Energy Independence
During the past Independence Day weekend, I couldn’t help but think about the costs of our health and environment as a result of our dependence on fossil fuels — oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico and right in our own city, asthma- and lung disease-causing air pollution, mercury toxicity in our lakes and streams, and the $1 billion we spend every day on foreign oil, to name just a few. It’s time for a new kind of independence — energy independence.
Fifty percent of our nation’s electricity, and 93 percent of Utah’s, comes from burning coal, the dirtiest source of electricity and the single biggest source of global warming pollution.
Utah has extensive sources of clean, renewable energy — sun, wind and geothermal energy. To reduce our dependence on coal and transition to a clean energy economy we need to put a price on carbon emissions. Congress must pass comprehensive energy and climate legislation that includes a strong renewable electricity standard that requires utilities to generate 20 percent of our electricity from renewable energy by 2025.
I wonder, what will it take for the United States to be independent?
Diana Johnson
Salt Lake City
