Letter to the editor: Join RGGI for sake of grandkids

Regarding the letter “RGGI hikes energy costs” (Nov 20, TribLIVE): Do you believe gas- and coal- burning utilities when they say fighting greenhouse gas pollution will raise your electric bill? Long before we ever heard of greenhouse gases, utilities were raising our bills because, they said, the cost of coal and gas was increasing.

Coal and gas are buried in the ground, and we have to go get them. Wind and sun, on the other hand, come to us. Like mines and wells, windmills and solar panels cost money to create. But once they’re up, there’s no exploration charges for finding the wind and the sun. Furthermore, there are no coal ash tailings, fracking fluids or soot polluting our land, water, air or the little bodies of our grandkids.

The point of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is to hasten the transition to wind and solar. Will it be cheaper than coal and gas? How much to do you pay for the sun on your face or the wind in your hair?

Let’s stand with the New England and mid-Atlantic states and join RGGI for the sake of our grandkids.

Tom O’Brien

Mt. Lebanon