Your February 9 editorial [“The Green Catch”] alludes to Governor Kathy Hochul’s “ambitious but necessary proposals to phase out fossil fuel-powered heating and cooking appliances in new homes, and to eventually prohibit the replacement of oil and natural gas furnaces and boilers with anything but ‘green’ heating equipment.”
What you don’t report is that fossil fuels are getting cleaner. As a wholesale supplier of diesel and heating oil, I am pleased that our industry is already selling a 5 percent biodiesel blend and, when supply allows, even 10 percent. As an industry, we have pledged to move as high as 50 percent bio blends. A 100 percent blend also could become a reality if more supply (palm and soy oil, as well as used French fry oil, among other sources) becomes available.
Equally important, the move to increasing biofuel blends won’t require any costly changes to furnaces and diesel engines, nor will it contribute to the environmental pollution from mining, smelting and transporting windmills and storage batteries, the latter of which will have to be disposed of as well.
In addition to increasing biofuel blends, another potential mitigating factor for the impact of fossil fuels is carbon capture, in which hundreds of millions of dollars is being invested. All forms of energy have their environmental costs, and that should be acknowledged by our government leaders.
Gene Bernstein
Southampton
Buyer's RemorseWe are seeing a disturbing trend on the East End and particularly in the Town of Southampton. It is perplexing to witness extremely wealthy buyers, ones with resources to fund endless, years-long legal battles, to the detriment of neighbors and...
Selective EntitlementsKudos to Highway Superintendent Charlie McArdle for his self-serving pat on the back with his “Outside the Box” letter [July 18]. His “outside the box” is nothing more than selective entitlements given to a very small group of people who...
LifesaverOn July 15, my husband was powerwalking along Route 114 at 11:30 a.m. when he collapsed from heat stroke. A woman, or, I should say, an angel, stopped her car and loaded a bloodied, almost unconscious person into her car...
Compliant MessagingPaula Angelone, another useful tool of the Trump derangement syndrome-afflicted, railed against Donald Trump’s perceived violent rhetoric of the past as a sorry excuse for the assassination attempt last week [“American Landscape,” Letters, July 18]. Claiming “violence begets violence,” she...
Dear LeaderKudos to whoever decided to devote a half page (!) in last week’s edition to some stunningly deep investigative reporting! To wit: A part-time resident of Sag Harbor, who doubles as a full-time anchor on the dear leader TV network,...
One-Way StreetI resigned from the Southampton Town Planning Board last month. That was not an easy decision, as I truly enjoyed working with the planning staff and the wonderful people who serve on that board. That said, I’m a community advocate...
A ShowmanI was amused to read last week’s Letters to the Editor by Bill Jones [“End the Bias”], Thomas Jones [“Abject Failure”], Ed Surgan [“Sky Isn’t Falling”], and John Porta [“Bleak Alternative]. If you believe their words and statistics then you...
Unfit for OfficeAs an independent voter, I have been very frustrated, like many, about the candidates being offered by the Democrats and Republicans for the presidency come November, as both to me appeared unfit for office. One’s weaknesses became increasingly clear as...
