***************
"To do well at a few things, give up many things." (John C. Maxwell)
***************
According to today's wsj.com, the EPA claim that critics of its campaign to remake U.S. electricity are "partisans" is wrong. It turns out that the "critics" include other regulators and even some in the Obama Administration. According to a "trove" of documents uncovered by Congressional investigators these internal critics think the EPA is undermining the security and reliability of the U.S. electric power supply.
According to Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, there's a major question about what will happen when as much as 8% of U.S. electrical generating capacity is taken off the grid because of an unprecedented set of rules (from the EPA) that will cause coal-fired capacity to shut down.
That 8% number comes from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) which since 2005 has been charged with ensuring that lights stay on. One undated memo specifies multiple weaknesses in EPA reliability modeling.
I could go on but I'll leave us with this: yesterday's review by Fareed Zakaria of Daniel Yergin's new book (The Quest), mentioned that China and India combined are building 4 new coal-fired plants per week. So, wait for it, we're going to succumb to our "Don Quixote-like" regulators and risk black outs so that "we" can make absolutely no difference in the massive increase in coal-fired releases into the atmosphere from China and India.
Who are these people?
I would not be surprised if EPA kahunas, and other political players, push as much as they possibly can with the intent of a fraction of their efforts surviving political axes. They likely make efforts they view unreasonable to give opposing forces an easy target, win, sense of accomplishment, and precious political capital.
ReplyDeleteJosh: good points.
ReplyDelete