It was refreshing to finally read a “good news” article on the future of renewable energy production in our country. (“Clean energy growth tops coal,” Herald, May 9.) It is clear that coal is not only “unsustainable” from an environmental perspective, it is becoming less and less sustainable from an economic perspective.
I do understand the financial implications of transitioning to renewable resources for communities that rely on extracting fossil fuels. It can be done if the transitioning is gradual and the end-user or consumer makes choices based on market economics.
The “real” cost of coal and other fossil fuels is much higher than the market reflects when pollution, environmental cleanup, and ultimately, the devastation of climate change is factored into the cost. The time has come to turn the conversation to a reasonable system that gradually weans the consumer away from carbon-producing products and makes market-based choices on cleaner technologies.
The Citizens Climate Lobby promotes a fee and dividend structure that would impose a fee on carbon at the point of extraction and pass that dividend back to the consumer. To read more, go to: http://citizensclimatelobby.org
Louise van Vonno
Durango
