Last week’s commentary from Tucker Perkins and Leslie Anderson ('Propane a clean alternative to other fuels,' Commentary, May 21) was rife with misleading information about propane.
The authors boldly state that propane is superior to natural gas and heating oil. But propane is not clean and it’s more expensive than other fossil fuels. They also compare it to electricity from the grid, but they use information on the electric grid from other parts of the country, not Rhode Island.
Propane is significantly more carbon intensive than electricity here in Rhode Island, where we receive a high percentage of electricity from solar, wind, nuclear, and hydro (coal is all but completely phased out here in New England). Here, heating a home with propane is much worse for the environment than powering with electricity.
To those who carefully study energy policy in Rhode Island, including our energy experts at Green Energy Consumers Alliance, our energy future is clear. We must continue to decarbonize our electric grid, including through passing a 100% by 2030 Renewable Energy Standard and investing in offshore wind, expanding energy efficiency programs, and supporting electrification of transportation and building heating systems.
Propane, especially when its facilities are sited in environmental justice communities like the Port of Providence, has no place in this clean energy future.
Kai Salem, Providence The writer is policy coordinator at Green Energy Consumers Alliance.
Careful making judgement on others I am now 71 and have been living a life with two incurable conditions, endured four years in a wheelchair, over two years with my gut totally shut down, 26 surgeries and one that left my jaw that dislocates when I chew. My battles are endless, but I do have a passion to live life despite the obstacles that I keep having to face.
I was one of the people that testified in
favor of the bill from state Rep. Edith Ajello allowing assisted life ending with doctor assistance. I told them that this would offer a form of peace if I found there was no more hope left in my life. I do not see this as a form of wanting to commit suicide, but instead a way to leave life with dignity and peace if all that was left in my life would be suffering until my last breath.
Chances are I may never use this but to know it is there offers a form of comfort and just one more chance to have a decision about my own life that has medically at times been out of my control.
A. H. Liddle from Warwick, your letter titled 'No to death wish legislation' jolted me. I hope you will never have to confront severe unexpected medical issues. But know that the only people that would ever turn to this do not hate life, do not want to commit suicide but do want to end their suffering that has now reached a point of no more hope.
How is it we accept putting our beloved animals to sleep to give them peace when their hope is gone but this seems so horrible to some humans? I had to put my service dog down during the pandemic and it was one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever done. But what gives me peace is knowing she is no longer suffering from an ending that would never improve. She didn’t deserve that ending any more than those suffering until their last hopeless breath.
Ellen Lenox Smith, North Scituate Chilling roadmap to dictatorshipThere is a minute-and-a-half political ad on YouTube and Twitter, produced by a PAC called Meidas Touch, that claims ex-President Donald Trump continues to follow what it calls 'the rules of the demagogue.'
It’s chilling to watch, in light of Trump’s presidency and now his unfathomable hold on congressional GOP members even though he’s out of power — some might say 'for now.'
It counts off the major steps of your garden-variety tin-pot dictator:
1) Establish a common enemy (immigrants?). 2) Tell simple stories 'with no regard for the truth' (The Big Lie plus 30,473 false or misleading claims over four years, according to The Washington Post?). 3) Attack democratic institutions (the voting system?). 4) Attack the press ('the enemy of the people' and 'fake news'?). And 5) Establish a cult of personality.
Gordon Rowley, Wakefield Excellent vaccination rate for seniors but ... As of May 26, 87.1% of Rhode Island’s 188,000 seniors 65 and older have been fully vaccinated. Although this laudable vaccine rollout — the third highest state — will enable many seniors to enjoy the months ahead, we should never forget Rhode Island was the last state to make community-dwelling seniors eligible for vaccines.
The delay in vaccinating older adults during the second surge this past winter in large part accounts for Rhode Island being the state with the second highest COVID-19 fatality rate for seniors — 1,251 deaths/100,000, which is 48% higher than the national rate.
Bruce Lazarus, MD, Cranston Regretful silence In the past I had enjoyed writing letters to the editor for The Journal, but times have changed.
At this point, I am reticent to voice an opinion. Hate, bigotry and violence have become the normal reaction to a difference of opinion. So my lips are sealed except in the company of like-minded friends.
Brenda Bedrick, East Greenwich State police unit’s name is tone deaf The Rhode Island State Police Traffic Safety Unit has co-opted the Nazi U-boat tactic term 'Wolfpack.' They even have nifty wolf stickers in their units. Misguided or just oblivious?
Lisa McMahon, Warwick Kudos to Patinkin for column on IsraelBravo to Mark Patinkin for exposing the growing antisemitism in Congress and among others in this country and abroad ('Outrage at Israel is selective, dIsproportionate,' News, May 20).
A terrorist organization with the sole aim of annihilating Israel is supported by the fiction that Palestinians are helpless victims of Israel. They are in fact helpless victims of Hamas.
A Catholic friend asked me why Jews have been subjected to persecution for centuries. My response: when you figure it out, let me know.
Susann Mark, Providence Not what our forefathers had in mind As of Wednesday there have been at least 230 mass killings this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Surely this was not the intent of our forefathers when they created the Second Amendment. When will enough be enough?