Open letter to Governor Shumlin:
Your quick trip to the world stage in Paris resulted in an awkward performance that embarrassed us back home in Vermont. It is difficult to say which was worse, your patronizing dismissal of Ms. Johnson-Kurts, or your apparent inability to understand that an energy policy that is dependent upon a buildout of fracked gas infrastructure is the opposite of a solution to the climate crisis.
Mr. Coriell tried to manage damage control by taunting, “Lucky for you, I know a guy who will be with some of the world’s leading climate scientists next week.” There is plenty of climate science available to you here in the U.S. A study at Cornell four years ago concluded that natural gas produced by “fracking” contributes to global warming as much as coal, that is to say, significantly more than the oil that you want to spend $134 million of Vermonters’ money to replace.
The Cornell study was later updated to state that methane, as compared to CO2, has the potential to trap over 100 times more heat over the course of 10 years, making fracking one of the most environmentally destructive ways to source energy.
Whatever is driving you, Mr. Shumlin, it is not science. We are grateful to Ms. Johnson-Kurts for her courage in exposing your hypocrisy.
Bobbie Carnwath
Cornwall