Editor,
In his Daily Lobo letter on Tuesday, Mike Ritthaler is guilty of the charge embodied in the title - "Dam columnist ignores facts." He correctly calculates the solar panel area - 11 square miles - required to produce the equivalent of Hoover Dam's 2 million kilowatt capacity. He then asks the scary, debate-ending question "Where are the 11 square miles we're willing to sacrifice?"
Ritthaler should have done a little more research before tapping the keys.
Behind Hoover Dam sits Lake Mead, which extends 110 miles up the Colorado River and drowns 247 square miles - more than 22 times the 11 square miles we're supposed to fret over.
About 200 miles upstream from Hoover sit Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. Powell is 186 miles long and occupies 266 square miles of formerly beautiful canyon country loaded with spectacular archeological sites, all now entombed in water and silently accumulating silt.
Add to these facts the knowledge that solar panels can be placed in locations with far less natural beauty, and what do you get? How about "sacrificing" 11 square miles of nondescript desert instead of 247 square miles of magnificent country with irreplaceable riparian habitat, cultural resources and people's homes?
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Ritthaler ends with the admonition that the importance of water and power issues requires "a responsibility for getting good, relevant information" and that he "expects better." Ditto.
William Doleman
Senior Archeologist
UNM Office of Contract Archeology
