Letters: PG&E undergrounding | Change platform | Carbon dividend | Excluding Israel

East Bay Time Letters to the Editor for Oct. 12, 2023

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Urge CPUC to support
PG&E undergrounding

We at PG&E are committed to stopping wildfires in Bay Area communities.

Burying powerlines is the most effective solution to reduce the risk of wildfire from electrical equipment. Undergrounding also improves reliability and reduces the need for safety shutoffs.

That is why we propose moving overhead electric powerlines underground in the highest fire-risk areas, including 40 miles in our Bay Area Region. For these investments, PG&E customers will benefit from lower expenses for overhead-line maintenance; improved air and water quality; protection of wildlands; and, eventually, improved access to homeowners insurance at lower premiums.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) wants to gut this critical safety program, reducing proposed undergrounding to as little as 200 miles systemwide.

We’ve seen the devastating toll wildfires have taken on our communities. We urge the CPUC to accept PG&E’s proposal to underground 2,000 miles through 2026.

Aaron Johnson
PG&E Bay Area Regional Vice President
Oakland

Democrats must alter
platform to draw support

With all that’s known about him, Donald Trump keeps gaining in polls though most Americans support Democratic social/economic policies.

But a prominent faction of that party, along with much of the media, academia, Hollywood, publishers and major corporations continue promoting an “identity politics” agenda antagonizing a huge share of America, seeming to lionize, celebrate and prioritize racial, sexual, national and other minorities (and women), helping unify nearly half the voting public behind Republicans who, as bad as they are, oppose this agenda.

Can we return to a Democratic Party that unites most of America, including even white heterosexual native-born men? Can we return to a world, for example, where race and sex aren’t primary qualifications for vice-president and we needn’t wave Pride flags to be decent people?

Steve Koppman
Oakland

United climate activists
deserve carbon dividend

Re: “Young voters want a unified U.S. in climate change fight” (Page A6, Oct. 6).

Thank you for publishing this opinion piece. Recently the Bay Area News Group has carried more and more stories of devastating climate events, and it was heartening to hear instead of young people from both political parties working to slow this trend.

Their solution, HR 5744, is a good one, efficiently lowering emissions by letting market forces determine successful alternatives. Over 3,500 economists, of various political persuasions, support carbon pricing, and 45 countries have some kind of pricing scheme in effect already.

More importantly, the EU is implementing Carbon Border Adjustments to their fee in 2026. This would require importers to the EU to pay a levy equivalent to the carbon cost there minus any carbon price paid here. Wouldn’t it be better to keep the money here, where it can be distributed to our population as a carbon cashback? This policy deserves — and needs — our support.

Irmgard Flaschka
Newark

Hamas’ solution for
Mideast excludes Israel

Re: “A shaken Israel is forced back to its eternal dilemma” (Page A3, Oct. 9).

The New York Times refers to the barbaric Hamas terrorists who murdered hundreds of Israeli civilians as “militants.” Hamas terrorists gunned down, in cold blood, 250 Israeli youths at a rave concert. Such actions speak volumes about Hamas’ morality — or lack thereof. Hundreds more Israeli women and children were gunned down as they walked along streets or cowered in their homes. Their crime? Being Jews. The result: the greatest one-day tally of Jews murdered since Nazi Germany.

Photographs of civilian suffering — in Gaza and Israel — suggest a moral equivalence between murderers (not “militants”) who target civilians and those trying to defend themselves is despicable.

Asserting that Hamas attacked Israel because there’s no two-state solution completely misrepresents reality. Hamas’ charter demands that Israel be destroyed, not because of anything Israel did, but because it exists. Hamas seeks a one-state solution, and that one state excludes the existence of Israel.

Fred Korr
Oakland