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Scarce water sucked
up by energy sector
Re. “Power plant gets OK to restart after explosion,” Page B1, July 17:
There is an oil and gas surplus in the United States. The global oil and gas market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 25.5% in 2021. At the same time there are severe droughts, and disappearing lakes and rivers.
Yet, we continue to kill water by poisoning it with fracking chemicals or pumping it into bottles of water made of petroleum. The average fracking job uses roughly 4 million gallons of water per well — or about as much water as New York City uses every six minutes. We also expect firefighters to contain exploding hydrogen tanks and 25,000 gallons of hydraulic oil at Russell Energy. Unless we evolve into oil drinkers and natural gas breathers with explosive-proof skin, we have to stop superfluous water use. People first.
Kelly Newman
Oakland
Save precious open
space from development
Please save Seven Hills Ranch. The Adobe house there was built by Sheridan Hale, owner of Seven Hills Ranch, and he made clear to those who knew him that he wanted his land to be kept free of dense housing and preserved for a beautiful open space for hiking and enjoying nature.
Please do not let this treasure go to waste.
Yvonne Correia
Walnut Creek
Supreme Court rules
in face of Constitution
The 15th Amendment, passed in 1870, states that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
Despite the 15th Amendment being part of the U.S. Constitution since 1870, the Southern states tried to prevent Blacks from voting using discriminatory practices. In 1965 the Voting Rights Act was passed. It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many Southern states.
In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act, freeing nine states to change their election laws without advance federal approval.
Now in 2021, the Supreme Court, with a 6-3 decision (“Supreme Court upholds Arizona voting restrictions,” Page A1, July 2), is giving enthusiastic welcome to the Southern states to enact by law discriminatory practices against minorities. In essence, we are allowing state laws to violate the U.S. Constitution.
Mohan Raj
San Jose
To think Trump would
change now defies logic
Marc Thiessen must live on another planet. His column calling for President Biden to credit Donald Trump on his feeble efforts to address vaccinations for the coronavirus (“If Biden wants to increase vaccinations, credit Trump,” Page A7, July 8) is incredibly out of touch.
He wants the president to engage the man who called the virus a Democratic hoax; the man who hesitated to inform Americans of this deadly virus so as to not alarm the country; the man who, while in office, saw 400,000 Americans die of the virus and did so little to stop it.
If Thiessen does live on another planet, no worries. He could always come home using Trump’s Space Force. Bon voyage.
Chris Morrisey
San Carlos
Just society would prove
American exceptionalism
It’s time for us to show the world what American exceptionalism really means. Sure, we have figured out how to send people to the moon; build the internet; and invent miracle drugs, but it’s time to demonstrate true exceptionalism by demonstrating our ability to build a country where everyone, independent of their race, ethnicity or culture, will be treated the same under our laws and national policies.
It’s important for the world to know this can be done — and we are the ones to do it.
Garey Johnson
Redwood City
Masks at school protect
more than students
I cannot believe there are still arguments against masks in schools (“On back-to-school agenda: The great mask debate,” Page A1, July 14 ). The “kids aren’t affected by the virus like adults” thinking is just wrong.
Young children don’t live on their own, and they can bring the virus home to their parents or grandparents. Yes, a lot of us are vaccinated, but there are many out there with compromised immune systems who still need protection.
We’re asking the kids to wear masks, not hop around all day on one foot. Masks are doable and an easy way to keep the virus from spreading from schools to homes.
Laura Davis
Campbell
Mothball bullet train and
spend on desalination
In a rational world, the bullet train would be mothballed under “bridges to nowhere.”
In a rational world, our legislators would instead fund desalination plants all along the 1,000-mile California coast to access an infinite supply of water to offset constant droughts.
But of course, it never will happen, since it isn’t flashy or exciting and would cost lots of bullet lobbyists and contractors their jobs. And lots of legislators lots of contributions from those sources.
Steve Johnson
Saratoga
One-way tickets for
billionaires’ space race
What an exciting time we live in — a race among billionaires to be the first in space.
The unfortunate part of this is that they will keep coming back.
Matt Rode
San Jose
