<strong><span class="subhead">&#8216;Extreme&#8217; weather coverage</span></strong></p><p>Thursday night&#8217;s severe weather report in Kansas City was yet another example of &#8220;extreme&#8221; weather forecasting. The weather forecasters in this city have taken it upon themselves to scare the living daylights out of our citizens every time a thunderstorm or dusting of snow comes through (and yet can never manage to get it right).</p><p>I do not want to minimize some of the damage around Kansas City, and I am glad there were no serious injuries, but let&#8217;s be honest: Most of the city experienced little or no damage as a result of the storm.</p><p>Folks, we live in the Midwest here. What do we expect? I believe that for the most part Kansas City residents are smart, well-educated people. If you cannot understand the signs of a green sky and a dangerous storm cloud heading your way, then you are living in the wrong part of the country. We do not need the weather forecasters scaring us into the basement with two hours of coverage saying, &#8220;Well, something <em>could</em> happen.&#8221;</p><p><p align="right"><strong>Macaela Stephenson</strong></p> <p align="right"><em>Kansas City</em></p> <strong><span class="subhead">Kansas coal-fired plants</span></strong></p><p>I am proud of our Kansas senators and representatives who rejected the proposed coal-fired plants that would produce electricity for Colorado. Colorado already rejected these plants because they do not want their citizens exposed to the pollution.</p><p>At election time we will remember who listened to the will of the majority of Kansans who oppose the plant and those who submitted to the will of big money.</p><p>I hope our Missouri friends will remember to vote against the legislators who are supporting the Aquila power plant that was built illegally.</p><p><p align="right"><strong>Dan Conyers</strong></p> <p align="right"><em>Kansas City, Kan.</em></p> Why coal? The coal for the Holcomb plant would come from Wyoming&#8217;s Powder River Basin. Coal from this region would be delivered to the Holcomb plant at a cost of $1.25 per million Btu vs. $8.50 per million Btu for natural gas, which would be used as an alternative if the coal facility isn&#8217;t built.</p><p>Why not wind? Sunflower already owns 100 megawatts of wind capacity, including one farm in Gray County, Kan. The Gray County facility is in one of the windiest areas of the country, but it has averaged only a 35 percent capacity factor during its five-year lifetime. During 65 percent of the year, and particularly during the hottest days when electricity is needed the most, Sunflower must still rely on other generators because the wind simply isn&#8217;t blowing. You can&#8217;t add wind capacity without also adding reliable backup generators.</p><p>The average person doesn&#8217;t realize that without coal generators your electricity bill would be more than double what it is today. We all want to be green, but just how much are you willing to pay for it?</p><p>If man is influencing global warming, why are the carbon dioxide ice caps on Mars shrinking?</p><p><p align="right"><strong>Gary Groninger</strong></p> <p align="right"><em>Olathe</em></p> <strong><span class="subhead">The high cost of driving</span></strong></p><p>Back in the 1950s, my husband and I had three small children and not much money. On Sunday afternoons we would go for a drive, and that was our weekend entertainment.</p><p>Before we went back home we would pull into a gas station. A young man would run out and ask if he could fill it up and my husband would say, &#8220;Give me a couple of dollars worth of regular.&#8221; The young man would wipe the windshield and headlights, offer to check the oil and the air in the tires.</p><p>The other day I went to the station, took a $20 bill in to prepay, and went out and pumped my own gas. My gauge showed three-quarters of a tank.