Letters: U.S. plastic waste exports are shameful (3/18/21)

By DP Opinion of the Denver Post

U.S. plastic waste exports are shameful

Re: “Despite ban, exports of U.S. garbage rise,” March 13 news story

Why was this article tucked away on the 14th page of your newspaper? That the rich United States continues to use its fossil fuels to create plastic, then exports the plastic waste to poor countries is shameful. The story should have been trumpeted as front-page news.

Certainly, all of us folks separating trash need to know it ain’t being recycled but is being dumped elsewhere: not in my backyard or our nation’s city dumps or rivers. I want to hear more about last year’s agreement to place strict limits on exports of plastic waste from richer countries to poorer ones.

Dottie Massaro, Golden

Setting record straight on redistricting process

Re: “Redistricting takes a partisan twist away from independence,” March 16 letter to the editor

The new system for drawing congressional and legislative districts created through voter-approved Amendments Y&Z emphasizes transparency in order to help Coloradans follow and participate in the process. In fact, that transparency allows for an easy debunking of Randy Fricke’s error-filled letter.

There are no “secret lists” of nominees for the commissions, as he contends. Y&Z provided that state Senate and House majority leaders (currently Democrats) and minority leaders (currently Republicans) “shall each select a pool of 10 applicants who are affiliated with one of the state’s two largest political parties from all applications submitted…” (my emphasis).

Applications to serve on the commissions were made public in January. The submitted “leadership lists” for the congressional and legislative redistricting panels were made public in mid-February at redistricting.colorado.gov (and also on twitter via @CORedistricting). In fact, Fricke’s application is one of thousands that are available for public inspection on that website.