Newman: The 8-million-pound gorilla in the room
Letter to the editor
Re: “Can’t just drop natural gas”: The commentary was very thoughtful and discussed the dangers of restricting natural gas too rapidly. Natural gas is clean energy compared to coal.
It seems that the United States is putting itself in a precarious position by its reckless push to “renewable energy” when the fact is China is building coal-fired plants at a rate that negates the U.S. reduction in CO2 by many multiples.
From a CNN report in February: “Throughout 2022, China granted permits for 106 gigawatts of capacity across 82 sites, quadruple the capacity approved in 2021 and equal to starting two large coal power plants each week.”
China’s emissions are already double that of the United States. China is gaining more and more economic power using cheap dirty energy as the United States sabotages itself.
Where is the reasoning in this? John Kerry, for all the noise he makes about climate change, has no comment on the realities of the situation. We are kidding ourselves if we think that we can counteract the huge increases in CO2 emissions from China.
No one addresses the 8-million-pound gorilla in the room.
Katherine Newman
Coral Gables, Florida
