June 27, 2008

Shame, shame

"Well, I never heard it before, but it sounds uncommon nonsense." Those wise words from The Mock Turtle in Alice in Wonderland came to mind while I read two recent stories in the Tribune on the Highwood Generating Station: SME's latest disinformation to the City Commission and the curious fluff on the Urquhart stewardship of the Great Falls Portage National Historic Landmark.

Both left out the critical "rest of the story!" Neither story mentioned the grave threat HGS poses to the landmark, a threat so great that the National Trust for Historic Preservation has added the Portage Route to America's Most Endangered Historic Places. HGS, if built, will loom over "one of the best preserved and most accessible landscapes along the Lewis and Clark Trail."

Simply put, the coal plant "threatens to irreparably damage the cultural and visual landscape of this National Historic Landmark."

Stewardship of a national landmark brings a special obligation. The coal plant will be built on previously preserved land, and this is far from meeting that obligation. Shame on SME for threatening our landmark. Shame on the Great Falls City Commission leading the destruction of our most important cultural tourism asset and one of America's historic treasures.

— Ken Robison, Great Falls