— from Janet Alderton —
The drama of exploding oil trains hit closer to home on June 3 when rail cars carrying crude oil derailed near the town of Mosier [Oregon] along the Columbia River. A heat wave in early June is another sign that our addiction to fossil fuels is an ongoing disaster. How can we best reduce our dependence on fossil fuels?
Individual actions are important, but the quiet force of economics is also powerful. In November, I am voting Yes on Initiative 732 to promote clean energy, and make our tax system fairer and more sustainable.
Whether you call it Gobal Weirding or Global Climate Change, we are heading in the wrong direction. The continuing explosions of “bomb trains” carrying crude oil are a wake up call that we must transition off of fossil fuels.
Lots and lots of smart folks—from (Nobel Prize winning physicist) Steven Chu to dozens of economists and civic leaders around Washington State agree that a price on carbon is key and that a revenue-neutral carbon tax is the best way to get there.
I am with them. Please join me in voting Yes on Initiative 732 this November 2016.
I-732 is the only truly fair and statewide effort to reduce the chances of more disasters and a warming planet. And there is one more thing each of us who can, should do: get off the petroleum teat and buy or rent an electric vehicle. It’s schizophrenic to use fossil-fueled vehicles to get to environmental rallies.
Electric vehicles won’t do it by themselves. The energy to recharge that vehicle has to come from somewhere. It will take a concerted effort around the world to transition to other energy forms. Instead of charging electric vehicles with fossil fuel based energy we need to develop extensive alternative energy plants (solar, wind, tidal, etc.) as well as the means to store excessive energy production for use during times when the energy can not be generated. This will mean other problems and other controversies. For example, people were up in arms because a flock of birds got roasted in a large solar collector energy plant. People get angry because birds get injured and killed by wind turbines. People get angry because hydroelectric dams threaten fish and the food chain. There are no simple answers.
Keep in mind that the reason that most of the crude oil ends up in railway tank cars is because of the unreasonable blockage of pipeline construction such as Keystone. Our world will continue to use oil, whether for transportation or as raw materials in plastics, etc. for a long time. The safest way to transport oil is in a well built and maintained pipeline. When you block the free market from building a needed pipeline, it will go elsewhere, in this case it ends up in railway tank cars. The forces that blocked Keystone simply transferred and increased the risk from rail car accidents.
I wholly agree that there is no simple solution. What I was getting at is that each of us can take individual action, rather than relying exclusively on institutional solutions over which we have no individual control. Most solutions seem to require someone else to do or not do something. I suggest that EVs are a part of the solution particularly for our county, whose B.C. hydropower is provided via BPA. I would not suggest this as a solution in an area served by the TVA.