Calculating the True Costs of ‘Filthy Energy’

Re “L.A. May Invest in Coal Power,” Jan. 29: Shame on Los Angeles city officials and the DWP for planning to purchase the filthy energy from a new coal-fired power plant in Utah. Especially shameful is Councilman Tony Cardenas’ statement that cost considerations should override the objective to meet the goal of producing 20% of the city’s power supply from clean energy sources by 2017. The real cost of burning coal? The public absorbs the costs of global warming, acid rain, leaching and black lung disease that are caused by the power plants. If these costs were assigned to the plants, where they belong, coal would be the most expensive form of energy, not the cheapest.

We have a vast array of alternative energy-producing technologies at the ready. If we support them, their prices will drop. Until we force energy companies to absorb the real costs of their production, the most destructive way to produce energy will always be the cheapest, which is a fundamental flaw in our current market system.

Los Angeles should lead the way to a better legacy for our children.

Kathy Harty

Arcadia