You missed solar and wind power, two of the best ways to insure that you will freeze in the winter and sweat in the summer.
Posted on 07/21/2013 10:32:39 PM PDT by grundle
A job for life. That's what they were promised.
It wasn't in a contract, but to the 20 men who gathered for Bud Lights and commiseration Wednesday night in Greene County, working at a power plant was the equivalent.
"This was the job everybody wanted," said Ray Christner Jr. of Brownsville. "We had it. And now it's gone."
Nine days had passed since FirstEnergy announced it will shut down two power plants: Hatfield's Ferry, Greene County, across the Monongahela River from Masontown, Fayette County, and Mitchell in Union Township, Washington County, by Oct. 9 -- leaving 380 people without work.
"First, we were shocked. Then we were upset. Now, we're just angry," said Gregg Jerome of Uniontown, an electrician at the plant.
The employees are mainly from Greene, Fayette and Washington counties. Many started at the plants soon after high school and some have stayed for more than 30 years. Others were transferred to Hatfield's Ferry and Mitchell when FirstEnergy closed six coal-fired power plants in Ohio, Maryland and Pennsylvania last year.
Those at Hatfield thought the plant would surely be safe from closure, as Allegheny Energy invested $650 million on scrubbers meant to eliminate sulfur and mercury emissions just four years ago.
If the workers lived somewhere else, losing a job in the power business might not be as stressful. But in Pennsylvania, where coal-fired power production has decreased 28 percent since 2005, there are few, if any, jobs that can replace what the workers at Hatfield's Ferry and Mitchell had: regular hours, salaries between $22 and $30 per hour, and good benefits, all without a college education.
"I understand the importance of regulations and clean air," said technician David Donaldson, 45. "But ask Obama this -- what good is green energy to me if I can't support my family?"
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
Precisely. This was predictable, as are the coming brown outs and blackouts.
I’ve been following energy policy for 35+ years, worked in a coal fired steam powerplant as an engineering student. I understand this stuff technically, and I understand it from a big picture economically. In a very fundamental way, the American Economic Miracle had a large foundation block called Cheap Energy.
We are allowing this fool in the White House to throw this away with very little debate. It isn’t going to end well. I hope some major NE cities have a blackout in time to create a real public debate and arrest the slide. I don’t see anything else making this happen.
We have four basic choices Nuclear reaction steam generation, Coal Fired Steam generation, Gas Turbines, and Hydroelectric power generation, as our meet the demand electrical power generation options. Nothing else of this production capacity is even on the drawing board as far as I know.
Probably not very strong of support for Obambi among union workers in the electric utility industry. They know of his desire to destroy coal (and with it, inexpensive energy for industry).
It’s a damn shame though - good jobs going away while the useless leftist environazi desk jockeys continue to make 6-figure incomes for doing nothing useful.
Hey Pennsylvania! Elections have consequences. You knew this going in, yet you voted for him anyway.
I’ll bet you that if you peeled Philly away from Pennsylvania, you’d have a fairly solid conservative state. Strong evidence, given that many precincts in Philadelphia had over 100% voter turnout, that massive voter fraud won the election for Obama. Probably both times.
Outside of the big cities, PA is a lot like Ohio - very conservative. It’s the big cities that are the problem, packed full of freeloaders voting for free stuff for themselves. I wonder what happens when population reaches that critical density that causes people to become incredibly short-sighted and stupid...
I’m no fan of Obama, but let’s be honest here: The biggest factor in the closure of these power plants in western Pennsylvania is probably the declining prices of natural gas as the development of Marcellus shale gas extraction unfolds. Nobody is using less electricity these days, so these coal-fired plants are simply being replaced by gas-fired plants.
That's the way government works today. Yet, the Unions do the money-laundering to the DNC, and then the Union labor is laid off, while the businesses PUSH Amnesty, to lower their costs.
In ALL these things; follow the money!
CEI=CEO
More wind and solar, maaaaan!
I’ve seen this movie before during the Carter Administration. We wasted $billions on that stuff and there’s nothing to show for it, and here we are doing it all over again, and worse.
My Labrador Retriever, LulaBelle, worked for NASA until they cancelled all space programs and became an outreach project.
Thanks grundle.
Obama’s war on fulltime employment, Obama’s war on coal.
You missed solar and wind power, two of the best ways to insure that you will freeze in the winter and sweat in the summer.
I live in Indiana County. We have three power plants here. Obama didn’t win our county either. I’m betting it’s just a matter of time before they target at least one of the three.
I like that - “Fayette Nam” lol!!
I think western Penn is conservative, isn’t it? I’d say there are parts of many NE states that have conservatives in them in the areas not dominated by large urban cities filled with minorities, foreigners and illegals, with a healthy helping of just plain ole rabid liberals thrown in, too.
The RNC is making matters worse with its amnesty agenda
I know, right! I ignore those ads cause they’re utter b.s.
Well I get why the Republican party is called the stupid party by some here.
Oh those things? Didn't T Boone sink a fortune into them? LOL soon after they began putting wind turbines up they realized many humans could not withstand the low frequency harmonics they create. Low Frequency sounds can not be shut out by basic ear protection either as it penetrates the skull which is part of your hearing.
They might work out well up on the Canadian Plains but here in East Tennessee they'll not be turning enough to matter on most days.
Walmart thought they'd be real Green and put in skylights as their primary store lighting in the day time. LOL they leave the lights on now. People around here that I know who have solar power are persons too far from the power grid to afford utilities.
Have been seeing the pattern in Texas for a while.
Obama and his minion the EPA has been trying to punish Texas for the last 5 years but so for Texas has been able to absorb the blows
Secede. Cruz for President of Texas
I am sad for these people, but it seems when you hear these stories, these folks keep voting for their own demise.
Truth is the politicians lie before every election and the people buy it. They want to believe democrats.
Power from some of the best coal in the world.
Trashed.
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