Letters to the Editor (June 12, 2017)

Twain on politics

Occasionally, we find some small comfort in learning that a crisis we may be going through is not new to our nation, and that we managed to survive it. As we have now, there was similar disgust during the Gilded Age, as Mark Twain called it, in the late 1800s. I ran across a quote by him that I think sums up the reason for our current dissatisfaction:

“And I was a newspaper reporter four years in cities, and so saw the inside of many things; and was reporter in a legislature two sessions and the same in Congress one session, and thus learned to know personally three sample bodies of the smallest minds and the selfishest souls and the cowardliest hearts that God makes.”

Paris Agreement

Everybody is up in arms over President Trump abandoning the Paris agreement. Nobody wants dirty air and water. The problem is that the agreement has no teeth. Environmental regulations are expensive, so it pays to pollute. So if we follow it, then we are at a market disadvantage.

What we and the rest of the world needs is an agreement with teeth. We need an agreement that if you produce a product using dirty electricity or a non-environmental process that you pay a countervailing tariff on that product. If not, that product is banned from the collective market.

One of the reasons that companies outsource is to escape these regulations. A agreement with teeth would level the playing field with our domestic industry and the polluters.

A bad agreement is worse than no agreement. It allows polluters to prosper while claiming to be part of a nonbinding agreement. If you care about the environment you should support a new agreement with means to be enforced.

President’s misleadings

President Trump does not have to stay with the Paris accord just for the sake of world opinion. One of the criticisms of Trump is he is following nontraditional ways of administration. He does not have to follow the beaten track. He can always try new ways. But, his decision to get out of the Paris agreement is based on wrong assumptions and is not good for the country and for the humanity.

According to several analyses by writers, his speech given declaring his decision to withdraw from the Paris accord is deceptive and misleading. His job loss claim is absolutely wrong. Yes, coal miners may lose jobs, but they can be retrained to get much better jobs in fast-expanding green technology field. Also government can support clean coal technology. To keep his campaign promises he need not betray the people.

According to economists, the “clean energy economy will boost employment.” There is no way the president can bring back coal jobs. The U.S. coal industry was in decline even before the Paris accord was signed in 2015. Between 2011 and 2016 U.S. coal production dropped 27 percent. According to a report by Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy, this is 49 percent due to natural gas, 26 percent by less demand, 18 percent due to renewable energy and 3 percent to 5 percent due to Obama’s regulations.

The president’s interpretations about China and India within the Paris agreement are also grossly wrong, like the rest of his speech. These two countries reassured their commitment and are not backing off.

Several big and small companies, and some mayors, are well into transition to clean energy. Trump could have stayed in the Paris accord and still could have charted his course. With all the deregulation, our quality of life will deteriorate. He is not making “America great again.” He will only make America the so-called third world country from a lifestyle perspective.

This story was originally published June 12, 2017 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Letters to the Editor (June 12, 2017)."