I like to think I can see both sides of and issue or see solutions to complicated problems but until I read a “Letter to the Editor” in the Chicago Tribune I had missed an obvious conflict. The writer shed a blinding light on the problems with electrification of our country.

            Hurricanes Helene and Milton destroyed power lines, roads, building, wind and solar fields and communications. Some of those destroyed buildings were gasoline stations which mean no fuel for vehicles and generators. Electricity is required for gasoline to be pumped out of stations storage tanks so a trailer mounted generator can supply the much needed fuel but trailer mounted batteries are short term solutions for supplying power to shelters and electric emergency vehicles and buildings.

            Videos of massive pylons blown over and wind turbines bent double shows we need to rebuild in the areas where hurricanes might cause great damage from flooding and wind. We know hurricanes and storms will get stronger, and like Helene, go farther inland with enormous rainfall. The writer correctly demands we protect the lines by using stronger pylons or burying the lines.

            As we depend more and more on electricity for our transportation the more we must have a reliable supply of power to evacuate and return people back home. Currently FEMA can pay to replace infrastructure as it has over and over instead of making it invulnerable. Perhaps a public/private program would solve that problem. We must change our culture of a century ago and leap into the future or continue to suffer the consequences.