Letters to the editor for Friday, August 16, 2013
Published: Friday, August 16, 2013 at 5:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, August 15, 2013 at 4:21 p.m.
Bears becoming unbearable
Regarding a news item in your Aug. 6 paper, describing all the goats killed on a farm in Lake Helen by a black bear: This just irritated me to no end.
I've been bothered for a year or more, ever since I could no longer put up a bird feeder in my yard.
I love birds! But I live in a manufactured home park, which controls our doings. We have bears that have damaged garbage containers, clawed screened porches, etc. It costs us money for repairs, and we have to keep our pets, etc., safe.
I think it is time for us humans to have some rights, and to be able to kill the bears or stun-gun them to be taken to bear areas. Take them off the endangered species list — they are a real danger, to us and our pets.
Is tree canopy dangerous?
Regarding the lawsuit filed against Palm Coast for its plans to cut down trees: Put people's safety first, trees second. In the lawsuit over trees, it is a surprise to me that the subject of safety is not considered.
When driving a car under the canopy of old overhanging branches, I wonder what happens if one breaks, landing on the windshield of the car. Think of the consequences. Trees are necessary, but the overhead branches are not. Potentially, they are a danger. Our safety is prime.
America's untapped potential
If a barrel of oil could vote, would it get as much attention from this administration and our politicians as an illegal immigrant? American taxpayers are not asked to educate, feed, incarcerate and provide medical care for that barrel of oil but our politicians have us do that for illegal immigrants.
A U.S. Geological Survey report, as reported recently in The American Legion magazine by Alan W. Dowd, estimates the Arctic holds some 90 billion barrels of oil — more than Nigeria, Kazakhstan and Mexico combined — with one-third of that in Alaska. The USGS studies conclude that North Dakota and Montana have 3 to 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil; couple that with Shell and Chevron's off-shore sites in the Gulf of Mexico plus those along the East Coast, oil shale deposits in Colorado and Utah, oil-sand deposits in Wyoming and Arizona and other far western states and today's 38 years of oil availability. We could stretch to the next two centuries, according to the American Petroleum Institute. Imagine America as the next OPEC: Setting prices, production and eliminating foreign influence.
We can take Americans off unemployment and away from low-paying jobs, grow our economy, send fees to state and federal governments — rather than making foreign, terrorist, unstable countries wealthy — by using untapped natural resources. Petroleum could be, once again, the backbone of our economy.
Seek energy alternatives
Carolyn West's letter of Aug. 12 states that scientists agree that human activity is seriously contributing to accelerating global warming. But that view is widely contested. I would like to refer readers to the Heartland Institute's report, “Nature, not human activity, rules the climate,” by Dr. Fred Singer. Singer is professor emeritus of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia, and also established the U.S. Weather Satellite Service.
It refutes the notion that atmospheric carbon dioxide from fossil fuels is causing significant global warming.
But those convinced of global warming may be encouraged to learn of extensive international programs for developing thorium-fueled molten-salt reactor nuclear power plants as an alternative to the current uranium- fueled plants.
Thorium is four times as abundant as uranium, and produces much less waste that decays much faster for safe disposal. It can even use accumulated nuclear waste effectively as supplemental fuel.
The molten-salt reactors operate at atmospheric pressure and are inherently safe. They operate at a higher temperature and thermal efficiency is 43 percent, compared to 33 percent for light water reactors.
The resultant cheaper electric power will make liquid ammonia an economical motor fuel to replace fossil fuel use. We could produce liquid ammonia directly from water and air using the cheap electricity generated from thorium. Liquid ammonia, used as motor fuel, produces exhaust consisting of nitrogen and water vapor.
The bottom line is that we can meet our energy requirements without resorting to ridiculous, politically inspired gasahol programs.
It's one or the other
The News-Journal reported recently that the governor of North Carolina signed an election bill making sweeping changes in how and when the state's voters can cast their ballot.
The story also stated that Republicans said the legislation is meant to prevent fraud, which they claim is both “rampant and undetected.”
As a lawyer for 30 years, I do not understand how a situation can be considered “rampant” when it is “undetected.”
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