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AFTER RAKING WILKES, Artis, Hedrick & Lane over the coals (“Whayne’s World,” 3/31), David Plotz compromises his neutrality for the sake of a snappy conclusion by agreeing with their contention that the now-defunct Georgetown power plant would have been good for the District. If this had been the case, thousands of residents and associations citywide would not have spent thousands of dollars and thousands of man-hours over a long four-year stretch to counter the flawed concept.
After wresting data from the sources that churned out basic numbers to prop up the proposal, Georgetown University being a primary one, it was clear that the proposed power plant simply could not fulfill the promises made for it.
The city’s permitting process was controlled by boards and commissions whose members are very often appointees with no background relevant to their appointments. Even the Washington Post did concede that it was not aware of the existence of official Georgetown University records documenting operating violations that discredited the justification for the cogenerator.
The new goals ushered in by the federal energy plan have already made inroads into the District with nary a peep of dissent. One such case is the power plant in the Oliver Carr building that houses the American Association of Retired Persons. Clean and technologically superior, it is designed to meet its own needs without violating residential and recreational space, and it respects the environment. Greed plays no part in this operation, just common sense and professional judgment, elements sorely lacking in the Georgetown power plant fiasco.
Virginia Mead, Georgetown