Open Letter to Tribune Editor Bangert

Dear Mr. Bangert -

I am writing to express my dismay that I am unable to find in The Tribune any vestige of coverage of John McCain's recent suggestion that the 1922 Colorado River Compact be reopened in order to better serve the needs of downstream (read: Arizona, California) growth. This was covered in The Pueblo Chieftain and the Grand Junction Sentinel with some prominence over the past weekend.

I can think of no issue more important to your readers than water. You devote several pages to faith in your weekend section, and even spent several column inches introducing a dog which won the Greeley Kennel Club show, but water is something that is literally life or death to your readership. Colorado River water especially, since all members of Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District benefit from Colorado River rights via the Colorado-Big-Thompson (CBT) project, and Northern will likely need to maintain the status quo in order to be able to so much as fill Glade reservoir.

Perhaps you and your reporters missed Sen. McCain's comments. Perhaps you decided that they weren't newsworthy. Perhaps you decided that they might make Sen. McCain look bad. I don't know, but missing this story is irresponsible in the extreme.

Repsectfully,

jobu@widestreets.net

= cross-posted at squarestate.net =