In response to your recent editorial on the Thompson Divide (Herald, May 6): As someone who has worked on the Thompson Divide issue for a very long time as part of the diverse coalition working for a permanent withdrawal solution, I think the editorial is misguided and gives Representative Tipton too much of a free pass.
There have been thousands of hours of testimony, from people ranging from conservative ranchers to family run business owners, and over 30,000 comments on this issue.
To say that “the uproar over the fact that an energy company produced the draft of Tipton’s proposal is a distraction,” is to discount all of the time, effort and thought that has already been put into this process by diverse constituents and local governments, all of which is being ignored by Rep. Tipton with his new bill.
Starting point or not, if he was serious about wanting to include other voices besides the company that is his biggest campaign contributor, he would not have started this process with a bill written by and for it. He knows that there is massive resistance to his plan and he is hiding behind a false premise that his bill is just a starting point. And your editorial just gives him the pass that he is looking for to hide behind.
Garett Reppenhagen
Jefferson
