Letters to the Editor: No one is above the law, forest protection and watch for wobbly plates

EDITOR'S NOTE: The views and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not of Ottawa News Network.

Officials should note that they are not immune

Absolute immunity is a thing. It exists. As does the disagreement as to how narrowly that immunity may or may not be drawn. There is every reason to believe that narrowness will be stress-tested come the next administration.

Any application of absolute immunity is restricted to the president (and his successor, it is worth noting). It cannot be applied to or expanded to include anyone else. Any promise(s) suggesting otherwise directly conflicts with the Supreme Court's [patently reckless] opinion on the matter. 

Any person, at any level, who believes their unlawful behavior will be protected and/or negated by absolute immunity is ignorant, arguably to the point of stupidity. 

Any person, at any level, who believes their unlawful behavior will be protected and/or negated by an argument of “I was just following the orders” of a superior is similarly ignorant. [That hasn’t worked since the Nuremberg trials.]

Virtually any person, at any level, who believes their unlawful behavior will be protected and/or negated by dint of a pardon (after guilt has been admitted to) is delusional. Unless, of course, that person can offer significant monetary incentives to acquire said pardon. 

Any person, at any level, engaging in unlawful behavior — and lacking a pardon — will be subject to prosecution and conviction for all crimes committed. Criminal and civil.

Unlawful behavior seems to be rampant among our federal officials at all levels. I truly hope someone is taking notes.

Richard Wolfe
Park Township

Gutting roadless protections will cost taxpayers

I'm a mother of three and a recently retired nurse with years of experience supporting families with at-risk newborns.

I’ve seen how wildfire smoke from hundreds of miles away increases the number of Michiganders sent to emergency rooms with asthma attacks and breathing troubles. In recent summers, emergency department visits for asthma were 17% higher than expected during continuous wildfire smoke days.

That's why I'm worried about the proposal to repeal the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The roadless rule limits new roadbuilding in some of the wildest parts of our national forests. It was adopted partly because the U.S. Forest Service already had more than 380,000 miles of roads and a multibillion-dollar maintenance backlog. Repealing it would invite more development into remote areas, increase human-caused wildfire ignitions, and saddle taxpayers with the bill for even more roads the agency can't afford to maintain.

Michiganders already struggle with asthma. According to 2021 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 11.5% of Michigan residents are living with asthma, compared with 7.7% nationally. Fine particle pollution from wildfire smoke is especially hard on people with asthma and heart or lung disease. When the air turns hazy, they can't just stay inside. Many still have to get to work, school, and medical appointments, often living in older homes without proper filtration.

There are real forest health needs, and we do need to reduce fuels and protect communities from fire. But repealing the roadless rule isn't the answer. The existing rule already allows hazardous fuels reduction, prescribed burning, and other wildfire mitigation projects.

Instead of spending scarce dollars on new roads into remote backcountry, we should fix the roads we have, focus treatments near communities, and keep our children from breathing even more smoke.

Suzanne Steinrueck
South Haven

I blame it on Ed Sullivan

Hopefully, there are a few of you out there who do remember Ed Sullivan and his variety show, which was on CBS at 8 p.m. on Sunday night. It was technically a school night, but an exception was made because it was great family entertainment. It covered the gamut from comedians to dancers to singers. Even the great Elvis Presley ... well, from the waist up anyway.

There was one act that seemed to appear more than any other and that was the great Eric Brenn with his spinning plates. Look it up. Okay, now that you know what I'm talking about, the rest of this mini tirade will make sense. What held your attention was not the spinning plate, but the wobbly one. That was the whole idea. Don’t look here, look there ... no there ... no here. You were constantly distracted but entertained.

There are two things I'm sure I have in common with the orange stain in the Oval Office. We are of the same age, and I know he watched Ed Sullivan. He saw the spinning plate guy and adopted this act as his “modus operandi.” When there is something that threatens to expose him or his money, he floods the zone with spinning plates.

All these spinning plates: Leticia James, James Comey, Panama, Greenland, ICE, even Bill and Hillary. It’s all to keep people from looking at the Epstein files. We all know he’s in there from what has been released so far, but there is more to it than just him.

My bet is that there are some very rich and powerful people involved with this predator. I’m talking about the people whose money put him and a lot of other MAGA people in the positions they are presently holding. If Trump doesn’t keep their names out of the limelight, it’s hard telling what they could do.

Bill Fey
Holland

Say goodbye to coal

The J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant was scheduled for shutdown in May 2025. That, however, did not happen. The U.S. Department of Energy issued a 90-day extension order, claiming that the grid would be imperiled by this incremental reduction in capacity. 

The plant, now operating under a third emergency order, continues on. It appears that the DOE intends to use its emergency powers in perpetuity. Consumers Energy reports that compliance is costing about $615,000 per day. These orders continue despite a finding from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation that our grid does not have a capacity problem at present.

That this coal-centric decision-making is unreasonable is obvious. Coal-fired generation was already in decline. Twenty years ago, coal delivered 50% of all electrical generation; today, just 15%. Coal, having been outflanked by cheaper, more reliable energy options, is no longer economically viable. 

This $615,000 per day is a hidden tariff; the cost will be borne by rate payers. We would be better off if this same money had been applied to grid improvements or new capacity construction. 

Our energy future will not be secured by a gridlocked fascination with the past. Obsessing over this plant is functioning as a distraction. The real issue is building out a new grid that can better transmit electricity between multiple regional grids, which is capable of real-time integration of distributed sources, which redeploys unused capacity via interconnected smart appliances, and which incentivizes electrification. 

Maybe it is time to tell our Washington representatives that West Michigan people are quite capable of making good decisions without their oversight. Maybe it is time to tell them that we do not approve of the flagrant waste of financial resources. Maybe it is time to tell them that if West Michigan values are good enough for a campaign speech, they are good enough to actually employ. 

Peter Boogaart
Zeeland

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