Opinion: Now is the time to move toward clean energy

This is just like the Bush family. Paying back those who got them into office. Not even one month after Election Day, we are seeing the rollback of one of the most important pieces of legislation that protects the environment and public health (the Clean Air Act). I am appalled at the administration and the people of this country for allowing this to happen. For our children's sake and our livelihoods, we as a country should be up in arms and should not stand for this.

Shame on you, President Bush, and shame on power companies for allowing this to happen. If anything, we should be moving toward clean, renewable energy and away from fossil fuels altogether. In light of what is going on in the Middle East and seeing oil spilled off the coast of Spain, you would think that we would start moving even more in the right direction, not 10 steps back.
-- Jason Stabins, St Petersburg

Compassion for corporations

Re: EPA relaxes air pollution rules.

The president's decision to loosen rules on air pollution standards is not surprising, considering his "compassionate conservatism." His compassion is for the poor corporations that have to suffer the consequences of being held accountable for the negative effects that their business has on our environment. Whether it be cutting back on the taxes they pay toward the Superfund, a means for cleaning up the messes those corporations make (and then making taxpayers foot the bill) or letting them off the hook to make "improvements" that just help their bottom line and don't improve their operations' cleanliness, George W. Bush is taking care of all these unfortunate corporations.
-- John Polo, Tampa

Fight for our wildlife

With the Republicans in control, Congress will be pressured to follow the president's lead to undo environmental protections. This means that sensitive lands will be handed over to corporate interests. The outcome of this past election should be a wakeup call to conservation-minded citizens to become a unified voice to fight environmental rollbacks.

If we care about wildlife and a natural legacy for our kids and their kids, we need to battle the government's desire to give it all away.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is still in danger. Habitats of migrating animals are at risk. Everglades restoration could be stalled. Global warming needs strong, positive consideration by Congress. President Bush wants to redefine -- that is, water down -- the Clean Water Act.

Help save wildlife and wild places. Stay informed. Spread the word. Don't let the Republican-controlled administration ruin our national legacy.
-- Lawrence A. Fisher, St. Petersburg

Tap America's own resources

Now that Republicans have regained control of the Senate, Democrats no longer have the votes to stop oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge . The time has come to end the liberals' political games to placate their enviro-wacko constituents and make America ever more dependent on Middle Eastern oil.

This is American oil, located under about 1.5-million acres of the ANWR and very close to the existing oil drilling area in Prudhoe Bay. A significant amount of oil can be produced in this northeast edge of the ANWR, on only 2,000 acres, without making a noticeable dent in the environment and without affecting any fragile ecosystems.

Given the current unrest in the Middle East, energy shortages in California, the high price of gasoline and diesel, and the Clinton legacy of horrific trade deficits caused mainly by importing oil, I think it is high time America began taking more aggressive steps to become more energy independent.

One-fourth of America's daily production, about 1.5-million barrels daily, could be easily extracted from ANWR without fouling wildlife, tundra or water. At Prudhoe Bay, madcap environmentalists had predicted decimated caribou herds. Facts now show that the fragile herd of 5,000 caribou in 1974 has grown to a healthy herd of 27,000 today.

The only imminent danger in this ANWR oil exploration decision is to our own American economy that is too dependent on foreign oil. The ANWR wildlife, tundra and water are safe, but America's energy supply is suffering numerous price shocks and may soon suffer shortages. We don't need a crisis larger than the one in California.
-- Robert C. Gotshall, Jr., Palm Bay

Manatee protection helps us all

Re: Let's set the record straight about manatees, letter, Nov. 12.

The Coastal Conservation Association's executive director Ted Forsgren's letter to the editor criticizes the newspaper for not fairly presenting the facts in a recent article about the many ways Gov. Jeb Bush has let manatee advocates down. Even though Save the Manatee Club was not involved in the press conference Forsgren refers to, we thought it necessary to correct the misleading information in his letter.

Forsgren states there are more manatees in Florida's coastal waters today than there were four years ago. The fact is, scientific data presented at the Manatee Population Workshop in Gainesville in April does not support the notion that there is an increase in the manatee population. A panel of population experts, manatee scientists and managers did agree that there is no complete life history model to determine whether the population is growing or not, although current data show that the manatee population in Southwest Florida is most likely decreasing because of the extremely high watercraft-related mortality. Also, the recent Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's review of the manatee population status found the Florida manatee population might be reduced by more than 50 percent within the next 45 years. That's not growth -- it's collapse.

Forsgren and others who continue to fight against manatee protection like to use the 3,276 count from the 2001 statewide aerial survey to suggest that the manatee population is growing and healthy, but they ignore the fact that in 2002, the count was 1,796. SMC deliberately did not make an issue of this lower number to imply a decrease in the population because we have always maintained that these surveys cannot be reliably used to indicate manatee population trends, and in fact, they tell us little, if anything, about the health of the manatee population in general.

Since the early 1990s, boat registration in Florida has more than doubled. Currently, more than 940,000 boats are registered in Florida and approximately 400,000 boats registered in other states using Florida's busy waterways. It's no wonder that watercraft-related manatee mortality has reached an all-time high of 89 deaths this year. With more boats on the water, and inadequate regulations, increased manatee mortalities can be expected.

Floridians will continue to be faced with unabated human population growth in the coming decades, which will only compound the stresses to Florida's fragile environment. The problems we see with manatees serve as a warning about the future health of entire aquatic ecosystems. By protecting manatees, we make the waters safer for humans and manatees and conserve habitat relied upon by approximately 80 percent of Florida's sport and commercial fisheries. Let's work together on this common-ground issue.

Florida's natural resources are limited. Our greatest legacy to future generations will be what we conserve today.
-- Judith Vallee, executive director, Save the Manatee Club, Maitland

Democrats still don't get it

Re: The Republicans are carving up Pelosi, by Ellen Goodman, Nov. 21.

Those of us who read the Times are accustomed to seeing Republicans carved up on a daily basis. Why should Rep. Nancy Pelosi get off scot-free?

Pelosi's appointment to the House leadership is just another indication that the Democrats just don't get it. Her background as a San Francisco liberal makes it a sure bet that she will further alienate that vast moderate middleher party needs so desperately. Even surer bets are that her history will make her totally unaware of moderate points of view, and unable to accept them as valid even if she did acknowledge them.
-- Ed King, Largo

The meaning of mainstream?

Re: Republicans are carving up Pelosi.

Does anyone else find it scary that even in the media Nancy Pelosi and educators are considered "radicals," while Tom DeLay and John Poindexter are considered "mainstream?"
-- Pamela Muller, St. Petersburg

Freedom's contradictions

Re: The Homeland Security Act.

I think that it's time for every citizen of the United States to read George Orwell's 1984. It seems that the people in control of homeland security are leading us straight down the path of Orwell's predictions. Read the book and ask yourself if that is the way you want to live.

I also have a problem with sending our troops off to war to protect our freedoms, while we at home allow the government to take away more of those freedoms every day. It just doesn't seem right, does it?
-- Joseph Perugini, Tarpon Springs

Big Brother's tardy arrival

Re: Homeland security.

The general impression is that George Orwell was a failed prophet in 1984, in that the year passed without "Big Brother" manifesting himself.

Not so. Orwell just got the date wrong.
-- Charles L. Fontenay, St. Petersburg

A question of patriotism

Those who write that we should "trust" our executive leadership without question or be "unpatriotic," I recommend Dereliction of Duty by Lt. Col. H. R. McMaster, U.S. Army, regarding the lies that President Johnson, Defense Secretary McNamara and the Joint Chiefs told us which led to many dozens of thousands of deaths in Vietnam. The lies told by the Nixon administration regarding both Vietnam and Watergate are more reasons to stand for truth rather than blind faith. Iran-Contra showed us during the Reagan/Baker/Bush administration that power corrupts and enriches the influence-buyers of various administrations. Questioning the elected leaders (or appointed) is what led us to become an independent nation. Without questioners, we would not exist as a nation.
-- Bob McEwen, USMC, retired, Indian Shores

An accident waiting to happen

Re: Scientists attempting to create new life form,
-- Nov. 22.
Oh joy! How much more will this planet and all life there-on have to endure when yet another "safety precaution" runs amok? Enough is enough! Use the $3-million on feeding the hungry! In the past 50 years, there have been too many cases of "oops" -- far more than those we have finally been told about!
Linda Haugh, Port Richey

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