Californians brace for unscientific forest management policies under Donald Trump | Opinion
Bogus narratives
“California braces for climate conflict but aligns with Trump on forest management,” (sacbee.com, 18)
While it uses controlled burns to decrease undergrowth, Finland doesn’t “rake” its forests to reduce wildfire risk. Its relatively small wildfire problem is because of its proximity to the Arctic Circle and its year-round precipitation. Comparing Finland and California on wildfire response is a typical Donald Trump fairytale.
Overgrown forests are not responsible for our wildfire crisis, weather conditions are.
If Trump’s wildfire fabrication resulted in flawed forest management policies that rely heavily on unregulated thinning with no environmental oversight, it is also responsible for the question of what to do with an excess of felled wood, the expansion of the wood pellet/biomass incineration industries and their potentially devastating environmental and environmental injustice impacts for the state.
As president-elect, Trump now has an additional four years to promote his bogus narratives. God help us all.
Jennifer Normoyle
Hillsborough
Trump’s laughable plan
“California braces for climate conflict but aligns with Trump on forest management,” (sacbee.com, 18)
Besides the ridiculousness of Donald Trump’s “rake your wildfire away” statement, let’s laugh at other assumptions about the biomass plants. Most laughable? The idea that these biomass pellet plants are going to operate by processing “slash” or waste products from forest thinning.
The goal for these plants is to produce 1 million tons of pellets a year, which cannot happen processing waste products alone. Hence an excuse to log our forests under the guise of helpful “thinning.”
Then there is the ridiculous idea that we aren’t increasing global carbon load by shipping wood pellets to Europe and releasing the carbon in dirty fires there (wood produces dirtier fires than even coal). Finally, there is the horrendous misuse of government funds on thinning when home hardening is scientifically more helpful in withstanding wildfires.
Can’t hardly stop the laughter, can you?
Janet Doherty
Sacramento
Turbulent transfer of power
“Chaos cabaret: Trump’s cabinet picks are about distraction,” (sacbee.com, Nov. 20)
Democrats are extremely proud of themselves for modeling the proper peaceful transfer of power this election cycle. But the transfer of power this year has seen more violence against the U.S. Constitution than the previous dozen changes of bedsheets in the White House put together.
Think about it: little-to-no vetting of cabinet-level nominees; threats of mass recess appointments without required Senate advice and consent; credible threats to weaponize the Department of Justice, torch the Department of Education and turn the Department of Health and Human Services upside down; a planned coup to overthrow the professional military; and a MAGA-controlled Supreme Court that uses a blank sheet of paper as the Constitution.
Law is dead in America, force likely rules forever more and Democrats are headed off to Sunday Mass to gloat about how special they are.
Kimball Shinkoskey
Woods Cross, Utah
Real punitive measures
“DOJ indicts Phillips 66 for alleged industrial waste dumping,” (sacbee.com, Nov. 21)
This article states: “If convicted on all counts, the company could face a maximum of five years of probation for each count.” How, exactly, does a corporation serve probation?
If you didn’t know already, corporations are people in the eyes of the law, yet they cannot die, let alone serve probation or jail time.
Corporate misdeeds such as this horrendous dumping of hundreds of gallons of industrial wastewater containing tens of thousands of pounds of oil and grease (more than 300 times what their permit allowed) will continue as long as lawmakers and the public allow it. Fines totalling $2.4 million dollars is nothing to Phillips 66.
“People” such as Phillips 66 will certainly not stop this behavior on their own, especially when there is no real threat to stop.
Tonja Edelman
Sacramento