Environment

A cobalt mine.

The greatest, cleanest, most reliable source of electricity is nuclear power. However, regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, we all want to wind up at the same place. A world with clean air, pristine, untamed oceans, drinkable water and soil free of toxins, carcinogens and chemicals.

The journey to that beautiful destination becomes the issue. I love the idea of clean, green energy. In fact, I have solar panels on my house and I had no apprehension availing myself of the Federal and State rebates accompanying their installation. However, most of what we see being pushed as “environmentally friendly” energy sources are anything but… Most of what is currently being sold to the public is driven by dark sources of corporate greed. Think with me on this one example…

The only real environmental difference between an electric vehicle (EV) and a gasoline vehicle (GV) is at the tailpipe. Everything else is basically the same. The car transports you from point A to point B, but the EV has zero emissions. However, with just a little research, you discover that it takes over 13 tons of CO2 just to manufacture the 80kwh Li-ion batteries. And where does the electricity come from to re-charge them? You got it, more CO2 producing utility companies using fuels like coal, petroleum fuel or natural gas. But some have said “Mike, I charge my EV at night using my solar panels.” Really? Solar panels don’t work at night, they require sunlight. The real push for EV’s is to create off-peak demand for electricity because of the success of solar panels.

Additionally, in order to create the EV’s field of batteries, you literally have to destroy the planet in order to mine the vast amounts cobalt, aluminum, nickel, lithium and graphite needed. And the demand is only increasing as we utilize batteries in literally every electronic device we have. Wouldn’t it make sense, ecologically, if we were to work to REDUCE the demand for these batteries and such destructive practices? And while there is a concerted effort to recycle much of a spent battery, it’s still nowhere near 100% recyclable. Our landfills are saturated with spent, leaking batteries that seep into the environment and ground water causing untold human suffering due to cancers, birth defects and a whole host of other illnesses. I, for one, am not willing to sacrifice our water and soil simply for cleaner air, especially when there are viable alternatives. As a legislator, on every front, I would push for more research and development into comprehensive solutions like Hydrogen Fuel Cells, which is essentially the same as both vehicles above, but the only thing that escapes from the tail pipe…is water.