Letter: East Hampton GOP Schizophrenia?
To the Editor:
Reg Cornelia’s recent outbursts lay bare the schizophrenia afflicting the East Hampton GOP. Most recently, on behalf of the EH GOP, he viciously and misleadingly denounced the Deepwater wind farm proposed for erection in the Atlantic. Regardless of the merits of that proposal and to no one’s surprise, Mr. Cornelia’s diatribe hewed to the GOP orthodoxy that rejects any and all energy proposals offering alternatives to the consumption of fossil fuels. In so doing, the Party (and its East Hampton cohort) baldly pays fealty to the oil and gas interests.
Mr. Cornelia would have us believe that the use of natural gas as an energy source is cleaner than wind generation. Nothing could be further from the truth. Methane, which makes up 92 percent of natural gas, is a significantly potent greenhouse gas. It is 84 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Natural gas also contains chemicals that can harm human health, such as hydrogen sulfide, toluene, xylene, benzene and formaldehyde. These toxic air pollutants increase the chance of cancer, respiratory, neurological, reproductive, developmental and other serious health problems. Small concerns to the EH GOP when compared to the importance of being a sycophant to the oil and gas industries, perhaps in search of campaign dollars.
The EH GOP has candidly promised to deliver the same “progress” as its Washington cronies, Mr. Trump and the House GOP. There is no pro-environmental agenda to be found anywhere in the Trump agenda. And there is none to be found among the screeds posted on the EH GOP’s Facebook page.
So, while the EH GOP candidates for the Town Board try to talk the environmental talk, their party sponsors are preaching the exact opposite. Who are voters to believe? None of them. The Democratic slate has an already proven track record, so voters need leave nothing to chance this November.
Sincerely,
Bruce Colbath
East Hampton
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Great letter, this dysfunction is one of the reasons I left the GOP and became an Independent. However, methane’s impact at 84 times is a bit exaggerated. According to the EPA, methane has 25 times greater impact on global warming than carbon dioxide: “Pound for pound, the comparative impact of CH4 is more than 25 times greater than CO2 over a 100-year period.” As chair of the East Hampton Energy Sustainability Committee, I led the Town Board to unanimously adopt the 100% Renewable Goal. It was never a political issue then, even the GOP Board member voted if favor. Shame on the EH GOP for making this a political issue now, after-the-fact.