Dear Editor,
Recent articles in the Tribune about the big coal-fired plant at Garden City reminded me of the late Hugh D. Mauch’s adverse opinion on the plant’s demand for water.
Hugh was like George Washington, in that he had ability to look over the horizon and around the corner. He foresaw the folly of using Kansas’ water to generate power for Colorado and Texas.
The public clamor about jobs being a “quick fix” for a depressed economy is short-sighted and foolish. Maybe the poet’s rhyme about God and soldiers puts the coal-fired plant into good perspective.
Said Kipling:
“Our God and soldiers, we all adore;
In time of crisis and not before.
But after the crisis,
and all things are quieted,
our God is forgotten
and our soldiers, slighted.”
We we run out of water, because of a coal-fired power plant — then, when we realized we’ve been slighted — it will be too late.
Homer Kruckenberg,
Great Bend