Letters: When weather tragedy strikes you, remember who's blocking transition to renewable energy - NOLA.com

Letters: When weather strikes, remember who's responsible | Letters | nola.com

Fire tornadoes, heat domes breaking temperature records across the country, unprecedented flooding in southern California and thousands killed by flooding in Libya, the Quad-State tornado of 2021 and record-high global ocean temperatures have all been observed in just the last few years, not to mention hurricanes.

The trend is quite alarming, and it is likely that climate change is a major factor in these extreme weather events.

A transition to renewable energy, along with a reduction of burning of fossil fuels, is not likely to reverse this trend, but it would likely at least contribute to slowing it down.

The loudest voices that work hard to prevent and/or slow the transition are the ones you should think of as responsible for speeding up the trend in extreme weather. Think of some of our congressional delegation, and lobbyists for the oil and gas industry, who call for America’s energy independence.

That sounds patriotic, but we are exporting millions of barrels per day. Those who claim the current administration has cut U.S. oil production are lying. U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise called out the Biden administration for “shutting down U.S. energy production.” Average U.S. production has actually increased compared to the Trump administration.

While it will be many years before we can stop using fossil fuels, a meaningful transition to an all-of-the-above energy policy should have started long ago.

Attacking the real environmental impacts of solar, wind, etc. in an effort to slow the transition will hasten the day when extreme weather events will get much worse.

When a weather-related tragedy affects you personally in the future, remember who is standing in the way of a meaningful transition today.

BRUCE BAIRD