To the Editor,
There are currently sufficient gas stations to meet the demand in Providence. I walk by many gas stations and never see long lines waiting. They are sufficient to meet the demand for the next few years and there are few places in the city to build a gas station, so we are preventing maybe 2 gas stations in 5 years. 5 years from now it is more than likely that as wind farms come on line the world will be more electrified and gas usage will be slowly shrinking. The truth is that for the foreseeable future Providence will never need another gas station.
But it is a useful step to ban the building of new ones because this is an effort that requires us to go all in, the climate is getting more violent it seems daily. The people of Providence understand all too well how the fossil fuel industries harm their health. Our asthma rates are way too high. And climate is a big deal in the Ocean State. In fact we are quite well aware that getting the climate right is the most important thing we can do to propel our economy forward. And we come out for hearings. And in a democracy the city council listens to the community. Other than the paid lobbyists of the oil companies no one ever comes out and says we want dirtier air. Much of our community is on low ground. We would like sea level rise to slow, so we have more time to soften the shorelines, so we do not lose habitat, as we retreat from the coast. No one says we want faster sea level rise except those on corporate payrolls.
We are also quite well aware of the inequality in which communities suffer the most as the hurricanes get stronger, the fires bigger and hotter, and the heat spells longer and more deadly. Fixing our economy based on the new realities of climate and survival, will require it to at the same time address its inequalities. And that means real democracy with the right to protest and petition the government fully intact. These things are all connected. Lets get it right, and no new gas stations is a good and easy place to start.
Greg Gerritt