Letters to the Editor: China is the only winner from America’s overreliance on oil and gas

To the editor: Fossil fuel interests donated millions to President Trump’s 2024 reelection bid, and they’re reaping the benefits (“How Trump pressures the world into burning more oil and gas,” Oct. 29). He has provided them billions in tax incentives, fast-tracked drilling projects and removed environmental restrictions, all while rolling back incentives for clean energy. If the Supreme Court supports his effort to repeal the “endangerment finding,” the government will have no way to protect the public from the disease, death and planet-destroying pollution the products it backs cause.

America is now the world’s largest producer of oil and gas. We are, effectively, a petrostate that’s using its power to bully other nations to support its fossil fuel priorities.

China is the only winner here. Strategically, it has gained dominance in solar, wind and electric car technologies. As it exports these products and this technology around the world, other nations will realize America’s folly and choose a clean-energy future with its enormous health and economic benefits.

Robert Taylor, Santa Barbara

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To the editor: Even with all the health and economic benefits of reducing our use of fossil fuels, we as a society are not heading in the right direction (“Humanity is on path toward ‘climate chaos,’ scientists warn,” Oct. 29). I like to say, “Use the energy sources above the ground rather than spending energy digging or pumping stuff from under the ground.” After all, solar and wind are, by many accounts, the cheapest forms of energy production, enhanced even further with the technological advances in battery storage. If you want any underground energy, think geothermal.

Our current administration is spewing disinformation and misinformation about clean renewable sources while promoting the dirty forms of energy. So, given its oil and gas stance, perhaps we need to move much faster, with more fanfare, in regards to carbon dioxide removal.

There are several ways to remove carbon dioxide from our atmosphere, which is necessary to keep our planet livable. These removal paths can be categorized in natural or technological ways. Natural processes can involve trees, seagrasses, marshes, lagoons, farmland and certain crushed rocks that can all store carbon.

Coastal areas like lagoons and estuaries can store greater amounts of carbon than our forests. We need to keep those areas protected, so they can protect us. No-till farming without the use of fertilizers improves soil health and agricultural output, and stores carbon below the surface. Solar panels above some crops improve their yield.

In short, natural solutions exist!

Jonathan Light, Laguna Niguel