Posted on 06/12/2011 12:57:54 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Have you had a lot of fun watching the price of gasoline shoot out of sight this year at the pump? That will be just the appetizer. Thanks to new regulations from the Obama administration, power companies will shut down a significant number of coal-fired plants by 2014, and without any other reliable sources of mass-produced electricity, consumers will see their bills go up as much as 60% (via Instapundit and Newsalert):
Consumers could see their electricity bills jump an estimated 40 to 60 percent in the next few years.
The reason: Pending environmental regulations will make coal-fired generating plants, which produce about half the nation’s electricity, more expensive to operate. Many are expected to be shuttered.
The increases are expected to begin to appear in 2014, and policymakers already are scrambling to find cheap and reliable alternative power sources. If they are unsuccessful, consumers can expect further increases as more expensive forms of generation take on a greater share of the electricity load.
You won’t just pay more to the utility company, either. The Chicago Tribune runs the math on public-sector cost increases in just their city:
What analysts know is that a portion of ComEd bills that pays electricity generators to reserve a portion of their power three years into the future will increase more than fourfold. That would translate into increases of $107 to $178 a year for an average residential customer in ComEd’s territory, starting in 2014, according to calculations by Chris Thomas, policy director for consumer advocacy group Citizens Utility Board.
In 2014 those so-called capacity costs are expected to add approximately $2.7 million over the previous year to electricity bills in Chicago Public Schools, $3.3 million for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and $5.4 million to the city of Chicago, according to an analysis by Tenaska, aNebraska-based power development company that wants to develop a coal-fed power plant in central Illinois that would meet stringent regulations because it would capture and sequester emissions.
It’s the EPA gift that keeps on … taking.
On the other hand, we can consider this a rarity — an Obama promise kept:
Obama told the Chronicle:
The problem is not technical, uh, and the problem is not mastery of the legislative intricacies of Washington. The problem is, uh, can you get the American people to say, This is really important, and force their representatives to do the right thing? That requires mobilizing a citizenry. That requires them understanding what is at stake. Uh, and climate change is a great example.
You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal, uh, you know Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad. Because Im capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.
They you you can already see what the arguments will be during the general election. People will say, Ah, Obama and Al Gore, these folks, theyre going to destroy the economy, this is going to cost us eight trillion dollars, or whatever their number is. Um, if you cant persuade the American people that yes, there is going to be some increase in electricity rates on the front end, but that over the long term, because of combinations of more efficient energy usage, changing lightbulbs and more efficient appliance, but also technology improving how we can produce clean energy, the economy would benefit.
If we cant make that argument persuasively enough, you you, uh, can be Lyndon Johnson, you can be the master of Washington. Youre not going to get that done.
Even without cap-and-trade — or perhaps more accurately, even with a backdoor carbon tax through regulatory adventurism — Obama kept his promise to have electricity rates skyrocketing, and putting the burden on consumers, business, and taxpayers. Who said that every Obama promise comes with an expiration date?
Obama’s fault.
“People at FR will blame it on the union scum
Not true. Obama will be rightfully blamed here.”
No he won’t.
When electricity prices zoom up, the media will “point the finger” at the “greedy”, “evil”, “environment-destroying” utility companies.
And the public will blame them, too.
Hopefully these regulations (and a whole lot more) will be rolled back during the “Palin restoration” which begins in January 2013....
Just wishin’....
Solar is over-tax benefited in Oregon.
Depending on how smart the person is setting it up - the tax credit is close to 100% of cost.
No one spending his own money woul dput solar in Oregon.
Next time someoen says that - ask how they are measuring the output of the panels. It probably has the CAPACITY to meet the needs of the chold center. But delivery is not capacity.
This is our Pearl Harbor, our World War II. We are under attack ON OUR SHORES BY THE LEFTIST GOVERNMENT IN POWER. We are Americans and we do NOT take crap from socialists/marxists/communists/revolutionaries. As our forefathers fought, as our troops have fought and died for our freedom, we must also fight for our country, with everything we've got. WE ARE AMERICANS!
Stop making excuses and thinking of all the reasons why we as a people should not/can not fight this socialist government in power here in the USA. Give this fight your all. Or die trying.
A change from coal to natural gas automatically "upgrades" the whole plant into compliance, because all the "polluting" emissions are eliminated up front. No mercury, no arsenic, no radiation, no high sulfur. The only remaining "emissions" are water vapor, carbon dioxide, and a very small amount of oxides of nitrogen. What else to you think needs to be "upgraded"??? The boiler?? The steam turbine??
In fact, at the rate things are going Obama faces the same problems that eventually did in James Earl Carter in 1980: 1) a failing economy and 2) an opponent that was charismatic on-air and drove the MSM nuts (I really do foresee one Sarah Palin becoming the Republican nominee because “she’s the real deal” and is highly charismatic in public appearances).
Only much, much more so. Not only will Obummer lose the "Reagan democrats", he is also losing what was a significant part of his base in his first election...the "youth" voter and the woman voter.
British Study Finds Electric Cars Produce Higher Emissions Than Gas-Fueled Cars
Global Warming on Free Republic
Get ready to bend over (again). And you can forget about Vaseline!
PING!
Cities will fill up with lawyers billboards saying, “we’ll fight for your RIGHT to free electricity”...
Cities will fill up with lawyers billboards saying, “we’ll fight for your RIGHT to free electricity”...
If you will note that I said Obama would be blamed "here" as in on FR.
You are right about Obama getting a pass elsewhere.
But Obama is already being rightfully blamed here and it will continue.
Indeed, both China and Russia are increasingly aggressive in putting use to their domestic energy resources. Indeed, Russia right now is looking at potentially gigantic crude oil deposits in northeastern Siberia, and China is trying to find new uses for its very large coal reserves (someone mentioned that China is aggressively building coal-to-oil plants using the technology developed by SASOL of South Africa during the apartheid era). Meanwhile, Obama is too beholden to the environmental extremist crowd, much to detriment of everyone else.
IOW, a petroleum/natural gas product, and one of the things Barack Obama stated he is planning to cap.
bttt
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