Readers Write: Jan. 31

Pipeline approval will help create jobs

Kyle Wingfield’s Jan. 20 column, “A few reasons for optimism as Trump takes office” was great, showing benefits of replacing the Obama Administration. However, he overlooked the greatest benefit in changing energy policies.

President Obama hobbled energy production of coal, oil, and natural gas due to unfounded beliefs of catastrophic global warming caused by carbon dioxide from using these fuels. Obama designated 900,000 square miles of U.S. land and sea as off-limits for drilling and mining and hundreds of billions were wasted on uneconomical renewable energy sources.

Trump will immediately help our economy with his fast approval of Canadian-funded Keystone XL and nearly completed Dakota Access pipelines, which will transport 1.3 million barrels of oil per day to U. S. refineries.

JAMES H. RUST, OF THE HEARTLAND INSTITUTE

Pruitt will be fox in the hen house

I was pleased to read that Scott Pruitt, President Trump’s nominee for EPA Administrator, now believes that climate change is real. But I remain concerned about his fitness to head the EPA. There is no real debate within the scientific community about climate change and the role that human activity plays in it. The skepticism/denials of a handful of scientists is vastly outweighed by the peer-reviewed research and consensus of tens of thousands of climate scientists. Pruitt’s record as Attorney General of Oklahoma shows little evidence of his interest in protecting the environment – and much to the contrary. His relationship to the EPA has been one of adversary and litigant. Nothing Pruitt has said or done convinces me that he has more interest in protecting the environment than greasing the skids for industry. He’d be a fox in the hen house.

DAVID HUDSON, MARIETTA