To the editor:

I continue to oppose the building of coal plants. A scientist was on NPR recently and asserted as others have that there are enormous hidden costs to using coal and fossil fuels in general. We must adapt now or pay heavy costs in the future, and costs are already being paid in medical expenses and clean up and in problems created by climate change. We cannot even begin to calculate the costs of these damages.

I heard an ad from the state chamber of commerce promoting the bill to allow more construction of coal plants. Businessmen and women are being duped into believing that this is OK. They are blindly supporting this dangerous plan. I hope that legislators will not cave into their senseless demands. We have other choices for energy, and we need to get with the new program.

I have heard that more than a third of the plants proposed across the nation have been rejected by the citizenry because we are ready to face this crisis, much like Americans accepted the need to get into World War II to save the world from Hitler and Japan. It is time to recognize that we need to be saved again and put our energy into a healthy direction. We need to come together and have another such performance for the common good of mankind and nature. We need to act as leaders for the rest of the world, not just sitting back and waiting to see what others do. Let’s get to work.

Bob Heckler,

Lecompton