Letters to the editor Aug. 15
Water usage
The story on record water usage in Kalispell (Aug. 8) was a great reminder and also a stark notice to our new residents in the valley of just how precious our water has always been and is becoming even more so. Kalispell’s public works director sends out a cautionary note that we have to be mindful of water usage and there is mention of restrictions in neighboring areas like Polson which has banned lawn watering and vehicle washing.
Do we have a deaf, dumb and blind County Commission that has repeatedly supported the effort by Montana Artesian Water Company’s movements to bottle and ship out of state billions of bottles of water from our precious aquifer? Fortunately, our district court’s recent ruling on the environmental review conducted by our equally deficient state agencies, (Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation) has put the brakes on this ridiculous movement to try to sell our water out of state and out of the Flathead all in the name of greed.
When 70% of the valley’s residents voted in 2018 against such water bottling theft it should have been a jolt to these elected officials that they represent us and not just the deep pockets of those who are out only for self aggrandizement. We need to watch issues such as this and be aware of who we are selecting to represent our best interests at all levels, local, state and federal.
—David Eychner, Kalispell
Carbon tax is wrong
What’s wrong with you people? Where are your brains? I am referring to the recently published editorial at the Houston Chronicle concerning a tax on carbon emissions.
Don’t get me wrong. I am all in favor of clean air, but a tax on carbon emission is just wrong. Everyone is neglecting to look at the basic science of what is going into the air.
Carbon is getting into our atmosphere mainly in the form of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is necessary for all of our trees and greenery. They, in turn, give us oxygen.
The levels of natural carbon dioxide rise and fall all the time. The problem with blaming man-made carbon dioxide for all of the earth’s ills is that there is no way to measure it.
My college chemistry classes taught me this important point: the carbon dioxide molecule is the same whether natural or man-made. You can’t tell them apart.
There is no way to measure the quantity of carbon dioxide produced by man.
What gets me is that scientists everywhere are proclaiming the news that man is somehow causing global warming from carbon emissions with no science to back that claim.
The really bad news is that politicians want my money in the form of a carbon tax.
I have no complaints about the earth getting warmer. After all, what has it been doing ever since the ice age?
In my years of living, I have learned that when a beautiful woman approaches me on a city sidewalk and starts talking to me, I should cover my wallet with one hand and starting looking around for her accomplice.
My advice to you when you hear the words “carbon tax” is to do the same, with the addition of getting the person’s name and voting against them in the next election… and cover that wallet.
—Joseph Apple, Kalispell