Letters to the Editor: Dec. 2, 2019 – TCPalm

Having your car repossessed is not in same universe with Nazi genocide

How dare Frank Mina equate his own financial irresponsibility with the plight of Jews in Nazi Germany!I'm sure the more than 1million murdered children would disagree that not paying your bills is the same as being torn from their mothers and incinerated.

Adam Dobrin, Port St. Lucie

In a March 3, 2016, letter to Florida East Coast Railway, Karl Alexy of the FederalRailroadAdministration said Liquefied Natural Gas offers a new opportunity for railroads, presents a new challenge for safety regulators, and transporting large quantities in a single train presents unique safety risks. He also noted that LNG freight would eventually share the routes with high-performance passenger trains, traveling at speeds up to 110 mph.

Top speed for LNG is 40 mph through densely populated communities.

The Florida East Coast railroad bridge is seen spanning the St. Lucie River, parallel to the Roosevelt Bridge, on Wednesday, Oct 30, 2019, in Stuart. Virgin Trains USA has announced their intentions to replace the aging bridge, a single track span, with a double-track span costing around $100 million and taking around two years to build.(Photo: ERIC HASERT/TCPALM)

New Fortress Energys Miami affiliate, American LNG Marketing, is authorized by the Department of Energy to export LNG from the Ports of Miami, Everglades, Palm Beach, Jacksonville and Canaveral. American began exporting LNG in 2016.

On March 13, 2017, the FRA authorized Florida East Coast Railway to haul 10,000-gallon ISO containers of LNG produced at the Miami plant to ports of Miami and Everglades. Energy Transport Solutions, also a subsidiary of NFE, is now seeking authorization to transport LNG in 30,000-gallon rail tank cars.

The Floridian Natural Gas Storage LNG facility, proposed for Indiantown, plans an addition for loading rail cars. Floridian will export LNG from ports of Miami, Palm Beach, Jacksonville, Tampa, Everglades, Canaveral and Manatee (from Department of Energy Docket No. 15-38-LNG).

Unlike LPG (liquified petroleum gas), a breach in an LNG container cannot be capped, and exposure to thermal radiation (heat) from an LNG pool fire or flash fire could result in fatalities, serious injuriesand property damage. Transporting LNG by rail over deteriorating infrastructure, including bridges, such asthe St. Lucie River railroad bridge, increases the risk.

Rail tank cars will form a virtual rolling natural gas pipeline on wheels, but taxpayer monies and costly rail infrastructure improvements will be required before any gas starts flowing.

Cecile Scofield, Palm City

A recent letter by a live-aboard boater questioned the citys effort to enforce regulations to prevent sewage discharge from boats as small potatoes. It was good to see a knowledgeable and law-abiding boater speak up. She is correct that there are many other sources of the nitrogen and phosphorus polluting the lagoon. It is a case of death by a thousand cuts.

The lagoon has been on a downward slide since the 1950s, when population began exploding in Florida. A clear lagoon with a white, sandy bottom, healthy seagrass beds and abundant marine life is a vivid memory for very few current Floridians. We, the people, have severely changed the land by digging canals, paving green space, fertilizing lawns and using septic systems that can leak and flush waste into the ground.

Cities and counties along the lagoon are spending millions of dollars to convert septic systems to municipal sewer, upgrade sewage treatment facilities and build stormwater parks that clean canal water before it enters the lagoon. We also need individuals to reduce fertilizer use, pick up their pet waste and connect to sewer when it is available.

The good news is that we know what the problems are and we can fix them! And one of the problems is that some boaters discharge their raw sewage directly into the lagoon.Enforcing the local, state and federal regulations that were written under the Clean Water Act is an important part of cleaning up the Indian River Lagoon.

Fortunately for Vero Beach, plans are being implemented to enforce the no discharge rule, thanks to efforts by the city manager, Vero Beach Marina, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Clean Water Coalition.

Judy Orcutt, Indian River Shores, is vice president of the Clean Water Coalition of Indian River County.

Regardless of the battle taking placebetween the two political parties in the basement and halls of Congress, the decreasing level of sanity of Adam Schiff has to be apparent to everybody watching the proceedings.

His apparent hatred of the GOP is understandable, but his rambling, his lies, his unstable behavior and his paranoia are scary. What he is saying and doing is way beyond the realm of sanity. I am not being facetious, but I am talking as a registered nurse who has worked in many fields, even psychiatry.

Schiff is the one person on this committee who is dangerous to Americaandall its traditions and freedoms. He is heading a group that holds the country in its hands. I am sure that all meetings he and his liberal group attend each day are continually escalating in its level of vitriol and hate.

I understand political differences, but never in my 84 years have I seen such hatred, lying and paranoia as that expressed by these liberals. There is absolutely no fairness, no sense of really caring for America and its people on the part of the Democratic leaders. Whatever respect I held all these years for the two-party system in America has been totally wiped out.

This inquiry literally turns my stomach.

Nancy Celano, Sebastian

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Letters to the Editor: Dec. 2, 2019 - TCPalm