A Chance To Change the Future...

35 days away and counting!



In 35 days, Delaware will have an opportunity that may never present itself again.



In 35 days, four departments of government will vote on the kind of energy that we will have for the foreseeable future.



We now have an opportunity to change the status quo.



Present plans suggest that unless nothing is done to change the pre-existing mind-set, our government will place a vote for inertia: We shall vote to use more coal. And while such a decision flies in the face of good sense, the Coal industry and their lobbyists argue mightily that coal is the way to go. Clearly, profits supersedes all other priorities when anyone barely literate knows what coal does to the air and the water.

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No matter what anyone says, even if the coal lobbyists suggest that coal is the solution, it is still the bad guy in the pollution department. Gasification or not, coal still puts residues into the air that kill twenty thousand people a year according to studies of coal’s health impact on the population.



But more than that, coal effluents change the acidity of the oceans which, in turn, changes the food chain from the bottom up. Imagine an ocean with no fish! Coal effluents raise the seas temperature levels, too, and contribute significantly to our global warming problem. It is expected that rising temperature levels alone will increase melting of the Greenland cap changing the density of the North Atlantic and perhaps changing once and for all the effect of the “conveyor belt” that keeps all continental temperatures moderate.

If the Gulf Stream ceases to operate--as it did `10,000 years ago, we can all expect another Ice Age. Remember the last Ice Age nearly ended all life on this planet as we know it.



Based on the current trends, global melting alone may raise ocean levels by five feet over the next thirty or forty years! These are not minor considerations that we can just ignore; these decisions will impact what becomes of us.



It is no secret that arguments are being made by the Coal lobby too that wind energy has all kinds of "negatives." Well, the fact is that wind energy is totally natural. To generate wind energy we don’t have to consume anything or burn anything. All of the energy is produced by the power of the wind. Best of all, with wind power there are no toxic residues that foul up the air we breath or the water we use.



Wind Energy may not be perfect but it is definitely getting a bad wrap from very biased critics who want us to increase our consumption of fossil fuels which we know poison the air and water and contribute to an increasing number of health issues.



OSHA, in recognition of how serious this is, pushed for new regulations to control emissions. They were back burnered by this government for ten years which seems to suggest that energy production should outweigh the health of the people. Well, I for one, have trouble with that thesis…



Secondly, most of the problems bandied about the lobbies are either insignificant or irrelevant. The windmills are not “bird-killers’ as some might suggest. Bird migratory patterns show this. And the windmills are not an eyesore and may be barely visible if at all from six miles out. And even on windless days at sea level, they generate energy. And that is no argument since the wind mills store energy and contribute to the grid.



However, the big pluses are that wind=power is an inexpensive, reliable source of energy.

And if we show our courage, we can use this opportunity to show that we are not locked in concrete, that Delaware can be the first to export its energy and reduce the impact significantly of coal produced electricity through out the North East.



And we can make money in the process..



When you compare what wind energy offers us to the alternatives, it is discouraging that our politicians have not shown their courage and jumped on this important bandwagon and demonstrated their support for the people. . And if anyone needs any proof of where our lame brained inertia will lead us, all we need do is check the computer projections over the next fifty years that show Delaware buried in water and virtually non-existent.



We now can do something about this outcome.



When we approached the State with our arguments in hand yesterday, even though we had an appointment scheduled, Gerald Hocker refused to give us an audience preferring to speak instead about old boats. Many of us were there armed with the information our lawmakers needed if they are going to make an intelligent decision that will impact our health. To be ignored and passed over after having been promised an opportunity to speak was not only embarrassing it was indicative that our lawmakers are so set in place in their thinking they cannot change.



It is a sad day when the public is not made privy to the information it needs to have to make what amounts to life and death decisions.



But there is still time to act. We can still demand of our politicians that they reverse the chain of inertia that stands ready to destroy the future for Delaware. We can still make a difference. But it is up to us and the clock is running out.

Les Aaron

The Committee for Positive Change