Colorado Editorial Roundup
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NATIONAL:
The Daily Sentinel, Grand Junction, Nov. 27, on oil and gas leasing policy:
Along with many groups and individuals, The Daily Sentinel regularly criticized the pedal-to-the-metal approach to oil and gas leasing of the Bush administration. Especially in the last couple years of President George W. Bush's term, there seemed to be an intentional — if unwritten — policy to approve as much federal-lands leasing of oil and gas as possible before a new administration took over.
President Barack Obama has been in office for 10 months, and it's no surprise that he and Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar have significantly slowed the pace of oil and gas leasing on federal lands.
And it's hardly astonishing that industry groups are upset with that slowdown.
But the industry anguish over the leasing policies of Obama and Salazar isn't without merit. The Obama administration has significantly slowed the pace of oil and gas leasing, not only from what President Bush's team allowed, but from the rate of leasing set during the first year of the Clinton administration. That's according to one industry group. The first year of the Clinton administration was hardly a time of booming gas prices, and Clinton's secretary of Interior, Bruce Babbitt, was never seen as a friend of the energy industry.
In addition to the scale-back in the pace of leasing under Obama, there is also more uncertainty now about what may happen to leases already approved, because Salazar has withdrawn several leases approved earlier by the Bush administration.
We have urged Salazar to re-examine leases in one special case — the federal lands atop the Roan Plateau west of Rifle. That's a unique situation in large part because the lessee is now projecting to drill 15 times the number of gas wells that the BLM forecast when it conducted environmental studies for the Roan leasing.
It's true that depressed gas prices have diminished some interest in federal leases. But prices will eventually rise and there will be more demand for natural gas and gas leasing.
President Obama and Secretary Salazar need to assure energy companies they have a consistent policy on leasing that companies can depend upon when they consider bidding on leases. And they need to find a middle ground for leasing these important natural resources — something between the lead-foot approach of the Bush administration and the riding of the brakes that appears to be taking place now.
Editorial: http://www.gjsentinel.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2009/11/27/112709(underscore)4A(underscore)lease(underscore)edit.html
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The Aurora Sentinel, Nov. 24, on the leak of scientists' e-mails about global warming:
It seems that everyone has learned a lesson from criminal hackers stealing global warming research documents from a British university.
Hackers broke into computer servers at the University of East Anglia, a prominent international research center for global warming, stealing at least 10 years worth of research data and e-mail.
The materials, especially e-mails, have been posted all over the Internet in an attempt to discredit the overwhelming scientific view that global warming is caused by human activity and is a serious threat to life on the planet.
Most of the attention over the leak has focused on offhand comments made between scientists, in particular, disparaging comments about those who don't believe the current theories about human-induced global warming.
In one of the e-mails, two scientists make light of the death of a well-known global-warming skeptic. The e-mail getting the most attention refers to scientists discussing data.
"I've just completed Mike's Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years and from 1961 for Keith's to hide the decline," one scientist writes to another. The e-mail as it's presented is a quote taken out of context.
Global warming skeptics point to this as a smoking gun, clearly showing collusion among scientists to fake data.
Truly, the conspiracy theorists are the ones making themselves look suspect. While there are certainly some in the global-warming scientific community that aren't the brightest bulbs in the world, we've yet to meet any group that believes that faking scientific data is a good idea, and publishing in the journal Nature the "trick" for faking the data a better idea yet.
Those looking to produce a global "aha!" moment here show how little they know about the global scientific community, how the modern scientific research works, and how little they know about global warming research. What the world knows about global warming doesn't come from one center or even one kind of science. There are tens of thousands of scientists, governments and private agencies studying myriad aspects of the warming planet.
This massive global-warming hoax motif doesn't even make for good Hollywood movie fodder.
While there is much left to be understood and explained as to how human activity is raising the planet's temperature, and how that warming will affect living and nonliving systems on the planet, there is no doubt — none — among virtually all of those studying the matter that human-induced global warming is very real, and presents a very real danger to humans and other life.
The real "trick" here is in predicting with any accuracy what these certain temperature changes will mean, and what, if anything, we can do to prevent them.
Most evidence points to the burning of fossil fuel and deforestation as big or even chief culprits in creating the rise of greenhouse gasses, which has resulted in a warmer planet. Since the entire global economy is critically dependent on burning coal and petroleum products, it's easy to see how so many people and corporations would be unhappy with insistence by scientists to quit developing and using them.
Those who vehemently dislike what the worldwide scientific community is saying about global warming will clearly stop at nothing to derail the message.
But these skeptics or criminals are mistaken in believing they can discredit the messengers when the evidence of what they're trying to tell is clearly around us now for everyone to see for themselves.
The summers are getting hotter. The polar ice caps are melting away. Weather patterns are changing. While these thieves can hide their identities, they can't hide reality.
Scientists embarrassed by the release of data should do themselves a favor by making the bulk of their research and materials available to the public to begin with. Nothing builds credibility like transparency.
At the very least, scientists, and all of us, must remember that privacy on the Internet is myth, and that if you don't want to see it in print, don't e-mail it to anyone.
Editorial: http://www.aurorasentinel.com/articles/2009/11/30/opinion/editorials/doc4b0c7a7ce4b92362081545.txt
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STATE:
Durango Herald, Nov. 25, on Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis and the party platform:
In settling on former congressman Scott McInnis as their all-but-official gubernatorial nominee, Colorado Republicans have opted for maturity and experience. It is a solid combination. And with its "Platform for Prosperity," the party has laid out the positions it wants to stress in the coming campaign. It now falls to McInnis to explain what those promises and assertions mean.
Any such manifesto at this stage of the electoral cycle is bound to consist largely of vague platitudes promising good things. But beyond that the Republican platform offers some promises that appear to be contradictory, if not impossible.
It is only natural that the platform endorses job creation, defends home schooling, calls for denying funding for any organization that provides abortion and promises to support gun rights, end fraud and waste and combat illegal immigration. That is a Republican definition of good government.
And it is understandable that it promises support for health-care reforms such as allowing insurance to be sold across state lines, which reflect federal laws not up to the governor at all. It is, after all, a campaign document.
But when it comes to money, McInnis needs to be more specific in the coming months. How, for example, can the platform promise to invest more on roads, bridges and water systems, as well as on higher education and work force training, and create a rainy day fund — while at the same time promising not to raise taxes or increase fees?
The math is inexorable. The economic downturn has left Colorado with a stark choice. We can increase state government's revenue or we can further reduce the services it provides. And at the point where things are now, that means serious cuts to education, prisons, transportation and other core functions of state government.
McInnis — and Gov. Bill Ritter — need to be clear about that and what their choices would be. Spending more without raising taxes is not one of the options available to them.
Editorial: http://www.durangoherald.com/sections/Opinion/Editorial/2009/11/25/McInnis(underscore)needs(underscore)to(underscore)flesh(underscore)out(underscore)Republican(underscore)Partys(underscore)platform/
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The Coloradoan, Fort Collins, Nov. 29, on protecting Rocky Mountain National Park:
For many Coloradans, summer trips to the mountains include at least one pass over Trail Ridge Road followed by fall visits to Rocky Mountain National Park to watch the leaves take on vibrant hues as elk bugle in a new season.
In Colorado, we are blessed to have Rocky Mountain National Park in our backyard, serving as a 265,000-acre playground for people seeking true outdoor adventure or a quiet day hike along the Alberta Falls Trail.
In a few months, Rocky Mountain National Park turns 95 years old and park officials already are planning for a centennial celebration in 2015.
Fortunately, park officials also are carefully monitoring the effects and seeking solutions to devastating climate change that has forever scarred the beauty of Rocky.
It is a difficult balance planning for the future of the park when faced with the far-reaching destruction of the pine beetle; agricultural and industrial pollution tainting mountain lake water; and more than $50 million in deferred maintenance projects. Still, it is a job park officials take to heart every day.
"We all take that phrase in our mission statement, 'To protect the park for future generations,' very seriously," Park Superintendent Vaughn Baker said in a 2007 interview. "We certainly want to make sure we leave this place better off. It becomes pretty personal, and most park service people have a connection to that mission."
Perhaps no act of protection was more personal than the 35-year battle to have a wilderness designation at Rocky Mountain National Park.
Earlier this year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a sweeping public lands bill that established wilderness areas in nine states, including the designation for Rocky Mountain National Park.
With the designation comes a layer of land protection ensuring no legislative action can reverse management of the area.
For this commitment to protecting Northern Colorado's most important natural asset, we owe park officials and dedicated lawmakers our gratitude.
We also owe it to ourselves to pledge our help in protecting a place that has touched the lives of so many Coloradans.
Ensuring Rocky Mountain National Park is better off for future generations is a legacy we all should be proud to strive for.
Editorial: http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20091129/OPINION01/91128009/1014/OPINION/True-Coloradans-pledge-to-protect-park-for-future
