'Drill Baby Drill' Is Getting Stale

Dear Editor,

Another day, another terrible decision by the Trump administration, a collection of individuals seemingly hell-bent on destroying our environment at all costs. The latest is the bizarre requirement from the Department of the Interior, run by former fossil fuel exec (err...excuse me, former governor of North Dakota) Doug Burgum. The Department of the Interior will now require energy projects to consider 'energy density', or the footprint required to produce a given amount of electricity. Mr Burgum's complaint is that renewable energy installations take up too much space and are 'gargantuan', in his words, compared to the apparently petite gas and oil plants.

Doug, do you happen to have the numbers on our current energy footprint on federal lands? A few highlights include a whopping 24 million acres dedicated to onshore gas and oil production, not to mention the pipelines and terminals required to transport and export those fossil fuels. Heck, even the dwindling ashy ghost of coal still has 405,000 acres of federal land. Compare this to renewables' comparatively miniscule 2 million acres of federal land, and you start to get a sense of the double standard.

'Drill baby drill' is getting old, and the American people are rightfully becoming uncomfortable with this administration's hostile stance towards renewable energy and indeed, environmental policy of any kind. Speak out to your elected officials if you value our land, air, and water - and are sick of the blatant fossil-fuel-fired corruption.

Sincerely,

Nathan Dombeck

Janesville, WI