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It is a sad commentary upon the general repute of
federal agencies that people are amazed whenever the
Environmental Protection Agency actually acts to protect
the environment. It's as astonishing as getting
service
from the IRS, or finding intelligence
in a CIA report.
The EPA has again announced that it will not grant a permit to Two Forks Reservoir, which violates the Clean Water Act. Naturally, the EPA has been denounced by those who claim that Colorado cannot prosper unless more Western Slope rivers are diverted to drown more Front Range canyons.
Although I haven't seen any recent polls on the topic, it is probably safe to assume that most Coloradans favor prosperity. The rationale behind Two Forks is that an increased metropolitan water supply will allow for population growth, which will bring wealth.
That reasoning might have made sense when Calvin Coolidge slept in the White House, but it doesn't work today.
Who benefits from population growth? You do, if you're among the fortunate group whose interests are always put foremost by our state legislature: speculators with undeveloped land to subdivide, desperate realty agents who missed the HUD windfall, public utilities whose previous mismanagement gave them expensive excess capacity, etc.
Those are transitory one-shot bonanzas, though. What are the long-term benefits?
Well, there are more customers in the local trade area. But these days, that doesn't necessarily mean a boom in retail trade. People do shop locally for commodities like groceries and autos, which have a low retail margin.
The more profitable specialized markets -- computers, gourmet foods, designer clothing -- are national and international markets. Having more people nearby is no guarantee that they'll buy the high-profit stuff from you.
If my taste in coffee improves, does that mean I'll buy a better grade from the local Safeway? Or will I order high-caffeine highlands Colombian beans from some distant gourmet specialty house? If I need a computer part, which is easier and cheaper? Taking an hour for driving, parking and shopping at a local store, or picking up the phone, calling a company in New Hampshire or California, and having it on my doorstep the next morning?
Just because there are people nearby with money to spend doesn't mean they'll spend it in ways that benefit the local economy. And population doesn't automatically translate into prosperity, or else Mexico City, Calcutta and Shanghai would be among the richest cities on earth.
Population growth does translate into increased traffic, which means congestion and delayed commerce. Growth also means more air and water pollution and a reduction in recreational opportunities. It eliminates the very features which once made Colorado an attractive place to live.
The old notion of prosperity was based on real estate. Land was the source of wealth, whether you mined, logged, farmed or subdivided. Since land in Colorado is useless unless you add water, the dams and diversions were vital.
When you bought a car in 1950, about 40 percent of the price went toward raw materials like steel and copper that came out of the land. But how much of the price of a VCR or microwave oven today goes for tangible raw materials? Maybe 10 or 15 percent. The real money goes to intangibles like bank interest, design, engineering and marketing -- none of which is tied to any special piece of real estate.
Nowadays the big money comes from creating those intangibles which have only a tenuous connection with real estate and water diversions. If we really want prosperity, that's where Colorado should be headed. We ought to be investing in better communications, better libraries, better schools -- developing the resources that will produce more future wealth than suburbs, commodity processing factories or shopping malls.
But it's safe to predict that our leaders will continue to put their energy into finding some way to build Two Forks. Like generals, they're always fighting the last war.
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