New laws needed to slow down local drivers

To the editor:

When approaching a congested intersection, should you have your foot on the gas pedal or the brake pedal? The answer is obvious, but it seems the vast majority of Las Vegas drivers have their foot on the gas pedal -- even though they are already exceeding the typical 45 mph speed limit and going through the intersection at near freeway speed.

Disaster results when another driver or pedestrian gets in the way.

There is an easy way to greatly lessen this problem. Simply pass a state law making the maximum speed limit 30 mph through any marked crosswalk. There would be a dramatic change in driving habits, resulting in fewer deaths and injuries, less property damage, lower insurance costs and less stress.

On a 10-mile trip through the city, the additional time required would be less than two minutes -- assuming that 25 percent of the distance would be subject to the lower speed limit.

Charles Buescher

Las Vegas

Pipe dream

To the editor:

A Jan. 13 Review-Journal editorial stated that the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Texas would be "job intensive" and would "reduce our dependence on Mideast oil." Both conclusions are incorrect.

Existing Canadian oil pipelines primarily go to the Midwest. Keystone XL would actually divert Canadian oil from these pipelines to the Gulf Coast. This proposed pipeline would be built by a Canadian company (called TransCanada) to carry heavy crude oil 1,700 miles from the tar sands in northern Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast near Houston.

Why the Gulf Coast and not the Midwest or the Wyoming or Utah refineries? Well, it seems that the refineries on the Gulf Coast are in foreign trade zones. These artificially created zones allow oil to be imported into the refineries from foreign sources and exported to international buyers without paying any U.S. taxes. Valero, one of the largest potential buyers of Keystone XL's oil, recently informed their investors of the plan to do just that with the Canadian oil once the pipeline is built.

Canada wants to diversify its energy market. Alberta wanted to build pipelines through British Columbia as an alternative, but environmental concerns have halted that. Also, it doesn't help get the desired diversification to South American and European markets. Canada wants to sell increasing volumes of Canadian crude on the international diesel market, and the easiest way to get it to that market is through the Gulf.

TransCanada has refused to support a requirement that oil coming through the Keystone XL be used in the United States. Keystone XL is the way to get Canadian oil out of the United States, not into it.

TransCanada has conceded that Keystone XL would take oil from existing pipelines going to the Midwest, so the proposed pipeline will actually reduce the amount of oil that currently is coming to the United States for our use.

As for jobs, the State Department estimates that there will be 6,000 temporary jobs created over about a three-year period (2,000 per year), and a Cornell University study concludes it will generate no more than 50 permanent jobs when the work is done after that three-year construction period.

It should also be noted that the land needed for this pipeline will require the U.S. government utilize eminent domain laws and take the land for the pipeline owner. Do we really want to have our government taking land from U.S. owners to give it to a Canadian company?

Keystone XL is being presented as something that will increase U.S. supply and decrease U.S. prices, when in fact the opposite is what will obviously happen. Please take the time to read the many sources available on the Internet regarding this very bad idea.

Brian Ellison

Mesquite

Pension numbers

To the editor:

Roy Scott's Tuesday letter in response to Glenn Cook's Sunday column ("How much do we pay people not to work?") is totally wrong.

Mr. Scott states, "The Public Employees' Retirement System is a fund paid into by the employee and the employer. Same concept as a 401(k)." First of all, the "employer" in this case is the governmental agency that the employee works for. Where does Mr. Scott think that the money this "employer" uses to pay employees comes from? The good fairy?

Government taxes businesses, private employees and corporations to fund various agencies and services.

Consider for a moment that Mr. Scott's counterpart in the private sector -- perhaps a senior citizen struggling to get by on Social Security, a private-sector retirement system that is far inferior to the generous benefits enjoyed by PERS recipients -- must pay property taxes and all the other miscellaneous taxes that our local governments use to fund PERS. Many people in the private sector have lost their homes, are unemployed and are struggling to survive, yet government employee unions have turned a cold heart to requests that these worker benefits be adjusted to suit reduced revenue due to our poor economy.

Finally, Mr. Scott says publishing the identities of retirees and their public pension amounts would be "shameful and irresponsible."

In fact, these people are public employees -- and taxpayers have a right to know their pension amounts.

Anthony Marinelli

Las Vegas