Killer coal must go

Re “Coal ash spreads a message,” editorial, Jan. 6

The Times fails to grasp the urgency and severity of this situation. Coal ash is nothing short of toxic waste. Comparing it to cigarettes is junk science.

You write that “it will take decades to wean ourselves off this fossil fuel.” We do not have decades. Decades more use of coal will change our climate beyond repair.

Coal-fired power-plant waste is to the environment what terminal cancer is to the body, a poison that will kill and cannot be made safe or healthy.

We can and must eliminate coal use from our domestic power production and replace it with clean, renewable energy. And we need to immediately tax the use of coal to reflect its cost in greenhouse gas emissions and toxic waste.

Coal use should be banned within 10 years, and this already sequestered form of carbon should be left in the ground where it belongs.

Joe Galliani

Redondo Beach