Letters to the Editor: Gullible people buying borehole story

I want to voice my opinion on the borehole project and to remind Tucumcari that we have been through this before.

I attended a meeting held by an Enercon representative for business owners on March 9. I had a little trouble following him. What he said was rather contradictory on occasions.

They would, they would not put waste in that hole? Maybe not to start with, but if it suits their need they definitely will? He did not give me a clear answer when I asked him how Nara Visa, Logan, and Tucumcari will benefit 20, 50, or 100 years from now.

Why don’t they bore the hole next to where the nuclear waste was made? He just kept trying to sidestep the answer.

It’s a scientific experiment. Maybe so, but that is not the purpose of the hole in the end.

We all know the Department of Energy is not going to spend that kind of money to give bus tours and educate little kids. They may do that too, but it’s not the reason for the borehole.

I was reminded of when they decided to go around Tucumcari with the Interstate-40 freeway. Oh, it brought lots of workers and money to town while they were building it, but, in reality, it killed our town.

Granted, our town is still here, but not nearly as vibrant as it was before the bypass.

That was many years ago, but I still remember. The short-term gain will not offset the long-term risks.

It bothers me that these “experts” come in and sell us their ideas, then they leave town and we get the fallout. By then, they have taken their money and left. And we always have a few gullible people buying their stories.

Betty Coslett

Tucumcari

Republicans need common sense

A logical reply regarding Rube Render’s column headlined “Democrats don’t learn from history” could be “Republicans don’t learn from science or history.”

The record of the Affordable Care Act shows it has been a success and not the disaster that Republicans keep saying.

There are flaws that can and should be corrected.

Republicans have been demonizing the ACA for seven years and claiming they are going to come up with a plan that is better and cheaper and accessible to all. The proposed plan leaves millions uninsured, gives huge tax cuts to the 1 percent and raises costs on the poor and ends Medicaid in 2020.

Global warming, the causes and projected results are well known scientific facts. Consider the Republicans appointed Scott Pruitt, a global warming denier, to head the Environmental Protection Agency. The plan is to destroy the department.

This is true of several Republican appointments.

What would be the cost of repairing the damage to our planet for ignoring global warming? We would need more powerful computers to determine that. Republicans know how to pay for it — tax cuts and cut back on entitlements.

Republicans want to end those “strangling controls” on the financial industry. What precipitated our latest financial disaster? Oh yes, deregulation.

Republicans are always using the term “common sense,” so why not look at the science and history and then use some common sense?

Leon Logan

Tucumcari