Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.
Refineries must beef
up their monitoring
Fenceline monitors at refineries are required to protect neighbors from exposure to toxic gases, but their data can’t be trusted. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has not approved a single quality assurance plan for any refinery fenceline systems. Bad data is worse than no data because it can give a false impression that all is well.
As of Jan. 1, all refineries must meet performance criteria set by the Air District for hydrogen sulfide monitoring. The District needs to enforce these standards for all refinery fenceline systems for public trust. Similar standards should be applied to all emissions monitored. We need independent auditing and validation of hardware. The community must have oversight with real-time reporting, review and access to raw data. If the Benicia Community Air Monitoring Program provides real-time, 24/7 raw data access to the public from its monitoring station, so can the refineries.
Kathy Kerridge
Benicia
Oakland’s issues more
complex than stated
In his column “Libby Schaaf’s devastating eight-year fall from grace,” (Page A12, Dec. 11) Daniel Borenstein decries the election of Sheng Thao and a progressive City Council in Oakland.
Borenstein attributes this to Shaaf having neglected to build a pipeline of successors.
What Borenstein fails to grasp is that Oakland voters have had enough of Shaaf’s policies.
Despite occasional theatrical gestures — like showing up for her inauguration in an art car — the most tangible result of Schaaf’s tenure has been the displacement of artists and poor people.
We see a plethora of glass-and-steel towers, stacks of luxury apartments, blocking our views to the beloved Tribune Tower and the waterfront.
Shaaf’s cheerleading for a stadium at the port would not allow voters to say whether or not we want to pay for its infrastructure.
Yes, Oakland is a union town, but the story is not as simple as Borenstein imagines.
Amelia Marshall
Oakland
Court, column expose
Legislature’s scheme
Three cheers for George Skelton.
His Dec. 13 column “State politicians reminded about who owns the Capitol” (Page A7) revealed a secretive move by state legislators to tear down the Capitol annex building and replace it with a luxurious new structure the lawmakers apparently believe befits their status. The cost? Some $1.2 billion, although of course there might be overruns.
This is happening as Californians nervously fill their gas tanks to three-quarters of capacity to save pennies for those soaring grocery bills.
But hardworking families may have been saved by a state appellate court in Sacramento that ruled the legislators violated environmental law when they hatched their boondoggle.
The existing annex building does need upgrading to fix leaks, narrow hallways and mold, among other things. Estimates are that remodeling would cost about half the taxpayer dollars of the proposed new Taj Mahal.
The choice is clear.
Barbara McFadden
Oakland
Documentary inspires
a vegan resolution
I have vegan friends, and while I like what they serve when I eat with them, I never was interested in changing my eating habits or my cooking style. I like hamburgers, bacon, steak, chicken and lamb. You name it — I would eat it. I thought that meat was the only way I could efficiently get protein into my diet.
Then I watched the “Forks Over Knives” documentary that was brought up during a talk that was presented by farmusa.org. I was blown away. When the doctors presented the science behind why meat actually is less healthy than a plant-based diet, I realized that if I want to improve long-term health prospects and how I feel, I needed to change my diet.
My new New Year’s resolution is to change what I am eating and move to a plant-based diet. I would recommend that everyone watch “Forks Over Knives.”
Joan L. Velardi
Bayville
Title IX lays history
of equity in sports
Title IX began its journey through the three branches of government when Patsy Mink of Hawaii, who is recognized as the major author and sponsor, introduced it to Congress in 1971. In 2002 with her passing, Title IX was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act(https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/3147/text).
U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh of Indiana authored 37 words that have sustained a legacy for the past 50 years.
“No person in the United States shall on the basis of sex be excluded from participation in, be denied benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination, under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”
In 2019, Bayh died at 91. Of all the political accomplishments he had in his career, Title IX was the legislation he was most proud of.
Today more than 200,000 women athletes compete on NCAA teams annually.
Keith Kato,
American High Girls Varsity Tennis Coach
Fremont
Source: www.mercurynews.com