Apr 17, 2008

Letters

Sustainable water

Dear Editor: Palo Altans are fortunate to receive their tap water directly from the mountains of Yosemite National Park. In 1923, the O'Shaughnessy Dam was constructed on the Tuolumne River in Yosemite's Hetch Hetchy Valley. The resulting reservoir provides water for 2.4 million residents of the Bay Area and is distributed by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC). Other unrelated diversions downstream of Yosemite mean that, on average, 60 percent of the Tuolumne River (which flows into the San Francisco Bay via the Delta) is now being diverted each year.

The SFPUC has proposed a plan to both seismically upgrade the Hetch Hetchy water system and divert an additional 25 million gallons per day to its Bay Area customers. The proposed diversion will increase environmental degradation of the Tuolumne, the Delta and the Bay. Unfortunately, populations of steelhead trout and chinook salmon in these waterways have already been declining. The final environmental impact report for the plan will be released in June and voted upon shortly thereafter.

The seismic upgrades should be completed as soon as possible. However, cities that obtain water from Hetch Hetchy need to do much more to conserve and recycle water, especially where landscaping is concerned. We can meet our water needs without further degrading the Bay and one of our state's most scenic rivers. To see how to reduce water use in landscaping, please visit the beautiful gardens that are being presented on the Going Native Garden tour (www.goingnativegardentour.org) this Sunday.

Kirsten Essenmacher,

Going Native Garden Tour,

Palo Alto



Trees, solar energy

Dear Editor: The state Legislature and other government bodies must carefully and thoroughly weigh all factors when determining whether trees need to be removed or cut back to accommodate solar panel installations on adjacent properties. If slicing a pie into equal pieces is all that is required of our legislative leaders, then we probably don't need to worry so much about who gets elected. This is, of course, far less than what we do and should expect.

Kurt Newick, chairman of the global warming committee of the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club, recently stated that, "It's actually better for the environment to put solar on your roof than to plant a tree. On average, a tree only sequesters 14 pounds of carbon dioxide a year, and a solar electric system offsets that every two or three days."

I urge Daily News readers to make Newick's point to Sen. Joe Simitian or to the senator for their district as SB 1399, Simitian's bill drafted to address this issue, is considered.

Bruce England,

Mountain View



McCain comment

Dear Editor: A growing number of Democrats and the media have falsely accused Sen. John McCain of "promising" 100 years of war in Iraq. In fact, McCain's point was that the presence of American forces promotes stability. That's been the case in Europe and Asia, where Americans have been stationed for more than half a century. It's been true in the Balkans since the 1990s, when President Clinton sent troops there. America's military plays a beneficial role when it eliminates America's enemies; it does so also when it stays on to prevent those enemies from re-emerging.

But there is a hard truth that McCain did not state: A hundred years from now, Americans might still be fighting militant Islamists in Iraq and other places. What could be worse than that? A hundred years from now, America and the West could have been defeated by militant Islamists.

K.E. Kennedy,

San Mateo



Pope's visit

Dear Editor: In regard to Pope Benedict XVI's meeting this week with President Bush at the White House, it is customary for heads of state to make humanitarian requests of their counterparts during visits. For example, this is likely to be the case if or when President Bush visits Chinese leaders for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics regarding Tibet.

Thus, it would be appropriate for Pope Benedict to make a humanitarian request of the president. Leaders of the Catholic Church have expressed their personal opposition to the death penalty.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there are currently 50 people on federal death rows awaiting execution; some of them are imprisoned in California.

It is assumed that each leader believes in forgiveness. As the president ponders pardons during his final days in office, it would be appropriate for him to consider clemency for the 50 inmates by granting them no more than life imprisonment.

It would be a timely birthday gift to the Pope, who was born on the date of the meeting in 1927. Somewhat like the Olympic torch, it would be symbolically noteworthy if the president lit 50 candles on a cake for the pope, gifts of life.

Henry Organ,

Menlo Park