Letters to the Editor for Monday, Aug. 18

How our water levels affect our electricity

America is facing an immediate shortage of electricity. The solution that we hear from the Trump administration is to abandon the development of renewable energy sources, turn back the clock 100 years and expand the use of fossil fuels. Environmental impact “be damned.”

What we really have is a critical shortage of leadership that understands that energy, water and climate are all interconnected and that we have a crisis of all three.

Climate change is no longer a threat, it’s here and getting worse. Daily reports of weather extremes causing drought, heat waves and severe storms serve as proof of this reality.

Locally we are witnessing the impact as it affects water in our rivers and aquifer. When summer was barely a week old, the flows in the Spokane, St. Joe and Couer d’Alene rivers were at levels not expected until late summer. Last winter’s good snowpack vanished over two months ago.

Regionally, how this affects hydropower is obvious, there won’t be much.

Regarding the forecast shortage of electricity, we need to question: “Why has the Northwest gone from having a large surplus of power to a shortage?” It’s being driven by more than a water crisis. The demand for electricity to power the crypto currency, data storage and artificial intelligence industries is overwhelming the power grid.

Do these industries contribute enough to society to justify sacrificing endangered species, treaty obligation, breathable air and clean water? Society needs to decide if this greedy power grab is worth these sacrifices. It should be a “no-brainer.”

Harvey Morrison

Spokane

Thank you, law enforcement,

Yesterday I was driving home eastbound on Interstate 90 in rush-hour traffic. As I came around the Sprague curve to the straightaway toward the Argonne exit, I saw blue flashing lights. I then noticed in the westbound lane a Washington State Patrol car off the shoulder behind a truck towing a boat.

My first thought was, well, they did something stupid. As I drove by though, I saw the trooper doing what appeared to be changing a tire on the boat trailer. In rush hour traffic, and in the mid-90-degree heat, with full law enforcement gear on.

I looked up the WSP motto to write this and this is what it is: service with humility.

Thank you, trooper, for taking the time to help this person out. And thank you for what all our law enforcement officers do every day, protect us.

Bruce Ellison

Veradale