When the horse dies, just burn the cart

I felt compelled to respond to the recent letter headlined “Green energy not quite baked.”

The letter starts by talking about the need for “energy independence” but the massive increase in fracking across the country is being done to extract the fossil fuels to sell to other countries NOT to make our country independent.

Up until 2016 there was a ban on exporting fossil fuels from the U.S. If energy independence is the goal why lift that? Profit. Profit for ExxonMobil and dozens of other multinational corporations at the expense of water and air quality all over our country! At the same time, our Congress has been selling off the oil in our strategic petroleum reserves. Why would they do that? Our reserves are nearing 35% capacity and the sales have been conducted at record low prices when the oil in the reserves were purchased at much higher prices.

We should all be yelling at Congress, questioning the logic not just of buying high and selling low but why deplete our reserve at all? The author goes on to compare oil subsidies to solar power subsidies. In the last budget, subsidies for solar power are being phased out starting this year and ending in 2024. The logic is that the technology is becoming more affordable and subsidies will not be needed. Meanwhile the subsidies for fossil fuels have no phase out. That pretty much tells you where the loyalties in Congress lie.

I know of a home in Grays Harbor county that has solar power and produces more energy than the owner uses — in Grays Harbor! Germany is supplying almost 50% of the country’s energy needs with renewables. If the fossil fuel subsidies were redirected to renewable energy programs the result would be a rapid shift to renewables which would have an immediate positive impact on the environment. The writer ends by saying “don’t elect a leader who puts the cart before the horse” but it won’t matter if the horse is dead from poisoned water, poisoned air and contaminated soil.

Mike Coverdale

Westport