How green is our L.A?

Re “Greenhouse gasbags,” editorial, May 16

Your editorial fails to accurately portray Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s stellar environmental record and the transformation already underway under his leadership. While others looked for loopholes in last year’s state law to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, L.A. decided to end its reliance on dirty coal from Utah’s Intermountain Power Plant by 2027. We’ve tripled our usage of renewable energy over the last one and half years, and we’re on track to reach 20% clean energy by 2010. New energy efficiency programs will take 3 million cars’ worth of carbon dioxide off the road over the next five years.

From greening our fleet to repowering local generating facilities, the L.A. Department of Water and Power is taking concrete steps to ensure that we meet the mayor’s long-term commitments. What good can come from calling mayors “gasbags”? The Times should be encouraging mayors to fill the gaping void left by the Bush administration’s inaction, not discouraging them.

H. DAVID NAHAI

President

DWP Commission

Los Angeles