LETTER: A cool August in Las Vegas
I admit that I was skeptical about the environmental impact and the cure for global warming promised by proponents of the recently passed “Inflation Reduction Act.” But I like to think I’m a big enough person to admit when I am wrong.
The ink is barely dry on the bill — championed by our Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto — which earmarks $369 billion for climate change, and already Las Vegas is on pace for the coolest August ever. Weather Underground reports that, through Aug. 25, we had only 12 days of more than 100 degrees. The Vegas average high temperature for early August is typically 104. This year it was 97.8.
A drop of 6.2 degrees may not sound like much, but according to NRDC.org, a 5.7-degree rise in temperature from pre-1900 levels would have “grave consequences” — basically the end of life as we know it. So a 6.2-degree change is huge.
Sen. Cortez Masto and her colleagues may have just saved the planet, and they did it fast and for only $369 billion. Take that, you who complain that politicians never get anything done.
Our new cool climate — comfortable evening strolls, colorful clouds at sunset — may be reason enough to send Sen. Cortez Masto back to D.C. On the other hand, the 87,000 IRS agents — some armed — that the legislation also funds may have lots of people in Vegas … hot under the collar and and sweating bullets.
