A lot of attention is being paid lately by anti-mining people to the 1872 Mining Law, selling land for $5 an acre and collecting no royalties from mining companies.

Never mind that the “greedy” mining companies making all that profit have paid billions of dollars in taxes, not to mention the jobs provided to millions of families over the years, people who also paid taxes on their wages.

Studies have shown that for every person employed by a mining company, there are five more jobs created in the community in which they live — teachers, dry cleaners, retail clerks, insurance agents, etc. All of those people pay taxes too. Without this wealth brought into our nation’s coffers, this country would be a fragment of what it is today.

The other fact that anti-mining people fail to recognize is that every aspect of their lives is affected by mining. Everything we use, the home we live in, the car we drive, the roads we drive on, the money we spend, are all products that are either mined from the Earth or manufactured or milled by metal parts. Even agricultural products are fertilized by minerals and harvested by machinery made of metals.

In regard to environmental concerns, very strict modern regulations are in effect to force responsible use and reclamation of lands that have been mined.

Mining is an important industry to the economy, the progress and the stability of our country. Companies that are willing to put up the capital, do the exploration and development before they ever see the first day of production, much less a profit, should have incentives and be encouraged to develop more minerals for a growing world population, not penalized by new royalties and more fees.

DIANE BELING
Grand Junction

Rowland’s leadership helped deal with meth

Janet Rowland is a principled leader and has a proven record of solving problems, giving taxpayers a value for their tax dollars and protecting our quality of life in Mesa County.

A good example of this is her involvement in dealing with the Grand Valley meth crisis. Working as an investigator in violent crime and a law enforcement officer in this valley for 28 years, I have seen murder, death, sexual assault and child abuse that meth has brought to our valley. Mesa County faced a major meth tipping point and the wrong decisions could have spelled disaster.

Janet Rowland, Craig Meis and Tilman Bishop, along with others, saw meth for what it is — a deadly community cancer. Our commissioners had the foresight to see that this cancer could be aggressively treated without sacrificing the first-time offenders and their families in the process.

They were faced with an overcrowded jail and the need to build a new jail pod. Working with other agencies involved in the criminal justice system, they made bold proactive public policy decisions and built an alternative treatment facility. This facility has floors for community corrections (to keep people working and paying their bills while they pay their debt to society) and one floor for meth treatment. Not only did this facility better meet the needs of the criminal justice system and our community, but it also saved taxpayers $3 million in construction costs and $500,000 a year in operational costs.

We are still dealing with our meth problem in this valley, but we are stronger and healthier as a community with the alternative treatment facility. Rowland’s leadership in dealing with this critical issue, as well as others, has earned her my respect, my endorsement and my vote for her re-election.

REP. STEVE KING
House District 54
Grand Junction

Alward needs to show support for energy biz

Richard Alward, as representative from Mesa County on the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission, has an opportunity to show his support for the 2,000-plus business owners and energy workers like me who attended the June oil and gas hearing in Grand Junction.

Alward will be voting on our livelihoods soon. I hope he agrees with state Reps. Bernie Buescher and Kathleen Curry that there are serious problems with the proposed regulations.

Soon, we shall see.

EDWARD ADCOCK
Grand Junction

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