Sure, electric cars are the future. But Texas needs major upgrades to make it happen

Jeff Chiu/Associated Press file photo

EV future needs more planning

Plans abound to produce electric cars and trucks. I favor the transition but doubt the state’s current capacity of electric power generation can supply all the charging stations that will be needed. Tesla CEO Elon Musk says we will need to double the capacity of power generation nationally. In Texas, has anyone done the math?

Sure, electric vehicles will reduce the amount of gasoline and diesel fuel needed. But the charging stations will have to be supplied by electric power that’s mostly generated by hydrocarbons today. And a large-scale increase in electric power generation will take years to install. Where are the plans to meet the future need?

- Joel Raymond, Arlington

GCISD residents, pay attention

Those of you in the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District need to watch the Sept. 26 board meeting online. (Sept. 28, 1A, “Grapevine-Colleyville school trustees spar on ethics concerns”) It will give you an idea of what is going on in the district. The meeting also featured a sharp exchange between the board president and a trustee who is in the minority of the polarized board.

Superintendent Robin Ryan announced his retirement recently. What a loss to our once-proud educational program. As long as we allow Patriot Mobile zealots to choose our city and school officials, we can expect more of the same.

Ask yourself if you think GCISD is better off today than two years ago.

- Tommy Taylor, Colleyville

Don’t delay this vital death data

Texas’ Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee is required to report findings before each legislative session. But state officials are withholding the 2022 report, blaming procedural issues. (Sept. 19, 1A, “Advocates decry delay of Texas maternal mortality report”)

Postponing release of current information and focusing on procedures and methods of counting deaths rather than on preventing them delays life-saving changes in maternal health care.

To date, Texas has failed to fund the committee’s key recommendations for preventing maternal mortality, especially yearlong postpartum care for Medicaid mothers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 80% of maternal mortality is preventable. Every delay means more unnecessary deaths.

- Patti Anne Hamilton, Forestburg

So many deaths, it’s like war

If a headline reading “Five infantry divisions dead” were to appear, it would shock our nation. Yet that is almost exactly the toll taken by drug overdoses in 2021: 107,622 dead. (Sept. 24, 6A, “What’s at fault for lower life expectancy in US”) That is more than twice the number of Americans killed in combat during the Vietnam War.

Most of the deaths, 71,238, were from fentanyl, but meth, cocaine and prescription drugs kill, too.

These people die in ones and twos, mostly without headlines or TV coverage. Should these deaths not be our first concern? Border security is the main thing we must work on at the start.

- Griffin T. Murphey, Fort Worth

But what about the guns?

To hear Republicans wail about the dangers of fentanyl while they fight to preserve fentanyl users’ access to military-grade firearms would be cute were it not so deadly.

Never take them seriously about public safety.

- Chris Bellomy, Fort Worth

Tragic but preventable?

The death of Joe Woodfin (Sept. 27, 1A, “Fort Worth dad dies after COVID illness as pandemic continues”) was tragic, a loss his family will never completely recover from. But the article did not address some vital issues. Did family members have vaccinations and booster shots against the virus? Did they wear masks in public? The simplest precautions can make the difference.

- Margaret Pennington, Benbrook

Don’t ban books, ban the bans

In response to Elizabeth Campbell’s piece on book banning (Sept. 19, 1A, “Texas tops list as book bans rise sharply”), I propose a ban on book banning.

Politics aside, book banning is disrespectful to educators. Librarian positions require master’s degrees that prepare educators to determine what’s appropriate to carry for all demographics. Librarians are experts and deserve to be treated as such.

Sen. Ted Cruz recently (and baselessly) accused “left-wing educators” of putting “explicit pornography in front of kids.” This rhetoric is terribly disrespectful to education professionals and intended to provoke extreme reactions.

- Meredith Reilly, Fort Worth

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