‘Green New Deal’ would ground planes

I would like to add to your list of things affected by the “Green New Deal” that you describe in your editorial that our esteemed Sen. Ed Markey and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez support. Aviation fuel comes from the refining of petroleum — so all airplanes would be grounded, shutting down the airline industry and our military’s aircraft. Diesel fuel is also derived from petroleum — so no more diesel locomotives pulling trains carrying freight and passengers around the country.

Most seagoing vessels are powered by diesel engines or gas turbines — so no more freighters or cruise ships to the Caribbean. All motor vehicles — cars, buses and trucks — would have to be electric powered, getting their charges from power plants whose sources of energy would be windmills and solar panels.

There would be no more home heating oil (derived from petroleum) or natural gas to heat our homes. Everyone would have to switch to electricity to heat their homes or solar panels or switch to wood burning fireplaces — oh no, that’s another source of carbon dioxide. I don’t think that Speaker Pelosi’s weekend trips back home to San Francisco will be any too comfortable traveling by stage coach because there will be no more private jets and the trains will not be running.

— Harry Hawkes, Melrose