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The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 26, 2009

One Dance Too Many

Keith Bricklemyer's viewpoints are well expressed and acknowledged. However, one is led to wonder if the law firm he heads has been or currently is involved in representing developers who continue to insist on even less oversight from this county's already-streamlined EPC.

The Hillsborough County EPC has done the same well-balanced job during the best of economic times as they do today protecting our natural resources and our wetlands. And during those better economic times there were minimal objections from developers. So why now? The economic downturn has left Florida with 300,000 empty homes waiting to be adopted and many businesses closing, leaving strip centers, shops, and malls searching and praying for new tenants.

To state that the EPC's "value has been overcome by events" leaves one wondering: what "events" were these, exactly? It wasn't a "lack of fortitude" from the BOCC that caused our Wetland's Division to be retained; it was the will of well-informed, reasonable county residents, making sure their commissioners did the will of the citizenry. That's called government by representation, and the citizens want local oversight of our wetlands.

And those same citizens of Hillsborough County have already been taken to this dance and heard this developer's song of despair too often.

It's time for the deregulation crowd to pull up their stakes and take this circus elsewhere.

RON THUEMLER

Tampa

No Real Crisis

I applaud the Trib's factual articles on coal and green energy last Sunday (Nation/World, March 21). Renewable energy at this time mostly means solar cells and wind turbines. But they do not provide energy around the clock, and storage technology is not fully developed yet, so backup by fossil fuels is needed.

At the meeting of 800 scientists earlier this month in New York, the consensus was that carbon dioxide has little or no effect on global warming. Water vapor is the main greenhouse gas, not CO2. While the latter is continuing to increase, helping plants to grow faster, the temperature has dropped during the last few years!

In prehistoric times, carbon dioxide was many times what it is today, so there is no real crisis. Carbon taxes will increase energy costs but do nothing for the environment.

JD BUSHNELL

Palm Harbor

JOIN DISCUSSION

The Tribune welcomes letters and e-mails from readers. The text should be original and no longer than 150 words. By making a submission, you agree the Tribune may edit the letter for length and clarity, and publish it in any medium. Please include your name, address and daytime phone number. Mail to: P.O. Box 191, Tampa, FL 33601-0191. Or e-mail without attachments: tribletters@tampatrib.com.

The writer is a Florida Master Naturalist.

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