So-called ‘war on coal’ never happened
The AJC’s article on the EPA director’s intent to override the Clean Power Plan starts with “War on coal is over,” News, Oct. 10. I read the article looking specifically for your refutation of the myth that President Obama initiated any such “war.” The decline of the coal industry began many decades ago as newer forms of more cost-effective energy production overtook it, just as it had overtaken wood. The steam locomotive history is a classic case; coal replaced wood but oil began replacing coal to run the railroads a century ago. With the federal and state regulations on air pollution starting in 1955 or earlier, the collapse of domestic steel production starting in the late 1970’s, and most recently the boom in cheap natural gas, the fate of coal was sealed long before climate change added urgency to clean power demands. Coal is falling to the forces of the market, and attempts to turn that back are little more than an overbearing government interfering with free enterprise. These are some of the facts of the matter and I would expect a newspaper of the AJC’s calibre to call out the lie of a “war on coal.”
KURT OHBERG, ATLANTA
Don’t get rid of national anthem at games
Is it really a viable or desirable solution to stop playing the national anthem at football games (“NFL should nix national anthem,” Readers Write, Oct. 2)? By that logic, we should cease all social activities because someone in the crowd might find someone else offensive or someone’s clothing, hairstyle, or T-shirt message rubs them the wrong way.
It’s a safe bet that anyone has the potential to offend anyone else, especially in these times of hypersensitivity, micro-aggression, and hair-trigger faux indignation, but halting practices to avoid being subjected to such horrors is hardly a viable alternative. Give some thought to ignoring things that upset you.
NEIL WILKINSON, DUNWOODY
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