Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Last month, the congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment (NCA) reported that the impact of climate change is already being felt across the nation in the form of severe drought, rising sea level, extreme rain and wind storms, and wildfires. There is no longer any debate among responsible, credible climate scientists: They agree that the burning of fossil (carbon-based) fuel is a major cause of Earth’s warming climate.

Clearly, if energy currently produced by coal, natural gas and gasoline is to be reduced, alternative sources of energy must be identified and employed. The free market is the proper place for selecting which alternatives to build and where. In the free market, the true costs of fossil fuels—the costs of mitigation and recovery from the impacts of global warming plus the cost of production and distribution—must be considered.

A recent comprehensive study conducted by Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI) finds that ...