Open space is nice, if you can afford the high cost

As a longtime Weld County resident, I read with interest your recent article.

As I watch the oil wells expand exponentially throughout this county, I have become more and more enraged with the lack of quality of the roads in the county due to the increased traffic from trucks and pickup trucks associated with this industry.

I was amazed to find out that the entire revenue from this industry ($84.4 million dollars) goes to the county for upkeep and construction of our roads and bridges. You would hardly know it if you traveled the roads of this county as I do. These roads are pockmarked by huge potholes made by oil, sand and water fracking trucks, and increasingly, my trips are upended by traffic jams associated with the growth of our communities that can be partially blamed on the increase of population from those who profit from the oil industry.

Boulder has huge areas devoted to open space. While I would love to see this in my county, I don’t know as if I would want to live someplace where a small home costs a lot more than I can afford. Increasingly, people have moved into Weld County because they can’t afford to live in counties that have driven up housing costs by buying up so much open space.

It looks as if Weld and Boulder counties have made diametrically different choices in how their mineral rights are spent. I can’t say either has made the correct choice. Our roads are still a mess, and while open spaces are wonderful, it has made Boulder County a rich person’s paradise.