Watch the railcars

I believe you need to watch the rail coming thru town. There are some three-times more of trains with only liquid cars carrying mostly oil. We need to get this stopped before a disaster happens to the colorado river and ruins all water to the ocean.

Duff Nicola, Silt

Trump derangement disease

Hunter’s letter comparing President Trump to a murdering dictator like Assad proves beyond a doubt Trump derangement disease is real and Pat has a fatal case.

---

---

Bruno Kirchenwitz, Rifle

Stein column a ‘wake-up call for our community’

Rob Stein’s November 22 column on the need for more accessible and equitable early childcare and education is a wake-up call for our community. I worked for eight years as a childcare provider in Glenwood Springs and have seen firsthand how the lack of affordable options impacts families. So many parents in our area are desperately seeking care for their infants and toddlers right now so that they can keep their jobs, but the options are slim and expensive. 

---

---

When I returned to work after the birth of my first child, I could only work part-time because I could only find part-time care for my son. When we had our second child, I searched for childcare while I was pregnant and could not find care for two children under the age of 2 at the same location. With no other options available, I began the process of becoming a licensed childcare provider. It was the only way to earn an income while caring for my children.

Since 2020 the rate of new childcare programs opening has been overshadowed by the number of providers closing their doors. Providers struggle to maintain a living wage while providing quality care and not charging families more than they can afford. It’s a delicate balance to provide a much needed service. In the eight years of my early childhood education career, I always had a waitlist for infants. Full-time childcare for an infant can easily cost upwards of $2,000 per month. Infant care is such demanding work physically and mentally in addition to licensing ratio constraints that few programs offer care for infants. Even if you can afford the cost, you are hard-pressed to find a provider with space available. 

I have left the early childhood field to continue my education to work as a public educator. Working with children brings me joy but in our area, the struggle to balance life and work as a self-employed childcare provider brings more challenges than benefits. This crisis persists as more qualified providers leave the field than enter it. Without funding for families and providers, nothing will change and the problem will worsen.

Tisha Neuman, Glenwood Springs

Post Independent all over Uinta Basin Railway

Excellent coverage by the Post Independent in their Dec. 11 edition of the status of the Uinta Basin Railway. That’s the 88-mile stretch of rail projected to connect the oil fields of northeast Utah to the Union Pacific line along the Colorado River, across the entire state of Colorado, and on to the refineries on the Gulf Coast.

This issue is critical to the Grand River Valley in terms of preserving our environmental integrity and responsibility to protect the quality of the water the Colorado River provides to 40 million people. It is predicted there would be at least one derailment per year with the ten two-mile long trains the new spur would generate. That one accident could be catastrophic.

The PI reported on both the opening arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court’s hearing on the matter and the Glenwood Springs City Council discussion. Glenwood Springs, who joined Eagle County and several other counties and municipalities in an amicus brief opposing the Surface Transportation Board’s 2021 decision to approve the railway, is contemplating how much protection is given by the National Environmental Policy Act.

The SCOTUS is responding to an appeal of a 2022 U.S. Appeals Court decision to halt construction until a more complete environmental impact statement can be done. Opening arguments revolved around whether NEPA requirements apply only to proximate concerns or can include downstream issues.

Environmentalists like myself winced when we heard this case was going to the SCOTUS. The current makeup of the court hasn’t been favorable to ecological issues and very friendly to corporate concerns.

The question that isn’t being asked is do we need the oil from the Uinta Basin. This year, the country is on pace to produce 13.2 million barrels of oil per day which will break the 2023 record of 12.9 million bpd. All this while oil demand is decreasing due to a flagging Chinese economy and the proliferation of electric vehicles. Consequently, crude prices are down.

And, of course, the issue nobody is facing is the 58.5 million tons of carbon pollution the increased production in the Uinta Basin will emit. The climate certainly doesn’t need that.

Fred Malo Jr., Carbondale