Dear Editor:
This letter is in reference to the proposed truck stop in Spanish Valley.
If SITLA sells the 13 acres to Love’s for the use of a truck stop/store in Spanish Valley, consider the loss of thousands of gallons of precious water every day. This water is going down the drain, it is not used to grow veggies, garden or provide residents with showers, toilets, washers and kitchen water. Just down the drain with toxic pollutants along with it, down into our aquifer. Thousands of gallons per day lost, 365 days per year.
Loss of dark sky: You cannot control light, it morphs out in all directions, even if the lights are shooting downward. Once gone, you never get it back.
Pollution: The brown cloud that is already starting to build over Moab can affect everyone, especially unborn children and older residents with longterm breathing problems.
Noise: How about “beep beep beep” all day and night long with trucks backing up. We have all heard it.
Trafficking: Keep your children close, you never know who might snatch them up and drive to another state where they can be used as cheap labor or sex.
Drug deals: Easy access for teens, and drug deals gone bad often lead to gun violence.
Transients: Looking for a place to hide, their next robbery, next fix or woman. Homes no longer safe locked or unlocked.
The only one to profit from this is SITLA. They add money in their coffers. Do we ever hear about all the good things they do for schools, where the money from real estate sales go? Do the teachers get a raise, school furnished supplies? I wonder?
The possibilities with a truck stop so close to a neighborhood include loss of dark sky, toxic air from gas fumes, loss of quiet peaceful neighborhoods, endangerment to our water, safety and privacy, dead birds and dead flora.
There is another possibility. Visualize this: a nice sanctuary, a refuge for birds and other wildlife, trees for nesting, native plants labeled, benches to sit and enjoy the beauty. A place to bring children, students to learn about the birds and the plants. A few parking places for cars.
I am not against business or truckers, we need them to bring goods to all of us. A truck stop in Monticello or Crescent Junction seems more practical, less disruptive to those that live along and around the U.S. Highway 191 corridor.
SITLA, please stop this unwanted business in a residential area.
Thank you to all that read this and consider the consequences.
Marlene Huckabay
Spanish Valley
