ENERGY
We must keep pursuing alternative power sources
There have been several articles in the paper recently regarding the conflict between utilities and producers of wind and solar power. There was an article in the Business and Legals section of the Idaho Statesman of Aug. 12 titled “Intermountain Gas seeks drop in customer rates.”
There have been articles about the abundance of hydroelectric power this year, due to heavy snowpack in the northwestern U.S.
I hope we do not experience a repeat of the drop in interest in alternative ways to generate electricity that occurred in the mid-1980s, due to a short-term drop in energy costs.
Let’s all remember the many and varied costs of traditional oil and gas, such as the blowouts in offshore oil rigs, polluted groundwater from natural gas production (vis-a-vis fracking), and national security costs to keep oil flowing our way from the Middle East.
If you haven't watched the video “Gasland,” I recommend you do.
WILLIAM NEAL BRUDENELL, Boise
Anti-fracking story was based on a disputed case
The Idaho Statesman swallowed the hook in using the New York Times anti-gas fracking article the first week in August. This recent article tries to make the case that the hydraulic fracturing in a West Virginia well contaminated a nearby water well in 1982. The story was posted a few hours after the anti-gas activists Environmental Working Group (EWG) released their report on the same incident. A coincidence, don’t you think?
We’re talking about a technology that’s been deployed more than 1.2 million times in 25 states over a period of 60 years. After studying this issue for over a year, they had to use a single, disputed case from 30 years ago. Actually, state regulators at the time believed the gas in the water had nothing to do with fracturing. The technology today is better than it’s ever been, with more stringent regulations. Drilling firms don’t want problems. They want to take advantage of historic opportunities in shale and tight sand stimulation techniques to produce more oil and gas. The Times’ story does not verify hydraulic fracturing had anything to do with the contamination of a water well 30 years ago, or since.
JIM CLASSEN, petroleum geologist, Boise
POLITICS
The kind of constituent Republicans love to hate
I am what Republican politicians hate. I served my country and have lost friends to war. I have a stable marriage. My wife can afford to work part-time because of my blue-collar employment. That part-time employment allowed for more quality time with my children. I am an active involved father who is raising two wonderful children who will soon be college-bound. I live a comfortable middle-class life. I bought a house that was affordable and less than I qualified for. I have a nice balance in my 401(k) program. We all have health, vision and dental insurance. I take my children on one nice vacation a year and one or two camping trips. We pay our taxes. We donate a small sum to charity each year. We are Christians. We have never been in trouble with the law. We can see the day when we will be able to retire, and while not lavish, we won’t be reduced to eating dog food. My paycheck is spread generously throughout the economy, helping keep others employed. People like us are the bedrock of a civilized society, but because I am a union member I am what Republican politicians hate.
TROY INGRAHAM, Boise
NEW BRIDGE
Plan for future growth
Concerning the article about a bridge connecting Interstate 84 with Chinden via McDermott: I love this idea! Please don’t let a few farmers keep the Treasure Valley from moving forward. As a Meridian homeowner, there is too much congestion on Eagle Road and not enough future thinking and planning for future growth.
BRIAN BAUGHMAN, Meridian
CONVENTION BUREAU
It’s worth every penny
Seven to eight hundred conventioneers just completed the Marine Corps League National Convention here in Boise.
How much did these attendees bring to town during their week-long stay?
This convention would not have happened if it wasn’t for the wonderful job done by the Boise Convention and Visitors Bureau (BCVB). Their knowledge, presentation and continued nurturing is what did it.
The Treasure Valley Detachment of the Marine Corps League bid to host the 2011 convention against Phoenix and Reno. An attendee this year told me he was for Reno until he heard Lisa Eden’s presentation. He changed his vote for Boise. A delegate from Phoenix told me, after hearing Lisa’s presentation, their delegation voted to withdraw its bid and support Boise. After winning the bid, BCVB continued its effort of bringing more people to Boise by attending MCL’s regional conferences and the 2010 MCL national convention.
A group of conventioneers wanted to see BSU’s blue turf and Lisa made the arrangements. One gentleman returned saying, “I had my picture taken on the blue turf on the 50-yard line.”
BCVB is worth every penny.
HAROLD KWAN, member, Treasure Valley Detachment, Marine Corps League, Boise
WOLVES
The predator vs. the prey
In answer to the “What Happens Next?” letter in the Aug. 11 Statesman: what happens is wolves hunt to survive, using tools nature provides.
This relationship between predator and prey has existed from the beginning. Wolves, lions, hyenas, coyotes and cougars share the relationship with prey that tyrannosaurs did with theirs.
Judgments as to whether this relationship is “good” or “evil” are artificial, created by us during our short existence on this planet.
Our ancestors killed prey as wolves do, fang and claw replaced by wood and stone. We’ve lost that connection. We’ve removed dangers, replacing hunger, pain and the threat of death from hoof and horn with ATVs, telescopic sites and a slow trigger squeeze. We set our hounds, our mock-wolves, loose on prey for entertainment, the prey often dying as a wolf’s prey would. We complain wolves are killing elk, kill the wolves and then kill the elk for “sport.”
Yet we still name our schools and teams after wolves out of respect or hoped-for mimicry.
Bryce Oldemeyer’s photo, viewable at wildwolves.homeip.net/wolfhunt.htm, captures a primal event. I’m proud that such sights exist in Idaho. I would rather see one such scene than a thousand “trophy shots” in hunting magazines.
RICK HOBSON, Boise
GREYHOUND RACING
Pull the plug on simulcasts
I would like once again to remind the people of Idaho how very cruel the sport of greyhound racing is. Thousands of young innocent greyhounds are harmed, left without food, veterinary care and adequate shelter and are killed every year in this country.
The Greene group, which is part of Les Bois horse track, was the responsible party for the abuse and death of many greyhounds at the Post Falls dog track before it closed in 1995.
Greyhound simulcasting at horse tracks keep live dog racing tracks alive, ensuring that more and more greyhounds each year are discarded and killed, because they run a fraction of a second too slow.
Idaho should not be a part of this abuse any longer. Sixteen years after the dog track closed in Idaho, Idaho horse racing tracks are still riding the on the backs of the greyhounds. It is time to end televised races of greyhounds, simulcasting in Idaho.
VIRGINIA MCKEAN, Nampa
RELIGION
We have free will, and we are exercising it
The writer who submitted “Jesus didn’t seek limelight” (Statesman letters, Aug. 4) spoke just like anyone who does not know God nor has read the Bible. He suggested God would not have influenced the author of the Pledge of Allegiance to include “under God.” If everyone did what God says to do, we would be puppets and there would have been no need for him to send his son, the Messiah Jesus, to take our sin, so that if we believe in him we would receive eternal life. God gave us a free will and obviously by the current government’s daily actions, we are exercising that. God bless America.
ELAINE STURM, Meridian
