Letters to the Editor

Biomass burner supporter
We need renewable energy in this city, a fact with which many locally agree. The state has ambitious “25/25 Initiative” with a goal of having 25% of our energy come from renewable sources by 2025. Even the current White House administration has finally issued a report acknowledging that global warming is “human-induced” and we have already seen impacts from it that will continue.
So how is it with this level of consensus coming forth on climate change that the city has become part of a systematic effort to derail a the Midtown Eco-Energy biomass plant right into a pile of coal ash and spent nuclear rod holding ponds? It’s a tale full of fear, misplaced anger and priorities. As we seek to convert our energy sources, we need to redirect our own personal and political energy to supporting renewable energy projects locally. Instead, what we have corporately done is very likely destroy a viable project, and that is something for which we should all be ashamed.

The neighborhood is justifiably concerned with exacerbating public health issues already present in the Phillips neighborhood. Local carbon emissions bring the area close to or exceeding acceptable limits, and a higher rate of asthma and other related health issues have been documented. What we have here are two important concerns – one for local human health and the other for a city’s overall energy “health” – however eliminating this project will not resolve the local health problems and it is arguable this plant will make them any worse, and in the wreckage is a proposal that will for certain help improve the city’s energy “health”. I would propose the energy the neighborhood is putting into bringing down this plant should be redirected instead to reducing the carbon emissions from the most egregious source, the emissions from cars and trucks from local traffic, and they need our help to do that.

Finally, some of our leaders have decided to hide behind the neighborhood rather than be the responsible stewards of the greater public good – the Phillips neighborhood included – they were elected to serve. Gary Schiff and Patricia Torres Ray have demonstrated a tremendous lack of political will and leadership when frankly our earth depends on it. And as for Xcel Energy backing out of the proposal, I find it interesting to learn that in this past week when they did this, they petitioned the state to expand their Monticello plant by 70 MW.

We need to become a people and a country that is willing to engage in the hard discussions and problem solving that will be needed to get us out of the mess we have made for ourselves when it comes to global warming. The time to start is now, with the first major local alternative energy project proposed for this wonderful “City of Lakes” I love.

Mary Kay Olson
Minneapolis

Correction on legislation
I agree with the less than optimistic article by Dennis Geisinger concerning single payer health care reform in Minnesota. We face many obstacles to single payer—mostly which are political and profit driven. However I do want to point out that Mr. Geisinger got it wrong with Marty’s Minnesota Health Act. 

He says that “Marty’s bill was killed in committee by an 8-3 margin” and that is not true. Senator Marty’s bill passed the first committee by a bipartisan vote of 8-3, but was not taken up by other committees. More significantly, publicly funded but privately delivered single payer health care as seen in the Minnesota Health Act bill is quite popular amongst the public. Two thirds of Americans support National Health Insurance according to national recent polls,  and this percent may be greater in Minnesota. Hundreds of people were at the Minnesota Health Plan hearing in February, and at the senate district 62 DFL convention over 90 percent of the delegates voted yes on a resolution for single payer. When Rep. Tschumper says “we think the level of public acceptance for a single-payer system needs to be worked on”—I would respectfully disagree. We have the public support—some might say a public mandate—it is the political support that is lagging behind.

Elizabeth Frost, MD
Co-chair Physicians for a National Health Program–Minnesota

Southside Side responds: We regret the error and have corrected the article on our website.