# Letters: Article’s author fails to support glib data center opinion > Source: > Published: 2026-08-04 23:00:49+00:00 **Getting your** [Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...**Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.** #### Author fails to support glib opinion piece Re: “[Data centers face undue panic about mild resource impacts](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/07/30/tom-philp-californias-data-center-hysteria-is-more-hype-than-facts-2/)” (Page A6, July 30). In Mr. Philp’s recent “Unfounded Fear” piece, he glibly scolds opponents of unrestrained datacenter buildout for lack of objectivity. Philp: heal thyself. He presents alfalfa as a worse use of public water, implying our lack of outrage over that crop proves “intellectual inconsistency.” In reality, the primary use of alfalfa hay is, as I’m sure he knows, beef and dairy cattle. Awareness of the excessive environmental impact of the cattle industry is hardly new or trendy ground — a UN report, “[Livestock’s Long Shadow](https://www.fao.org/3/a0701e/a0701e.pdf),” was published in 2006. As for the discouraging lack of data centers in this country, how many do we need? Specifically and objectively, how many more than the 5,000 already operating in the U.S. today? Are 10,000 sufficient, and exactly what for? And are those unidentified, imagined services worth eminent domain action over Americans’ private land and homes to achieve it? Alfalfa crops never crossed that line. **Scott Best** *Palo Alto* #### Morocco’s success highlights state’s failure Re: “[Morocco builds fast bullet rail as California makes excuses](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/07/28/mathews-how-california-lost-to-morocco-in-high-speed-rail/)” (Page A6, July 28). Joe Mathews’ recent article on the Morocco bullet train shows what a boondoggle the California project is. At $15 million per mile, the Morocco train is done, paid for and fully operational. Meanwhile, California voters approved Prop 1A in 2008 for $10 billion, and now the estimate is $126 billion (15 times the cost per mile of Morocco). Nothing has been finished, and completion is now estimated for 2040, 14 years from now. These are not typos, just hard to believe. When Morocco can build and operate a bullet train much faster and cheaper than California, there is a problem. And Gavin Newsom, who is in charge of this mess, will be running for president in 2028. Voters should take his lack of performance into consideration. **Jack Kent** *Los Gatos* #### Fauci endures ignorant senators’ witch hunt Re: “[Fauci takes Fifth over 100 times](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/07/29/fauci-repeatedly-invokes-the-fifth-amendment-in-a-contentious-senate-committee-hearing/)” (Page A1, July 30). The Anthony Fauci hearings are yet another Republican witch hunt. Because he was head of the NIAID, Fauci took the lead against COVID, which was killing [more than 1,000 people](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/04/01/coronavirus-kills-1-000-single-day-u-s-double-flu/5100905002/) a day. Who knew how far this was going to go, but thank goodness Fauci was there to calmly and rationally guide us through those awful times. For his heroic efforts, Donald Trump awarded Fauci the highest civilian commendation. When Trump, the leader of the know-nothing party, suggested injecting disinfectant, I felt incredibly lucky to get my COVID shot. Because tens of millions of us got vaccinated, wore masks, kept our distance, the naysayers, like the Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee, didn’t have to. We’re incredibly fortunate that Fauci’s chief inquisitor, Sen. Bernie Moreno, who made his fortune in the car business and who still believes Trump won the 2020 election, was not the guy in charge in 2019. **Bob Parker** *San Jose* #### Fauci’s career has been one of saving lives Re: “[Fauci takes Fifth over 100 times](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/07/29/fauci-repeatedly-invokes-the-fifth-amendment-in-a-contentious-senate-committee-hearing/)” (Page A1, July 30). What a disgraceful spectacle — Donald Trump’s MAGA puppets in Congress are trying to “put Fauci in prison.” Dr. Anthony Fauci is estimated to have saved over [25 million lives](https://www.georgetown.edu/news/5-lessons-dr-fauci-learned-from-the-covid-19-pandemic/) in his 54 years as a physician plus millions more during the COVID pandemic — and a million more would have been saved if Donald Trump had followed Fauci’s recommendations during the pandemic. According to [COVID Tracking Project](https://covidtracking.com/data/national/deaths), in December 2020 (before vaccines were available), the U.S. reported an extremely high number of COVID deaths of more than 65,000, while 29 countries reported COVID death rates of less than 10 per million (0.0001%) — just by mandating masks, social distancing and hand-washing. If Trump had supported those simple precautions recommended by Fauci, [hundreds of thousands fewer](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)00804-3/fulltext) U.S. citizens would have died from COVID, instead of over 1.1 million. Trump’s bungling incompetence and massively egotistical narcissism led to the needless deaths of over a million people in the U.S., arguably making him responsible for criminally negligent homicide. **Dave Whitaker** *San Jose* #### Don’t let Trump’s GOP take away democracy Our nation is at a dangerous crossroads. Our democracy has only worked when both sides accept the other’s validity and patriotism despite strong policy differences. This vital belief is under attack by the current administration. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller [called](https://www.ft.com/content/025c6f9f-cef8-401d-9a9c-72c67c5f4652?syn-25a6b1a6=1) left-wing violence a “fatal cancer to civilisation.” This rhetoric makes half of our population the “other” and smacks strongly of the eliminationist rhetoric that led to the Holocaust. Do not allow this type of destructive propaganda to succeed in destroying the fundamental principles that have held our country together for the past 250 years. Do not let the fascists destroy our great nation. **Ed Taub** *Mountain View*