Get serious about alternative energy

To the editor:

When supporters promote Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, the focus is on jobs created and boosts to local economies. Most of the workers building the pipeline will have specialized skills; they will not be local people. Those workers will use motels and restaurants, gas stations and discount megastores for the few weeks they are in the area before moving on. Only 50 permanent jobs will be created for Keystone; any surge in local jobs will be short-lived.

How many more sustained jobs could be created? First, let's upgrade and maintain our roads, bridges, and rail lines which carry goods that fuel our economy, commuters, mail, packages, farm and service vehicles, recreational and business travelers. Use existing railroads to carry Canadian oil sands and Bakken crude (new safer oil tankers equal jobs) as well as usual cargo.

Second, get serious about alternative energy. Iowa certainly has done so with large-scale wind turbine projects. Solar power systems and geothermal projects for businesses, institutions, and homes are taking hold. New biofuels initiatives are in the works. What else is possible if we adequately fund energy research?

While oil, gas, and coal supporters decry government subsidies of alternative energy research, the U.S. military is one of the strongest investors in solar, wind, geothermal installations. Are fossil fuel industries afraid of losing their $30-$50-plus billion annual subsidies? Look to the future with energy and infrastructure policy. Diversify. Plan for the nation's energy transmission grid with sustainable energy and jobs in mind. No more pipelines.

Nancy Sauerman

Cedar Rapids