Smart grids are smart policy
Re: the Feb. 14 article “Change permit rules for clean energy.”
Transitioning to grids delivering clean electricity has benefits that go beyond defeating climate change, as if that weren’t enough.
An agile grid would be a potent response to events that lead to costly power shortfalls or outages. The December deep-freeze that hit the Northeast where many fossil fuel plants went down is a case in point. According to a new report, “modest investments in interregional transmission capacity would have yielded nearly $100 million in benefits during the five-day event, most areas could have saved tens of millions of dollars.”
Smart grids and widespread electrification have other benefits. EVs are priced on par with gas vehicles and are cheaper to own. Electricity is not nearly as price volatile as fossil fuels.
Solar and wind is much more economical than alternatives and getting cheaper every year. Forecasters say that renewables will crush fossil fuel generation and save over a trillion dollars over the next decades.
Edward Beshore
North side
Arizona water needs
Claiming no expertise, I propose we build solar panels over the canal, low enough to shade the water, sloped to catch the sun, and close to the ground on the side of the prevailing wind. Properly done, I’m told that this can reduce evaporation by up to 10% while providing a solar field that avoids taking up available land and eliminating the need to continually cut weeds under the panels.
There is no single solution to our water needs, it requires a combination of many small steps. And get over the concern about water reuse. Thousands of cities take their water from streams that carry sewage from towns upstream.
Don Edmunds
Benson
New 22nd St. bridge
Re: the Feb. 18 article “Parkway near downtown Tucson open for traffic.”
The artist’s depiction of the new bridge has me wondering what are the engineers thinking? Who is going to want to ride their bike or walk down the median between busy lanes of traffic? The noise, fumes and danger from traffic make this a dumb idea.
Better yet would be to take the side planned for three lanes and make a two lane plus a bike lane for both ways. Some kind of barrier to protect the cyclists and cut down distractions for motorists would make everybody safer.
Robert McNeil
Midtown
Upside-down, inside-out politics
Lawsuits used to be filed to win. But that is no longer always the case, at least not in the political arena, where filing lawsuits for the express purpose of losing is often more advantageous.
Recent lawsuits to overturn election losses are an example. Such moonshot court filings serve to rile up supporters, keep the filers relevant, and allow them to claim (when they inevitably lose) that the judiciary is part of a conspiracy.
Another political perversion is purposefully churning (vs. solving) problems to keep the base agitated. Immigration reform is a prime example. Finally, name-calling and derogatory branding of opponents gives politicians and their most ardent devotees a pass on confronting complex issues with the seriousness they deserve.
These strategies have one thing in common. Politicians use them to fundraise. To combat this abuse of our wallets, I suggest two things: 1. Heed the old adage to “follow the money,” and 2. Don’t reward the violators.
Bruce Skolnik
Northeast side
Trump’s myopic policies
Earlier this week I heard an interview with a woman who would like to see Donald Trump become president of the United States once again, and I wondered, “Have we learned nothing from four years of myopic and ideology-driven policies?”
One of Trump’s first acts was rejection of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, thereby opening the door for China to establish its own Regional Economic Partnership in the Pacific and Far East. Later that year, Trump and his Republican colleagues slashed taxes for corporations and the wealthy (and increased federal spending) to give rise to a near $1 trillion federal budget deficit. The following year, against advisors’ advice, Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear agreement. The result: Iran now has more enriched uranium than it did at the beginning of his presidency and is selling military drones to Russia which are used to kill Ukrainian civilians and destroy the country’s infrastructure.
John Prugh
Foothills
A ‘Big Lie’ and a ‘Big Myth’
Re: the Feb. 18 article “Trump wasn’t the only motivator in Capitol riot.”
Ray Lindstrom’s op-ed about The Big Lie is one of the season’s best. In a few words, he captures the message of a new book called “The Big Myth,” which takes 550 pages to make the same case. We’ve been carefully taught to hate government while big business sets us up to reject even the wisest solutions. Keep folks angry at God-less liberals. You can sell them anything, even soup.
Ford Burkhart
Midtown
Everyone benefits with free transit
Re: the Feb. 19 article “Time to find a solution for fare-free transit.”
Demion Clinco’s op-ed, which offered several good options to fairly and painlessly fund our transit system so that we can keep it fare-free, is right on the money.
The savings of fare-free transit come from many places, including that there is no need to pay for an expensive fare-collection system.
In a time when we must act to reduce the effects of climate change, boosting transit use is one of the most efficient ways we can invest funds for a maximum reduction in carbon emissions. Making transit free and easy to use has been proven to increase ridership.
Folks who don’t use transit benefit directly, too. Would you rather drive with 40 cars surrounding you, or one bus next to you with 40 people on it? Adequately funded fare-free transit can turn gridlock into free-flowing traffic.
Steve Farley,
retired Arizona state senator
West side
Water crisis
I read the Star and Republic daily. In today’s (Feb. 19) Republic I saw an ad for “HOMES BY THE WATER” in the metro Phoenix area. They also have an aquarium up there and a few years back they took the dry riverbed next to ASU in Tempe, filled it with water, and made it a place where you can rent sailboats.
Makes me wonder if they have added our statewide water shortage to the list of topics too controversial and embarrassing to talk about. Talk about denying reality!
Bob Feinman
Foothills
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