This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Regarding July 8 article "GOP takes aim at Owens' Legacy Parkway opposition," (July 8):
First, my bona fides. I worked for 25 years as a wildlife biologist/environmental protection specialist for the federal government. Virtually all of my work dealt with the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA).
There are basically three rules when preparing a NEPA document. 1) Use good science. 2) Don't lie, even by omission, and 3) Follow the NEPA process.
As I recall, UDOT broke all of these rules when planning the Legacy Parkway. They then awarded contracts and started construction prematurely. Therefore, UDOT was vulnerable to a lawsuit.
Doug Owens and the environmental groups had not only the right, but the moral obligation to bring the lawsuit.
If the UDOT officials had not been so arrogant believing that they knew best, the delay could have been avoided.
As it turned out, the Legacy Parkway was built in a much more environmentally sensitive manner. In other words, NEPA worked. In fact, it may be one of the best examples of the NEPA process. NEPA does not promise to stop projects. It only seeks to make them more environmentally compatible.
The $250 million cost to the Utah taxpayers was not Doug Owens' fault.
It was UDOT's fault.
Gordon Lind
Sandy