Ross energy vote urged.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)

Rep. Mike Ross, you are behind the times on the need for urgent, assertive action regarding the nation's energy situation. We cannot rely on new coal plants for our future energy needs because they currently are not "clean coal" plants.

Coal plants kill somewhere between 30,000 and 60,000 people a year, depending on whether you count direct deaths or indirect health risks and early death from lung diseases and heart attacks. We need swift regulation on coal and gas emissions and tax incentives to install solar, wind and other alternatives to oil and gas now.

It will take five to 10 years for the testing on sequestration of carbon dioxide from oil and gas plants to come on line. The atmosphere we breathe is suffering, even though we in Arkansas see it very little.

Many countries are already affected in ways that point to their eventual doom by flood or desertification. Coal particles and toxic gases from plants and autos make it worse faster, and the tipping point for climate disasters is now within five years, at which point it would take over 200 years to recover if most global manmade carbon dioxide were nearly halted.

We need you to vote for the American Clean Energy & Security Act of 2009, without watering it down, because this bill has been studied and will work. Rep. Ross and readers, please read the last reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (search online for IPCC). The science does not vary on the need to cap CO2 emissions and increase energy efficiency in all areas of our economy, promote clean vehicles and a smart electrical grid (which will allow people to sell their solar and wind energy to the grid), and create green jobs as we transition to clean energy.

The utility companies are lobbying hard to keep their monopoly, but you know what we should do! Green businesses and responsible businesses will be happy you voted for this Clean Energy & Security Act of 2009. Humans are on the brink of global disaster. Please lead; we will thank you.

Jeff and Dina Nash

Little Rock

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