Energy industry

In response to “Anti-energy groups sue their way toward environmental chaos,” by David Holt, Boston Herald, Dec. 7:

While I can understand Mr. Holt’s complaints about obstructionism when I put myself in his shoes — and squeeze one eye shut, completely disregard science and pretend I don’t care about my kids’ future — what I fail to grasp is why he can’t seem to comprehend things from the other side. Mr. Holt, your industry is adjacent to the tobacco industry. Americans’ lives may require your product while Americans may only want, rather than need, tobacco, but both fossil fuels and tobacco kill, and everyone knows it. Only because we are laggards on renewables does your offering look attractive. Liquefied natural gas may make a smaller greenhouse gas contribution than coal when combusted to generate electricity but that ignores leakage of methane, a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2, which can occur during extraction and transport.

In 2018, the International Energy Agency reported that current energy installations alone would consume 95% of the world’s remaining carbon budget by 2040, and that was considering the riskier 2°C warming scenario. That left room only for clean renewables, not for any new hydrocarbon extraction, infrastructure or internal combustion vehicles. Clearly the status quo has thus far prevailed, so we are already on track to overshoot the mark without the help of your lesser evil LNG. Don’t group legitimate environmental concerns together with the “Not In My Backyard” types; using every possible avenue to stymie hydrocarbons is the only reasonable response by Americans who want to enjoy a stable climate and hand an uninfringed future to the next generation. Mr. Holt, your purposeful misunderstanding is glaring, disingenuous and won’t age well — shame on you.

— Stephanie Baima, Wilmington