Additional books by Pat Curran

Jumping the Hawk Lode

. . . a new book about the 1880’s mining boom in Colorado

Acid Reign is a true story about the uranium boom on the Colorado Plateau.

A brief synopsis of Acid Reign

As the uranium boom took off in the 1950’s, the Argentine Acid Plant was quickly assembled on the edge of a nine thousand foot peak just above the town of Rico, Colorado. The plant took in iron pyrite and delivered sulfuric acid to the AEC mill in Uravan, CO. There it was used to produce weapons-grade uranium.

Thus, the Cold War ramped up on the Colorado Plateau.

When Johnny and Roy, two roughnecks from the coal camps of West Virginia, came to work, the Dolores River had a phosphorus glow and acid fumes blanketed the town. The plant produced a hundred tons of acid a day, a sure fire money-maker, but well beyond its rated capacity. Safety and maintenance were ignored as pollution belched from its stacks and toxic tailing ponds drained into the river.

Long before the Clean Air and Water Acts were enforced, Johnny, Roy and a handful of concerned citizens formed the Rico Coalition warning the Acid Plant…“clean her up or we’ll shut her down!”

Acid Reign chronicles one of the first uprisings of Eco-Outlaws in the High Country. Could they stop the pollution? Could justice be served when the corporate outlaws had the upper hand?

Purchase Acid Reign: And the Rise of the Eco-Outlaws from AMAZON.COM

A few quotes describing the setting of Acid Reign

 

Frontier justice was in full bloom on the Colorado Plateau during the Cold War. The Atomic Energy Commission did their outlawing under the banner of national security.

Dr. Andrew Gulliford
Professor of History and Environmental Studies
Fort Lewis College, CO

 

 

One thousand five hundred and ninety-five Caucasian and Navajo uranium miners died from various lung diseases on the Colorado Plateau.

NIOSH Uranium Miner’s Heath Study, concluded in 2000

 

 

For the last two weeks sulfuric acid leaking from the acid plant has been extremely bad. Early Saturday morning it was so dense you couldn’t see across the street.

Dolores Star, July 24, 1959

COBRA is a management book designed to help your business succeed.

A few key quotes from Pat Curran’s management book, COBRA: The X Factor in Strategy Execution

 

“Even a five-star strategy can’t save you, if your organization can’t execute.”

“Internal boundaries crumble when every unit is held accountable for functional productivity as well as customer satisfaction along the supply chain.”

“COBRA is a process of aligning an organization’s structure, system and culture with an ever-changing market place so the strategy can be executed.”

“When the organization isn’t aligned with the strategy execution fails.”

 

Purchase Cobra: The X Factor In Strategy Execution from AMAZON.COM

Here’s what other people are saying about COBRA

 

 

“Execution is all about doing the basics exceptionally well. It is a minute by minute, hour by hour discipline. At the individual level it calls for grit and ingenuity; at the organizational level it calls for extraordinary coordination and teamwork. COBRA provides a guided process for achieving world-class execution.”

Mr. Irial Finan
President Bottling Investments and Supply Chain
The Coca-Cola Company

“The COBRA model presented in this book is a bit of a rarity, due to the care with which the arguments are presented and developed.

The reader well benefit from three very specific aspects that lie at the foundation of the COBRA model: it is a compendium of many years of experience and valuable lessons learned in a variety of very competitive product markets; it encompasses a rich collection of applicable and easy to adapt best-practices that transcend specific industries; and it very well-grounded on sound academic theories and principles.

As such, this material should be a significant added-value to managers interested in genuinely embracing execution as a discipline.”

Roberto Friedman PhD.
Marketing Department
Terry College of Business
University of Georgia