Colorado Editorial Roundup

The Durango Herald, May 2, on holding back some of our last best places:

In March, the Bureau of Land Management sold oil and gas leases on parcels totaling 51,400 acres in southeast Utah, including some near Hovenweep National Monument.

That’s welcome news for energy companies and their employees, as well as for support industries, although there’s no sign development is imminent. But energy extraction comes with some major drawbacks, and investment here comes with some risks.

Although it is clear that the Trump administration is very supportive of energy development, this is an odd time to be pushing it. Prices remain relatively low, and even a draw-down of U.S. stockpiles and a tightening of OPEC policy have not, so far, pushed gasoline prices beyond their traditional summer jump.

The United States is not experiencing an oil crisis. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that 2018 U.S. crude oil production will average 10.7 million barrels per day, and 2019 crude oil production will average 11.4 million. (The previous record was 9.6 million in 1970.)

Consumption is up too - partly driven by low prices. A $4 per-gallon price at the pump would change consumers’ transportation habits, but automakers, not currently pushing to bring more fuel-efficient cars to market, don’t foresee that day coming soon.

A record for natural gas production will be set this year as well. Demand was driven by the harsh winter experienced in the more populous areas of the country and partly by a shift to the use of natural gas in power generation. Abundant natural gas supplies hold down the price for that commodity.

So why the rush to sell leases that may not be developed for many years to come?

Even if and when those calculations change - and even with the national monument shrinkage to facilitate energy extraction in southeastern Utah and the potential of more leases in northwestern New Mexico - this region is not going to compete with Texas or North Dakota. It might make good sense, then, to save the resources in this more difficult landscape for a time when the easier fields have been depleted.

Hovenweep officials had requested the lease sale be deferred, citing potential damage to archaeological resources and possible degradation of visitors’ experience by vibrations, noise, dust, air pollution and development within the viewshed. Archaeological tourism is part of an ever-increasing outdoor economy, and it’s both more sustainable and less volatile than the energy economy. Let’s not jeopardize that revenue source. The monument has become known for its dark, clear night skies, isolated from light pollution and haze caused by cities and industries; that reputation is also threatened.

The stipulations requested by Hovenweep to protect the environment, the archaeological resources and experience there are not unreasonable, and the National Park Service position deserved much greater consideration than it received. Public comment periods are growing increasingly short as well. That’s not right. There was time to work through the issues that were raised, and there was no need for such a rush to market.

There may come a time when the Four Corners is the last, best source of fossil fuels that the United States can tap. At the current rate of consumption, some of us may live to see that happen.

Until then, let’s consider holding back some of the last, best, wildest places.

Editorial: https://bit.ly/2jnQOpl

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The (Colorado Springs) Gazette, April 29, on Gov. Hickenlooper needing to heed his ex-wife’s advice on legal marijuana:

In these dwindling days of his final year in office, Gov. John Hickenlooper has the chance to help children. He can improve Colorado’s future, save lives and improve his legacy.

It begins with the simple stroke of a pen. He should veto House Bill 1258, in the likely event it survives the Senate and lands on his desk.

The bill authorizes retail recreational pot stores to operate “tasting rooms” for patrons to consume the drug on site. That means more stoned drivers on our roads, further increasing pot-related fatalities. The bill also authorizes recreational marijuana retailers to open additional locations, potentially doubling THC retail.

Each evolving variety of this bill aims to ease and increase the sale and consumption of recreational pot.

Hickenlooper has earned the unseemly distinction as the political symbol of pot, having reigned as the lenient governor overseeing the country’s most drug-friendly government. He governs the stoner state, a cautionary tale of irresponsible drug policy.

The governor should take the loving advice of his ex-wife, the award-winning author, playwright, and journalist Helen Thorpe. He is smart; she is a genius. Here’s what Thorpe said to her former husband, with whom she co-parents a child, in a friendly tweet Monday:

“I adore my ex-husband and agree with him on almost everything. (And, should he ever run for something else, he’s got my vote.) But on this one, I agree with USA Today and the Colorado Springs Gazette. They are calling John out on an important issue, and as the mom of a teenager, I have to say kudos to the editorial pages of these papers. On this particular issue, the Op Ed columnist is right, and John is wrong. He needs to amend his thinking on legal pot and its implications. It IS affecting kids negatively.”

Thank you, Ms. Thorpe. Teachers and parents of teenagers agree. Big marijuana retail, and anything goes legalization, is disastrous for our youths.

Thorpe reacted to comments Hickenlooper made to Rolling Stone, claiming youth pot consumption and people driving high has not increased since Colorado legalized the drug. A column in The Gazette and USA Today, by Denver resident Peter Droege, refuted Hickenlooper’s claim with data from The Denver Post and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

The Gazette/USA Today column documented how Colorado is a national leader in pot use among 12-17 year olds. It cited a Denver Post investigation showing a 145 percent increase in fatal crashes involving pot-impaired drivers between 2013 and 2016.

Hickenlooper called the data “faulty” when confronted about Thorpe’s tweet a day later at a Tuesday news conference.

Even famously liberal CNN questions Hickenlooper’s pot apologetics, suggesting Colorado’s soaring crime rate may have nexus to legalizing pot.

“In 2016, the state’s crime rate was up 5 percent compared with 2013, while the national trend was downward,” CNN reports. “Violent crime went up 12.5 percent in the same time while the national increase was less than 5 percent. But Hickenlooper isn’t yet ready to pin the blame on the legalization of weed - a step he opposed but has since embraced as the choice of his constituents.”

Hickenlooper told CNN: “This is one of the great social experiments of the last 100 years. We have to all keep an open mind.”

We will not keep an open mind to an “experiment” that is likely killing people on highways and jeopardizing kids. Our children should not be test animals for air-headed experiments that challenge generations of knowledge, experience and common sense.

CNN asked Hickenlooper if he would support recriminalizing pot, if negative data continue pouring in.

“Trust me, if the data was coming back and we saw spikes in violent crime, we saw spikes in overall crime, there would be a lot of people looking for that bottle and figuring out how we get the genie back in,” Hickenlooper said. “It doesn’t seem likely to me, but I’m not ruling it out.”

To which CNN responded: “Data is now coming back,” citing the damning crime numbers.

As commercial marijuana takes an insidious toll on Colorado, anecdotal and statistical indicators will get worse.

Early next year, Hickenlooper will have no means to make positive change. When most agree the “experiment” failed, Hickenlooper could get much of the blame for failing to follow his initial instincts and lead the way for better regulation.

The governor should veto House Bill 1258, the pot industry’s latest ploy to quell an insatiable desire for more profits. He should spend the next nine months trying to mitigate this disastrous experiment he wisely opposed before the money poured in. The governor should listen to his insightful ex-wife, who respectfully explained he is wrong.

Editorial: https://bit.ly/2HHTmx4

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Coloradoan, April 29, on Colorado education needing a way forward:

The time has come for Colorado to get serious about public education.

Teacher walkouts that shut down school districts across the state were aimed at getting the Legislature’s attention about a plethora of concerns, including teacher pay and retirement benefits.

On the surface, the issues center around money and the state’s commitment to funding schools at levels that meet the educational needs of students and the practical needs of teachers.

But there is more to the dissatisfaction surrounding education in Colorado and across the country than dollars and cents. It’s also about values and what we expect from the education system.

As a state and a society, we do value public education. Colorado’s state government will pour about $7 billion into K-12 education during next fiscal year. Those funds will be shored up with money from local taxpayers and school districts.

That’s a lot of money. Nevertheless, Colorado probably will still be a couple of thousand dollars below the national average for per-pupil spending, ranking it near the bottom when compared to other states.

And Colorado may very well be ranked last, as we were in 2016 by Education Week, for providing teachers with competitive wages when compared to professions with similar education requirements.

We’ll still have higher than average student-teacher ratios, and we’ll still score low for fourth-grade student achievement in math and reading.

And we’ll wonder why teachers are looking for work in other states, and why those who stay in Colorado feel the need to go to the streets outside the Capitol to demand change.

It is time for action, and not just from the teachers. The Coloradoan editorial board would support the establishment of a broad-based working group made up of state lawmakers and other stakeholders who are committed to finding solutions to Colorado’s education problems.

Again - this isn’t just about money. There’s no denying finances are a big part of the education quandary, but other factors must be weighed, including the expectations we put on schools and teachers.

Poudre School District teachers share why they marched at the Colorado Capitol Friday, April 27, 2018. Kelly Ragan

We would like to see more players involved in discussions about the future of K-12 education, including businesses, civic organizations and institutions of higher education.

A starting point for the working group should be setting the outcomes we want students to realize from the education system, such as levels of academic competency, training in technology and readiness to join the workforce.

A central question should be: What is needed to help students become productive members of society?

Once goals are set, we can work on the steps needed to achieve them.

We certainly hope Fort Collins and Larimer County would have a seat at the table for such discussions. Our representatives in the Legislature, on both sides of the aisle, are interested in education, especially with Colorado State University, Poudre School District and Front Range Community College being prominent members of the community. However, their legislative committee assignments do not connect to that interest.

We know work is being done on the money side of the education equation. Last year, the General Assembly created the Legislative Interim Committee on School Finance by law. Its members, who come from the House and Senate, are charged with studying issues surrounding school finance.

The committee meets after the end of the legislative session. Last year, the 10-member committee heard presentations and received information from a variety of groups and advocates. The same will likely happen this year.

We appreciate the commitment of committee members toward understanding the staggering complexities of school finance in Colorado and working toward legislative remedies.

We hope the committee comes up with proposals to straighten out conflicting elements in the Colorado Constitution, such as the Gallagher and TABOR amendments, to pitch to voters.

That’s going to take some time. As those discussions go on - and we hope progress - broader discussions should take place that could include innovative approaches Colorado might take to better serve the public through effective, purposeful education.

Editorial: https://noconow.co/2rguJfP

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The Denver Post, April 27, on not hiding autopsy reports from the public:

The state House of Representatives should reject an unwise and overly broad bill restricting the release of autopsy reports on minors. The bill, unfortunately, already passed the Senate.

The county coroners pushing the legislation say it will protect the privacy of families, but there are already ways to block the release of these reports when necessary. Coroners, for instance, can petition state courts to exempt the release of an autopsy if they can show it wouldn’t be in the public interest. The rules balance privacy against the people’s right to know.

The broad, blanket exemption to public records law contained in Senate Bill 223 would upend that balance.

“To create a new categorical exemption for all autopsy reports of minors is not only unnecessary and overboard, it is a disservice to the public interest,” Steven Zansberg, a lawyer who has represented The Denver Post and other media outlets in open-records litigation, said in an email to the newspaper.

The fact is that the press has frequently used autopsy reports to hold public officials accountable - including coroners themselves. The Denver Post, for instance, worked with KUSA 9News in a 2012 joint investigation that uncovered serious problems with Colorado’s child protective system.

That investigation relied on an examination of the autopsy reports of 72 children who died of abuse or neglect even though child welfare authorities knew they were at risk. It resulted in reform to the system and the creation of a statewide hotline.

“The Denver Post showed five years ago that those reports are extremely useful in covering issues of abused children,” said Jeffrey Roberts, the executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition.

Many other investigative reports have benefited from access to the autopsy reports of minors - such as a Denver Post examination of the death of a 17-year-old shot by Denver police in 2016. The Los Angeles Times used autopsy reports to better understand what was causing opioid overdose deaths.

A blanket exemption could also help coroners hide mistakes they make. The coroner who handled the autopsy for JonBenet Ramsey, for instance, apparently made a mess of it - which probably wouldn’t have come to light if this exemption had been in place.

The General Assembly must always be cautious when carving exemptions to public records law. It’s important for legislators to remember that government agencies work for the people, and the default position should be in favor of transparency.

There are some rare occasions when it may be appropriate to keep government information from the public, but such exemptions should be limited and narrowly tailored to best serve the public interest. This bill fails that test. It is not narrowly tailored at all, and it would do demonstrable harm to the people’s ability to hold public officials accountable.

The death of a minor is not always a newsworthy event. When it is, access to the autopsy report might play a critical part in the coverage.

Protecting privacy is a worthwhile goal, but transparency and public accountability must also be protected. This bill does not achieve any kind of balance, and it should not become law.

Editorial: https://dpo.st/2KuznQd