Letter: Destroying the planet
This is in response to Ron Snyder's July 15 letter on renewable energy costs. Snyder feels common sense is in short supply today on this issue. Ron, does it make sense to continue down the road of burning dirty fossil fuels when in the end they have to be replaced by sustainable energy anyway?
Does it make sense to knock the tops off of scenic mountains and drop the waste, literally, into the valley streams? Does it make sense to drill additional wells when there are thousands of capped wells that have never been pumped? Does it make sense to drill in pristine areas, forever destroying that area's wild state, to continue a practice that is destroying our planet, a practice that will end due to loss of the resource?
Ron, does it make sense to call burning fossil fuels as good, but not perfect, when their byproducts pollute our air, water, and wildlife? Does it make sense to say man-caused climate change is theory, not fact, when the vast majority of scientists say it is fact, not theory? Does it make sense to claim there are clean coal plants when the carbon dioxide is sequestered underground (a theory, but not yet a practice) and continues to be released into our environment? The deadly element mercury is not even regulated and continues to flow from your "clean coal" plants.
Does it make sense to claim fossil fuel energy production is cheap when the health and environmental costs are not considered? When the inevitable carbon tax is levied on polluting industries that cost to consumers will be increased dramatically. That's not cheap!
New technology is always expensive, such as wind and solar. Costs will continue to drop as production increases. Ron, it seems you are the one lacking common sense. We are now in the 21st century and you are mired a hundred years in the past!