How can we keep the Jewish community safe? (Letters)
Keys to keeping the Jewish region safe On Sunday during a peaceful walk in Boulder several people were burned in an incendiary attack The suspect reportedly shouted Free Palestine as he assaulted participants including an -year-old Holocaust survivor Their crime being Jewish Sadly this was not an isolated act According to the FBI Jewish Americans less than of the population are targets of more than half of all religiously motivated hate crimes The reasons for violent antisemitism are as old as time and each should be fought head-on One way to fight back is to do a better job of physically protecting Jewish communities from violence The federal Nonprofit Prevention Grant Activity NSGP helps at-risk groups fund protective measures like cameras locks and crisis training But in the grant fiscal year FEMA received over million in requests and could fulfill less than half according to Jewish Insider Despite metastasizing anti-Jewish violence Congress continues to underfund the activity This must change Colorado s congressional delegation should lead an urgent legislative push to raise NSGP funding by million annually and streamline the application process given the acute nature of the threat When leaders in Congress condemn attacks like the one in Boulder but fail to use their authority to prevent further violence their words ring hollow Let s see action instead Jesse Smith Greenwood Village I fear that the attack in Boulder is merely a precursor to more attacks and more deadly ones Gaza with tens of thousands of innocent civilians killed is a terrorism incubator The administration has disregarded events in Gaza and has hollowed out the FBI and intelligence services putting fealty to the president above competence for the job We have weakened our ability to stop attacks while doing nothing to stop the impetus behind them Dan Danbom Denver After the racist attack in Boulder the follow-up by particular members of the GOP laying blame on Democrats is disgusting In a time when togetherness and rallying against acts of violence should unite us these GOP members would rather double down on divisiveness and hate for political gain Hopefully constituents in those districts will wake up at poll time and send these representatives packing Thoughts and prayers Steve Phillips Grand Junction Oil and gas industry working to plug orphan wells Re GOP gives oil-gas industry gifts of reduced royalties environmental review May commentary Barbara Vasquez s commentary lacked particular critical context regarding oil and gas wells in Colorado First her language is misleading as she consistently refers to unplugged wells and conflates them with inactive or abandoned wells There are around advancing oil and gas wells in the United States down from over million They re unplugged because they re producing the resource we need to survive and thrive in the st century Abandoned or orphan wells are separate issues as are inactive or marginal wells She references hundreds of inactive and abandoned oil wells in Jackson County According to the state orphaned wells there have already been plugged with pending plans to plug the remaining She also says companies are allowed to walk away from their responsibility to old wells and leave taxpayers holding the bag for cleaning up leaking wells It s critical to note that in Colorado taxpayers are not on the hook for all orphan wells Related Articles Do we really need a million walkway from the Capitol to a park Letters Johnston should advocacy revision of city s courts and sentencing Letters Let Joe Biden live out his days in peace Letters While in town for USAFA graduation Secretary Meink should rethink Air Force Academy cuts Letters King Soopers grocery prices aren t to be trusted caveat emptor Letters As of there are approximately orphan wells with private or state ownership according to the state Oil and gas operators are assessed various fees that contribute millions of dollars in new funding each year to plug and remediate orphan wells and this year a new fee will contribute another million for marginal wells Colorado s oil and gas industry is now plugging more wells than it s drilling each year and working with state regulators to ensure Colorado is leading the charge to safely provide vital vitality materials Dan Haley Arvada Editor s note Haley is the executive director of Coloradans for Responsible Power Expansion Sign up for Sound Off to get a weekly roundup of our columns editorials and more To send a letter to the editor about this article submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail
