Stop electing deniers
Dear Editor:
Today my neighbor’s outdoor lights stayed on all day. The smoke was so thick and the light so dim that the sensor failed to recognize that the sun had risen. Think of this as the new normal. Then think that our children may, in a few years, regard this as the good old days.
It is past time to face up to climate change. Scientists raised the alarm in the 1970s. That wasn’t just a lucky guess. Is there a person alive since that time who hasn’t noticed the change? But, apparently preferring to remain fat, dumb and happy, we have collectively turned a blind eye. How is that working out? Evacuating towns in the face of uncontrollable wildfires wasn’t really a thing until recently. Those of us who have been voters since the ’70s bear particular responsibility for repeatedly electing climate change deniers. It’s like we thought we’d get off this planet before things got too bad. Like we don’t have children we love.
Every generation has faced enormous challenges. Their efforts and sacrifices gifted us with a prosperous, peaceful country. They didn’t achieve that through denial of the facts confronting them. There are many things that can be done to limit the damage, but it will take leadership, not political flimflammery. Clearly our federal government is in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry. That needs to change. And, much can be done at the state level — but our Legislature is not doing it. That also needs to change.
Let’s stop electing politicians unwilling to acknowledge and address climate change. In the upcoming elections, demand that candidates state their positions and what to do about it. Look at the websites of the candidates we will be deciding on in November; they are generally silent on the subject. That is simply not good enough. If they don’t have the guts to talk about this issue, they don’t deserve our votes.
Our children are depending on us. At the least, let’s act like responsible adults and elect leaders willing to seriously tackle our most difficult problems. Then, let’s support them.
Gina McCoy, Winthrop
Bits of good news
Dear Editor:
We are all surrounded by smoke, just when we want to be out enjoying our beautiful valley and mountains. I’m generally a pretty happy person, but even I find it hard not to get depressed. Reducing my reading of the national news helps me (barely) to not be totally overwhelmed.
There are two stories I have read that gave me a small, positive boost in the face of gigantic arrogance and intended bad consequences for a small segment of our population, our disabled vets.
The candidate Trump promised better treatment for vets and they applauded. Instead, his budget proposals would have cut disability benefits by 30 percent to 50 percent for many of them.The cuts would have come through some cleverly concealed accounting tricks. Not even the rubber stamp Republican Congress could stomach this attack on disabled vets, and the cuts were blocked. That was the first good news.
The second story was an ironic counterpoint to the first one. Last year, Trump visited France. He watched the traditional French Bastille Day (July 14) military parade. His response was that the United States needed its own military parade, and it had to be much bigger than the French one. What he described sounded more like the massive parades dictators put on in countries like China and North Korea. The estimated cost for the parade was $92 million, according to a U.S. defense official with firsthand knowledge of the assessment.
The parade would have been on Veterans Day, supposedly to honor our vets — the same ones whose benefits he tried to cut. I wonder how many disabled vets would be happy to trade their disability benefits for a parade.
The good news is that the Pentagon itself stopped the folly. The stated reason was there wasn’t enough time to plan the parade. I think even the military couldn’t stomach the waste.
Sorry, those are the best news items I could find. Now you can put your smoke masks back on.
Randy Brook, Twisp
No electrification
Dear Editor:
As quiet as the PUD has been about Enloe Dam, you might have thought they had abandoned the project. Actually, our utility is going forward with their plan to build a new powerhouse on the east bank of the Similkameen River. The new powerhouse completely changes the special place we love for fishing, recreation and the beauty of the river’s flowing water. You and I will pay for the destruction with higher electric bills. The estimate is $9/month or $100 per year. This allocation of our future earnings is being decided by our three elected PUD commissioners. Their thinking is largely driven by the $14 million already spent by the previous boards. They think it is too late to turn back now.
Let’s consider some of the changes since this project was conceived in 2005.
The boom-bust price of power in 2007, that made Enloe electrification appear profitable, plummeted in the 2008 from $66/MWh to below $30/MWh where it remains.
There is a 16 percent energy surplus in the Northwest.
We have signed an agreement with Douglas PUD for 170 MW of additional power from Wells Dam, which will supply affordable power at 3.4 cents/KWh.
Our now 30 percent share of Wells Dam power will supply all Okanogan County growth for the next 50 years according to Okanogan PUD.
Solar energy has come down in price by 90 percent since 2008. Solar is the fastest-growing source of new sustainable power on the United States grid.
The PUD estimates the new powerhouse will lose $2 million per year until the bonds are paid off in 2040. In the first 20 years of operation, every ratepayer will have personally invested $2,000 in the new power house at Enloe Dam. The combined total of $40 million (20,000 customers times $2,000 equals $40,000,000) will be poured into the Enloe Project. Our money should be spent on upgrading our aging infrastructure. We do not need Enloe Dam as a source of power.
Contact your Okanogan PUD Commissioners. It is important they receive your emails and phone calls around this issue. Silence is a vote for the electrification of Enloe Dam.
Joseph Enzensperger, Oroville
