Upgrading LI's electric grid, Musk and DOGE, climate change, cellphones in schools

Don’t wait: Upgrade electric grid now

A guest essay opposing the Propel NY energy project misrepresents both the necessity and safety of modern electric transmission upgrades [“Don’t rush Long Island’s electric grid update,” Opinion, Jan. 30]. Underground transmission is a proven method that promotes reliability while minimizing environmental and community impacts.

As business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1049, I represent a highly skilled and trained workforce that builds, upgrades, and maintains our electric grid, following strict safety standards and regulations to ensure projects are built to the highest standards. Projects like Propel NY don’t happen in a vacuum — they are designed and engineered by experts, adhering to rigorous technical specifications and oversight.

As our energy demands grow, our existing infrastructure continues to age, and severe weather continues to be a reality for Long Islanders, we can’t afford to wait. Propel NY is critical to ensuring our grid is resilient, sustainable, and ready for the future.

Now is the time to move forward with these upgrades to power Long Island safely for generations to come.

— Pat Guidice, East Northport

Musk should focus on the real swamp

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is supposedly taking a hose to the swamp, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, which was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 for humanitarian reasons [“Actions leave $8.2B from USAID untracked,” News, Feb. 11].

The food that USAID distributes is purchased by our government from U.S. farmers. This additional outlet for excess product allows the prices of agricultural products to remain stable and helps farmers not just survive but thrive.

This contrasts with announcements that government watchdogs, the very people who ensure that taxpayer money is being spent as appropriated by Congress, are being dismissed. This likely will create a swamp of fraud, bribery and scams that taxpayers will pay for.

And now, the new administration has frozen investigations into overseas briberies and pay-for-play schemes. This move is what is swamp-like and deserves a hose be taken to it, not aid to the hungry and dispossessed.

— Maria Luisa Candelore, Sayville

Fear climate change: A motivational tool

Michael Dobie’s asteroid metaphor for climate change is a good one [“Beware ominous climate asteroids,” Opinion, Feb. 9]. If climate change felt as dangerous as an asteroid, we’d be more likely to act.

According to Paul Slovic, a University of Oregon professor, we respond to situations that contain risk that is uncertain or that give us a sense of dread. The probability of an asteroid impact has both. But climate change only feels scary if we’re already inclined to see it that way. Extreme weather events can feel normal, resulting in inaction.

Furthermore, as a volunteer member of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, I see battery energy storage systems (BESS) as an integral climate solution that would lower electricity rates but also instill a sense of uncertainty and dread. This technology does have real risks, but our risk perception can make us prone to misinformation. The recent BESS forum in Brookhaven, available online, answered questions well and provided facts.

We collectively yawn at climate change and are galvanized to block solutions that feel scary. Hopefully, Dobie’s metaphorical asteroids’ threats of insurance rate hikes and falling property values will motivate action. Getting educated about BESS is a great way to make a difference locally.

— Todd Levy, Dix Hills

Cellphones’ dangers outweigh the benefits

An emergency situation can arise at any moment that is scary for a parent. I’m a mother of three and was a teacher for 31 years [“Technology? It has its limits,” Musings, Jan. 21]. The safety and well-being of students is paramount, so when a parent says that they want to be able to contact their child during school in case of an “emergency,” does a phone call protect the child from danger?

Communication between parent and child is important, and, although not instantaneous, it is possible even when a student has no cellphone by calling the school administrative office. Students with phones constantly are inundated with distractions, from unimportant to harmful. Intermittent messages or calls from parents are not protecting them from that harm.

We all want what’s best for students, and hours of social media access and addictive cellphone use does far more damage to them than the inability to respond instantly to messages from parents.

From infancy on, if a child was holding something that could hurt them, a parent wouldn’t hesitate to take it away or yell, “Let go of that!” Unfortunately, when cellphone use becomes toxic, kids do not let go, and parents aren’t always there to take the cellphones out of their hands.

— Debbie Cuttitta-Pekoff, Bellmore