Letters: OUC's high demand | Climate-change ignorance | Speedy ... - Orlando Sentinel

Letters: OUC's high demand | Climate-change ignorance | Speedy Trump trials

Fossil-fuel reduction would help OUC battle heat

Your Aug. 11 article “OUC, KUA report power records during blistering heat wave” stated that the Orlando Utilities Commission “has adequate generation to support” the record energy demand experienced this week due to soaring temperatures. That’s great, but is OUC prepared to meet the demand growing every year due to the utility’s own carbon pollution?

How much heat Orange County experiences over the next decade is up to all of us, but especially to utilities that burn fossil fuels. According to a study done by the Union of Concerned Scientists, whether or not carbon pollution decreases over the next 13 years will be the difference between Orange County regularly experiencing a heat index so high it is literally off the charts — 127°F — or not.

OUC’s Energy Integrated Resource Plan (EIRP) was finalized in December 2020. The EIRP’s goal to achieve “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050 is too slow and includes missed opportunities like retrofitting the Stanton Energy Center to transition from coal to “natural” gas, another massive carbon polluter. Today, the price of solar has fallen below that of natural gas. Utilities around the country are taking advantage of bonuses received through the Inflation Reduction Act for transitioning from coal directly to solar and are building huge amounts of energy storage with that money.

OUC needs to do a new EIRP in the context of rising gas prices, falling solar prices, resources available through the IRA, and a growing body of medical literature showing the significant health harms of heat.

Shauna Junco Orlando

Shauna Junco is the advocacy chair for Florida Clinicians for Climate Action.

Why don’t TV weathermen ever mention climate change?

A giant heat dome has settled over Florida. Quick! How many times have local TV weather forecasters mentioned climate change as a factor for these record setting temperatures? A: never B: What? C: Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Their lips are sealed.

The factors that create heat domes are numerous, but the one “standout” is climate change brought on by heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. The scientific community is all but unanimous in agreeing that the burning of fossil fuels generate these gases.

It’s only your Uncle Carl at Thanksgiving and some crank living off-grid in Moosejaw who disagree nowadays.

Extreme heat is the No. 1 weather-related cause of death in the U.S. Wanna know the good news? There is none … it’s going to get worse.

So, why do your local weather prognosticators never mention climate change? Blame it on consultants and management. Those bean counters fear that they might lose one viewer if “climate change” was uttered. A dip in viewership (no matter how minuscule) will lead to a loss in ad revenue and “broadcasting in the public interest” be damned if the shareholders are not happy.

Florida is ground zero when it comes to facing the ill effects of climate change. But hey, who cares when the local news leads with a shooting? Maybe the heat was to blame.

Jim Philips Winter Park

Trump trials should be decided before primaries

Should the federal courts set their scheduled trials based on the election, or does the public’s right to a speedy trial trump Trump’s defense team’s attempt to push out every trial milestone action? (“US offers date to begin Trump trial,” Aug. 11). I want to hear the cases argued in the court of law and not public opinion. It is relevant to every American, before we cast our votes, to know whether Mr. Trump will be a convicted felon serving time in a federal prison. Because there are so many separate lawsuits in process, the more important issue is parsing the timing of these trials so the defendant can attend each proceeding as required by law or his defense counsel. Whether he can campaign is a non-issue.

We have been inundated with the spinning of nonstop drama surrounding our last presidential election. The public deserved to have these issues vetted in a court of law, so we all know the official outcome of each count in each case. If democracy is to continue, it must be crystal clear to every voter who we are voting for or against.

Debra Lupton Winter Park