Fred Meyer shooting, wind turbines, the GOP and other Herald letters to the editor

Take more active effort to shootings

The Tri-City Herald editorial of Feb. 10, “Tri-City leaders must respond to Fred Meyer shooting,” is a shot in the right direction. However, I think the editorial was far from describing the scope of the required response. The very next day after this editorial appeared, someone took pot shots at a Tri-City Herald delivery vehicle. Over the past year, we’ve had many other assaults, drive-by shootings and murders and the numbers are increasing.

So, all is not right in paradise and a renewed, comprehensive response is required. County and city administrative, prosecution and law enforcement leadership should agree on expanded objectives, leadership and scope. Expanding Tri-City Drug Enforcement Task Force seems like a good model. A set of metrics should be developed as a communication tool both to the municipal leaders and the public. Active cases and their status should be included. Results from resolved cases, including nature of the crimes and background and methods of the perpetrators, should be used to keep methods and approaches updated.

Our law enforcement agencies deserve our appreciation and our support. We need to assist in upgrading their tools and capabilities available to their efforts to protect public safety.

John P. Schmidt, Richland

Mansperger out of step with TCs

I concur totally with the content of the Letter to the Editor by Terry Miller of Feb. 13. I have read at least three of Mansperger’s left-wing socialism-leaning diatribes in your “Opinion” section. Why do you print them? You folks run a troubled newspaper struggling to stay alive, and then print stuff like Mansperger’s that the majority of your readers disagree with. That in and of itself may be justifiable, but why don’t you pair his utterings with a counter-argument guest opinion piece? It surely is no secret that your parent corporation and your local staff are liberal-leaning folk. That is sure your privilege and right — but you also run a for-profit venture! A more balanced editorial policy might help keep you afloat awhile longer!

As for Mansperger: It obviously bothers some of us that you give him a forum to bash all things/folks with a conservative-leaning political bias. As a home-grown Republican, I am one of the recipients of his “bashing.” My grandfather and father were of that “persuasion” going back to the early 1900s, and at my age (almost 88), I have voted in an election or two, served under more than a few presidents — and served for 32 years of it as a military officer.

I also served as an elected official (city councilman) and have been active politically here in Washington for many years. I do not publicly try to indict Democrats and liberals as “bad folk.” Mansperger’s skewed biases serve no good purpose,. In fact, I wonder how he became a teacher in our college system. I have concerns about his ability to teach balanced contemporary subject matter concerning how our nation evolved, and his ability to engender good citizenship skills in his students.

Richard H. Wight, Capt. USCG (retired), Richland

Moderates need to work together

Mark Mansperger claimed in a recent Tri-City Herald op-ed that some of the most exploited people today are “everyday Republicans.” He summarized how the Republican right wing is squelching freedom of social and political thought and diminishing the health and wealth of regular citizens.

Approximately 100,000 more Republicans than Democrats will die as a result of believing right-wing disinformation about COVID-19 vaccination. Republican policy has caused the relative wealth of most Americans to shift significantly to the very rich over the past 30 years. Everyday Republicans are paying with their lives and their wallets.

Left-wing Democrats also promote unwise policies. Examples include advocating “defund the police,” pushing for an over-reaching Build Back Better program, and condoning the leftist riots in Portland.

The far-right and the far-left will never compromise. Today there is little tolerance for party moderates who traditionally have sought the middle ground. They face party ostracism and threats to their political and actual lives.

This dysfunction can be stopped if independents and party moderates unite behind leaders who place principled, bipartisan governance ahead of personal and extreme party aspirations. Joe Manchin and Mitt Romney, two principled, but politically opposite leaders, should be supported, not vilified.

Russ Treat, Richland

Wind farm will hardly help

Gov. Jay Inslee is living in a green energy dream world. He supports the Horse Heaven Hills wind farm project, claiming “wind energy is the way to reduce the threats of forest fires because it reduces carbon pollution … which is causing these forest fires” (Tri-City Herald, Feb. 24). But if this project reduces the threat of wildfire in Washington, it won’t be noticeable. His claim is a gross exaggeration of this project’s benefits and little more than green energy virtue signaling.

Even assuming that Washington’s increasing wildfire problems are due solely to rising CO2 levels and resulting hotter temperatures (and nothing to do with bad land management and increased human activity), the wind farm project would do virtually nothing to reduce temperatures and wildfires. The atmosphere is global, and so emissions reductions due to Scout Energy’s project would be diluted out throughout Earth’s entire atmosphere. Scout Energy estimates its Horse Heaven Hills wind farm would reduce CO2 emissions by 3.5 million tons per year. Sounds like a lot, but that’s less than a 0.009% reduction in the world’s 39 billion tons of annual CO2 emissions. Any cooling of temperature due to this CO2 reduction could not even be measured.

Richard Engelmann, Richland

Lithium plentiful in the Salton Sea

As an avid electric vehicle (EV) owner, it’s gratifying to see many manufacturers producing electric cars and pickups. Rapid EV growth could make 2022 the year they become unstoppable. But there is concern that metals needed to produce EV batteries, especially lithium, will be in short supply without additional mining and developing effective battery recycling processes.

Recycling is great, but we’ll need to produce about six times more critical minerals by 2040 than we do today, even if we recycle 100%. The good news is that entrepreneurs are developing ways to recycle batteries for their metals. The larger and more efficient these recycling efforts become, the less mining we’ll need to do to supply all the batteries needed to support EV growth.

Another promising approach to the lithium shortage is California’s Salton Sea area geothermal liquids, which could produce 600,000 metric tons a year of lithium carbonate, according to the California Energy Commission. For decades, geothermal plants have extracted geothermal liquids to produce electricity. Controlled Thermal Resources Ltd., with two 8,000-foot-deep wells, could produce 300,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate a year, \ provide enough electricity for a million homes, and help prevent the worst aspects of climate change

Roger Ovink, Richland

Stakes of conflict high in Ukraine

As a professor of English (now retired) who frequently taught a course on science fiction, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Putin’s putting his nuclear force on high alert brought to mind a book that was required reading for my students. Published during the Cold War in 1959, Walter Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz portrays the evolution over several centuries of a world coming back from the destruction of civilization by nuclear holocaust, only to find itself facing such destruction again. If you can get hold of a copy, I highly recommend that you read it to fully comprehend the danger our own world could be facing,

Brenda E. Sartoris, Richland