A20 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAY, JUNE 9 , 2022LETTERS TO THE EDITOR[email protected]DRAWING BOARD DANA SUMMERSB Y DANA SUMMERSABCDEFREDERICK J. RYAN JR.
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(202) 334-ABCDEAN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPEREDITORIALSAMID VLADIMIR PUTIN’S war of
atrocity against Ukraine, a
senseless bloodletting and at-
tempt to crush a nation, the
Russian president also threatens to in-
flict hunger and food shortages far and
wide. The time has come for the rest of
the world to take concrete actions in
response.
Ukraine is a major global supplier of
wheat, sunflower seeds and grain used to
feed animals. Russia has been blockad-
ing the export of grain from Ukraine’s
major port in Odessa, systematically
attacking and destroying grain storage
facilities, and stealing grain, too. Mr. Pu-
tin is ruthlessly employing hunger and
food insecurity as a war tactic, a perverse
and brutal attempt to crush Ukraine’s
spirit and blackmail the rest of the world.
It has been suggested that to relieve the
danger of famine and boost the world’s
food supply, sanctions should be eased
on Belarusian exports of potash, used for
industrial fertilizer, or that a corridor for
Ukraine exports be created through Bela-
rus to Baltic ports. Sanctions on Belaruswere the result of strongman Alexander
Lukashenko stealing the 2020 presiden-
tial election and his repression of his
nation’s democracy movement. To give
Mr. Putin and Mr. Lukashenko a break
now because of a mess they created
would be utterly misguided.
Instead, world leaders ought to hold
Mr. Putin accountable for this looming
disaster. Much of the globe depends on
food traded across borders and impacted
by rising prices. As David Beasley, execu-
tive director of the U.N. World Food
Programme, reminded us recently, the
noose of rising prices will choke those
countries that can least afford it and that
had already been suffering the effects of
scarcity, war, climate change, the after-
shocks of pandemic and rising fuel
prices. According to the Economist, the
number of those with access to food so
poor that their lives or livelihoods are at
immediate risk — “acute food insecurity”
— has risen from 108 million to 193 mil-
lion over the past five years, and Mr. Pu-
tin’s war will send it even higher.
This is the time for affected countriesto implore Mr. Putin to stop the madness.
A host of nations in Africa, the Middle
East and East Asia will feel the pinch of a
food crisis. Egypt gets 85.6 percent of its
wheat imports from Russia and Ukraine.
Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi
ought to knock on the Kremlin’s door.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
has been trying to negotiate an exit
corridor for Ukrainian grain through the
Black Sea and should keep at it. President
Xi Jinping of China, which has warned of
a bad winter wheat harvest, ought to tell
his “good friend” Mr. Putin that spiking
global hunger and famine right now will
only make him more enemies.
Ukraine’s silos are full, and another
harvest is nearing, but the critical port of
Odessa is mined to prevent a Russian
invasion, and Russia blockades the Black
Sea. It would be tricky to create naval
convoys to safely export the grain from
Ukraine, but all options and routes ought
to be examined. There are no easy
answers, but the food security of millions
of people is at stake, and a root cause of
their misery is one man in the Kremlin.Mr. Putin’s war on grainThe Russian president threatens to inflict food shortages far and wide.THE FIVE years before the pan-
demic saw starkly uneven job
growth across the D.C. region.
The big winner was Northern
Virginia, where more than half the new
jobs landed. The losers were mainly in
suburban Maryland, which got less than
20 percent of them.
Prominent Maryland politicians now
running for top statewide offices would
make it harder for the big suburban
employment laggards, Montgomery and
Prince George’s counties, to climb out of
that hole. By opposing and equivocating
on term-limited Gov. Larry Hogan’s (R)
plan to improve and expand two of the
most congested roadways in the Mid-
A tlantic region — the Beltway and Inter-
state 270 — they would help ensure that
today’s traffic jams become tomorrow’s
unending gridlock.
Yes, the reasons for the region’s un-
even economic growth are varied; they
include taxes, regulations, housing,
schools and infrastructure. Where it
concerns infrastructure, however, few
metrics are as important as what work-
ers face in their daily commutes.
Virginia elected officials have recog-nized that for years. They’ve acted on it
by advancing ambitious public-private
partnerships to add toll lanes and widen
the most important commuting thor-
oughfares west of the Potomac, including
Interstates 95 and 66, as well as Northern
Virginia’s portion of the Beltway.
It is true that the toll lanes will be
unaffordable for some drivers, who gen-
erally will retain the option of driving at
no cost on existing lanes. But the expan-
sions now nearing completion in North-
ern Virginia are very likely to prevent
much, much worse traffic.
Mindful of that, Mr. Hogan proposed a
public-private partnership by which a
consortium of companies would finance
and build a similar — and complementa-
ry — system of toll roads to widen
suburban Maryland’s main highways,
the Beltway and I-270. The consortium
would keep most of the toll revenue for
decades; Marylanders would avoid a tax
increase to pay for the projects, leaving
the state more flexibility to focus on
transit, as it should.
The governor’s plan has been met with
sniping from local officials, who cite the
likelihood that the expansion wouldforce a modest number of homeowners
and businesses to move. Mr. Hogan
scaled back the project, but the opposi-
tion persists. Among the 10 candidates
running in the gubernatorial primary
July 19, most either don’t mention it or
are opposed. (A notable exception is
Comptroller Peter Franchot (D), who
voted for it on the state’s Board of Public
Works.) Both Democrats running for
their party’s nomination for state comp-
troller, Bowie Mayor Tim Adams and
Del. Brooke E. Lierman of Baltimore, are
also unlikely to support the project;
either could wield a veto in their capacity
as a member of the state’s Board of Public
Works, which vets major contracts. On
the Republican side, Kelly M. Schulz, a
Hogan ally who resigned as the state’s
commerce secretary to run in the guber-
natorial primary, also favors it.
None of the project’s opponents have
proposed the only viable financing al-
ternative: raising taxes to widen the
roads. The truth is that major infra-
structure projects are hard to get done
without muscular leadership from the
top. Virginia has had that. Maryland is
wobbling.Attention Marylanders: Traffic aheadThe state would be wise to mimic Virginia’s ability to get transit projects done.O
NE MOTHER spoke through
tears about the last morning she
saw her 10-year-old alive, the
little girl beaming after getting
awards for her good grades at Robb
Elementary School in Uvalde, Tex. The
mother of a 21-year-old man described
the hole in the right side of her son’s
neck, the two in his back and another in
his left leg, wounds caused by “an
exploding bullet” from the AR-15-style
rifle fired by the gunman at the Buffalo
supermarket where the young man
worked. An 11-year-old girl who survived
the Uvalde mass shooting recounted
seeing her friend shot to death and how
she smeared herself with blood so she
wouldn’t be next. The pediatrician who
treated the young school victims testi-
fied he will never forget “those mothers’
cries” and two children “pulverized” and
“decapitated” by bullets.
People whose lives have been directly
— and irrevocably — upended by gun
violence were front and center at
Wednesday’s House committee hearing
on gun-control legislation being debated
in the wake of the back-to-back mass
shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde. Within
the space of 10 days last month, 31 people
— including 19 children — were killed in
the two shootings. Equally horrifying: In
the two weeks since the May 24 school
slaughter in Texas, there have been
650 shooting incidents resulting in
730 deaths, according to data from the
Gun Violence Archive.
“Somewhere out there, there is a mom
listening to our testimony thinking, ‘I
can’t even imagine their pain,’ not know-
ing that our reality will one day be hers,
unless we act now,” Kimberly Rubio,
whose 10-year-old daughter, Lexi, was
murdered in Uvalde, told members of the
House Oversight and Reform Committee
as her husband sat next to her with tears
streaming down his face. She, along withother witnesses called by Democrats,
pleaded for Congress to pass new gun-
control measures, including bans on
assault weapons and high-capacity mag-
azines, to prevent more needless death.
That they came forward to testify so soon
after such devastating loss is testament
to their courage and selflessness.
If only the Republican members of
Congress could summon those qualities
and stand up to the gun lobby to support
sensible gun reforms that have consis-
tent and overwhelming support from the
American public. Instead, Republican
members of the committee trotted out
tired talking points about how the loss of
religion or playing of violent video games
are the real culprits, along with the
canard that gun-safety laws are an as-sault on the Second Amendment.
The sweeping reforms passed Wednes-
day in the Democratic-controlled House
have no chance in the Senate because of
Republican opposition. That a small
group of senators is continuing negotia-
tions offers some slim hope that more
moderate measures might advance.
At least one Republican senator, Cyn-
thia M. Lummis of Wyoming, signaled a
possible change of heart on gun-control
issues after her office was flooded with
calls from constituents urging that
something be done to stop the spate of
mass shootings.
America is indeed crying for change.
It’s time that Congress listen to the
people it is supposed to serve and take
action on gun violence.Courage from heartbreakNow Congress must find the same spine shown by familes affected by gun violence.SUSAN WALSH/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Protesters near Capitol Hill on Wednesday.The headline on Michael Gerson’s
June 3 Friday Opinion column, “Why
Americans should care about the queen,”
ought to have been “Why Americans
should care about England .” Eleven of
his 14 paragraphs were about not Queen
Elizabeth II but the country’s language,
Tudor history, religious reformation,
even Puritans and Pilgrims. Where was
World War II? Where was Elizabeth? I
greatly admire the queen, and Mr. Ger-
son easily could have enumerated her
accomplishments.
But let’s face it, she and the Windsor
family’s biggest contemporary contribu-
tions are two: raising pounds sterling for
charities and attracting tourists to their
country. England is a lovely destination
for tourists, but, absent the royal family,
fewer travelers from around the world
would consider a trip to that particular
island, which is about the size of Vir-
ginia. Imagine Virginia tourism if it had
such a well-promoted, publicity-friendly
family with all that gossip, all those
movies and television programs, and all
that pageantry.
Sharon Muir , SpringfieldFor England’s sakeRegarding the June 3 news article
“Shareholders at Ruger vote for study of
company’s human rights impact”:
It is long past the time to repeal the
2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in
Arms Act, which shields gun manufactur-
ers from liability. The only other industry
that gets this kind of break is vaccine
manufacturers. For them, there is essen-
tially a tax on sales that goes into an
insurance fund. They get a break because
vaccines are a needed public good with
some risk to a few. So it makes sense to
provide liability insurance for them.
There is no reason to protect gun
manufacturers. Repealing this law would
not infringe on anyone’s putative Second
Amendment rights.
Andrew Lees , RockvilleChange gun laws nowpensive solution.
Robert Kelter , Chicago
The writer is a senior lawyer for the
Environmental Law and Policy Center.The June 3 Politics & the Nation article
“Undoing Trump, EPA will empower
states and tribes to oppose pipelines”
referred to a proposed Environmental
Protection Agency rule that would au-
thorize states to block pipelines or other
facilities that cross a state.
The June 3 front-page article “Officials
warn of summer blackouts” explained
that a major source of coming blackouts
are the actions that state and local author-
ities take to block critical infrastructure
projects essential to maintaining reliable
electricity service. The article referred to
“the inability of utilities to get badly
needed transmission lines built... and
difficulties delivering natural gas sup-
plies to the power plants that are a critical
backstop to wind and solar energy.”
The threat of blackouts and the inabili-
ty to mitigate climate change were attrib-
uted to the obstructive behavior of state
and local officials: “Energy experts point
to transmission lines as an area in which
the current system is failing. They are
sorely needed to bring power generated at
solar and wind farms in rural locations
across state lines to energy-thirsty cities.
But state regulators have been slow to
approve them amid protests from proper-
ty owners who don’t want the power lines
on their land.” The Federal Energy Regu-
latory Commission is “working on rules
intended to help clear the path for more
lines to be built.”
It is easy to draft a rule that would solve
the problem. It should state the opposite
of the rule that the EPA has proposed:
“States and localities cannot take actions
that significantly increase the risk of
blackouts and impair the nation’s ability
to mitigate climate change.”
Richard J. Pierce Jr. , W ashingtonI’m a utility regulatory lawyer, and a
line in the June 3 front-page article “Offi-
cials warn of summer blackouts” jumped
out at me. Texas energy officials asking
residents to turn their thermostats up to
78 degrees caught my eye as an antiquat-
ed response to a problem that has a
readily available modern solution.
Smart thermostats (as low as $100)
make automatic adjustments to air condi-
tioning when customers aren’t home and
provide a platform for utilities to run
programs that make slight adjustments
on thermostats in return for cash pay-
ments. In exchange for about $40 per
month, customers agree to let the utilities
make small one-to-two-degree adjust-
ments to their thermostats a few times
per month.
The more customers who participate,
the smaller the adjustments the utilities
make. The lower usage helps keep every-
one’s power on, and holds bills down as
the utilities don’t need as much expensive
peak power.
Utilities and state commissions have
failed to modernize our energy system
and get more smart thermostats in
homes. In this crisis, utilities and regula-
tors shouldn’t overlook this simple, inex-Avoiding blackoutsRegarding the June 4 Local Digest item
“Cargo van collision leads to cyclist’s
death”:
Are Montgomery County and Mary-
land responsible for the death of an
18-year-old cycling on the sidewalk along
Old Georgetown Road near Cheshire
Drive on June 1?
Until about noon on June 3, there were
overgrown vines and bushes along this
sidewalk, which likely caused the cyclist
to swerve into oncoming traffic on Old
Georgetown Road. Around noon on June
3, the Maryland State Highway Adminis-
tration trimmed the vegetation back sev-
eral feet along the highway. This sidewalk
still has large patches of gravel, which
causes skidding for cyclists and pedestri-
ans. An admission of culpability?
Though we don’t know whether the
driver who hit the young man was speed-
ing, speeding is an issue along this road.
Since 2017, I have requested that Mont-
gomery County install traffic cameras
along Old Georgetown Road. Cameras
and fines seem to be the only deterrent
for speeders. A 2017 traffic report by the
county indicates that 64 percent of driv-
ers are medium- or high-risk violators
traveling in excess of the posted speed of
40 mph by at least 10 mph near where the
cyclist was killed. In January, I wrote to
Montgomery County requesting another
speed study to obtain speed cameras. It
has been five months, and still no action.
Do we need more traffic studies or fatali-
ty tallies?
This is the second death of a teenage
cyclist within a mile along Old George-
town Road in less than three years. And a
13-year-old girl sustained life-threatening
injuries in November 2019 while riding
near Old Georgetown Road and the Belt-
way ramp.
The county and state must correct this
dangerous situation immediately.
Amy Grutzner , BethesdaA dangerous roadHANNAH MCKAY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II at her
Platinum Jubilee in London on June 5. Letters to the editor:
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