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Put local people before foreign profits

I am writing to voice my concerns about the truck traffic on County Road 120. My concerns are as follows:

Since moving to Hesperus in the spring of 2013, I have read about the increasing number of trucks the company Grupos Cementos de Chihuahua is running on the northern section of County Road 120. It used to be 100 trucks a day, and now the number is 280 trucks per day.

I am concerned for all of the local residents/voters that use both County Road 120 and Highway 140 from Hesperus to Farmington. My family and I use these roads every day. Allowing more trucks on these winding and narrow mountain roads puts all of us at greater risk.

It is my understanding that due to the noise, pollution and safety concerns for the residents that live along north County Road 120, the county is considering re-routing some of the traffic onto either south County Road 120 or County Road 119. Neither of these solutions will solve the noise, safety or pollution concerns. It will simply create more concerns by exposing more citizens to noise, pollution and traffic.

South County Road 120 has numerous blind hills and three hairpin turns. Additionally, vehicles routinely exceed the speed limit. There are more residences located directly adjacent to the road on south County Road 120 than there are on the northern section of County Road 120, and many of these residences have children. Adding more traffic, specifically trucks, will only increase the risk of an accident, or death.

Finally, I am concerned that our elected county commissioners are allowing a foreign corporation to pollute the environment and jeopardize the lives and well-being of county residents.

It seems that the only viable solution is for the La Plata County commissioners to deny the land-use permit for GCC currently being considered, and put the health and well-being of the citizens they were elected to protect above the needs of a foreign multinational company and its profits.

Timothy Prow

Hesperus



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