Our 'alternative' energy future really means no energy at all

Las Vegas Review-Journal ^ | 28 june 09

[rellimpank]

Do the forces now in charge of our energy future prefer that the American economy continue to grow based on the exploitation of plentiful and less-expensive coal and other fossil fuels, or by replacing those older power sources with wind, solar and other "renewables," regardless of the cost?

Based on developments here in Southern Nevada last week, the answer would appear to be ... that it was a trick question to begin with. Those in charge today have no intention of providing the foundering American economy with the new energy resources it needs to resume its growth, at all.

Last week, tired of wasting time promoting a relatively clean, low-cost energy option opposed by the entire ruling political class, from President Obama and U.S. Sen. Harry Reid on down, utility NV Energy formally withdrew its application through the state Public Utilities Commission to build the Ely Energy Center.

The $5 billion, 1,500-megawatt central Nevada plant would have generated enough energy to power 900,000 homes. It will now be delayed at least a decade, until costly technologies can be developed to capture all such a plant's harmless emissions of carbon dioxide -- a gas necessary to life on Earth, a gas of which mankind's production is dwarfed by that churned out by the oceans and volcanoes, but to which eco-extremists attribute the supposed danger of "global warming."

[rellimpank]

--Vin Suprynowicz is off this week--

[sockmonkey]

Bidders -- some of whom already have hundreds of thousands of dollars tied up in leases that haven't been issued from two previous Utah auctions -- will still be expected to pay for their parcels, even though the BLM won't be issuing any actual leases.

Say What? That's just unbelievable.

[clashfan]

What we need is more Sarah Palin and less “forces now in charge of our energy future”.

[DJ Frisat]

From the full article:

"If the green-dominated federal government is going to block both solar and wind power development here in the desert Southwest -- at the same time it blocks new oil and gas leases on millions of acres of God-forsaken desert scrub -- what's America's energy-hungry economy going to use to replace coal and nuclear and natural gas in the years to come?"

I can see the hand-wringing, chest-beating prevaricating pontificators in Congress now, as they bring in the utility heads and demand to know why they their companies are ill-prepared to supply the energy the American people need.

These jackasses make me sick.

[samtheman]

I wonder if Sarah Palin is up to the challenge. They are going to turn the full force of the commie lying media against her and as good as she is, I wonder if she can withstand them.

She has so far failed to use the magic word. Without that one word, arguing with the commie lying media is pointless.

[theBuckwheat]

The “logic” used by advocates of green jobs is the same used by those who say that the economy is improved when a crowd of ruffians breaks store windows and a lot of glaziers get hired to repair the damage.

In both cases, this is economics by superficial analysis. To fund green projects, we must take money from normal wage earners and out of business profits. Hardly a single green project produces a greater ROI than these folks were earning on their own money.

This is simple: when you take money from people who spend their money wisely and spend it any less wisely, we all end up with less money. To add insult to this injury, we are going to borrow the money we spend, and we obviously have no intention to ever pay it back. We hope the world of lenders will be satisfied that we repay them with inflated dollars when we periodically roll the note by repeatedly borrowing for our spending needs.

The left, which loves to lecture the rest of us about “sustainability” is hell bent on going down the road of totally unsustainable economic policy.

This would be just an academic exercise except we are spending way more money than we make, and we are proposing to spend this additional money on supplies of energy that cannot be counted on during extremes of weather. The wind typically doesn't blow on the coldest days of winter, when the solar power also produces the lowest amount during the annual solar cycle.

We have committed a substantial fraction of our food corn crop to producing methanol, at such great expense in terms of subsidy and ground water, yet a climate that is really trending cooler is projected to cut US agricultural output by up to 20%.

All these chaotic decisions will only decrease the prosperity of the US while increasing our reliance on buying essential energy supplies with borrowed dollars from people who only hate us.

This is the road to ruin and not the hoped-for secular millennium.

[wita]

what’s America’s energy-hungry economy going to use to replace coal and nuclear and natural gas in the years to come?”

The economy will necessarily lose it’s appetite for energy, no?

[wbones8765]

It will lose its need for energy as busineses are shut down because of cost. This is an economic nightmare of a proposal. To force people to use more costly energy to provide services, and goods.
HMMM Wonder what it does to price of those goods? Can we compete with other countries products at cheaper prices in our country? Nope!!! So as we go along we will lose more jobs than what gets created.
As we pay other countries 2.2 trillion dollars in subsidies. Yep, that is right, we the American taxpayer will be subsidizing other countries, as we starve and the lights go out.

[DJ Frisat]

"The economy will necessarily lose it’s appetite for energy, no?"

Sure, just like here at home. When the cupboard's nearly empty, we're not hungry any more...

[Jim Noble]

Those in charge today have no intention of providing the foundering American economy with the new energy resources it needs to resume its growth, at all.

But they mean well!

[RoadTest]

Wind power only works when the wind blows.

Solar power only works when the sun shines.

God gave us coal in abundance. All we have to do is mine it and transport it to the power house.

Our International Communist government is seeking to destroy our country and its economy because the world hates us. It is jealous because it doesn’t have what we have. It wants to either have it or destroy it. That’s the blind rage of the world, the flesh and the devil at work.

[wita]

Great analogy, too bad it remains lost to everyone but the choir. You and I both know when people will begin to catch on. When the cupboard is bare. We might consider that a day late, and a dollar short, but better late than never, to spin a hackneyed phrase or two.

[wita]

But they mean well!

Are you sure about that?

[wita]

That’s the blind rage of the world, the flesh and the devil at work.

Well and truthfully said.

[DJ Frisat]

"We might consider that a day late, and a dollar short, but better late than never, to spin a hackneyed phrase or two."

A favorite quote:

"I'm bound-and-determined to be cliche-free." -- Biff Rose

[monocle]

Voters and politicians all screamed to high heaven when gas pices went to four dollars per gallon and now Washington is trying to convince us that high energy prices are good for us. If these new energy sources are so desirable why haven’t greedy oil companies already started exploiting these new technologies?

[wita]

Sorta like Yoke Berra’s “it’s deja vu all over again.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

We drove through the Altamont Pass yesterday on our way to Byron, CA. It was 105 degrees outside at 3 PM and we were surrounded by thousands of windmills. On days like this, utilities typically set a record for energy demand between 3 PM to 6 PM.

So take a guess how many of those God-awful ugly windmills were actually turning and producing power.

This is a criminal misallocation of our scare capital resources, all brought to you by the people we send to Washington.

[DJ Frisat]

Don’t get me started on baseball stuff...

“Pain don’t hurt” — Sparky Anderson
“You never know, you know?” — Mark ‘The Bird’ Fidrych

[The Great RJ]

Sadly the American people may have to actually experience the consequences of Obama's energy fiasco before they wake up and clean out Congress and throw Obama out of the White House.

I fully expect that in many parts of the country brownouts and blackouts will soon become common as windmills and solar panels cannot begin to meet our energy needs and fossil fuel plants are closed down or not built. Home owners and businesses will see massive increases in electric bills and jobs will move overseas to countries with both cheaper energy and labor costs. $4 per gallon gasoline prices will return as cap and trade costs are passed on and new taxes are added but with the new misery of rationing. The Jimmy Carter era long lines at the pump may come as early as 2010.