[voices]
Magic mining
STREET TALK Asked Monday morning outside the University Center. by Eric Oravsky
Recent studies indicate that the 2011 oil spill on the Yellowstone River could have been far less damaging if cleanup had happened more quickly. Do you trust regulatory agencies to oversee the petroleum industry in Montana? Follow-up: What’s the biggest mess you’ve ever made? Joe Hughes: Yes, for the most part. Although I think its probably a good idea to keep an eye on everybody working there anyway. Burn one down: One time, when I was 12 or so, I was sent to bed without dinner. So I decided to cook some chili on a camp stove, but ended up catching my room on fire and burning a big hole in the carpet. My punishment was to call carpet repair places, get bids and choose the guy doing the work.
Teresa Hytorwitz: I guess I do. I mean, we should be able to expect them to do what taxpayers pay them to do, right? The wrong foot: I threw up in someone’s shoes at a party. Well, lots of peoples’ shoes lined up at a party. I was a sophomore in college, and yes it was alcohol-related. But I’ve learned my lesson!
Kelsey Chambers: I’d like to, but from what it sounds like, their track record tells me I shouldn’t. So no, I don’t trust them. Five-second rule: I work at the Iron Horse, and I once dropped an entire bucket of au jus onto my shoes! It was like a 5-gallon bucket so it was a mess, but fortunately it wasn’t hot.
It’s alchemy! The University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research recently released two different studies on behalf of coal development in Montana, and they prove the bureau has to believe in alchemy, the ancient art of transforming an ordinary material like straw into gold, because they take the economic costs of coal and magically transform them into benefits. For example, UM’s bureau says that mining the Otter Creek will “help create a more productive, prosperous, and populous state economy,” but all the costs of mining the pristine area around Otter Creek in Montana disappear in their reports. To haul the coal out, the Tongue River Railroad will have to be built. This will slice through ranching operations up and down the Tongue River, disturbing wildlife habitat and ranching operations. Selling coal to China will also dramatically increase railroad traffic across Montana, splitting cities like Billings and Missoula in half, harming downtown businesses. Once the coal is burned in China, the emissions from it return to us in Montana faster than we send it over, according to Steve Running, a climatologist at UM. These emissions will include toxic mercury, which will harm the brain development of children across the state, and carbon dioxide, which will cause climate change and harm agriculture. Surly these costs matter, but coal mining is magic. These costs all disappear in the UM reports. Thomas Power and Donovan Power have written an eviscerating rebuttal of the coal reports, and you can read it at meic.org. Wade Sikorski Baker
Help me understand Tara Graham: You know, I’ve never really thought about it. Roll with it: When I first got my driver’s license, I was with a friend in my parent’s Trooper on the side of the road and it was raining really hard. Basically the shoulder gave out, and the Trooper rolled down the hill. It ended on its side and the dogs just jumped out the windows. Fortunately, my parents were very understanding, and nobody was hurt.
David Gilcrest: I have some faith in our regulatory entities, but I still believe they should be highly scrutinized. Bang: The biggest mess was the time I tried to install an on-demand hot water heater. The electronics were never right, and the copper tubing burst when it froze. Basically I violated the K.I.S.S. principle, and everything that could’ve gone wrong, did. I should have taken a shotgun to it.
[4] Missoula Independent • February 7 – February 14, 2013
Why would an issue in Montana cause someone in Lebanon Junction, Ky., to suffer sleepless nights and a heavy heart? Let me explain.
Once I had a wolf in my house. It wasn’t a wild wolf, it was a tame wolf recovering after I splinted a nasty fracture of his forearm, but it was a wolf nonetheless. Though stoic, as many wild animals are, I knew him well, and could tell he was in pain. He was snappy, and trying to stay immobile—and this was after his shattered leg had been splinted. There is nothing about pain and fear that require higher levels of thinking. I find myself thinking about this wolf often during this, the first trapping season after the reintroduced wolves have been deemed recovered. I am, quite honestly,
“Surly these costs matter, but coal mining is magic. These costs all disappear in the UM reports.” appalled that anyone would willingly inflict the kind of pain I saw in that wolf on any creature for any reason. Of course, a trapped wolf is also frantic, distraught and desperate, as well as in pain. I think. I don’t actually know. I try very hard to understand the reasoning for leghold traps. I am guessing it is something to do with self-sufficiency values, respect for a way of life and living off the land. I am a smallholder farmer myself, and have had livestock killed by predators — chickens, goats, geese, turkeys. I don’t like it one bit, so I get that. So I’m writing a letter to the folk in Montana: I don’t get it, help me understand. Why are you allowing leghold trapping? I’d actually like to hear. I’d really like
to get it stopped, but maybe there’s something I don’t know. Chris Albert Lebanon Junction, Ky.
Oregon’s mistake I’m told that assisted suicide will again be an issue in the Montana Legislature this session. I am a doctor in Oregon where assisted suicide is legal. A few years ago, I was caring for a 76-year-old man who presented with a sore on his arm, eventually diagnosed as cancer. I referred him to specialists for evaluation and therapy. I had known this patient and his wife for over a decade. He was an avid hiker, a popular hobby here in Oregon, and as his disease progressed, he was less able to do this activity, becoming depressed, which was documented in his chart. During this time, my patient expressed a wish for assisted suicide to one of the specialists. Rather than take the time to address his depression, or ask me, as his primary care physician, to talk with him, she called me and asked me to be the “second opinion” for his suicide. She told me that barbiturate overdoses “work very well” for patients like this, and that she had done this many times before. I told her that assisted suicide was not appropriate for this patient and that I did not concur. I was very concerned about my patient’s mental state and told her that addressing his underlying issues would be better than simply giving him a lethal prescription. Unfortunately, my concerns were ignored, and two weeks later my depressed patient was dead from an overdose prescribed by this doctor. Under Oregon’s law, I was not able to protect my patient. If assisted suicide becomes legal in Montana, you may not be able to protect your friends or family members. I urge you to contact your legislators to tell them to keep assisted suicide out of Montana. Don’t make Oregon’s mistake. Charles J. Bentz Portland, Ore.
[Comments from MissoulaNews.com] Backtalk from “Friends with benefits,” Jan. 31
Jag?
Aw, shucks
Proud history
“Max, give the money back. Max, we don't want to risk a Republican in your office, but some of your behavior makes one think you need to come home. There may be a very good person waiting to run. You know who I mean.” Posted Jan. 31 at 9:23 a.m.
“As a citizen of Montana I’d like to thank the Independent for publishing this article. There seems to be a dearth of Montana media who are willing to touch this story.” Posted Jan. 31 at 10:07 a.m.
“Montana has a proud history of elected representatives who rise on the national and world stage. Think Jeannette Rankin, Thomas J. Walsh, Mike Mansfield, Lee Metcalf. Why do we elect this clumsy, corrupt person?” Posted Jan. 31 at 12:37 p.m.
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