Readers Write: Texas floods, climate change, security at the Capitol

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

A July 9 letter blames the Trump administration and takes a cheap shot at devout Christians in his untimely and unreasonable opinion on the Texas flood tragedy. News reveals proper and timely warnings were issued and a confluence of environmental events occurred in an unpredictable way to create a flooding beyond the capabilities of forecasting. This excerpt from an NBC story explains: “While existing weather models can forecast flash flooding in advance, even the best models struggle to represent internal storm structure and to predict where, within a few miles, the hardest rainfall will strike. ...

“While National Weather Service forecasters had warned broadly about flash flooding, meteorologists and forecasting experts said the best weather models could not predict precisely where the most intense rainfall would fall, or that the deluge would stall out over a flood-prone basin.”

The letter writer’s attack on Christians’ belief in God during these trying times makes no sense as prayer, demonstrations of love and help from many Christians and Christian organizations are aiding in the cleanup, search and rescue.

As a firm believer that God and his son, Jesus, are real, I ask the writer to look at the historical empirical proof that Jesus lived on earth, was crucified and rose again from many sources not associated with the Christian church. These in addition to the Bible give evidence that Christianity is based on the real God. Any realistic study of history can find these facts. Furthermore, faith in a God and the hope that it gives in a time of trial is a positive factor that should not be dismissed by nonbelievers who wish to discredit Christians and their beliefs.

Please, this tragedy is not the time to attack those who believe in God. Nor is it the time to make unfounded assumptions about the president’s actions.

Paul Douglas accurately maintains there were warnings for the deadly Texas floods but because people were sleeping they weren’t aware of them (“Dissecting a weather tragedy in Texas”). He recommends NOAA Weather Radio devices that will waken people at night. But there’s more to the story, as we all know, since the Trump administration has slashed funding to government services we trust will protect us. According to writer Heather Cox Richardson, the New York Times reported that “the problem appeared to be that NWS had lost the staffers who would typically communicate with local authorities to spread the word of dangerous conditions. Molly Taft at Wired confirmed that NWS published flash flood warnings but safety officials didn’t send out public warnings until hours later.” In addition, the paper reported that “the county did not have a warning system because such systems are expensive, and ... ‘taxpayers won’t pay for it.’”

Critical funding that saves lives was slashed, and taxpayers won’t pay for a county warning system, but they’ll buy themselves a NOAA Weather Radio. Right.

Marta Fahrenz, Bloomington

I’d like to thank the Minnesota Star Tribune for running its story on continuing climate activism above the fold on Sunday (“Climate activists say work will go on”). I’d also like to thank all the folks working to continue to advance low-carbon solutions despite fierce U.S. policy headwinds.

President Donald Trump’s Big Bogus Bill capriciously accelerates the wind-down of Investment Tax Credit and the Production Tax Credit, potentially stranding billions of dollars of investment and leading to significant job loss. But we should challenge Republicans to be consistent and fair in their opposition to “subsidies” for renewable energy. Well, first, the ITC and PTC are not subsidies, which are direct payments of money from government to an industry or business. They are tax credits (as explicitly stated in the name), or to paraphrase former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, they are tax breaks for small, job-creating businesses.

If Republicans want to get rid of subsidies, they should start with the much larger subsidies paid to oil, gas and coal by the U.S. taxpayer. Even a cursory search reveals direct payments (subsidies) to U.S. fossil-fuel businesses total many tens of billions of our tax dollars every year, which is in addition to all of their avoided taxes and below-market public land leases. And that also does not account for the silent subsidy of allowing these firms to dump methane and CO2 into the atmosphere every hour they operate without any financial accountability.

So let’s strip away all subsidies and preferential tax treatments for all forms of energy, cease the practice of allowing fossil fuels to externalize the cost of their pollution, and let everyone compete head-to-head in the marketplace.

Global warming has nearly disappeared from our political discourse, but, like it or not, physics simply does not respond to our politics. Infrared radiation scatters off greenhouse gas molecules, no matter who wins which election.

In 1960, atmospheric CO2 was at 315 parts per million, 20 ppm higher than the human race had ever seen in its entire existence. It’s 425 ppm today! Consequently, natural disasters continue at an accelerated pace, and insurance rates climb.

At Citizens’ Climate Lobby, we seek bipartisan solutions. We believe the best climate legislation is driven by intelligence and consensus, not anger. Nuclear, hydrogen and geothermal are carbon-free energy sources that the Trump administration supports, and that many Democrats could also get behind.

Let’s focus on large-scale geothermal. The fossil-fuel industry has developed sophisticated digging technology, which, ironically, can be used for the deep mining of underground heat. The most exciting developments in the U.S. are now happening in the West, where geothermal costs are plummeting. As they do, feasibility moves eastward. For example, a bill has been introduced in North Dakota to study costs of developing geothermal plants in defunct oil and gas wells.

Tapping underground energy has many advantages. It is continuous, not intermittent. It has a small surface footprint. When the geology is right, it can be developed near population centers, avoiding the need for long transmission lines.

Sadly, the U.S. seems to be ceding innovation in wind, solar and electric vehicles to other countries. Geothermal power could be a place for our country to make its own clean-energy mark on the world.

The writer is a member of Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

So the State Capitol is thinking of installing metal detectors to improve security? (“Calls made for Capitol security boost,” July 9.) I have my own story about that. In the summer of 1984, I was studying public administration and had an internship in Sen. David Durenberger’s office. (But I never saw him.) His office was in the Hart Senate Office Building in D.C., which had some type of metal detector. I think it used X-rays. For a Christmas present, my mother had given me a briefcase so I would look professional. One day I was wearing a suit and tie, carrying my Christmas briefcase and looking, and feeling, very professional. At the entrance, a security guard stopped me and said, “We will have to check your briefcase, sir.” He put the briefcase on a conveyor belt to be X-rayed. A photograph of the briefcase’s contents appeared on a TV screen. A look of horror appeared on his face. I saw real fear in his eyes. He yelled, “It looks like a gun.” Other security appeared. The X-ray picture showed something that looked remarkably like a gun. I was bewildered. All I had in my briefcase was books, papers and my lunch. After a closer look, someone said, “That’s a banana,” and walked away. I was allowed to enter the building.

It was not funny at the time. And I suspect future security screenings will have similar false alarms.

David Wiljamaa, Minneapolis