From Deseret News archives:
Sierra Club isn't lone opponent of coal plants
This assertion is not true. There are much larger forces at play here with regards to whether these projects get built, something that the story failed to even mention.
Meanwhile, it is regrettable that a vocal minority of legislators remain dogmatic in rejecting the overwhelming scientific evidence linking our personal and planet health to reducing, not expanding, fossil-fuel combustion. As the number of coal proponents and climate change deniers steadily shrinks worldwide, it is imperative that mainstream media provide balanced stories and factual information in lieu of perpetuating the myth that it is just "environmental wackos" who are heeding the warnings of the entire, peer-reviewed scientific community.
The Utah Sierra Club is only one of dozens of diverse organizations, mainstream businesses and health groups, representing thousands of citizens, that are recognizing the health and climate imperatives of obtaining our energy from clean, renewable sources instead of more coal. Unfortunately, some legislators seem to equate personal virtue with a tenacious devotion to fossil fuels, a position requiring wholesale denial of evidence from all scientific disciplines including climatology, biology, geology, physics and public health. It even contradicts recent studies focused on business opportunities and future economic health.
I am not a member of the Sierra Club, but we should all be grateful that for years the Sierra Club has been begging us to listen to the scientists who study the consequences of environmental degradation. Thankfully the public is starting to listen. It's time for all state legislators to do the same.
Dr. Brian Moench is president of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment.
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