Gas prices, prayer on the football field, Kennewick school levy and other Herald letters

Op-ed missed gas price hike causes

Mr. (Todd) Myers June 5 opinion piece re fuel prices neglects several important points. He does not address the central cause of the current spikes, speculation driven by the mismatch of supply and demand. Back in spring 2020, COVID-19 caused oil and gas demand to drop sharply. Oil prices cratered (went negative!) and this resulted in a steep drop in production (May 2020, previous administration).

Since then, economic recovery has caused demand to rebound, and supply is not yet in balance (driving speculation). The Russian-Ukraine war has exacerbated the problem (oil an gas trade worldwide). Producers, fearing a future glut and demand uncertainties, are hesitant to invest, while shareholders continue to demand dividends. Another key point Mr. Myers missed is the growing risk to oil and gas supply and pricing of extreme weather events.

For instance, in February 2021, oil and gas production dipped significantly due to the historic cold snap in Texas and the Midwest. This past April, blizzard conditions affected production in the Bakken of North Dakota. And Gulf Coast production is routinely affected by hurricanes. I Agree that politics and policy play a long-term role, but the current prices are, frankly, capitalism at work. Unfortunately, profiteering is easily disguised when there is something else to blame.

Theresa Bergsman, Richland

Drop 2 years of general studies

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have determined the root cause of student loans. Let’s skip to the corrective action: forgive student loans. Stellar. You will recall that a high school education provides a general education (at least it did).

So why do we continue to strap our young adults with more than a year or two of required general studies. Drop this silly requirement, and we’ve just cut tuition costs in half to earn many four-year degrees. But what do I know? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did essentially say we are all dumber than dirt over a hot mic. Oh, retract that last comment — apparently, this has been written off as some sort of satirical commentary.

Kurt Lewis, Richland

‘Separation’ isn’t in Constitution

The July 3 Tri-City Forum included an editorial (from the Yakima Herald-Republic) with a negative view concerning the Supreme Court ruling on the Coach Kennedy case without an opposing viewpoint. The editorial author uses the term “separation of church and state” – wording not used in the Constitution.

The First Amendment to the Constitution: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech …. There is a significant difference between “separation of church and state” and “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

To use incorrect terminology only misleads the public and does not address the true issue. The Supreme Court majority opinion ... has the following section that everyone should take to heart: (c) Respect for religious expressions is indispensable to life in a free and diverse Republic. Here, a government entity sought to punish an individual for engaging in a personal religious observance, based on a mistaken view that it has a duty to suppress religious observances even as it allows comparable secular speech. The Constitution neither mandates nor tolerates that kind of discrimination.

This country needs more people like Coach Kennedy.

Mot Hedges, Richland

Create a fund for shooting victims

We know who pays the dreadful emotional costs of a mass shooting. Gun owners should willingly help these people with their financial costs. Gun owners understand freedom is not free.

The NRA could create and protect a deterrent/insurance trust fund to help pay the bills. A premium of $10 on each round of destruction we own would be paid into the fund. A brick of .22 hollow points has 525 rounds.. If a sportsman had four bricks in storage $21,000 would go into the fund.. How many funerals, days in the hospital, years on disability, hours of PTSS therapy for victims, witnesses, police, first responders, hospital staff will $21,000 cover? What is seen cannot be unseen,

Yes, a militarized .22 with several 25 round magazines is a weapon of mass destruction. Victims would at least be identifiable.

Craig Humphrey, Kennewick

Dr. Conca’s piece was on the money

Dr. James Conca’s op-ed in the July 3 Tri-City Herald hit the bullseye!

Why should our community wait yet another three years to begin treating low-level tank waste? It appears that the court, DOE and the Department of Ecology have all “dug-in” to a vitrification plan that was formulated more than 20 years ago. There have been improvements in technology over the past 20 years, and grout for low-level waste is recognized as the best process for low-level waste in today’s nuclear waste world.

Congress has provided the funding. There are thousands of gallons of treated waste that could be shipped to a commercial vendor for grouting – TODAY!

As Dr. Conca stated: Grout is cheaper, faster and even safer for Hanford workers.

Maybe our community are the only ones who actually want to get Hanford cleaned up; as soon and as safely as possible!

Gary Petersen, Richland

Levy failures will have lasting effect

Shocking when KSD suffered a double levy failure, while in Richland and Pasco four-year school levies passed.

Do parents and grandparents care less about their children in Kennewick? I don’t think so. The April voter’s pamphlet contained a con statement regarding the Washington Legislature’s McCleary Decision — full-funding of public education.

Without the levy, it is not the funding we expect for our children. Not covered by McCleary: health (most nurses), safety (officers and security), sports and additional educational support (classified staff). This is lost staff as well as lost opportunities for our children.

Realtors tell me home buyers make decisions based on available funded schools for their children. This impacts the local economy and bonding ability. Wake up, Kennewick City Council. Did someone hijack your social media account?

Newly elected KSD Board Member Micah Valentine is supporting three RSD Board members and their questionable actions leading to a possible recall. Further, he claimed Critical Race Theory was being taught in Kennewick without proof for his claims. Did this misleading activity impact voters and the KSD levy?

Don’t be misled, you can turn this around. Remember to vote for children and the KSD levy February 2023.

Pat Carranza, West Richland

Senators need to end filibuster

I am writing to implore our senators to act now to save our democracy. Please give your first priority to carve out an exclusion to the filibuster and create a bill to reinstate both abortion rights and restore authority to the EPA. What the SCOTUS has done is a travesty and a crime against “we the people” that has stripped women of their constitutional right to equality and their activism has overruled the intent of the executive branch to take action to fight climate change. Their judicial activism literally denies me and all Americans of our right to life and liberty.

In the case of overturning Roe they have stripped away a fundamental right of liberty that has been enjoyed by women for 50 years and in the case of the EPA, they have decided that Congress should be in charge of the big stuff and that we all should burn on earth rather that allow a government agency to curtail coal-fired energy. I might note that if we are in a race to control CO2 emissions by congressional action, my money (and my life) is unfortunately bet on CO2 winning unless we overturn SCOTUS.

Stan Moon, Richland