Find us on Facebook
Follow us on TwitterSaving a planet in peril
To the editor:
As I’m sure we’re all aware, Congress recently took a giant leap toward a clean energy economy by passing the American Clean Energy and Security Act. I am writing to express both relief and gratitude in seeing our elected officials taking a stand to address the climate crisis while rebuilding our economy.
The bill aims to repower America with clean, renewable energy that will protect the environment, create jobs in our community and put America on the cutting edge of sustainable technology.
The primary way the bill does this is through investments in clean energy to create jobs that are labor intensive and cannot be outsourced.
Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Fifth District, is continuing to fight for the needs of Southside Virginia by voting for the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which will help our communities take the lead in America’s new, green economy while bringing many well-paying jobs that are desperately needed.
Because of the efforts of representatives like Tom Perriello, the bill is now moving to the U.S. Senate. I urge Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb to strengthen the bill and deliver on the promise of a clean energy future.
We need this kind of bold leadership to recharge our economy, put thousands of Virginians back to work and protect future generations from global warming.
JESSICA N. EVANS
Danville
Advertisement
Reader Reactions
Watchman,
Since you own your own business, take a little tie off and do some research.
Trillions of dollars will be spent to change the earths temp. at best 1/10 of a degree. Industrialized society does contribute to the overall effect and we should try to cyrtail where we can, but 1 volcanic eruption will out produce the entire history of industrial contamination. Now if you and ole Al Gore can figure out how to stop volcanoes….we’re in busness. Until then let let our conscious e our guide.Trillions of dollars for that small a reduction is INSANE.A better way to accomplish this wold be to reward those companies who reduce carbon input, NOT force feed some expensive pie in the sky idea on everyone. BTW ask Waxman,Markey, and the EPA how much the GDP will grow witout their bill. SHutting down a factory that employs 1,000’s and creating 100 energy jobs cannot be counted as creating jobs (though Al Gore does math that way). The whole “job Creation” farce of the Obama admin. is funky math,If you only count the new jobs and don’t subtract the lost jobs, of course it looks good. Compare it to unemployment figures though and you have to wonder with all of these 100’s of 1,000’s of jobs being created, why is unemployment UP?
Do we need to worry about the environment? YES
Is global warming real? Remains to be determined
The fact is though Cap and Trade does way too little at way too great a cost.
By the way Sawdust I do own my own business….......
Yes Sawdust. I sure am glad that we have YOU here to run things for us. I will nap much better..LOL
Ravencottage:
Dr Hansen has comdemned the bill because it did not GO FAR ENOUGH. However anyone who knows Dr Hansen knows he is on the “fringe” of accepted science and has caused embarassment for NASA before.
Last year, Dr. Hansen was forced to revise NASA’s surface temperature records after an independent researcher pointed out that Hansen’s analysis incorrectly identified the 1990s as the hottest decade on record. A new analysis of the data showed that the 1930s were in fact the warmest decade. That correction confirmed that even leading NASA astronomers and physicists can be wrong, but it did not lead Dr. Hansen to cool his activism.
But of particular interest to American taxpayers should be the incongruence of Dr. Hansen’s activism with the mission of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration “to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.” Dr. Hansen has a right to espouse his viewpoints as a private citizen. The basis for his expert status, however, has been his role at NASA, and when he makes claims and gives opinions, he is almost always identified as a NASA scientist.
watchman; If you think that the costs to businesses that this bill will cause will not drive some of them to move to China, India, etc., you obviously don’t know anything about business. I ran my own small business for over 35 years, and I don’t claim to know everything, but I do know a little. I know, for instance, that the majority of small businesses in this country are having a pretty rough time of it these days. I know that the additional costs of the C&T bill will drive some of them over the cliff and out of business. The costs will cause some others to look to other countries that do not have the penalties of C&T.
Since you obviously don’t know anything about business, I suggest that you talk to some small businessmen and discover the real truth. Just out of curiosity, what experience do you have that qualifies you to spout off on the subject? My guess is that you work for someone else, and, like Obama, have never had to make a payroll or worry about turning a profit.
If anyone thinks dumping tons of contaminants into the air DOES NOT have an effect on our atmoshere they must be living under a rock. I am so tired of hearing that the bill will “send jobs overseas….“ This is right wing propoganda that has not a shred of truth.
This transition to clean energy is going to be a key driver for economic growth¡ªunleashing private sector investment that will far outweigh government incentives. The measure will create millions of new American clean energy jobs that can¡¯t be shipped overseas ©\©\ whether it¡¯s installing solar panels, manufacturing wind turbines, or renovating homes for greater energy efficiency ¨C as well as whole new industries. The clean energy jobs plan promotes building a smart grid and the production of clean electric cars. The plan includes incentives for farmers and agriculture and provisions for retooling factories ¨C a move that will breathe new life into America¡¯s manufacturing sector and assembly lines that have been left idle by this recession. Under the EPA¡¯s analysis of the Waxman©\Markey bill, the nation gross domestic product grows robustly ©\ from $13 trillion in 2008 to over $22 trillion in 2030, as clean energy technology is deployed and carbon pollution is reduced.
meee; obviously you haven’t been paying attention the last two decades or so. Go back to your nap.
Let me say that as I understand it according to Algore, if you have the money you can heat up the earth as much as you please. Now have I misunderstood something? Also, just what is all of this money supposed to fix? One this that I can see it has done is continue to make Algore richer. His way of thinking doesn’t really sound all that liberal to me. Actually sounds more like a Con.
watchman; There are two ways we can screw up on this subject: 1)Al Gore is right, and we don’t do what he says. Result-the temperature rises, the sea levels rise a bit, etc. 2) Al Gore is wrong, but we do as he says. Result-we lose millions more jobs as manufacturers move to China and India and thousands of small businesses go under because they can’t stand the additional costs that will undeniably result from the passage of the bill. In addition, families will be hard-hit by increasing energy costs, which will cause inflation, which will cut down on their buying power and further slow the economy. Considering what bad shape the economy is in already, regardless of whose fault it is, that could result in another depression.
I’m not at all convinced that Gore is right, and there are many scientists who share that view. I do know that the earth has warmed and cooled repeatedly over the years, I don’t believe that even pj is stupid enough to argue with that.
I also know that as recently as 1978 the fearmongers were predicting a coming ice age if we didn’t follow their advice. Lowell Ponte, the Algore of the seventies, wrote a book about it- “The Cooling: The Coming Ice Age”. Just like “Earth in the Balance”, only different scenario. If you’ll recall, we didn’t follow the advice of the fearmongers, and things worked out just fine.
I haven’t seen the slightest evidence that Gore is a whit smarter or well-informed than Ponte was, and I know he is getting rich(er) in the carbon credit business. My conclusion is that you are a fool for believing this AGW bullsh*t, which is no skin off my back. But what you libtards propose to do to solve a problem that doesn’t exist is.
“In a stunning rebuke of the Obama administration, NASA’s James Hansen, one of the world’s foremost climate alarmists, called the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the anti-global warming bill that recently passed the House, ‘less than worthless.‘
Not only that, he referred to it as a ‘counterfeit climate bill” that employs a ‘Ponzi-like cap-and-trade scheme’ setting the nation on a ‘disaster course’ as a result of the 219 members of Congress he accused of voting for it without reading it.“
Advertisement