Energy reform
As we enter the holiday season, those of us who care deeply about America’s energy future have a renewed sense of gratitude and optimism. The recent advancement of the SPEED Act is more than just procedural progress. It is a meaningful step toward restoring common sense to federal permitting and putting our nation back on a path to true energy independence.
America’s ability to build and modernize critical energy infrastructure has been throttled by layers of unnecessary bureaucracy, outdated regulations and activist-driven delays. These roadblocks have slowed the construction of pipelines, transmission lines and generation projects hardworking families rely on. The SPEED Act would ensure that federal agencies move faster, operate more transparently and respect the need for a streamlined permitting process.
This reform isn’t about partisanship. It’s about strengthening our national security, protecting American consumers from high energy costs and ensuring our grid is prepared for the growing demands of the 21st century.
I want to express my appreciation to U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans for her steadfast leadership and conservative approach to energy policy. She has consistently championed policies that cut burdensome red tape, support domestic energy production and reinforce the resilience of our electric grid. Her commitment to practical, results-driven solutions demonstrates the kind of responsible governance Virginians deserve.
Advancing the SPEED Act represents a commitment to putting American workers, American innovation and American energy first. That is something we should all be thankful for this season.
Thomas Turner, Conservatives for Clean Energy Virginia, Suffolk
Father crisis?
Re “Study: Fear, easy access to guns drive youth shootings” (A1, Nov. 18): We constantly condemn the gun crisis with young men while ignoring the real issue. That issue? The lack of a father in the home. Study after study has shown that in homes without a father, young men are many times more likely to drop out of school, fail to hold a job, join a gang and resort to violence. There are exceptions and there are single moms doing a great job.
Judging by local news, the great majority of youth gun crimes are committed in the Black community. Poverty may factor in but the majority of Black children are born to unmarried women. Prior to former President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society program, more than 60% of Black families were two-parent households. Youth violence was much rarer. The advent of multi-generational welfare payments and a disincentive to work have redirected single women to having a child without the need for a father in the home.
Society is responsible, too. It’s become accepted, even celebrated, that a father is not needed, that a mom getting governmental subsidies is perfectly capable of raising a son on her own.
Until we change this thinking, single-parent households will continue to increase as will the epidemic of youth violence. Every “solution” in the article would be unnecessary if we celebrated two-parent families. Glossing over or ignoring this issue does not make it go away.
Bill Wallace, Gloucester
Principled leadership
President Donald Trump may continue to berate journalists who have the temerity to question his actions.
He may continue to tweak out rude and boorish comments and threats but he cannot extinguish the belief that no man is above the law.
As William Shakespeare noted in his work, “Julius Caesar” there is “something higher than Caesar’s will, something that commands conscience beyond fear of reprisal or political favor.”
Let’s hope it is not too late for our elected representatives to see beyond this exaggerated persona and affirm human decency.
The American people should demand principled leadership from the executive branch but all we get is a president who clothes himself in lies and spite and gold.
The garments he wears scarcely conceals his sins.
Marc Katz, Norfolk
