I know that it’s a tough competition, especially in Washington D.C. But Congressperson Cortez has set a bar that will be tough to top with her plan to rid the U.S. of petroleum powered cars, and replace aircraft with high speed rail in 10 years. Bluntly, there is no way this is going to happen.
Every combustion engine replaced with an electric motor requires an increase in generating capacity and infrastructure. If, tomorrow, all the the folks that live here in Deer Park bought plug in electric cars, Avista would have to spend 10 or 20 million dollars just in our little town for the increased load those vehicles would require.
High speed rail or even passenger rail period is a terribly inefficient way to move people. The light rail in Seattle cost $285 per inch to build (not a misprint), and the California rail project has been a financial disaster and will never be completed.
As for her whole “Green New Deal”, the most frightening thing about it is that half the people running for President are supporting it. I could go on for a couple pages about the scale of the engineering problems involved but I don’t have space here.
If we want to do something to improve our nation, perhaps the best idea would be a test of basic knowledge (math, history, geography, the Constitution, and common sense) that candidates would have to pass before running for office. I know I’m a little off my typical topics here so thanks for letting me get this off my chest.
