A lesson learned from AT&T and the BLM

It is the Tuesday after Christmas. I’m still all “Peace on Earth and Goodwill Toward Men” …but on the final Tuesday of 2011 I want to get mad at a couple of bureaucracies, AT&T and the BLM. AT&T because the phones don’t seem to be working well right now and the BLM for apparently being eager to screw up the water near my favorite orchards around Paonia on the other side of Kebler Pass. I am ready to go off.
And then I make a few phone calls and talk to nice, reasonable people and am reminded that if you give people a chance—even people who work for big corporations and big government agencies—they sometimes put things in perspective.

Let’s get the easy one out of the way first. AT&T phone service seems to be hurting in the valley at the moment. Ask anyone with a contract. Dropped calls, calls that aren’t connected, the old “Can you hear me now?” refrain rings throughout the valley. At least something is ringing on my phone.
I thought it was just me. It’s not.
A dozen people have told me their service is sucking at the moment. Is it their phone? Too many visitors with smartphones? The new 3G? The wireless carrier or the cell tower? The common denominator is AT&T.
And when I try to call AT&T and talk to a person, I discover it’s not easy. The automated message informs me they are experiencing heavier than normal call volumes. No kidding. When the system doesn’t work, people want to know why. They may call the company and want an answer on how best to deal with the situation.
After several attempts and being on hold for a loooong time, I finally got through to a woman—a nice woman from Oklahoma. She calmly tried several tests and checked out the cell towers nearby and said everything was fine. But she admitted, “Sometimes we don’t know of a problem until we get a lot of calls and get the feeling that there is a trend. I’ll keep looking into it.”
Technology is great when it works. It is frustrating when it doesn’t. AT&T isn’t working well in this valley but the nice woman in Oklahoma says she is continuing to monitor my problem. She alerted several departments about the situation near Crested Butte and said she will call me back later in the week to see if things have improved.

Then, I was ready to go off on the BLM for throwing out a quick comment period on a series of proposed oil and gas leases that could be up for sale around Paonia in August. A January 9 deadline is in place and, upon a quick glance at the proposal, it looks preposterous, given its location next to water sources in the area.
So I called the BLM office in Montrose. The woman in charge of the leases was on vacation. As the person who answered the phone at the office in Montrose reported, “Pretty much everyone is on vacation right now.” Now I was getting really steamed.

And then I received a return phone call from public affairs specialist Vanessa Delgado in Denver. She was very nice.
Here is how she framed the issue: The pubic will get more opportunity to comment, not less. The BLM is early in the process of evaluation, not approval. And the government agency isn’t trying to pull a fast one.
Delgado knows there have been a lot of comments sent in already but doesn’t know how many. She explained that the BLM is actually trying a new process with this lease proposal that gives people more opportunity to comment on the lease proposal.
Normally, she said, the public would comment or protest a decision after the BLM approved a potential lease sale. Under the old process, that would have meant the first pubic comment would be allowed around April.
With this proposal, people can comment on the initial idea until January 9. The BLM will accumulate comments and conduct a ground evaluation of the lease proposal and then release an environmental assessment document in February. The public will have a chance to comment on that specific document at that time. And then, when the BLM analyzes all the comments from that process, they will release a notice of sale in April. Again, public comment will be solicited.
“We’re really very early in the process and the public is getting more opportunity to comment than they have had in the past,” Delgado said. “Just because we are evaluating the proposed lease doesn’t mean there will be development there.”

So, it is important, given the nature of this lease proposal over Kebler Pass, that the public follow the situation and use its numerous opportunities to comment on the proposal. Use all of the chances you have to be part of the process and help determine a positive outcome. Written comments are being taken at co_ufo_leasing@blm.gov.

And with AT&T, the situation is similar. The nice woman in Oklahoma says the company needs to know if there is a problem in order to try to fix it. Give them a call and let them know if you are experiencing a situation. You can start the process by dialing 611 on your wireless device or calling 888-333-6651. Set aside a chunk of time but hope you get the nice lady in Oklahoma.

Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men.
Lesson learned Tuesday? As we head into 2012, remember to be respectful and nice, don’t always assume the worst, and give people a chance.
Have a Happy New Year, everyone.