Letters: March 30 – Positive idea exchange needed to solve problems

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A letter to the editor criticizing the Knoxville News Sentinel for publishing a column from the Heartland Institute opposing state energy-efficiency legislation without counterpoint. The writer argues that TVA, state, and federal leaders recognize the need to reduce energy consumption and address climate change, and calls for more constructive dialogue on energy policy.

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Letters: March 30
Positive idea exchange needed to solve problems
I was very disappointed in the Other Voices column that the News
Sentinel ran March 9 titled, "Bill would harm local consumers."

By running such a high-profile column from such a well-known special
interest group that holds such an extreme policy agenda without
printing any sort of counterpoint, the News Sentinel gives them
dangerous credibility. The Heartland Institute has made its money not
from doing science but from denying science, first on tobacco and then
on climate change.

It was not exactly surprising that it was against the proposed state
legislation that promotes energy efficiency; our cultural addiction to
fossil fuels pays their salaries.

As someone who recently attended a TVA Energy Efficiency Board
listening session, TVA obviously clearly agrees that we need to start
reducing our energy consumption. If we don't reduce our consumption,
TVA will have to build costly new power plants that will cost tens of
billions of dollars.

Even our federal representatives such as Sen. Lamar Alexander are
saying that the question is not whether we should deal with climate
change but what is the best way to deal with the crisis?

At this time, when all levels of government - from the city of Knoxville,
the state of Tennessee, TVA and our federal legislatures - are coming
together to deal with our energy consumption and start dealing with
climate change, we need to foster a more positive exchange of ideas.

Gil Hough, Knoxville