Letters to the Editor: Fine, build mega-warehouses. But make them use EVs and solar electricity

To the editor: Policymakers who share responsibility in overseeing the Inland Empire’s booming warehouse industry should be alarmed that families are coughing, wheezing and reaching for their inhalers. (“E-commerce pollution is choking Southern California communities,” editorial, May 5)

If cities and counties continue to approve these massive logistics facilities, the least they can do is require an electric vehicle fleet and rooftop solar. A coalition of environmental groups recently reached a $47-million settlement with a mega-warehouse project in Moreno Valley requiring such mitigation measures as well as funding for protecting nearby wildlife habitat.

But residents struggling to breathe shouldn’t have to wait for legal battles to conclude. They need elected officials and regulators to act now and set pollution-cutting requirements for the sake of public health and human decency.

Aruna Prabhala, San Francisco

The writer is a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.

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To the editor: While looking at pictures showing oceans of white warehouse rooftops, I can only see the perfect place for oceans of solar panels for Los Angeles and the Inland Empire.

From the San Fernando Valley to East Los Angeles and beyond, tens of thousands of acres of these roofs cover our land. Let’s install solar panels on all of them, connect them and give the warehouses free electricity in exchange.

Then, we can go 100% green.

Sarah Starr, Los Angeles