Craig Daily Press / Louise Voorhees: Commending Bennet

Archive for Monday, April 20, 2009

April 20, 2009

To the editor:

I wish to commend our new senator, Michael Bennet, on taking the time to tour the Western Slope last week, listening to our ideas and concerns.

The issues of Western Colorado are often lost in the partisan bickering of Denver and Washington, D.C. I was particularly pleased to hear Sen. Bennet discuss the importance of natural gas in the New Energy Economy. Natural gas is considerably cleaner than other fossil fuels, and it is abundant here in Western Colorado.

It can produce the "base-load" electricity we need to run our cities and can efficiently power our cars and trucks. With all the talk of renewable energy sources, it is refreshing to hear a Democratic U.S. Senator stand-up for traditional sources of energy.

It sounds like Senator Bennet understands that renewables are intermittent and remain expensive. Now, he needs to back up his words with real policies that encourage natural gas production and consumption.

We need common sense and science to direct public policy, not environmentalist fear-mongering.

We need additional pipelines approved and built, including the Ruby Pipeline, to transport Colorado's natural gas to other markets.

Lastly, we need to defeat any cap-and-trade legislation. Thank you Sen. Bennet for listening to our concerns. Now the real work begins.

Louise Voorhees

Grand Junction