Dear Editor,
Thank you for so thoroughly quoting the Community Impact Board members in your last issue (“State board rejects jail funding request,” Aug. 13-19, 2015 Moab Sun News).
It is no surprise that the CIB and industry supporter Lynn Jackson would use Grand County’s concern for the health and well-being of our residents to antagonize and divide our community. Grand County has demonstrated a strong and unified dedication to seeking truth and calling out corruption on the part of the various boards promoting resource development in Utah.
The CIB is now saying that because Grand County residents speak out in favor of protecting the land and people, that we do not deserve our share of royalties set aside for mitigating the devastating effects of oil and gas development. This is a red herring.
The CIB wants to fuel division in our community and distract us from their true agenda, namely, to invest all of our public money in giant infrastructure projects that only serve to boost corporate profits, rather than allocating funds to the communities impacted by this development.
For example, the Utah Community Impact Board has allocated $53 million for investment in a plan to export Utah coal out of a facility in Oakland, California. Who’s to say that this won’t be turned into a tar sands export terminal when the time is right? The CIB also funded the construction of the Seep Ridge Road leading directly to the PR Spring tar sands mine through a $29.5 million grant and an $11.5 million no-interest loan.
All of this when Grand County has only been granted just over $2 million in total from 2011 through 2014.
These mega projects should not be financed with public money. We need to stand up, make some changes, and stop subsidizing a dying fossil fuel industry.
