‘Balanced Views’ opinions now skew anti-Trump
I applauded when the AJC reformed the opinion page to include “Balanced Views.” For a time, you actually included conservative views from conservative writers. I would read both sides of an issue, congratulating you on a balanced presentation. More recently, opinions on the left are largely anti-Trump tirades, while on the right, we seldom read opinions which either support the president’s successes or contradict the left-wing interpretation of events. It’s almost as though you live in a world apart from the actual news of the day. Like many of my friends out here in the vast right-wing section of Atlanta metro, I now skim over the opinions to get to the sports section.
PAUL THORSEN, CUMMING
EPA’s stance on biomass may cost Ga. consumers
Georgians and utility consumers should be concerned with Public Service Vice Commissioner Tim Echols’ justifying EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s flawed decision to label forest biomass as carbon-neutral.
Pruitt’s decision contradicts overwhelming scientific consensus, including the EPA’s own Scientific Advisory Board, which found that all biomass is not carbon-neutral. In fact, burning forest biomass for fuel releases more CO2 at the smokestack than burning coal.
Yet industry lobbyists continue to push for a carbon-neutral designation, presumably to ensure their access to tax subsidies and incentives, without which biomass-fueled power plants are not economic to run.
A recent study by Georgia Tech shows the cost of electricity from four biomass plants run by Dominion Power in Virginia is more expensive than 88 percent of power generation in the regional energy market, including wind and solar. Even the least expensive biomass electricity from these plants is approximately 50 percent higher than onshore wind and utility-scale solar.
Unfortunately for Georgia utility consumers, Rather than learning from Virginia’s bad investment and working to expand true, carbon-neutral energy sources, Echols seems intent on adding to both the ratepayer burden and climate disruption by going along with Pruitt’s ruse.
VICKI WEEKS, GA. STATE COORDINATOR, DOGWOOD ALLIANCE, SAVANNAH
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