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Page added on May 29, 2023
Could the EPA break America’s power grid?
As policymakers in Washington like to point out, America is undergoing an “energy transition.” But as Washington embarks on a major national shift toward renewable energy, there’s a serious question—can we manage this wide-scale transformation without losing the security and reliability of our existing power grid?
The answer—according to the nation’s grid reliability experts—is that we’re on the verge of catastrophe. But instead of smart policies to address this looming crisis, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has actually issued a blitz of new rules that could make things worse.
The EPA has just proposed a rule that will systematically sweep aside the nation’s existing coal and natural gas power plants. These power plants currently meet 60 percent of America’s energy demand. But the rule will give plant owners a choice: Either close their plants in a few years or install new emissions control technologies. However, the technologies the EPA is offering will actually ensure that plant owners can’t use them.
Consider the mandate for the coal fleet. Coal plant operators will need to outfit their plants with carbon capture and storage (CCS)—and capture 90 percent of carbon emissions by 2030—if they wish to remain in operation past the 2030s. By law, the EPA is only supposed to mandate proven, available technologies. However, there is nothing cost-effective or feasible about current CCS. The system remains in its infancy, and only one power plant globally is currently even using it at the scale the EPA requires.
In effect, should the EPA’s rule advance, utilities will need to decide nearly overnight about investing in a technology no one is sure can work, or be cost-effective. Faced with that kind of choice, utilities will opt to close their plants to comply with the EPA’s mandate.
That seems to be exactly what the EPA wants. More than a year ago, EPA administrator Michael Regan boasted that “expedited plant retirements…are the best tool for reducing gas emissions.” In effect, the EPA will use its new suite of rules to push utilities to close down rather than upgrade.
The EPA’s new carbon rule is just one of one of six that the EPA is proposing to drive the coal fleet off the grid. The cumulative effect will be to devastate the nation’s 200 gigawatts of remaining coal capacity—which still meets 20 percent of the nation’s power. Significantly, coal remains the largest source of power generation in 18 states.
The loss of so much capacity, so quickly—alongside an expected spate of natural gas plant closures—is exactly what the nation’s grid regulators have been warning against.
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), which oversees the reliability of the nation’s grid, has warned for years about the threat posed by the rapid loss of baseload power plants. In fact, its new summer 2023 reliability assessment found that two-thirds of the nation now faces an elevated risk of blackouts during extended heatwaves.
Even the Biden administration’s hand-picked chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Willie Phillips, recently told Congress that he’s “extremely concerned about the pace of retirements we are seeing of generators which are needed for reliability on our system.”
The EPA seems to be willfully ignoring this looming crisis. That’s reckless, and the consequences could be devastating. There’s a responsible way to navigate America’s energy future, but the path being taken by the Biden administration and the EPA simply isn’t it.
15 Comments on "Could the EPA break America’s power grid?"
Doug Nicodemus on Mon, 29th May 2023 10:00 am
What a crock of crap….storage is the issue NOT “baseload”…and the people that are shouting – danger will robinson danger…are direct shills for the oil and gas industry…we don’t need them now and we didn’t really need them in the day…
theluckycountry on Mon, 29th May 2023 2:54 pm
America is undergoing an “energy transition.”
Yes it is. All the infrastructure build since the 50’s is crumbling into the ground and the replacements, where they are installed, are junk out of China.
They can witch to nuclear or solar re-buildables or anything they like to keep the lights on, it won’t make any difference because the grid will be in tatters in another 20 years.
Anyone who wants reliable electricity in the future needs to look at how that’s done in nations whose grids have already begun to collapse. And the answer is solar and onsite generators etc. Can’t afford that? Well have your candles ready then.
Ted Wilson on Mon, 29th May 2023 8:24 pm
As more and more people install solar panels on their rooftop, the need for grid based power will slowly decline. Solar panels on rooftop can provide nearly 20 KW of power in a roof with 2000 sq ft area and this can even power 2 electric cars.
Dredd on Tue, 30th May 2023 8:46 am
The EPA is one of our best containment entities (On The Origin of The Containment Entity – 8).
FamousDrScanlon on Wed, 7th Jun 2023 9:11 pm
Climate-fueled insurance crisis hits California
“From massive wildfires to turbocharged hurricanes, disasters linked to climate change are racking up billions of dollars in damage across large swaths of the country, and insurance companies are struggling to keep up.
State Farm, the largest property insurer in California, announced on Friday that it would no longer write new policies for homeowners or businesses in the state due to the high wildfire risk”
“.. the company decided that the increase in wildfires — combined with the inability to increase premiums to profitable levels — was too risky for its shareholders,..”
It’s not just California. Across the country, in states like Louisiana, Colorado, Florida and Texas, property insurance systems are collapsing under the weight of climate change — even without statewide limits on rate increases.
“Property insurers have insufficient financial capacity to pay claims,” Tom told Power Switch. “In the Gulf Coast, a dozen insurers have become insolvent in the past year because they couldn’t pay all of their claims.”
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/power-switch/2023/05/31/climate-fueled-insurance-crisis-hits-california-00082767
HA! I predicted this 10 years ago right here.
This is just the beginning,
The Florida real estate rush to the exits can start any day & it will be like dominoes.
Sooner or later, one way or another, climate consequences are going to fuck everyone in the ass, so lube up bitch.
FamousDrScanlon on Wed, 7th Jun 2023 9:14 pm
Record-breaking wildfires in Canada are impacting air quality in the U.S.
“The Canadian wildfire season has started early and already broken records, with toxic smoke drifting south to the U.S. and many air quality alerts in place.”
https://www.wesa.fm/2023-06-07/record-breaking-wildfires-in-canada-are-impacting-air-quality-in-the-u-s
FamousDrScanlon on Wed, 7th Jun 2023 9:19 pm
MASK UP AGAIN..BITCHES.
Canada wildfires: Millions advised to mask up due to intense smoke
“Millions of people in North America have been advised to wear N95 masks outdoors due to poor air quality levels sparked by intense wildfires in Canada.
New York will begin distributing free masks on Thursday. Canada has said that people should wear a mask if they are unable to remain indoors.
Officials warn that the dangerously smoky conditions are expected to persist into the weekend.
Much of the smoke is coming from Quebec, where 150 fires are burning.
More than 15,000 residents are expected to be forced to evacuate in the province, officials said on Wednesday. It is already Quebec’s worst fire season on record.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65828469
It’s so bad it’s caused me to pray – “dear lord please burn to death all the climate deniers so the rest of us can go extinct without have to listen to loud, stupid, full grown adults with the mind and behaviors of children.”
Theedrich on Wed, 14th Jun 2023 6:52 pm
The White House is now a cornholer palace. At Biden’s Homosexual Pride fandango, one of the “transgendered” men, after prancing around like a woman, showed off his female-like breast implants, jiggling them to demonstrate his mutation.
One can recall Leviticus 20:13:
Although Americans hate biology and evolution, nature has produced both the normal and the abnormal. The process of conversion into a male from the basic female fetal template can be divided more or less into three critical, successive stages: (1) evolution of the organs of generation; (2) mating orientation;; (3) gender-specific behavior development.; All of these stages depend on an appropriate flow, or lack thereof, of testosterone.
The first stage determines whether we will be “physically” a male or female (penis/vagina, secondary sexual characteristics, etc.).
The second stage determines which sex we will be sexually, erotically and emotionally attracted to.
The third stage determines our emotional and even motor proclivities, for instance, the “limp wrist” of females, the “boldness” typical of men, the preference for elegant interior decor among women, their attraction to young children and cutsy things, etc., the outdoorsy preferences of men (which many women in our castrated society despise), etc.
In normal development, the production of testosterone in all three stages is high for males but low for females. But fetal development is a risky process. If for some reason (defective maternal biology, sickness, inadequate diet, etc., etc.) the testosterone levels vary considerably, all kinds of things happen. This is why about 2%-3% of the human population varies from the sexual norm.
If, for example, there is adequate testosterone in the first stage, inadequate in the second stage, and adequate again in the third, you will have a male, externally speaking, but he will be sexually attracted to other males, while he will otherwise act and show interests like a standard male.
If you have, say a high-low-low individual, then he will be a homosexual male who has female behaviorisms. He will probably also be unable to pronounce the American “L”-sound, so that he will pronounce the word “dollar” more or less like “dower” — examples are found everywhere. Because we are talking about brain development here, not religion.
Conversely, if you have a low-high-high scenario, you will get a physical female who is a lesbian with masculine traits, including a higher sex drive.
Thus there are all kinds of sexual mutants. They are not necessarily bad people, although for cultural as well as sexual reasons, Mother Nature’s primary choices are proven by evolution to be the best. It may unfortunate that many people are born with unusual properties, but that does not mean that society has to give them taxpayer money.
Giving the name “marriage” to homosexual liaisons is not a good idea. There are three cogent arguments against it, regardless of what any Supreme Court decrees:
1. Predominance of the principle that emotions should override rational behavior.
2. The idea that men and women are interchangeable, there being no difference between them.
3. The complete divorce of recreational sex from reproductive sex.
So although one may sympathetic to the situation homosexuals (and “bisexuals”) — or anyone suffering from genetic mistakes and abnormalities — find themselves in, that is no reason to overturn the well-tested practice of thousands of years of standard male-female marriage (including polygamy!) for current fads. The United States and its idiocies may not be around in another century, and it would be hideous to see its propaganda on this issue become some kind of new religious cult — or maybe help the Mohammedans, some of whom seem to prefer cornholing to normal sex.
FamousDrScanlon on Wed, 14th Jun 2023 8:46 pm
Theeduce, atheist you must be feeling extra desperate to lash out and wound someone- stooping to a bible verse. You must think the bible thumpers are going to jump out of their chairs and do your sick bidding. like Christians are your own personal Manchurian Candidate killer- just read the verse and they will switch to kill mode.
You really hate those gay guys eh? I guess being anally raped by the starting back field in high school could cause that kind of hate.
Sucks to be a weak, helpless half faggot like you. Wasn’t there about a minute where you admitted to yourself you liked getting fucked by sweaty men with real muscles? Good luck trying to get Christians to lash out for you and end up in prison like all those Jan 6th losers sitting in prison all alone while those who got them whipped up to do violence they would never themselves commit, are eating steak, drinking beer and fucking their women.
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