Letters to the editor for Nov. 24

Lakewood should be grateful Amtrak is using bypass

While the Nov. 18 article on Amtrak resuming service on the Point Defiance bypass does not specifically note it, the mayor of Lakewood and some residents have been interviewed on TV decrying the operation of Amtrak passenger trains through town — especially the speed at which they operate and the risk of danger.

However, their situation is not unique. Many communities along the BNSF/Union Pacific/Amtrak main north/south route are in close proximity to, or even straddle, that rail line. To see how other communities handle this, perhaps a short field trip a few miles south to Chehalis could prove enlightening. There, they routinely deal with fast passenger trains through the middle of their town while, in addition, also dealing with numerous fast freight trains.

When all is said and done, perhaps Lakewooders should be happy that serious consideration wasn’t given to shifting the entire main line away from the coastal right-of-way.

Robert Gannon, Lacey

COP 26 failure

Climate scientist Peter Kalmus missed the most significant failure of the COP26 Agreement. The goal of IPCC COP meetings, beginning 1995 in Berlin, was to stop human-caused CO2 emissions. That goal is now definitely not going to happen for multiple decades from now, if ever.

China, India, Russia and the other 151 developing countries rightly pointed out the 43 developed countries attempt to invoke the phrase ‘’phase out coal’’ into the COP26 final document was a violation of, and an attempt to change, the original Paris Climate Agreement by ‘’moving the goal posts’’.

The final COP26 Agreement’s wording is now ‘’phase down coal’’ with unidentified end dates containing no official IPCC repercussions on fossil fuel usage or emissions expansions for developing countries as per the original Paris Agreement.

With the developing countries already emitting two thirds of the total CO2 and some 600 or more coal-fired power plants currently being built between them, they are not just virtually in charge of atmospheric CO2 emissions now, but for many decades into the future.

The COP26 Agreement now guarantees the most prodigious CO2 emitters can officially continue with no repercussions as long as they want. This means all subsequent COP meetings will also fail.

As Climate Envoy John Kerry has pointed out numerous times, the developed countries can collectively go to ‘’Zero’’ CO2 and it won’t make any difference. The developing countries are now firmly in control of emissions expansion and COP26 permanently reinforces their free CO2 emissions pass.

Paul Fundingsland, Olympia

Why not use commercial site for the homeless?

Has anyone proposed using the unoccupied Sears building on Sleater Kinney Road as a site for housing the homeless and parking for RVs currently lining Ensign Road? If a burned-down property that had a Quality Inn prior to fires in Olympia can be be put forward as a viable site, why not the area around the South Sound shopping area? Water, electric, sewage, covered living space, and parking available — why not turn unused commercial space into services and living quarters for the homeless and RV residents?

If the generous offer by Providence to contribute $100,000 which it previously offered for the proposed and nixed RV camp off of Carpenter Road were combined with the resources of Lacey, Olympia and Thurston County, it could eliminate the obstructed entry and exit point off Ensign Road as well as give the folks on Hamburger Hill and nearby wooded areas a place to move to without regrets. And if it became a combined effort among cities and county, it might help ease the strain on downtown Olympia while increasing services available.

Degree of personal responsibility, resident protocols, etc., all to be determined down the road, along with the need to sell the proposal to local commercial and residential neighbors after first verifying the viability of this proposal with the owner(s) of the Sears building.

Thomas Weissenberger, Lacey