How awkward is it when your newspaper’s editorial board contradicts your reporting and actually endorses the issue you seemingly tried to trash?
Let’s ask Denver Post reporter Bruce Finely, just as soon as he’s finished bashing his head against his keyboard.
In case you missed Finley’s story, he wrote about the Denver Zoo’s effort to recycle animal poop and tourist trash to use as a power source for the park, and how bad that would be, according to his master the Sierra Club and local community groups.
“The zoo should recycle their paper, cardboard and plastics, as well as compost, instead of destroying these valuable resources.” said Joan Seeman, toxic issues chairperson for the Sierra Club.
Larry Ambrose, president of Denver’s Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation coalition, sniffed that the power plant should be installed near the guinea pig exhibit.
But according to the Denver Post’s editorial board, the opposition’s arguments are ill informed:
The zoo is trying to reduce its waste footprint through an innovative way to capture energy. It is a smart plan, one that has gone through extensive review and approval. Continued gripes from some opponents are misguided and, frankly, way too late.
The only way the council can officially withdraw its support is if something has gone wrong. And that hasn’t happened. The project should move forward. We hope that it will become a model for how institutions can deal with waste and generate energy without endangering the health of the public.
Essentially, Finely’s story was much ado about dung.