In case you missed it | Hold another municipalization vote

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Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas

We have to agree with those who are calling for a final vote of Boulder residents on the municipalization question, before the city moves ahead with it.

There are so many details we don’t know yet, and yes, it’s true that the vote in November 2011 authorized our esteemed representatives on city council to move ahead if the path is clear, but we’re sorry. There are just dozens of wild cards here, too many things that still need to be settled in court. And, frankly, we’re not sure how much we trust the current council’s judgment right now.

Give the people a final say when all of the facts are out. That’s the process that should have been on the ballot in 2011.

We’ve heard the words “Trust us” before, and let’s just say it hasn’t always turned out for the best.

Not that we should be trusting Xcel, either. Now that we’ve been given this opportunity to craft our own energy fate, let’s do it carefully and make sure the plan still has the public’s support when all of the cards are on the table.

HUMANS DIDN’T CAUSE THE ‘BIBLICAL FLOOD’

We almost ran this straight-faced as an Eco-Brief, but it’s more humorous than anything else.

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) recently referenced the biblical Great Flood as evidence of climate change not induced by human activity, according to media reports.

Seriously? So, we should all keep driving around solo in our SUVs because a purported flood proves we have no impact on our environment?

His biblical reference on April 10 was part of his remarks on the Keystone XL Pipeline to the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power.

Barton doesn’t deny that climate is changing — he just questions whether human activities are to blame. Incredibly, he’s not alone: a recent Gallup poll found that 52 percent of Republicans now acknowledge the scientific consensus that the climate is warming — up from 37 percent in 2011 — but still, only 39 percent of Republicans believe humans are the cause, LiveScience reports.

“I would point out that if you’re a believer in the Bible, one would have to say the Great Flood is an example of climate change, and that certainly wasn’t because mankind had overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy,” Barton said while speaking about the Northern Route Approval Act, which gives Congress the authority to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

If you’ll recall, that’s the project that would pave the way for oil companies to extract oil from Canada’s tar sands. Environmental advocates fear that the carbon released would quicken global warming, and that leaks in the pipeline would be harmful to the surrounding environment.

Not to mention trigger another Great Flood.

SPRING SNOWS

You gotta love Mother Nature in Boulder County. Some people forget that March and April are Colorado’s snowiest months — and that you can’t always trust the weather forecasts.

On April 8, the St. Vrain Valley School District preemptively canceled school the night before a huge storm was expected, and then we barely got a dusting that next day.

Then the storm this past week dumped more than a foot of snow, and students across the county hoping for a justifiable snow day were out of luck, for the most part.

And we all heard the collective groan of tens of thousands of college students on the morning of April 16, the day after CU closed its doors early at 2 p.m. because of the white stuff, when they all rolled out of bed and failed to see a text alert from the chancellor announcing a campus closure.

Come on, Mama Nature, you’ve got at least one humdinger of a storm left in you before summer, don’t you? We could use the day off, er, the moisture.

Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com