Published: April 17, 2009 02:40 pm      

In Your View — 04/19/09

Without coal, we’d be in the dark

In this day and age of “instant gratification,” we have gotten accustomed to getting nearly everything we want immediately.

There is a whole new administration in Washington that would have us believe that we can go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow to a “green” world. And to make matters worse, our own lifestyles lead us to believe that they are right. We have been lulled to the point that we just sit back, do nothing and think that everything is going to be just fine.

It is time we wake up and see what is going on around us. There is a lot of coal mining being done in this country and a lot of it goes for the generation of electricity. Without coal, many in this great country of ours would be in the dark, for it is coal that turns the lights on.

“Green” sounds good, but we’ve a long way to go in getting there. We cannot expect to wake up tomorrow and be magically connected to windmills and other green sources. These sources just do not exist. It would take a windmill on every knob in Appalachia to produce the electricity currently produced by coal.

Coal produces our electricity now and must continue for years to come until this “green” technology is in place. The government that is strangling the coal industry must realize this, too. We must work out strategies with the regulators to allow continued mining instead of just dreaming of windmills.

Are we as a people so ignorant that we cannot see beyond our noses? Coal turns on our lights. We must remember this and rally to the cause of coal mining or we are all going to end up in the dark. And if that happens, God help us all.

John F. Enyart, Ashland



Do own research on global warming

In reference to a recent “In Your View” letter concerning global temperatures and where they were taken, a chart from the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration shows a 1.4-degree rise since 1900 but a slight cooling since 1999. I’m confident one can obtain the sites of these daily readings by visiting the Internet.

This data is titled “Average Global Temperature 1900-2004” and the source is the National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration in degrees Fahrenheit. This can be found, along with other environmental data, on page 300 of the 2006 World Almanac.

Some scientists believe that global climate change — the greenhouse effect — and ozone depletion is caused by our actions but the vast majority do not. Here’s an example: The second half of the 1970s was in our area the coldest on record, but the average world temperature hardly changed, meaning somewhere else was warmer.

We need not be swayed by celebrities “parroting” mostly myths, but concentrate on the air and water quality where we live and breathe.

Our president recently stated, “There is no clean coal.” In an article published in the April 2009 issue of “Kentucky Living” entitled “Dirty Lie” states that clean coal technology has reduced pollution from coal-fired power plants by 77 percent since 1970. The chart in the article shows the decline in regulated emissions from coal plants of carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and particulates per unit of energy produced. This data is from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Almost all of our locally produced electricity comes from coal.

Please, friends. do some research and do your own thinking.

Lew Dunn, P.E., Ashland



Clean energy will create new jobs

Even though this is a big coal area, there are many people here who are very much in favor of clean energy. Capping carbon pollution will not only push industry in the direction of wind and solar and clean coal, it will create tens of thousands of new jobs.

Right here in West Virginia, we could have wind farms. Every one would benefit from lower more stable energy prices, and wind and solar energy can’t ever be outsourced.

We need to change our ways before it's too late. The planet is in crisis. Ice-caps are melting, and species are going extinct faster than ever before. Let’s not continue to cling to old ways. It’s time to act now.

Catherine Lambeau, Huntington, W.Va

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Those at Tea Party should study facts

Your coverage of the local “Tea Party” was so impressive that perhaps the informed majority should get a chance for rebuttal.

Of course, this mix of Sarah Palin/“Joe the Plumber” disciples and angry anti-government Libertarians has the right to practice free speech. But perhaps some of these folks should study facts and news coverage not already filtered through Fox News and Right Wing talk radio before committing to this sort of Dick Armey-organized, Fox News-promoted “AstroTurf” grass-roots event.

Where has the outrage been over the past eight years as our hard-earned tax dollars were squandered by an incompetent administration in Iraq while the wealthy have enjoyed their lowest tax rate in generations? Where is the outrage over the trillions lost in the “deregulation” follies. “Trickle-down economics” for most of the last 30 years has actually worked as “trickle-up” economics as the top 1 percent have increased their share of American wealth from 8 percent in 1981 to 22 percent today.

How many of the top 1 percent were in Flatwoods Wednesday? Do these folks not realize that 99 percent of them will pay lower taxes under Obama? I for one feel fine even in these tough times about my tax dollars finally going to developing renewable energy, returning our education system to parity with the rest of the civilized world, and at last rebuilding our 3rd world infrastructure and power grid.

And yes, it would be fine to reform “socialist” entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. But we do not now, and never will again live in a country where women, children and the elderly go without food and shelter.

The slogan “your mortgage is not my problem” is as un-American as “he’s not heavy, he's my brother” is American.

Ed Edwards, Ashland