Letters for June 7, 2018
Chris G.
Editor’s note: Two of these letters were also posted as reader comments, which is why one responds to another.
Re “Giunchigliani for governor” (editorial, May 24):
I worked on the DMV Y2K project in the late ’90s. We had to go before the legislature’s Interim Finance Committee of which she was a member. She was rude, dismissive, and downright insulting. She implied we were all out to screw the State and steal stuff. Wouldn’t even look anyone in the eye as if we were pond scum. This was 20 years ago, and I still remember. I will never vote for her.
Barbara B Meyer
Reno
Re “Giunchigliani for governor” (editorial, May 24):
I’m sorry you got your feelings hurt, but that doesn’t sound like the Chris G I know. Chris has been supporting collective bargaining for state workers in the DMV and other state agencies her entire career. She is tough but not rude and contrary to what you say looks everyone in the eye!
Bob Fulkerson
Reno
Re “Giunchigliani for governor” (editorial, May 24):
I don’t see that it makes any difference which Democrat might win the primary.
They both offer the same thing: Higher taxes, restrictions on First and Second amendment rights, and compromising safety and security with open borders.
Stephen Bloyd
Carson City
Backfire
Re “The EV nonsense and its buffs” (letters, May 17):
Jeffrey Middlebrook wields a really big brush with which to tar all Tesla owner/drivers as “clueless” and arrogant, and all electrons as equally dirty. We’re not sure where the rest of electric vehicle owner/drivers such as ourselves, who might or might not own a Tesla (or a LEAF, Volt, Spark or Bolt, Clarity, i3, or any other EV) stand. Are we “clueless” and arrogant by extension? I sense more than a whiff of “class anxiety” opposed to the usual “range anxiety” expressed by non-EV drivers.
Mr. Middlebrook is right in noting that it takes 15 percent more energy to produce a Tesla—or any EV—than it does an internal combustion engine vehicle. What he neglected to mention: Once an EV is driven, that calculus changes. Dramatically. This extra emissions “debt” is quickly recovered by the savings accrued over the driving life of an EV. The average new gasoline vehicle in the U.S. is rated 25 mpg. Based on where EVs have been bought to date, the average EV now produces emissions equivalent to a hypothetical gasoline car getting 73 mpg. We’re not aware of any mass-production fossil fuel car on the market today that achieves that, including the full-sized ICE Cadillac (22mpg City/30mpg Hwy) that Middlebrook references. EV drivers don’t add to the aggregate emissions debt by requiring the drilling, transport to production site, refining, transport to pump that ICE drivers do. Then, consider the EV total cost of ownership (TCO) savings of no more oil changes, timing belts, fuel/water pumps, transmission repairs on top of the zero gallons of gasoline purchased, and soon you’re talking real value for your wallet and the environment.
Fossil-fuel apologists fail to look critically at the true costs of a gallon of gasoline. According to the International Monetary Fund, the price of gasoline in the U.S. barely covers the costs of production and distribution (forgetting for the moment how heavily fossil fuel industries have been subsidized over the last century) and is estimated to be in excess of half a trillion dollars a year in direct subsidies. Some governments spend more on energy subsidies than they do on education and healthcare. The cost per gallon at the pump doesn’t reflect the costs to society of traffic, congestion, pollution and global warming. The IMF and other governments are now suggesting those subsidies be curtailed, which would reduce deficits and do something about global climate change.
Cynthia S. Ryan
William Brinsmead
Reno