Editor:
I was saddened to read Senator Shelly Capito's statement about the anti-EPA resolution she supported - "Sending these resolutions to the president's desk is an important step in the fight against the harmful Clean Power Plan." That resolution was a futile step, suggesting that the Senators who voted for it lack compassion. They lack compassion for the species going extinct due to ocean acidification, or rising air and ocean temperatures, or the spread of insect-borne diseases. They lack compassion for fishermen whose livelihoods are curtailed by fish moving further north, and for winter sports industries that experience fewer ski days.The rest of America has compassion for your state. We understand the math that banks and financial advisors keep repeating: at least 80 percent of all known fossil fuel reserves must be left in the ground if the climate is to be stabilized so that humanity can survive. This math is particularly hard for coal states - because the vast majority of fossil fuel reserves are coal, and coal pollutes more than oil and gas. Coal will be left in the ground even as the last oil and gas reserves are pumped. Senator Capito is right to suggest the Clean Power Plan is unfair - it doesn't limit emissions fairly, as it targets only electricity production. To fix this inequity, she could introduce a Republican carbon tax plan with revenue used to bring new industry to your state. The entire country has sympathy for your situation, but we don't have sympathy for resolutions that go nowhere.
Judy Weiss
Brookline, Mass.