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Show ; : THE ZEPHYR/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2005 And what a pleasant surprise when I picked up my copy of the Zephyr. At first I was shocked to read the ad for Lynne's Paradise Café, but I quickly realized that an eccentric FEEDBACK Continued like Lynne is a perfect match for the Zephyr. I am an avid reader of the Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO), Louisville's great left-wing newspaper. When I got back home I was telling a close friend that about a rag I picked up in Utah with an ad from Lynne. I described your publication as about 500 miles left of LEO. He got a big kick out of seeing it. Also, we really enjoyed reading about your exploits in the University of Louisville _ Magazine. Keep up your quest to find the right mix of nature and development that will allow the Canyon Country to remain the special place that it is. Look for my subscription request in the next few days. mele previous page. Let's deal with the uranium ore that has already been liberated into the environment and does pose an environmental hazard and potential cost to the human economy before adding to that radioactive hazard inventory and increasing that potential cost. - Tom Recktenwald Lance Christie Moab, UT’ BLUE BALLS ARE SOMETIMES Hello MORE DOUBTS Dear Jim: ON THE URANIUM WHITE I've just started reading the Zephyr and, as an old Utah buff, lam delighted by it. My payment for a subscription is on the way. Your article 'Take it or Leave It" reminds me of an experience I had not long ago. I drove into a local "Whole Foods Market" and parked ‘behind a white Tundra. On leaving my vehicle, I noticed a large pair of white plastic testicles hanging behind the rear bumper of the Tundra! While I often think I've "seen it all", | was nevertheless rather shocked by the crude symbolism. My response was to give them a swift kick before entering the market. SHORTAGE Thanks a lot for the recent (Aug/Sept 05) issue of The Zephyr. A great issue. I liked the uranium story; "Take it or leave it"; and ".. .alien country." About the alleged uranium "shortage," it puzzels me. In the late 1970s I did my masters thesis on the anti-nuclear power movement and the US government's activities in uranium technology. The political issue which remained at the end of my work was that of continued government (AEC/DOE) production of weapons grade material, i.e., _ Keep up the agitation, Ron Parry Houston, Texas plutonium and HEU (high enriched uranium). I declined to vote for Jimmy Carter second term because I was so mad at the hypocrisy of the US government accounting, as an a example for the world to follow, that the US was abandoning spent fuel reprocessing. The abandonment was only in the commercial sector, while all the while production and reprocessing in government operations continued. As for HEU production, I believe that actually was stopping even then. The reason for stopping HEU production was the huge quantities of HEU that had been produced up to that time. A classified number I was never able to obtain was the exact quantity of this material the US had in its stockpile, but the impression was there was so much of it even DOE couldn't justify producing any more. Steen says, “During the last 2 decades the [commercial uranium] shortfall has been filled by converting around 40% of Russia's nuclear weapons arsenal to nuclear fuel and by the sale of privatized [US] government stockpiles." HEU, just in case it isn't clear, consists of 90+% of the rare isotope U235. Commercial fuel needs 3% U235. That means to produce commerical fueld you'd take a smidgeon of ~ THIS GUY SHOULD HAVE SUBSCRIBED 10 YEARS AGO Hello Mr. Stiles: On a recent jaunt through Moab I was forced by thirst and a low gas gauge to stop at a convenience store, where I picked up your newspaper (among other necessities). Congratulations for having the courage to publish material that deviates from politically correct, mainstream duplicity! I enjoy your ability to write clearly about the sacred cow of western landscapes -recreation. Our growing pattern of abuse-and-run deserves to be examined with a critical eye. So, too, does the national god of greed, which you nicely disclosed in your Greening of the Wilderne$$ article. But it saddens me that you, along with so many others, still shy away from the underlying cause of commercialization, greed, and the litany of HEU and recombine it with depleted uranium, and we know there's lots of that around. environmental woes: too many people. technical feasibility of such a recombining process, and how much HEU is available. Nonetheless, based on the impression I gained back then about vast quantities of US J.D. Philpemhoff back provding HEU in order to create a uranium "shortage." Anyway, Steen's article was highly interesting, as was your “Take it or leave it" column Editor's Note: THE ZEPHYR has been doing stories on population for more than a decade and frequently, we include the “population clock” from the Census Bureau, just as a reminder. And an upcoming issue will focus on population once more...j: (S: To render a knowledgeable verdict here, you'd have to know the precise economic and stockpiled HEU, I was extremely shocked to learn of a uranium "shortage." What would not shock me would be to learn that the Bush Administration is holding (I savored your phrase “one gloriously unscheduled day ata time”), and I was quite - intrigued by Regehr's UFO article. Thatis a fascinating subject!! Kind regards, Elaine Douglass Moab, UT STEEN’S VESTED Dear Jim: INTEREST? Mark Steen’s story hashed over some convincing numbers and argument regarding the Third Coming of Uranium, and I imagine readers appreciated the story. However, I didn't see any disclosures from you, with the story or elsewhere in the issue something?), regarding the author's potential conflicts of interest. Mr. Steen’s stature as a guest contributor and more particularly his should leave your readers asking if he has any ongoing business interests industry, or even any significant indirect interests, such as involvement family members or associates. Even if Mr. Steen asserts to you that he (did I miss family history in the uranium or holdings by has no vested financial interests in the subject matter, you should disclose his assertion to readers. (Maybe someone will offer information to the contrary.) And the same applies if Mr. Steen simply declines to disclose to you his current relationship to the industry. This story demands a disclosure to readers; I'll watch for one in the October issue. Thanks, Brian K. Alvord, Salt Lake City EDITOR’S NOTE: Mark Steen has hardly been secretive with regard to uranium interests he’s developing in San Juan County, but the information should have been disclosed and It was an oversight and/or poor judgement on my part. My apologies...JS Via satellite from Alkali Ridge, ANIMAL CRUELTY IN MOAB Dear Editor, We found a kitten while visiting Moab last week. It was a tiny little thingnear death behind our motel in Moab. We took it to a vet in Moab for lice & flea treatment and shots. When we got home to Page, AZ, we found it had also been shot in the head with a bb gun. I had to take it to the vet here also. So sad to see people treating animals like that. We've adopted the kitten. We'd like to see the people doing this sort of thing in Moab prosecuted.It's horrible. Other than that, Moab is a way cool town. Take care. We love your paper. Julie Hayes Page, AZ ANOTHER VIEW ON ENVIRO ORIGINS IN UTAH Hi, Jim, i noticed Grant Johnson’s letter (Zephyr, August/September ‘’05) about the early personal history of SUWA and with great trepidation want to offer another version of that history or a tiny part of it. Grant’s sense that the Utah Wilderness Association (UWA) was foregoing the Boulder Top for the Uintas is not exactly correct. There is no doubt UWA and many others saw the Uintas as the flagship for the Utah Wilderness Act. It was a massive roadless landscape like no other area on Utah Forest Service lands, it was long recognized as ecologically unique and it had a huge base of support. All of those were very important concepts. I take no exception to Grant’s frustration and will always appreciate his help and willingness to try and smooth out the roughness that developed in those heady and early wilderness days in Utah. His brief description of how SUWA it, started is how I remember But it was wrong then and now to suggest UWA was leaving areas out of that wilderness bill. The difference was simply that UWA felt that a Forest Service wilderness bill (temember the time frame was 1983-’84) was worth the effort even given the inevitable SEND YOUR FEEDBACK COMMENTS TO: eezephyr@frontiernet.net moabzephyr@yahoo.com ‘compromises that would ensue (to think they wouldn’t have occurred then, now or in the someday-to-be-designated Red Rocks Wilderness Bill is utter foolishness). Grant’s colleagues argued otherwise. Unfortunately italways came with the accusation that UWA was leaving areas out of a bill for some other favorite areas. That was nonsense! What kept Boulder Top, Wayne Wonderland, 100 Lake Mt., Fishlake Hightop and a host of other areas Out of the bill was the lack of local support to get an area into the legislation. And that created the different strategies, if you will. Grant’s colleagues argued not to proceed with the legislation; UWA THE KENTUCKY/LYNN CONNECTION STRIKES AGAIN ello. This is a message to Jim Stiles and you can feel free to use my comments in the Zephyr if you choose to. My wife and I traveled to the Four Corners area in June and were completely "wowed" by the breathtaking landscapes in southern Utah. We completed our quest to travel to all 50 states last year when we visited gorgeous Alaska. In all of our travels, though, we had never visited southern Utah. What a great time we had! My normally "timid behind the wheel" wife even got into the off-road four-wheeling in Arches National Park and really enjoyed it. g argued it was better to proceed. That debate goes on, which is fine. But it never should have been framed as an organization trying to harm wilderness. The amazing thing to me after all these years was that we were able to generate that level of public support for wilderness then. The distressing thing today is that support for Utah wilderness 20 years ago was as broad and deep as it has ever been in Utah. Best, Dick Carter High Uintas Preservation Council Hyrum, UT s PAGE30 @ . |