bullwinkle
Gold Member
- Mar 4, 2013
- 5,446
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Hillary went face to face with the folks who lost their way of life when King Coal got usurped. And she told them the truth, not some pipe dream. Trump held out false hope, and it breaks the heart to see these hopes dashed.
This is a partial piece by a Ken Silverstein for Forbes, it is long, but a good read giving some stark statisitcs:
Stark Truth
By way of background, the Trump administration has said that it will try and use the regulatory levers to prop up coal plants that it thinks are vital to the country’s energy security. Its rationale is that such facilities are reliable and keep electricity purring along during harsh weather conditions.
But the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has dismissed that thinking, noting that reserve margins are greater than they have ever been and even in areas that rely on coal. In other words, the grid is more dependable than ever, all while wholesale prices are dropping and the level of harmful emissions is going down.
That said, the Sierra Club and the Environmental Defense Fund have learned through the Freedom of Information Act and by reading older emails that the Trump administration has been pressuring energy officials to find that coal does ensure energy security during brutal winters. “If the weather blesses us with another cold snap and energy resources get tight, would these daily reports be useful to you again?” Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steven Winberg asked more than two dozen colleagues in a Jan. 10 email, a Bloomberg report reads.
The stark truth is that utilities are shedding their coal plants because they are getting older and uneconomic. Just recently, Alliant Energy issued its Corporate Sustainability Report pledging to cut its coal consumption and to reduce its emissions by 80% by 2050. Instead, it will target $2 billion to renewable projects, which will make up 30% of the company’s electricity portfolio by 2030.
It follows Consumers Energy, which said earlier this summer than it would cease all coal use by 2040 while tripling its green energy use over 10 years. And PPL Corp. said most of its Kentucky’s coal plants would be retired by 2050.
And the two main utilities doing business in West Virginia where Trump will stump next week — American Electric Power and First Energy Corp. — are shedding coal plants and they are not planning to build new ones. They are, instead, investing in natural gas and renewables.
If the market is reacting this way to the current fundamentals, why then is the president of the United States spreading false hope to desperate Americans? Political expediency — the cruelest con job yet, even worse than Trump University. The decent thing is to explain to the gathering in West Virginia that its leaders and schools need to re-gear for a changed economy, all to attract modern industries to the state and to create a qualified workforce to serve those companies.
With a background in economics and public policy, I have spent two decades covering corporate and political affairs. I have worked as an editor, beat reporter and contributor for several news publications and my focus has been on the global energy sector. My columns have won...
MORE
This is a partial piece by a Ken Silverstein for Forbes, it is long, but a good read giving some stark statisitcs:
Stark Truth
By way of background, the Trump administration has said that it will try and use the regulatory levers to prop up coal plants that it thinks are vital to the country’s energy security. Its rationale is that such facilities are reliable and keep electricity purring along during harsh weather conditions.
But the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has dismissed that thinking, noting that reserve margins are greater than they have ever been and even in areas that rely on coal. In other words, the grid is more dependable than ever, all while wholesale prices are dropping and the level of harmful emissions is going down.
That said, the Sierra Club and the Environmental Defense Fund have learned through the Freedom of Information Act and by reading older emails that the Trump administration has been pressuring energy officials to find that coal does ensure energy security during brutal winters. “If the weather blesses us with another cold snap and energy resources get tight, would these daily reports be useful to you again?” Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steven Winberg asked more than two dozen colleagues in a Jan. 10 email, a Bloomberg report reads.
The stark truth is that utilities are shedding their coal plants because they are getting older and uneconomic. Just recently, Alliant Energy issued its Corporate Sustainability Report pledging to cut its coal consumption and to reduce its emissions by 80% by 2050. Instead, it will target $2 billion to renewable projects, which will make up 30% of the company’s electricity portfolio by 2030.
It follows Consumers Energy, which said earlier this summer than it would cease all coal use by 2040 while tripling its green energy use over 10 years. And PPL Corp. said most of its Kentucky’s coal plants would be retired by 2050.
And the two main utilities doing business in West Virginia where Trump will stump next week — American Electric Power and First Energy Corp. — are shedding coal plants and they are not planning to build new ones. They are, instead, investing in natural gas and renewables.
If the market is reacting this way to the current fundamentals, why then is the president of the United States spreading false hope to desperate Americans? Political expediency — the cruelest con job yet, even worse than Trump University. The decent thing is to explain to the gathering in West Virginia that its leaders and schools need to re-gear for a changed economy, all to attract modern industries to the state and to create a qualified workforce to serve those companies.
With a background in economics and public policy, I have spent two decades covering corporate and political affairs. I have worked as an editor, beat reporter and contributor for several news publications and my focus has been on the global energy sector. My columns have won...
MORE
