To the editor:

We all use rationalization to justify our decisions to others and to ourselves. Politicians are called on to justify their decisions more often than most of us, and some become quite adept at stringing together irrelevant facts and joining half-truths to create the illusion that these somehow equal a real truth. This process, human as it is, becomes especially frustrating when the results may have disastrous effects for generations to come. I am thinking of the vote to override Secretary Roderick Bremby’s denial of the permit for the Holcomb power plants.

Sen. Roger Pine and the coal operators and the state Chamber of Commerce note that these would be clean, state-of-the-art plants. This is a great example of the half-truth method of rationalization. Yes, they would be cleaner than existing plants, but two plants that pollute half as much still equal one plant with standard pollution (sulfur, mercury, etc).

More important, that pollution, as bad as it is, is not the issue here. The issue is CO2 and its effect on global warming. The “state-of-the-art” plants would do nothing – nothing – to reduce CO2 emissions. Authorizing the plants would be good for the big corporations but not so great for the rest of us. Our Legislature needs to promote conservation and renewable energy and wait on coal until the CO2 emission problem is solved.

Joe Douglas,
Lawrence