Letters to the Editor

Move Belen forward

Editor:

Do you know what the definition of insanity is? Doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result every time. That is exactly what is happening in Belen with every election.

This November, two seats on the Belen City Council will be up for grabs. Right now, those two seats are occupied by two councilors who have served two to three terms.

Unfortunately, there are no term limits in Belen, therefore, theoretically, these two gentlemen could run for office forever. How can we move Belen forward with the same old people?

Belen has about 7,000 residents; you would normally expect between 1,000 to 2,000 votes to be elected to the city council. In 2016, less than 400 voted, electing the two incumbents we have now. Belen needs to move forward. We have two candidates who have announced to help change Belen.

We need to look at our new options and decide on what will move Belen forward. To elect the same people over and over and expect different results is exactly what it sounds like … insanity.

Be bolder, be braver, be Belen.

Doug Rietz

Belen

Environmental actions

Editor:

I’m a loyal and true, red-white-and-blue American, therefore I dislike government telling me what to do. But I admit that laws such as those forbidding driving drunk, ignoring building codes, trashing public lands, or selling toxic products protect us from fools and scoundrels.

Unfortunately, regulations now emerging from the Trump White House are damaging both citizens and corporations, whether by weakening protections against pollution, driving species extinction, enacting destructive trade deals, or “disappearing” scientific research paid for with our tax dollars. Try Googling a term like “Trump attacks on science.”

But a funny thing happened to POTUS’s efforts to destroy the planet; the groups he claims to be helping are rebelling.

Trump no doubt expected praise from the automobile industry when he ditched the Obama administration’s requirement for an average fleet mileage of 52.5 miles per gallon by 2025. Nope. BMW, Ford, Honda, and Volkswagen got together with the State of California and worked out a compromise deal requiring 51 mpg by 2026. So hooray for that extra 15 miles per gallon.

Nor are American farmers and manufacturers happy about Trump’s clumsy trade war with China. In response to Trump’s “strategy of constant escalation and antagonism,” according to the National Farmers Union, China canceled all purchases of U.S. agricultural products. Now POTUS is demanding $12 billion of our tax dollars to help farmers survive his bungling.

In his effort to promote fossil fuels, POTUS imposed 30 percent tariffs on Chinese-made solar panels, which briefly damaged the booming U.S. solar installation industry. Currently, Trump plans to halt federal regulation of methane leaks in spite of protests from investors. Nevertheless, electricity produced from renewables is now the cheapest on the market, even though $20.5 billion of our tax money subsidizes the U.S. fossil fuel industry annually, according to Oil Change International.

It’s a scary revelation that POTUS and his enablers have lurched so far into denial that even the corporate sector is frightened of the economic and environmental consequences of his actions.

Laura F. Sanchez