To the editor:

Why is the Bainbridge Review ignoring the issue of climate change in the public power debate? The dirtiest carbon producing utility in the state serves this island.

In its recent editorial, the editor called on city council members “to open their eyes” about the prospects of public power, never mentioning that the issue of climate change has been from the beginning the chief reason concerned citizens launched the idea of public power.

What if the newspaper, in the face of this existential threat, opened its eyes to the question: Is it true that the biggest greenhouse-gas producing utility in the state serves this island? It might check out the Island Power folks’ claims that PSE’s reliability on Bainbridge is worse than Kitsap County, which is the worst of eight counties the company serves, and far worse than comparable public power systems (see Island-Power.org for PSE’s own documents).

President Trump has dumped the nation’s Clean Power Plan, to the delight of PSE and the other fossil fuel companies. Wouldn’t it be nice if our paper “opened its eyes” to the existential threat of climate change?

It’s easy to be a cynical critic, siding with a $5 billion corporation, and its lawyers and consultants — and pulling in the largess of its spending of ratepayer money on ads, push polls, free barbecues and the lure of future contracts and grants.

It would take real courage to challenge the worst performing utility in the state for the sake of our children’s future.

STEVE JOHNSON

Bainbridge Island