Trump has made our bills bigger
As The Star reported on April 9, March was the hottest month ever recorded in Ventura County. You felt it. Maybe your kids suffered. Maybe your energy bill reminded you again when it arrived.
And it was only March.
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources scientists have identified Ventura County as one of the fastest-warming regions in the U.S. That heat will keep driving up your electricity bills and threatening the strawberries, avocados, and premium crops that make this county’s economy run. The scientific consensus that the cause is fossil fuel global warming is as solid as the link between smoking and cancer.
So, what has Trump done about it?
He promised to cut your energy bills in half. Look it up. Since he took office, electricity is up 56% and gasoline is up 104%. He’s dismantled renewable energy — the cheapest energy available — killing thousands of American jobs and blocking the technologies that could have brought those bills down and protected our environment. His administration has even moved to suppress and delete the climate data American taxpayers paid scientists to collect.
And while Trump wages war on wind and solar, China wins. The Economist recently documented how China has become the world’s renewable energy superpower, capturing markets and contracts that would have gone to American workers. Trump didn’t protect us from China. He handed China the future.
This isn’t about party loyalty. Republicans, Democrats, and Independents in Ventura County all need affordable energy. We all need a stable climate for our farms and families.
The question is simple: Who made your life more expensive — and who is deleting the proof?
Joe Connett, Ventura
Trump must listen to reason
After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples in Jerusalem, and his first words were “Peace be with you.”
The ceasefire is a sign of hope, however tenuous.
That said, President Donald Trump’s threats to “take out” Iranian civilization are not appropriate rhetoric for anyone, especially a statesman. Though President Trump’s claim that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” was unfulfilled, the rhetoric of annihilation is immoral, even if intended to intimidate opponents.
Catholic Archbishop Paul Coakley, along with Pope Leo, condemned the threats from President Trump that promised the annihilation of the “whole civilization” of Iran if the country fails to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by the end of the day.
“The threat of destroying a whole civilization and the intentional targeting of civilian infrastructure cannot be morally justified,” said Coakley, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “I call on President Trump to step back from the precipice of war and negotiate a just settlement for the sake of peace and before more lives are lost.”
Is the president listening to reason? Voices help.
Keith Gallagher, Santa Paula
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Trump is making things worse, should listen to reason | Letters
Reporting by Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
