Letter to the Editor by Ed Smith, Safe Energy Director
Printed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on June 14, 2015
Peabody to slash 250 jobs, including 50 in St. Louis” (June 9) underscores the fact that while some continue to deny the scientific reality of climate change, the economic realities show us that Missouri can no longer afford to be in a state of denial about global climate change.
Clearly, the U.S. and the world is moving toward a clean, safe and reliable energy economy that will depend much more on renewables than on polluting fossil fuels like coal. This shift is improving public health by decreasing our dependency on dirty fossil fuels while helping Missouri prevent a dangerously warming future filled with massive floods like in 2011 and massive droughts like in 2012, where all 114 counties were declared disaster areas by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Our homes, livelihood, and infrastructure are at stake, and the good news is we have the tools and technology to respond now.
The costs of warming that are already being felt will hit future generations with much more devastating force unless we take responsible action today. That’s why Sen. Claire McCaskill needs to protect the Environmental Protection Agency from legislative attacks while it implements the Clean Power Plan, which for the first time will limit the emission of carbon dioxide pollution from power plants.