From: Judy Denison 
Date: Sat, 20 Apr 2002 

NREL has issued a "Request for public and agency comments on
site-wide environmental issues related to the proposed operation
and improvements at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's
South Table Mountain site." Comments are due by May 15 for an
environmental assessment (EA) coming out in October 2002.

From: D. Ohmans
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002

Chris Powers, PR Director for NREL and a member of this list, told
me a year ago that the laboratory on the South Table Mountain Mesa
Top Facilities was to be the only "semi-permanent structure." More
recently he told The Transcript that the night lighting at the
facility was a matter of "four 50-watt bulbs."

The following is called PROPOSED ACTION AND ALTERNATIVES from the
NREL website: "Short-Term Components (2003-2007) - The Short-Term
improvement program includes components for both the STM and the
DWOP (Denver West Office Park) site, but MOST OF THE PHYSICAL
IMPROVEMENTS WILL OCCUR AT THE STM SITE (my emphasis). The
following improvements define the short-term components of the
Proposed Action: 
CONSTRUCTION OF NEW AND MODIFICATION OF EXISTING FACILITIES 
 Facility for expanded photovoltaic research and technology
development 
 Laboratories for plant biotechnology and research greenhouses 
 Biorefinery pilot-scale facility 
 Facilities for whole building testing, integrated building/
transportation energy systems, and office and laboratory space 
 Relocation of staff and program implementation to and/ or from
DWOP and STM 
 Facility for large vehicle test research 
 Laboratory facilities for expanded fundamental hydrogen
research 
 Facility for larger scale hydrogen process development and
integration 
 Visitor Center improvement
 Additional space for computing facility 
 Research Support Facilities 
 Modification of Existing Facilities 
INFRASTRUCTURE MODIFICATIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS 
 Electrical infrastructure 
 Telecommunications infrastructure 
 Domestic water system, including gray water system
improvements 
 Fire protection system 
 Sewage system 
 On-site roads, parking areas, and site entrances 
 Additional alternative fueling stations 
 Security infrastructure"

If you are still with me folks, the point is that Save The Mesas
has another emergency before it. I fear that this one shall be met
with a yawn.

From: D. Ohmans
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002

I was thrilled to discover that Coors Brewing Co. has purchased my
old domain name, coorsbeer.org , which I let expire. For those of
you who miss my ratking website (;-) it is still available at
webshells.com/coorsbeer .

Re the NREL mesa top expansion, send comments to
steve_blazek@nrel.gov . However, I believe a petition is what is to
be done. Short of that, please cast your vote at Push-It-Back
above. Thanks.

From: Don Cameron
Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002

I have read the documents posted on the DOE site and am not in a
panic over the impact to South Table Mountain (STM). All but some
very small buildings look to be below the top of the Mesa and out
of line of site from all but the edge of Golden. I think NREL is a
national treasure. You may support mass transit (I do), and wind
and solar power (I have panels on my roof), and you may walk the
talk when it comes to your energy use. But, sadly many people in
this country don't. Regardless, for the betterment of the planet
and to reduce our use of Energy resources we need NREL. It is good
for the country and good for Golden. Now, look at the proposals. If
you take a quick look at the map you see that most of the
construction is well below the rim where existing facilities
already exist. Secondly the structures that might impact STM top
are very limited. A group like save the mesas has a role to play
here to be sure. But any attempt to save the mesas needs to be
balanced (in my view) with other needs. Safe, reliable RENEWABLE
energy is a huge need in this country. From what I've seen of the
needed improvements at NREL I could live with the changes. One
other thought. Are you a NIMBY (Not in my back yard), a BANANA
(Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone) or from GOLDEN
(Good Old Local Defenders of Environment and Nature) With any luck
you can see a portion of the picture from the documents posted
below, but some lists don't allow imbedded images. 
Sincerely, 
Don B. Cameron 
Golden

From: D. Ohmans
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002

Don Cameron writes, "If you take a quick look at the map you see
that most of the construction is well below the rim where existing
facilities actually exist." Don, NREL itself says, "most of the
physical improvements will occur at the STM (Mesa Top Facilities)
site."

Barry Bloom chimes in, "Thank you for the informative, well-
grounded information." Barry, Don Cameron's information is that he
admires NREL very much. Yet a bare mesa is of a different order.

A DARK MESA is the choice of 17 of 32 (53 percent) of voters on the
Internet site above, where duplicate voting is technologically
prohibited.

Then along comes Sean VonFeldt who agrees with Don 100% - in the
Golden Newsletter no less. Look ma, no firestorm of opinion brewing
to save you...

From: D. Ohmans
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002

I erred, for which I apologize. I assumed that NREL's STM site was
the Mesa Top Facilities only. I just drove out there, and indeed
the main modernistic building at the foot is called the South Table
Mountain Site.

STM (versus DWOP) includes the Mesa Top Facilities, because every
one of those facilities' structures are marked in color on their
map for "improvement."

On February 6, 2002 John Kersten, acting manager of NREL, wrote
Golden, "...to entertain a ban on all lights on the mesa is not
reasonable." So much for motion detectors instead of floodlights.

The good people of Goldenco would like a commitment from someone at
NREL that the horrendous visual impact of its Mesa Tops Facilities
shall never be more than it is tonight. Beyond that, let us Push It
Back to an acceptably dim future.

For you Parkway optimists, J. Kersten also wrote, "We would 
entertain reasonable suggestions as to how we might further reduce
visibility of our lights to the community." [steve_blazek@nrel.gov]

From: Judy Denison
Date: Sun, 5 May 2002

STM BOARD MAY 9 TO DISCUSS NREL PROPOSAL There will be a Save The
Mesas Board meeting on Thursday, May 9, to discuss a response to
the DOE request for comments on the proposed NREL actions.

This Board meeting is open to all. We want as much input as
possible on this matter. Please read the document and be ready with
comments and other possible actions.

The meeting is at 7:00pm at 305 Lookout View Drive (Don & Mary
Parker's, 303-279-4549). The Request for Comments document is on on
www.golden.doe.gov. Click on 'Reading Room' at the home page,
scroll to the bottom of the list. It's the last item. Comments are
requested by May 15. 

From: Powers, Christopher
Date: Mon, 6 May 2002 12:06:41

Actually, we are working on installing motion detectors as a
solution to the problem. When the issue of the NREL mesa top lights
first arose, as a complaint from a Pleasant View resident, we added
shielding to redirect the lights away from the Pleasant View
community. We thought that solved it, but after several people in
Golden raised the issue again, we took another look. From Pleasant
View, in my opinion, the lights are hardly visible. However, one
night I took a look at the lights while driving west on Colfax and
then north on 6th toward Golden, and I noticed the lights became
brighter. I think this happened because I was basically driving
around the shielding. In any case, our laboratory has been looking
at solutions for a couple of months now and recently determined
that using motion sensors instead of continuously burning lights
would probably still meet our security requirements. Because
nothing happens fast in the government, the fix could take until
mid-summer. I hesitate to make this a firm commitment, because we
could run into some issue we had not foreseen, but we are planning
to install motion sensors. 

Chris Powers 
Department of Energy

From: D. Ohmans
Date: 8 May, 2002

Steve Smith of the "Golden Transcript," Marian Olson of the "Voice
of Golden," Judy Denison of the Golden Newsletter,

This is major news. Thanks are due to Bill Astle, Jeffco Democrats
chair, and John Lahr, U.S. government scientist for supporting the
cause of Mesa Lights Off. No home can now develop on South Table
Mountain - or convenience store.

P.S. Perlmutter and Stevinson, the Golden City Council, usw. 
P.P.S. Hasta la victoria siempre.

From: D. Ohmans
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002

Dear Chris Powers,
It looks to me that there is a new bank of bright floodlights on the
NREL mesa top facility.  Seems to be four or five of them in a single
cluster.  What happened to your promised motion sensors.
               Sincerely,
               Doug

"Everything is broken."
               --Bob Dylan--

From: Powers, Christopher
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002

Doug--We did keep our promise.  We installed motion detectors in July.
Apparently, they functioned fine for a while, but now are not shutting the
lights off a few minutes after detecting motion, as they are designed to do.
The contractor has been called, so we should have a dark mesa top again
soon.

Chris Powers
DOE/NREL

From: D. Ohmans
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002

The NREL Footprint on the Table looks GREAT, i.e. almost invisible
at night.  THANK YOU SO MUCH.

From: Don Parker
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002

Excellent work Doug.  Well done.   It's a fine example of how one person
can make a difference.

Don

From: J. Doug Ohmans
Date: Monday, June 09, 2003

The U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) is a bad neighbor.
For the past week, their motion sensors at the Mesa Top Facilities
on South Table Mountain have been turned off, or have been
malfunctioning....

The mountain went dark.  Those of us who were broken-hearted
when, in August 1998 (just six months after Save The Mesas had
defeated Nike's attempted incursion on the same surface)
governments approved a two-story 2600 square-foot laboratory
building on the pristine surface, found some relief from the sting
of defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.  But an informal
promise from a bureaucrat is no assurance of permanence:  the
U.S. Government will do what it wants, and damn public opinion.

What's new.  The Central Plans Community Plan includes the
following footnote, where Jeffco planners assume the voice of
developers:
"Fact:  NREL has protected 177 acres on South Table Mountain
slopes and mesa top with a conservation easement.  An additional
10 acres is set aside for Jefferson County Open Space trails
through the NREL property.  Of the 104.7 acres owned by NREL
on the mesa top, only 13 acres are developable.  NREL is
proposing to expand one of the existing mesa top buildings on the
13 acres by about 1,350 square feet."

Are they going to add a third story.  What are they going to do.
Does the public have a snowball's chance in hell of influencing
them.  Will that old whore, homeland security, be trotted out to
justify floodlights.  What is to be done.

Brothers and sisters, let's put up a fight.  We might lose, but let
us disrupt the sleep of e.g. the NREL manager who said, "We
would have to weigh the public outcry against the fact that
NREL is working to benefit the entire planet for hundreds of
years to come."

In an unprecedented move, the public just authorized gravel
quarrying by Lafarge on 60 acres of Jefferson County Open
Space land.  A great victory, because we obtained North Table
Mountain in exchange.  But an example nevertheless of how
the public can be blackmailed into submission by the facts of
private property ownership.

In opposing NREL's expansion on the top, all we have going
for us is their self-esteem as environmentalists.  A formalized
zoning standard requiring lights out at night on STM must be
our non-negotiable minimum.  At best they should remove their
settlement from our prized territory.  Of course, as Ed Perlmutter,
Dale Lauer and others conceded five years ago, we the people
come as beggars with our hats in our hands.

But you can do something, right now.  Please click over to
the URL above, commissioner.org, which now includes a new
voting machine on the question:  Should NREL's Mesa Top
Facilities use motion sensors instead of floodlights.

Let's move from there to a petition, letter-writing, attendance
at meetings, and ultimately perhaps civil disobedience.  Once
built, the expansion--like the "semi-permanent" lab now--will
never go away - just like the cancer that it is.

J. Doug Ohmans