Letters to the Editor 01-11-12

Reader responds to pro-solar letter

Sharon Henderson’s concern for Lucerne Valley’s falling school enrollment and for the plight of families facing hardships due to the nasty economy is well-expressed. I couldn’t agree more.

I also agree with her advice that we residents of this beautiful desert should be willing to share our resources and this desert for worthy endeavors that might bring jobs, economic life, and a resulting increase in school enrollment. Lucerne Valley Economic Development Association (LVEDA) has focused on these issues for the 15-plus years of its existence.

Since I fall into the group mentioned by Ms. Henderson as opposing wind and solar energy projects that are threatening to engulf our desert, it behooves me to explain why. One reason is that I consider the “green energy” push to be based on the fraudulent theory we all know as “global warming” or more recently “climate change.” The American people are being manipulated and controlled with guilt in the name of doing good to the environment by those in positions of power and/or influence, in order for them to increase that power and influence (and control of gazillions of dollars of our money).

In perpetrating this fraud of “climate change” (which has been exposed in recent months through the release of emails between the perpetrators), those in power have made “green energy” their mantra, forcing it down our throats despite lots of evidence that it is uneconomic and cannot stand on its own without heavy subsidies that inevitably come from the public purse, that is, your and my pocketbooks. So we are forced to help pay for solar and wind power generation, which is then sold to companies like SCE, who then charges us higher rates for electricity that costs them more. So we pay at least twice. And coming generations will be burdened by this profligate government spending on such things as these subsidies often offered to companies run by officials’ cronies.

Those of us who resist this stupidity then are criticized for being short-sighted, extremist, and selfish. The truth is that we detest the deceptive game it represents. For example, the big job-creation numbers attributed to the big, heavily-subsidized green energy projects are short-term construction jobs. Long-term job creation is hardly, if at all, better than the employment at any one of the mining companies here, or at our market. (And the mines’ and market’s employment numbers are down due to the same socialist policies that are depressing construction and retail sales.)

There are good alternatives for those who want to use wind or solar power on their own: roof-top solar panels or individual wind turbines.
\ Even those installations are subsidized by our money, but at least they don’t force big, expensive, inefficient, industrial-size projects down the throats of the rest of us. Instead, making such alternatives available at their true, unsubsidized cost to individuals who choose them would be more consistent with our founding principles of individual responsibility and free markets.

In the meantime, oil and natural gas are both abundant and inexpensive and could be developed in this country to lower costs of energy, reduce our dependence on oil imported from hostile countries, and provide thousands of jobs and a huge lift to our economy that would likely reach even Lucerne Valley. It seems that our Leftist-socialist leaders, at both national and state levels, cannot abide the economic empowerment of companies and individuals so that they can compete in the free market to bring us the best, most efficient and cost effective products. These socialists want the power and purse strings for themselves, using them to impose their big government agendas on the rest of us poor, benighted souls.

The plight of our school population in Lucerne Valley is a much larger subject about which much could be said. There is no space to address it here, but I agree with Ms. Henderson that the subject is of critical importance to our community. We should address that here in future letters and articles.

Linda Gommel
Lucerne Valley

Letters to the Editor: To have a letter considered for publication, email it to editor@lucernevalleyleader.com or mail it to The Leader, P.O. Box 299, Lucerne Valley, CA 92356. You must include your name and phone number so we can contact you with any questions about your submission (your phone number will not be published). Also include you city/town of residence. Anonymous submissions are not accepted.