Dear Editor:



With flick of wand yesterday (July 9), USEPA uttered the powerful
incantation "Plumus disappearus!" sending Kennecott's Southwest Jordan
Valley groundwater contamination mass hurtling into oblivion.  Here at
Hogwarts, EPA can do things impossible in the muggle world, such as cause
great masses of chemical elements and compounds to cease to exist.  In the
magical universe, consent decrees defy physics, logic, ethics and public
responsibility with impunity, knowing that Lord Kennecott will apply the
'cruciatus' curse to any Congressman, governor, DEQ administrator or anyone
else with the temerity to get in the way.  What are a few million Great Salt
Lake migratory waterfowl and shorebirds among wizards, anyway?  Lord
Kennecott and its 'Wormtail' water district have secured their prize:  Under
guise of cleaning water for more sterile lawns in their magical dreamscape,
thus keeping UDOT busy building roads, Kennecott is allowed off the hook for
a century of negligence.  Apparently, magic can also rewrite history.
Nevertheless, contaminant chemicals, whether in the Lake, in the tailings
impoundment, or on their way from the impoundment to the Lake (it's one or
the other, inevitably) will prove to be a larger evil some day than they
ever were in the aquifer.  Some magic.



Sadly,

Ivan Weber