Letters for March 10, 2024

Spokane is not Michigan

Don’t be swayed by a “new study” from an auto-industry insider in Michigan (“Lower fuel costs make gas cars affordable choice,” Feb. 28). They claim, “Entry-level gas-powered cars like the Honda Civic and Subaru Impreza had an average fueling cost of $9.46 per 100 purposeful miles” (miles not counting fueling trips), and then compare that to Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Bolt claiming the electricity for 100 miles costs $12.55 in Michigan.

Well, Spokane is not Michigan, thankfully. Our Bolt costs us between $2.76 and $3.68 per 100 miles (we charge it at home, and electricity here costs about 11 cents per kWh), which is about four times as many miles per dollar as their Michigan Civic or Subaru (between 3.4 and 4.5 times). What about Spokane? I’m seeing an average for regular at $3.61/gal. That’s $12 per 100 miles if your comparative car gets 30 mi/gal ($10.31 if you get 35; $14.44 if you get 25; etc.).

At any rate, you can see that it’s way cheaper to fuel the EVs than the comparable gas cars, here in Eastern Washington, and even cheaper if you’re comparing to a lower-mileage car/truck.

John Hubbe

Spokane

Not every extended hand deserves a handshake

The White House, four tribes and Washington and Oregon governors signed a billion-dollar “handshake” deal they say will preserve salmon and pave the way for breaching the Snake River dams.

But Biden Climate Adviser, John Podesta, brought sobriety to the celebration with cautionary words. “This agreement really is just a handshake. A set of solemn, mutual commitments – ones we worked very hard to create,” Podesta said. “But, at the end of the day, it’s a handshake, nonetheless.”

Handshake deals lack legal protections of written contracts. When they’re made in secret – without input from impacted parties – their foundation is precarious.

The initiative does not

• “Take interests of all stakeholders in the Columbia Basin into account,” as stated at the signing (See excluded stakeholders).

• Guarantee up to three gigawatts “clean, renewable, socially just energy resources” (solar, wind, battery, etc.) as “replacement power” for the dams.

• Ensure return of salmon to “healthy and abundant levels,” an arbitrary standard.

• Protect salmon from their top killer – oceanic warming – or from poisoning from 6PPD-quinone, drugs, microplastics, insecticides, lead or mercury.

• Offer cost-efficient and climate-friendly alternatives for shipping grain via barges. (The cost of replacement infrastructure – rails, roads, dredging – is $1.3 billion).

• Supply transmission lines to connect tribal energy to the grid, a $2.4 billion oversight.

• Provide what the U.S. government promises will be “an unprecedented 10-year break from decades-long litigation.” Any party may sue at any time.

Remember, not every extended hand deserves a handshake.

Chelsea Martin

Spokane Valley

The reasons the school bonds failed

I graduated from Mead High School in 1962. It was an old school, but we did just fine. Our class had more kids graduate from a four-year school after graduation than any other class per capita, ever. We still stay in touch and are a very successful group.

They tore our old school down a few years ago, after inviting us all back for one last look. It was still sturdy and usable. Our old track now houses something that could host the Olympic Games. We really needed that? The old Mead High school went on to graduate many more classes before building schools that looked like kings’ homes. Kids don’t need schools that look like palaces in order to have a great education. We, the Mead class of 1962, are a great example of old schools.

The second reason is taxes. I pay almost more taxes on my home built in 1973 than it cost to build it. I just simply cannot afford more taxes. Please get a reasonable budget, build new schools within reason and stick to it. After income taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes and property taxes, I am taxed out. Unlike our government, I have a budget I must stick to. When I vote, I just simply check “no” on any increase in my taxes. Understand?

Nancy Hartley

Chattaroy

Letters to the editor predicted SPS bond failure

I had to chuckle at the headline “School districts ask voters why their bonds failed” on March 6. The referenced school districts’ officials must not read the letters to the editor in this newspaper, or they would have known how the vote on the bonds was going to go. Nearly every letter to the editor written (at least on Wednesday and Sunday, the days I read the paper) was a rewording of the sentiment “You’re asking for too much, SPS,” with few exceptions. And now they’d like to take a survey to “find out” why the bonds failed … I wonder how much a survey will cost, and out of which taxpayer-funded bucket that will come.

Diane Henery

Spokane