Letter: Two-part plan to help coast

Monday, Sept. 19, 2005 | 9:08 a.m.

As a former venture capitalist, I have two suggestions on how to get started on the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast.

One: Build a waste reclamation plant that will become an institutional part of the area. A plant that will disinfect and separate waste into paper, iron and steel and transform food waste into pellets that can be sold back into the food chain for animal feed. This would accelerate the clean-up effort.

Two: Rebuild the houses, commercial buildings and so forth with solar power. Make New Orleans a "model city." The sunshine states are missing out on capturing energy that is basically free and would cut the dependence on fossil fuels by more than half. I fail to see why this has not happened throughout the building industry. Is it that the lobbying is so great and money so good that solar energy has been moved to the back burner forever?

RALPH L. MCNEAL SR.

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