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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country
of West Texas
Opinion
Tuesday, February 1, 2000
Sage
Views
By Smokey Briggs
Save the earth ...
drive old Impalas
Environmentalist made a hard about-face last week.
A few years back the federal government, at the strident urgings of
the "greenies," ordered that all gasoline sold in areas with significant
air pollution must be oxygenated.
Oxygenated fuels are supposed to burn cleaner.(They also make your car
run like one spark plug is missing).
To accomplish this oxygenation, the gasoline manufacturers added stuff
called MTBE.
Well, it turns out that the cure may be worse than the sickness.
MTBE it seems, is now contaminating the water system and states are
scrambling to get MTBE out of gasoline.
Which leaves me with one question: didn't anybody wonder what large
quantities of MTBE would do when we started adding it to gasoline, and
hence the environment?
Is it too much to ask that someone research the possible down-side of
something and not just the positive effect they are interested in?
Seriously, this isn't rocket science.
But it is a symptom of a much bigger problem.
The problem, is that almost all "green," so-called environmentally friendly
legislation, is created on emotion and not logic and fact.
Some egghead decided harmful exhausts had to be reduced and found a
way to do it. Unfortunately, the moron didn't bother to ask the next logical
question - duh, what is this MTBE stuff going to do?
Or, more than likely, he did and he told everyone he could, but the
"environmentalist" didn't want to hear the downside and just wouldn't listen.
They just heard, "fewer pollutants," and took off like crazed chickens
on a mission.
Environmentalists seem willing to believe anything if it is coated with
the right sentiment - it doesn't matter if it makes sense, or if it is
true - only that the preacher claims good intentions for the environment.
Take the latest feel-good environmental fad - getting older cars that
pollute more off the road.
Seems to make good sense right. Just look at the crud coming out the
tail pipe of that old Impala. You can see and smell the bad stuff.
Wrong.
Yes the old Impala pollutes more than the new model plasticmobiles.
But you would have to drive it at lest another 50 years to pollute the
earth to the same degree that manufacturing a new "earth friendly" automobile
will.
You would probably have to drive it 75 years, and leave it idling 24
hours-a-day to create the same pollutants created in the production of
a really earth-friendly electric car.
But do the "greenies" take note?
No.
They fixate on the tail-pipe of the Impala like lemmings heading off
the edge of an ice flow and condemn everybody who is really trying to do
their part and conserve the earth's resources.
So the next time you get stuck at a traffic light next to some yuppie
in a new, environmentally friendly box of plastic with a "save the earth"
bumper sticker, rev up the old family wagon and let them know that you
are serious about saving the earth.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Smokey Briggs is the editor and publisher of the
Pecos Enterprise whose column appears on Tuesdays. He can be e-mailed at:
smokey@pecos.net
Our View
Pecos remembers the sound of freedom
There are a lot of Pecos citizens who still remember when the "sound of
freedom" filled the air over Pecos during World War II - when the air base
churned out a new crop of pilots every couple of months.
Back then, most folks probably didn't mind the buzzing drone of the
aircraft.
Right now there are still a lot of hard words flying around about the
Air Force training flights scheduled to take place over Reeves County in
the future.
Folks have outlined concerns about the low-flying bombers scaring livestock,
contaminating cantaloupes, and creating too much noise.
The problem with frightened livestock makes sense. On the other hand,
most animals will get used to about anything after it happens a couple
of times.
The problem with jet exhaust contaminating cantaloupes and other crops
doesn't seem to hold up under scrutiny.
The noise?
Well, it is noise, and noise in general is bad.
Where we seem to be at this point in the debate is an acknowledgement
that the Air Force needs to train in realistic conditions, but we don't
want them to do it in our backyard.
The question then becomes, "whose backyard should they do it in?"
Just where should the Air Force fly low-level training missions?
It is hard to find a more suitable area than this part of West Texas.
Population density is very low, especially outside of the towns.
Most livestock is widely dispersed compared with other agricultural
areas.
So where else should this kind of training take place?
The one option that is not an option is not allowing these pilots and
flight crews to train.
Their lives, and indirectly, our lives, depend on their skills. And
you don't learn how to do the job by reading about it, or flying computer
simulators.
You learn how to do the job by training in conditions as close to the
real thing as you can get.
When you get down to it, there is no perfect solution. The Air Force
has to train, and those planes have to fly over somebody's land.
And that means some noise, and maybe a few other problems.
But the alternative is a lot worse.
And when you get down to it, the "sound of freedom" is a pretty cheap
price to pay for the life we enjoy.
Your View
Many `Angels' help out during recent tragedy
To The Editor:
I would like to thank the people of Pecos,Tx. for their kindness to
my family during a recent tragedy.
My mother was killed on interstate 10 in a traffic accident. The people
of your fine town were gracious and true angels.
Sincerely,
JOHN A. MASON, M.D.
Reader thanks newspaper for opportunity to write
To The Editor:
Just a big thank you for the staff and judges who took time to read
my story. Although I was disappointed, I hadn't expected to receive the
judges result, and of course there were several mistakes.
Nonetheless, thanks for the opportunity to write this story. I guess
you could say that I kind of rushed through the story and did not re-read
for errors, which is no excuse. Keep up the good work with the Enterprise,
I am avid reader of your newspaper on the Internet.
JULIAN G. CASTRO
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Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Peggy McCracken, Webmaster
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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