As a stand-alone proposition, the taxing of sports betting
is something probably a lot of us could support. It’s the part of the vague
wording of Proposition DD that states that the increase in state taxes would be
used not only to pay for the regulation of sports betting but “to fund state
water projects and commitments,” that should cause one to wonder what some of
these projects and commitments might be. If you see the TV ads on Proposition
DD with the gorgeous mountain and river scenes, you might think the money would
be used to save these treasures. But if you look carefully at the Colorado
Water Plan, as suggested by Susan Knopf in an Oct. 18 column in the Summit
Daily News where she endorses Proposition DD, you get a different take on the
priorities of many of the stakeholders that formulated the plan.
Here are some “water projects” that would likely be funded
as a consequence of the passage of DD:
1. More dams on our rivers and more reservoirs that would
support more development and suburban sprawl.
2. More water diversions from the already endangered
Colorado and other river basins for commercial purposes.
3. More millions of gallons of water for fracking oil and
gas wells to be drilled in Colorado. As the Boulder Weekly points out, the
so-named Mr. Fracking, Josh Penry, was a consultant pushing for the passage of
Proposition DD.
Why does American Rivers support DD? Check out where they
get their millions in funding. We can’t continue to destroy our beautiful
natural environment in the name of development. Please vote no on Proposition
DD.