For renewable energy

I read that our senators and representatives in Washington unanimously oppose the Clean Line project to bring enough wind-generated electricity for 10 million households across northern Arkansas on to the TVA’s power grid for distribution. This project would utilize glass insulators manufactured in West Memphis, steel from Van Buren, and cable from Malvern. There would be millions in payments to landowners and in tax payments to counties. The main objection given was the “violated rights of homeowners and the vast overreach of the Obama administration.”

My question is: What is their position on oil and gas pipelines such as the Keystone XL and the Dakota Access? My guess is that they support them. Republicans in general and specifically this administration seem to oppose everything the Obama administration supported and anything which might affect the bottom line of the fossil fuel industry. This administration supports the use of coal, drilling offshore and in the Arctic, reversing national monument status to open public lands for drilling, and oil pipelines across aquifers and under rivers. At the same time they want to opt out of the Paris Climate Change Accord and reduce or eliminate environmental regulations and the EPA itself.

European countries, led by Germany, have policies to move to renewable energy. Japan, China, Sri Lanka and even India are working with Germany to expand their renewable programs. In the U.S., instead of leading through public policy and government support, we are moving backwards. Science, innovation and education should not be politicized. Both parties must work to move us away from fossil fuel to clean, renewable energy. There is nothing to lose except the stranglehold the oil industry has on our politicians and our economy. There is the potential for thousands of clean energy jobs and, who knows, it might save the planet. SUSAN WESTON

Clinton