Response to Jonah Goldberg Column

Jonah Goldberg has a column out today in the Seattle Times which can be read at the following link: http://author.nationalreview.com/latest/?q=MjE5NQ==

I think it is a very misleading commentary, and here is my response:

Dear Mr. Goldberg,

I would like to point out to you that your commentary is not factually correct on two very important points:

You state “there are no solutions in the realm of the politically possible”. I would submit that the United States can dramatically increase its use of wind power to generate electricity. Because wind power is widely distributed across the United States, and is strongest in the middle portion of the country, there is a broad base of support for wind power. There are some NIMBY areas where wind power will not catch on, but this is the exception, not the rule. Furthermore, wind power is cost competitive with coal-based power plants.
Secondly, plug-in hybrids, electric vehicles, better diesels, and other advances in automobile fuel efficiency are capable of dramatically reducing the amount of fossil fuels burned for transportation. These technologies may raise the purchase price of the vehicle, but they are offset by lower operating economics. Therefore your question “why throw trillions of dollars into ‘remedies’ that even their proponents concede won’t solve the problem?” is extremely misleading.

You may be aware of the fact that many environmental organizations do not support increasing the use of ethanol. Ethanol has been promoted by the Bush administration, however, if you take a look at the stock prices of ethanol companies, you will see that the ethanol bubble has already burst. Midwest farmers and landowners would be far better off focusing on wind power and crops for biodiesel. While companies such as ADM may initially suffer as this reality takes hold, other large corporations such as GE will benefit from increasing our reliance on wind power. Therefore I would submit that there is a politically feasible solution to our reliance on fossil fuels.

Sincerely,
Keith Harrell
Snohomish, WA