USA, California:

Opinion: Geothermal Bill Deserves Support (Sacramento Bee)

James C. Hanks, President, 
Imperial Irrigation District, Imperial

Re "Senate passes bill to make electricity even more expensive" (Dan Walters, June 9): Dan Walters' June 9 broadside against geothermal energy misses the mark in at least two critical ways. For one, the addition of 500 megawatts to the grid from this new and virtually non-emissive baseload energy over the next decade represents a modest amount that would be justified even if it were only to counterbalance an over-reliance on intermittent resources such as wind and solar.

Likening Sen. Ben Hueso's bill and its call for the procurement of new geothermal energy to California's failed attempt at deregulation, as Walters does, is hyperbole-run-amok.

For another, whether new geothermal resources are developed at the Salton Sea, the unhealthy status quo at this troubled inland body of water cannot stand. Sen. Hueso clearly recognizes this inescapable fact, even if Walters doesn't and should be commended, not castigated, for doing something about it.