Supports recent climate agreement

I agree with some of the statements in a recent letter about Gateway Terminal and would like to offer what I believe are the answers to the questions posed and draw a different conclusion.

Seven billion people are “afraid” of the consequences of global warming and now have an agreement by 195 national governments to address the problems it causes by 2050.

The Point Elliot Treaty of 1855 requires us to honor the Lummi Nation’s right to keep local waters clean enough so they (and you) can continue fishing, crabbing and shrimping forever.

In light of the agreement reached in Paris Dec. 12 we need not waste money on an EIS process that cannot legally proceed anyway.

The “government” will save state and county taxpayers’ money by halting an expensive EIS process that will be over-ruled in federal courts due to treaty rights legal precedence.

Neither you nor I can “see” the ocean acidification caused by the excess carbon dioxide generated by the burning of the coal shipped through Cherry Point. A little carbon dioxide is good for all the plants we can see, but anything over 350 parts per million causes the climate change that led to canceling the “ski” legs of Ski to Sea this year, among many things around the world that you can see.

I also agree that our state and county need more “high-paying, long-term jobs,” which is what the solar panel factory in Bellingham (among many others) can provide in ever-greater abundance as we implement the climate agreement. Jobs in and related to an extractive industry, especially ones that are doomed to contract over the coming decades, don’t fit an economist’s definition of what you rightfully seek.

This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 4:01 PM with the headline "Supports recent climate agreement."