Energy's real cost goes beyond bills

With home heating oil prices spiking along with gas prices, it's a shame that so many of us are dependent on these old technologies ["Heating oil prices soar," News, Sept. 23].

They cost more not only to each of us, but collectively, as they drive the air pollution that threatens our health and the global warming that threatens the future of our kids.

As the United Nations General Assembly met, doomsday climate warnings were largely replaced by doomsday AI warnings. But the harm from AI is manifesting itself already.

Tech companies are rushing to build their own, on-site gas generators to power their data centers and generating noise, air pollution, and heat alongside surrounding neighborhoods.

Gov. Kathy Hochul issued an executive order imposing a one-year moratorium on state large data centers of at least 50 megawatts, but she should sign the Responsible Data Center Development Act, which was passed by the State Legislature earlier this year. It would cover more data centers, pausing permits for those of at least 20 megawatts.

Lois Kuster, Lynbrook

My new heating oil contract has increased by more than $2 per gallon over last year's pact, thanks to the Trump administration's policies. It will probably cost me an extra $2,000, bringing my total to more than $6,000.

As a retiree on a fixed income, this is a rather big deal, and this is on top of higher gas prices, grocery prices, restaurant meals, and just about everything else. When Election Day arrives, I will keep all this in mind.

Peter Block, Roslyn Heights

Flight safety needs top-to-bottom redo

The editorial board implored Federal Aviation Administration leadership to reconsider the reassignment of air traffic control responsibilities for Newark Liberty International Airport from the Westbury Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility to the Philadelphia TRACON. Newark had been under the control of the Westbury TRACON since the facility's commissioning in 1981. Notwithstanding the board's heartfelt plea, the move went ahead.

Beyond the obvious human resource considerations associated with such a move, there were compelling technical concerns about moving safety-critical data down Interstate 95 to Philadelphia. The move got off to a shaky start, and concerns over the transfer and management of flight and target surveillance data never went away.

The recent equipment failure at Philadelphia — complicated by the unfortunate construction cut that severed what would have been a backup path — proves the point that the editorial board made ["1 cable, crippling chaos for airports," Editorial, Sept. 23].

The system must be reimagined in a way that does not "back into" a preconceived or arbitrary endgame. A holistic view of safety, airspace and airport capacity, and employees' best interests, could well yield ambitious solutions that deliver greater system stability than we just experienced.

Dick Marakovits, Riverhead

The writer is a retired air traffic manager at the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center.

Hospice can't ease all end-of-life woes

Medical aid in dying has proved to be a good, safe, and reliable end-of-life option that results in a peaceful death in jurisdictions where authorized ["LI woman weighs use of medical aid in dying," News, Sept. 18].

Although it is true, as some critics claim, that pain and suffering can almost always be adequately relieved, for a small percentage of patients this is not true. We know this because about 90% of patients who access medical aid in dying are receiving hospice care, considered to be the gold standard of end-of-life care. That could mean that even quality hospice care cannot adequately relieve the suffering of all dying patients.

And few other problems have emerged, as decades of experience with medical aid in dying show.

Medical aid in dying is a compassionate end-of-life option for terminally ill New Yorkers, and we are fortunate to have this new law.

David C. Leven, Pelham

The writer is executive director emeritus and senior consultant for End of Life Choices New York.

Wrapping vanity in a security blanket

Of all of President Donald Trump's "projects," the proposed arch is surely the most offensive ["Trump: Arch to be 'military complex,' " Nation & World, Sept. 21]. As we know, he fashions himself as royalty; the arch represents his reign over our beloved country.

Allowing this man's ego to erect a monument to himself, now couched as a "military complex" to help it survive the legal challenges, as he did in emphasizing the national security focus of his ballroom debacle, is unacceptable.

Christine Wallace, Port Jefferson