Independent volunteer board needed

It appears strange that Colorado Springs Utilities can claim protection for disclosure of their Drake plant SO2 emissions under the Colorado Open Records Access Law. The release of that information should not be protected under the trade secrets portion of the law. Output emissions of the plant do not convey any of the processes used to attain the level present in the releases. Only those processes could be considered protected information under the law.

Is it possible that the real reason for the trade secrets claim is to avoid embarrassment for Utilities and its board on poor performance of the NeuStream system tests accomplished to date?

Why, after Colorado Springs has invested over $175 million in that SO2 abatement system, can’t we, the investors, get the Drake emissions data requested? Is it because the Utilities board and Utilities management selection of the NeuStream abatement system testing is below expectations? That unproven system was purchased initially for less than $40 million. Proven systems bid in that same cost range were rejected over NeuStream. I wonder if those proven systems would have resulted in the same cost growth (4.5 times the original bid) that we, the investors, have experienced with the selected NeuStream system.

Is it time for a truly independent volunteer board to determine the Drake plant SO2 emissions abatement performance before anticipated additional cost growth is incurred? We are fortunate in that Colorado Springs has many qualified experts to participate in such a board. I believe that such a board is needed in the near term.

Harry Hamilton

Colorado Springs

Take it to a vote of the public

Regarding the editorial: “Springs Utilities needs adjustment.” The governance of Colorado Springs Utilities may not seem as important against such social topics as gun control, turmoil in the Middle East or Donald Trump, but it is one of the closest things we as local citizens and ratepayers can control in terms of how it impacts our quality of life and finances.

To say that Springs Utilities “ain’t broken” by some of our council members is shortsighted and naïve. Not only is there plenty of room for improvement in terms of how Utilities is run, there is also concern for the continuing growing debt and expenditures that Springs Utilities incurs year after year.

The Gazette’s editorial is on point. Some of our prestigious council members have an oversimplified understanding of the operations and external impacts to those operations. They are also unable to move the Utilities forward so long as they continue to be indecisive on important issues.

Study after study continues to support the need for an independent board. How many more studies is it going to take to get this board to realize the need for change. If the council can’t decide, then take it to a vote of the public.

Let the citizen-owners have a say.

Alan Goins

Colorado Springs

Get Air Force basketball on TV

There have recently been a number of comments bemoaning the lack of attendance at Air Force basketball games at Clune Arena. I believe that one big contributing factor is that there is almost no local television coverage of the games. The games used to be broadcast on the Mountain West Network, but that station went off the air a few years ago. Although I and many others attend as many games in person as possible, it would be great to view the other games on TV. A television presence would help build interest in the team and entice new fans to a live game at Clune Arena. But with the season about half over, I don’t believe more than one game has been on local television.

With so many cable, satellite and local television outlets, there must be some way Air Force officials could negotiate a broadcast agreement. Possibilities include Root Sports, the local Comcast Network, over the air station sub-channels such as News 5-2 and many others. A built-up viewing audience should translate into bigger crowds at Clune Arena in the future.

Richard Johnson

Colorado Springs

Both parties have failed

Oh, give me a break. We, the over 45, white working men of these United States are backing Donald Trump “out of fear”? I am a college graduate who spent six years in the U.S. Army, at times living in a cave; under days of Chinese artillery fire on the island of Quemoy/Kinmen back in 1958. I subsequently served a full career in the CIA and have been retired for quite some time.

I am not backing Trump out of fear, unless it’s the fear that our present system of two-party rule is not now and has not in a long time been representative of the American people. We “old white men” have watched our career politicians in Washington accomplish little in office beyond that which will get them re-elected. There is no difference between the self-serving politicians in either party. Both parties have failed to solve any of the crucial social problems that have plagued us over the past 60 years.

Our income tax formula has been a joke for as long as I can remember. Our “leaders” have gotten us into wars where only the military/industrial complex has come out the winner. Our great country is on the verge of collapse under the weight of near $20 trillion of debt.

Truly, what does it matter who gets elected president? It’s tweedledee or tweedledum based on my experience over many, many frustrating years. Maybe Trump will throw enough bricks at the establishment during this campaign that “out of fear” of exposure as the man behind the curtain it will openly concede that the country desperately needs some serious changes.

A good start would be strict term limits (one six-year term for all) to do away with this “anything to get re-elected” voting in both houses.

Jim Harley

Colorado Springs