We need power that carbon provides

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Washington voters are very aware that giving their money to Jay Inslee in Olympia is not going to solve the problem of climate change.

We need to remember that climate change started 17,000 years ago when the glacier that covered Vashon began to recede. There was no carbon pollution in the State of Washington 17,000 years ago.

Then we need to remember that Washington voters, more than any other part of the country, defeated Nazi Germany. It was the engineering capability of the private sector, Boeing, that produced the B-17 and the B-24 that destroyed the industrial plants of the Nazis.

We burned a lot of carbon to defeat the Nazis.

Then we need to remember that Washington voters produced the 707, 737 and 747, which made international travel a possibility for all nations and peoples. Then it was Washington voters who produced the 777 Dreamliner, which is the most economical and fuel-efficient jet airliner in the world. Washington voters know that in order to produce enough energy to lift a 747 (which loaded weighs 950,000 pounds), something has to burn white hot to produce that kind of power. Solar panels won’t work. Batteries are too heavy and toxic. Nuclear power is out of the question. Only the private sector can find an alternate energy that would produce the kind of power we need.

So, for now, we need the power that only carbon can provide.

— Terry Peretti