Editor, Times-Union: Climate forecasters long or short range have very little credibility with me. Despite their computers and 100-year-old records, the forecast is often wrong. This is because their precept is false, that the future will be as the past. God makes the weather as He sees fit. The Lord God is in charge of the planet. He created it and He will end it. In between those two events, He tells us “while the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and night and day, and heat and cold, and summer and winter shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:32) That's good enough for me. When have we not seen the seasons pass? From the time of first immigrants (American Indians) to America’s development through the colonial period on to the present day, wood and coal have been burned in tremendous quantities for home and industry. Cars and trucks have burned fossil fuels for over 100 years. National Geographic reported that in recent years wildfires have burned up to 9 million acres of land in the United States. Wildfires (usually in forests) reduce to smoke and ash everything including trees, brush, and homes in its path. Where does all the smoke go? The 1980 volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens released 24 megatons of thermal energy into the atmosphere. This is equivalent to 1,600 times the thermal energy of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. Yet we are still here, the air is cleaner than it was ten years ago, and life goes on. In recent years, coal fired power plants have installed scrubbers and other devices to reduce emissions. Newer autos and trucks have by necessity been achieving better mileage results. And with the artificially high price of gasoline, U.S. drivers consumed about 50,000 barrels a day less gasoline in 2013 than they did in 2011. I think the hype about global warming and climate change is strictly a tactic of politicians and other vested interests who would gain from various tax schemes imposed upon American industry and consumers. Is our Congress not addicted to taxing and then spending way beyond the outlandish taxes paid? We have a 200-year domestic supply of coal, which in a generating plant produces electricity at a fraction of the cost of wind generated power. But instead of logic to solve problems, we have federal laws that limit the maximum temperature of warm water in washing machines, and limit the maximum flow of water at the kitchen sink so we can all wait longer for the sink to fill up in order to wash the dishes. I think reducing the size and scope of our federal government would do a great deal more to solve the problems of America. And an improved nationwide system of passenger rail service is sorely needed and produces far less pollution than airliners. Rick Wagner Pierceton, via e-mail
