Clean our air

Thank you for the June 5 editorial “Delay Emission Proposal” and op-ed “RGGI Will Protect, Prepare Pa. for the Future” on whether Pennsylvania should join the other states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The point of the editorial is that Gov. Tom Wolf should delay joining RGGI “while the state is still dealing with the economic issues brought on by the COVID-19 epidemic and resulting business shutdowns.” The editorial applauds the governor’s intention to improve air quality but somehow feel that other matters are much more important: reopening businesses to improve the economy, controlling COVID-19, and lessening the economic impact on municipalities, schools and higher education.

On the facing page, Thomas Schuster of the PA Chapter of the Sierra Club effectively answers all these issues. Cleaner air brought on by RGGI will improve our economy substantially as it has already done for other member states. All Pennsylvanians will be healthier and more resistant to COVID-19 and other pollutionrelated diseases, and low-income communities in particular will benefit. Municipalities, schools and higher education can benefit from revenues from RGGI implementation.

We need to get moving on cleaning up our air, contained in an atmosphere a mere 6 miles thick. This precious resource is filling up with carbon dioxide and other pollutants, and there are many ways to slow down that process so that we can ultimately stop and reverse it. RGGI is an important step that we can and should take now.

NORA JOHNSON Squirrel Hill