Our antiquated power system

I attended the meeting of the Colorado Clean Air Commission meeting on Aug. 20. I was pleased to see that The Gazette gave coverage to this meeting on the front page of the paper. I found the reporting of this meeting to be accurate and presented both sides of the issue. It was disappointing that although it was mentioned that there were about 10 people there asking the commission to classify Drake as a nonattainment facility in regards to sulfur dioxide emissions, there was no mention of the petition signed by 500 Colorado residents requesting this classification.

I was inspired to make the trip to Denver for this meeting after attending the Colorado Springs Utilities Board meeting in July. At that time, the board voted 6-to-3 to not consider the health and social costs of continued operation of Drake. The board refused to even review this information. Since the Colorado Springs Utilities Board is also our elected City Council, this refusal to even consider the implications of continued operation of Drake is a slap in the face of the citizens of Colorado Springs. The actions of both the Colorado Springs Utilities Board and the Colorado Clean Air Commission prompted many questions for me. The Drake power plant is 90 years old. What other technologies do we use that are nearly a century old? Do we drive 90-year-old cars? Do we use 90-year-old phones? Technologies have changed and made great advancements over the past century. Energy and its production are the critical components in everyones’ life. It seems reasonable that our energy production here in Colorado Springs should take advantage of the remarkable advancements in efficiency, cost savings, and pollution reduction.

The mining, transportation, and burning of coal to produce electricity have many negative consequences. There are alternatives now that provide cleaner, more efficient, and cheaper energy production, not to mention less harmful health and environmental results.

If the City Council/Utilities Board are unwilling to even consider the health of the citizens of Colorado Springs and cost of continued operation of a coal burning power plant in our downtown area, it is time to turn this responsibility over to professionals that do. I had the chance to speak to a representative of Excel Energy at the Clean Air Commission meeting. He stated that if Excel Energy had bought Drake it would have been shut down by now. Privatization of our antiquated power system could help bring our city into the 21st century.

To borrow a popular phrase, it is time to “Repeal and Replace” the Drake power plant and the Colorado Springs Utilities Board.

Steve Berger

Colorado Springs

Common sense isn’t so common

This letter is in regards to the Aug. 21 story on “The Drake” being allowed more time to figure out if SO2 levels really are at a hazardous level.

I’m sure by now that we’re all adequately aware of this ceaseless battle between environmentalists and those who I can only assume are employing doublethink. We all know that science tells us that for every action there is a reaction, right? It baffles me the extreme at which common sense isn’t so common. How can any reasonable person think that burning such a large amount of coal wouldn’t have some kind of effect on the world around us? You flip a light switch and the room is awash in light, right?

I know that it is not that simple when it comes to regulating an institution that makes the lives of a considerable population more comfortable. But there comes a time when we must come to our senses and relinquish the addiction to ridiculous comfort and instant gratification. It isn’t going to be easy, but there are plenty of ways we can cope with not every single person having a car – for years our species has done just fine without it.

I mean sulfur dioxide? At the first sign of any of that being in the atmosphere you would think an enlighten culture would stop that immediately. We cannot expect to our actions to not have some kind of an effect; children attending school have to worry about breathing in toxic chemicals. You saw what happened to the Animas River, we are cutting our nose to spite our face.

In closing, my purpose in this is to humbly request those who deny the extent of our footprints err on the side caution. We can greatly reduce the effects of The Drake, and if we find that it wasn’t that bad after all then we can start it back up to full speed. I think it’s better to look foolish stopping a perceived threat, then to look intelligent while you’re dying.

Jesse Lane

Colorado Springs

Thanking Springs’ wonderful people

Recently, my roommate and I decided to stay at a campground called Wye in Manitou Springs. We are from Iowa, and had no idea that getting there would require us to climb a mountain in my 2011 Nissan Rogue. Five miles into the trek, we got ourselves stuck on the side of a 12-foot wide road. Within minutes, there were no fewer than five trucks stopped to help us. Thanks to them, we got out of the rut and safely back to the base of the mountain. These wonderful people saved us thousands of dollars in towing and repair bills, and pretended not to notice that we had no business on that road! They refused to let us compensate them for the hour it took to get us on our way, as we were told “that’s the way we do things around here.”

We’d just like to say thank you, and bless the people of Colorado Springs.

Brody Vogel

Jessup, Iowa