When it comes to answers to the area’s environmental questions, there seems to be only two answers offered by various people interested in environmental issues.
On one side, there are groups saying we need to protect everything from development to maintain the rugged and beautiful landscape we take for granted.
They’re the people who applaud the large-scale work done at the Bridger Power Plant to retrofit their smoke stacks in an effort to scrub a large amount of its carbon dioxide emissions. That work was spurred by the EPA’s regulations on regional haze and a settlement Rocky Mountain Power reached in regards to the plant’s exhaust.
On the other side of the fence are the people who want to protect the energy economy we’re so dependent upon at almost any cost. They want to see drilling open up throughout our region in an attempt to bring back the oil and gas boom that fueled much of the growth we saw during the early to mid 2000s. There’s good reason behind this, as that huge growth also poured millions into the county’s coffers and resulted in larger budgets for the cities as well.
However, what’s wrong with siding with environmental protection to make sure the county remains as beautiful and pristine as it is. While it’s nice that the Jim Bridger plant is focusing on retrofitting its smoke stacks, it should have been an ongoing project since the first days the plant was made operational. Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t just steam being pushed out of those stacks.
Why can’t we have development with a responsible eye towards maintaining the environment? Why shouldn’t we demand that from the companies that are operating in Sweetwater County?
With the county eyeing a big prize in the potential development of an industrial complex similar to the Heartland facility in Canada, a fair environmental assessment of how it would impact the local air quality should be completed, with a best-practices approach to mitigate those pollution problems before the switch is even turned on.
The people of Sweetwater County enjoy living here because it has easy access to outdoor recreation while providing us with good, high-paying jobs.
To completely ignore that in leu of industrial development would remove a very convincing reason people come to live and work here.
A balance can be achieved. We should strive for it.
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