Benton County Fire District No. 4 thanks voters for support and other Herald letters

Fire District 4 thanks its voters

We want to thank the community for their support of Benton County Fire District No. 4’s EMS levy lid lift in the Aug. 2 primary election.

Because of you, we will be able to hire three additional firefighter/paramedics or emergency medical technicians to respond to emergency calls. With the new personnel, the funding allows us to put another medical unit in service to cover growing service demands and situations where we receive multiple calls for emergency aid at the same time.

We’re proud to serve the community and grateful for your ongoing support. As always, we’ll keep you updated on our progress and report back to you as we implement these service improvements.

Thank you again.

Fire Chief Paul Carlyle

Board of Fire Commissioners Chair Garrett Goodwin

Firefighter Garrett Premel

Reader doesn’t trust elections

So, a survey of state election officials assures us that there was no significant fraud with absentee voting and ballot boxes in the 2020 election (AP report “Survey: No major problems with ballot drop boxes in 2020”). Really? Do we believe such “nothing to see here, move along” assurances from those in charge of businesses and other activities? We certainly don’t for things like police shootings or pharmaceutical drug problems, so why accept assurances from these officials?

There is a reason that the federal government and larger businesses have independent auditors (e.g. inspectors general). It is human nature for organizations not to openly share or admit to flaws when problems are alleged, and so investigation by these independent auditors is often needed.

To date, I am unaware of any comprehensive investigation by independent parties into the many allegations of ballot box stuffing that may have changed the outcome of the 2020 election. And certainly the mainstream media, which years ago did such investigations, can’t do them now given its active support of Biden during the election. So, without such an independent investigation, how can people insist with such absolute certainty that the election was fair and honest?

Richard Engelmann, Richland

Editor’s note: Washington has a long tradition of its State Auditor’s Office conducting financial and performance audits of state, regional and local agencies. Votes who have any substantive irregularities to report should contact the Auditor’s Office.

Another wind farm not needed

The decision to build the Horse Heaven Hills wind/solar farm needs to be deferred indefinitely for two reasons:

1) If built now, will it stop climate change? Not at all. Reducing Washington state’s CO2 emissions will reduce global annual human emissions by less than 0.1%. China, the main contributor to CO2 emissions, does not plan any significant reductions before 2060. In 2008, Gov. (Jay) Inslee stated in his book Apollo’s Fire that the snowpack in the West is “rapidly dwindling.” This, however, has not been the case in the Pacific Northwest. A recent study indicates no change in the average Northwest snowpack for at least the past 50 years.

2) Does Washington need more power? No. The Northwest continues to export huge amounts of electricity to California (40 TWh in 2020). This is equivalent to four Columbia Generating stations. (CGS produces about 10 TWh annually, enough for about a million homes).

Now that California is reconsidering its decision to close the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Station (twin units), i.e., keep them operating beyond 2024, that would reduce their future reliance on Northwest imports by half. This wind/solar farm will not help Washington’s climate or snowpack, nor produce any power needed by either Benton County or the state.

Craig Brown, Richland