the money for cleanup comes from CERCLA action or directly from Congress, the source is the same: tax dollars. (Superfund has not been reauthorized so the collection of a surtax on the chemical, oil and gas industries has been suspended.) A collaboration of government and mining companies could result in treatment designed and constructed by the experts that do that for their livelihoods. Mining companies are now (at last) used to meeting and exceeding strict water quality and aquatic life standards. The alternative, Superfund, may or may not result in being awarded some compensation from mining companies, but only after lengthy and costly litigation which, of necessity, can exclude the public from participation and frequently slows construction significantly. These and other options need to be thoroughly explored before decisions are enacted. In the meantime, please quit bashing the citizens of our community and the organization that has an established record of success in mine site remediation.
– Bill Simon, Silverton
Trump: the loose cannon
To the editor,
Donald Trump should not be a candidate for president of the United States. He is a volatile “loose cannon” who is out of control, and I am not referring to the immigration issue, which has to be addressed by more logical minds.
Trump is the personification of a global bully who would try to bully our potential adversaries into submission, and he could end up initiating major conflicts in the world. My concern is he will “shoot from the hip” and blunder into a nuclear war with Russia or China.
I have been voting as a conservative for various candidates from both parties since 1960, and I do not recall a presidential candidate who is so “off the wall” as Donald Trump.
Mr. Trump is not presidential material, and he could be a threat to the security of this country and the world. We need to trump all of his cards and return him to his casinos.
– Donald A. Moskowitz, Londonderry, N.H.
Quit the blame game
To the editor,
It’s difficult to wax poetic about the Gold King Mine spill as so many others have. I’ve lived on the river for 23 years and over that period of time, I’ve seen rocks on the bank turn Bronco orange from time to time. Eight or 10 years ago, there was an 8,500 CFS flow that re-channeled the river, taking six 100-year-old ponderosa pines and an acre of our land downstream.
Quite frankly, I’m more concerned about the rude river runners that trespass and then flip me off after they’ve used my land for a toilet than the heavy metals in the water.
I suspect that the whiney eco-freaks that point to the mine owners as greedy capitalists as the cause of this disaster don’t have a clue about the 1872 mining laws. Over the past 50 years, there have been countless opportunities to change this law with a Democrat president and both houses of Congress in the D column. In case it escaped their attention, there are mining operations in blue states too.
Finally, I want to point out that my opposition to the EPA Clean Water Act is the fact that the EPA has lied through their teeth about monitoring ditch water for ag use. With the exception of the WSJ, no news media have reported the fact that the EPA can monitor ditch water in FEMA designated flood zones. That takes in most of the north Animas valley.
It’s time to move on and quit blaming the other guy.
– Dennis Pierce, Durango
Stop unwise use of public lands
To the editor,
Irresponsible activity calls for radical changes. As such, I am proposing that all mining claims within critical watershed areas be halted and withdrawn, particularly those in the Animas and Rio Grande River drainage areas. Let it become an outdated industrial practice along with coal-fired power plants.
I understand the draw to mine gold, prices being as they are, but my question is: Of what value is clean water, by comparison? Priceless! I’m sure the miners of old may have failed to see the environmental damage they were causing but now we know better. Do we still allow a few get-rich schemers to make or even lose a fortune at the expense of those downstream? Another alternative would be to combine the Uncompahgre and Weminuche wilderness areas to include an area from Silverton over to Lake City. Let us reconsider the term “wise land use” and stop making unwise choices for the use of our public lands.
– Michael Englert, Aztec, N.M.
The Animas
Turning muddy in spring,
carrying Hermosa silt south,
you churned toward our neighbor’s
thirsty border.
By summer, the white waters
happily bounced river rafters and kayakers
downstream.
Up the valley in autumn,
the ballet of leaves danced down
your meanders of long light.
Winter, you patiently channeled
silently and dark
among snowcapped boulders.
Through the years
I swam along your oxbows in July,
sunning on your golden bars.
In August, it was time to bring
children to your playful shores,
to skip smooth stones.
December nights,
I felt the warm breath
of my wife as we walked your
pristine, snow covered path.
Some say that love is just a state of mind;
I think not.
I’d rather believe it is like a river
that runs through the veins of our existence,
hopefully healing the lost soul of our ways.
– Burt Baldwin, Ignacio