The facts, fact-checked
In the March 13 letter “Just the Facts … ” the author says he prefers news articles that just give the facts. The problem is we can always pull facts we agree with from sources we agree with and leave other facts behind.
Here are a few examples. The author says today’s temperatures are lower than those of past times (climate.gov/media/113323). True. But the real purpose of this research article was to show how rapid shifts in temperature have led to mass extinctions over the past 500 million years and that humans are rapidly warming the climate again.
The author says “major hurricanes striking the U.S. have steadily decreased in the past 80 years (nhc.noaa.gov).” The same National Hurricane Center website has a chart that shows an average of 17.7 hurricanes per decade from 1851-2022. The most recent full decade (2011-2020) averaged 19.
The author says “major forest fires are a fraction of those previously recorded.” Data from a 2022 University of Maryland study calculated forest fires are becoming more widespread, burning almost twice as much tree cover today as they did 20 years ago.
Finally, the author says “the oceans just ain’t rising that fast (nov79.com).” Actually, the rate of sea level rise is faster now than at any time in the past 2,000 years, and that rate has doubled in the past two decades (giss.nasa.gov).
Maybe detective Joe Friday needs to take the witness downtown for further questioning.
Lou Kalmar
Sequim
Concern over utility rates
Since Cascadia Water has purchased Estates Water, my services have remained basically the same.
Suddenly, Cascadia is asking the public utilities commission for permission to nearly double rates for all their customers. My services are the same, so why the giant jump in rates?
Maybe it is to cover the costs of expanding their services into East Jefferson County and beyond. I want to pay only for my services and equipment.
If you are concerned about paying for their business related expansion, please contact the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission by email at comments@utc.wa.gov or call 888-333-9882.
Gerald Carpenter
Sequim
