Oil and coal come first

Three items in the June 23 Bangor Daily News confirm my opinion that the leaders of the administration of our country do not have the well-being of Americans, or anyone else except themselves and their oil and coal supporters, at heart or in mind.

First, I read the editorial that reports both the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Academies of Science assert that the climate changes now taking place are serious, and that they are caused in part by carbon dioxide, the byproduct of burning fossil fuels.

Next, I viewed an image of an enormous fire against a sky gray with smoke following an explosion of an Iraqi pipeline, apparently caused by saboteurs opposed to the U.S.-led occupation. I wonder how much carbon dioxide and other pollutants the clouds of smoke from the fire are throwing into the Earth’s atmosphere.

Finally, next to the photo appears the headline, “GOP senator warns of ‘cloud’ over Bush,” the cloud being the question of weapons of mass destruction. Our president may be no less susceptible politically to the havoc wreaked by his policies than are the rest of us to the polluted air we breathe. It is clear the policies of the present administration and its alliance with oil and coal interests are also real instruments of mass destruction, ones that present a clear and present danger.

I thank the BDN for their typically wise and informative editorials, save the one in which they endorsed Bush for president. Next time let’s think again.

Lynn Biebel

Monroe