Current NEPA process already worked for bike trail

Re: “Mesa County’s bike path shows what NEPA should be,” March 3 commentary

Rose Femia Pugliese’s discourse on the approval of the Palisade Plunge mountain bike trail under the National Environmental Policy Act makes a case for why the act should be changed, as proposed by the Trump administration.

Yet, the existing process apparently worked for this proposed trail, which was evaluated by the BLM under an environmental assessment and finalized in a “finding of no significant impact” on June 19.

President Donald Trump’s push for changes to NEPA may be noble in terms of shortening the length of the process and the thickness of documents. However, the plan proposes to avoid evaluating cumulative effects and reduces the need for separating direct effects from indirect (downstream damage, for example).

Most people should be in favor of ways to streamline the NEPA process, but not if it short-changes evaluating the full effects on the environment. For complex projects, such as a mining conglomerate that would cause significant impacts to wildlife, it is unrealistic to expect a comprehensive review in two years, as is proposed for a time limit.

As a mountain biker, I applaud the establishment of a new trail and expansion of recreation as an economic stimulus for our communities. I also applaud the process that deemed the trail would have no significant effects on the environment. However, it seems to me that although Pugliese indicates, “As Coloradans, we care deeply about the environment,” not everyone feels this way if the environment and the need to protect it get in the way of what we want to do. Loren Hettinger, Littleton Editor’s note: Hettinger is a Ph.D. botanist and plant ecologist who has prepared numerous environment impact assessments and statements.