Politico Notes Biden’s Power Plan Will Make It Difficult To Keep The Lights On

By William Teach May 12, 2023 – 3:00 pm

Politico is one of the leftist news sites which has cheered all sorts of climate action. Funny how they suddenly realize that actions actually do have consequences

Challenge for Biden power rule: Keeping the lights on
(FYI: They changed the original headline to “Power grid can’t handle Biden’s climate rule, industry groups say”)

The Biden administration’s new greenhouse gas rule is designed to drive drastic changes in how U.S. power companies produce electricity — but utilities say it could escalate the risk of outages as it squeezes fossil fuel plants into retirement.

Power producers are already warning that the rule threatens to compromise the power network’s reliability by pushing their older, dirtier coal and gas plants into retirement at an even faster pace than they are closing now. They say it’s especially worrisome if the plants aren’t replaced as quickly as they shut down.

Power outages reached an all-time high in 2020 and are on the rise because of major climate-fueled weather disasters, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The average person went seven hours without power in 2021 compared with less than four hours in 2013.

Weather incidents are no worse now than they were in the past. What you have now, though, is more people, more buildings, more modern appliances, more things using electricity, but, less per capita electric generation, especially with Government doing away with reliable, affordable, dependable energy sources in favor on unreliable, more expensive “green” energy. There’s not enough being added to cover for what is being killed off. There were 109 nuclear plants in 1989. In 2020 there were 92, and more are being taken off-line. Extreme-enviros sue to block “green” energy projects. It’s a lot easier to have a small footprint/small height natural gas plant in the heartland than a bunch of solar panels and wind turbines which will be damaged by typical thunderstorms.

Meanwhile, the shift to electric vehicles and a push to switch other types of energy demand to electricity is expected to boost U.S. power consumption by 12 percent to 22 percent between 2021 and 2030, requiring a significant increase in generation capacity.

“We’ve already got reliability concerns,” said Todd Snitchler, president and CEO of the Electric Power Supply Association, which represents power plant owners. He noted that many coal plants have already retired after the Obama administration released its never-enforced power plant climate rule in 2015 — and that Biden’s rule is also targeting gas-fired plants for steep pollution cuts.

“You don’t have anything today that can replace the gas that could retire,” Snitchler said.

Of course, Cultists say different

Former regulators, however, say those fears are overblown. Keeping the lights on can be compatible with lowering power grid emissions, they argue.

“There’s always ‘the sky is falling’ proclamation. Industry always says, ‘We can’t do it, there’s no way,’ and it’s always done,” said Richard Glick, a former Biden-era chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. “It’s always done in a way that maintains reliability and also does it in a cost effective manner.”

In other words, you will be forced to use less electricity to cover for what is being lost. Hey, how’s California doing with their blackouts and brownouts? How many EU nations are having to turn the coal and nuclear back on because people are going into energy poverty? Because they are burning wood to keep warm?

Read: Politico Notes Biden’s Power Plan Will Make It Difficult To Keep The Lights On »

Posted in Democrats, Global Warming, Joe Biden | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach May 12, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…is horrible carbon pollution driven heat snow, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is 357 Magnum, with a post on the continuing decline of San Francisco.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

Federal Judge Rules Virginia Cannot Block Those 18-20 From Buying Handguns

By William Teach May 12, 2023 – 10:30 am

If they’re old enough to serve in the military, to vote, to drive a vehicle, to sign a legal contract, etc, then they are legal adults, and should have the ability to purchase a firearm as the Constitution states

Banning gun sales to young American adults under 21 is unconstitutional, judge rules

A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a law banning licensed federal firearms dealers from selling handguns to young adults under 21 violates the Second Amendment and is unconstitutional.

The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Payne in Richmond, if not overturned, would allow dealers to sell handguns to 18- to 20-year-olds.

In his 71-page ruling, Payne wrote that many of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship are granted at the age of 18, including the right to vote, enlist in the military without parental permission and serve on a federal jury.

“If the Court were to exclude 18-to-20-year-olds from the Second Amendment’s protection, it would impose limitations on the Second Amendment that do not exist with other constitutional guarantees,” Payne wrote.

“Because the statutes and regulations in question are not consistent with our Nation’s history and tradition, they, therefore, cannot stand,” he wrote.

They’re legal adults, with all the rights and privileges that go with that. The Virginia bill of rights says so

Section 1. Equality and rights of men.
That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

The gun grabbers keep passing laws but, mostly keep losing

Payne’s ruling is the latest decision striking down gun laws in the wake of a landmark Supreme Court ruling last year that changed the test courts have long used to evaluate challenges to firearm restrictions. The Supreme Court said judges should no longer consider whether the law serves public interests, like enhancing public safety. Governments that want to uphold a gun restriction must look back into history to show it is consistent with the country’s “historical tradition of firearm regulation,” the Supreme Court said.

Gun grabbing Everytown is upset

“Not only are guns the leading cause of death for U.S. kids and teens, but research shows us that 18- to 20-year-olds commit gun homicides at triple the rate of adults 21 years and older,” said Janet Carter, Everytown Law’s senior director of issues and appeals.

“The Court’s ruling will undoubtedly put lives at risk,” she said. “It must be reversed.”

How many of those youts legally purchased the guns, and how many had them illegally? Personally, I would be for a law that requires any first time gun buyer of any age to undergo a training class on firearms, and, even a requirement for a refresher course every 7 years or so. That could well stand legal challenges. Of course, Blue areas might use it to deny ownership, so the law would have to be written very carefully.

Speaking of gun grabbing

Read: Federal Judge Rules Virginia Cannot Block Those 18-20 From Buying Handguns »

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Biden Regime Demand Power Plants Cut “Emissions” By 90%

By William Teach May 12, 2023 – 7:15 am

This will “necessarily skyrocket: the cost of energy, followed by the cost of living. Not that Biden or his people care, they’re rich, it won’t bug them

Biden rule tells power plants to cut climate pollution by 90 percent — or shut down

The Biden administration is announcing a climate rule that would require most fossil fuel power plants to slash their greenhouse gas pollution 90 percent between 2035 and 2040 — or shut down.

The highly anticipated regulation being unveiled Thursday morning is just the latest step in President Joe Biden’s campaign to green the U.S. economy, an effort that has brought a counterattack from Republicans and coal-state Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. That’s on top of efforts by Biden’s agencies to promote the use of electric cars, subsidize green energy sources like solar and wind and tighten regulations on products including gas stoves and dishwashers.

The draft power plant rule from the Environmental Protection Agency would break new ground by requiring steep pollution cuts from plants burning coal or natural gas, which together provide the lion’s share of the nation’s electricity. To justify the size of those cuts, the agency says fossil fuel plants could capture their greenhouse gas emissions before they hit the atmosphere — a long-debated technology that no power plant in the U.S. uses now.

As an alternative, utilities could hasten their decisions to shut down their aging coal plants, a trend that has already gathered speed in the past two decades. The rule allows plants that agree to close in the first half of the 2030s to avoid most or all of the pollution-reduction mandates.

It would be one thing if the Biden regime would fast-track next gen nuclear power plants, but, they won’t. This plan will skyrocket energy prices AND make it less dependable, even taking out the push for EVs. Where do they think this energy is going to come from?

I do expect at least 19 states to sue the minute this rule is passed, just like they did with Obama’s clean power plan, Waters Of The US, other Obama climate scam rules, and some Biden climate scam rules. And the Supreme Court just ruled last year

In its 6-3 ruling, the court said that only Congress, not the EPA, has the power to create a broad system of cap-and-trade regulations to limit emissions from existing power plants in a bid to transition away from coal to renewable energy sources.

The decision is a major setback for the Biden administration’s agenda to combat climate change, specifically the goal to zero out carbon emissions from power plants by 2035 and cut in half the country’s emissions by 2100.

The case stems from the EPA’s directive in 2015 to coal power plants to either reduce production or subsidize alternate forms of energy. That order was never implemented because it was immediately challenged in court.

It wasn’t just cap and trade, it was about Congress having the power, not the Executive Branch. It’s rather in that Constitution thingy. It will be interesting to see under what previous passed law the EPA things they have the authority to pass this massive rule that will have an enormous effect on American citizens.

If the GOP had any cajones, they’d put a simple bill up that would require the White House and EPA to only use renewables starting in 2024.

Read: Biden Regime Demand Power Plants Cut “Emissions” By 90% »

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Joe Biden | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

Florida Law Provides Lots Of Money To Send Illegals To Democrat Run Areas

By William Teach May 12, 2023 – 7:00 am

Democrats love illegals, right?

DeSantis signed a bill into law that creates new hurdles for undocumented workers and patients in Florida. It provides $12 million to relocate migrants to blue states

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a sweeping bill into law on Wednesday that will make it harder for undocumented people to work in Florida, even though the measure fell short of his demands.

The measure is set to be coupled with $12 million in the state budget to relocate migrants from other states, following a controversial political stunt by DeSantis last year in which he authorized a plane carrying Venezuelan and Colombian migrants to fly from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

DeSantis boasted about the stunt during a press conference in Jacksonville, Florida, on Wednesday, saying officials in blue states expected border states to “grin and bear” the care of an influx of migrants.

Stunt? Really? It showed that sanctuary cities and Elite blue areas do not want the illegals

The sweeping changes just signed into law ban undocumented people from driving cars even with licenses from other states, ban localities from issuing IDs to undocumented immigrants, impose felony-level penalties on people who knowingly bring undocumented people to Florida, and require private employers to use E-Verify — a system that checks prospective workers’ residency status.

I can see illegal alien supporters suing, and at least putting a hold on everything but the e-verify. There are supposed to be serious federal penalties on people who knowingly harbor and shelter illegals, as well as enticing them to come to the U.S. illegally.

Critics of the new legislation said they were deeply concerned about how it would affect businesses in Florida. “This law will hurt Florida’s economy at a time when we businesses are struggling with crippling labor shortages in key sectors like healthcare, construction, agriculture, and food service,” Mike Fernandez, the chairman of MBF Healthcare Partners and the cochair of the American Business Immigration Coalition, said in a statement.

Why? Legal citizens can work those jobs.

Meanwhile

Looks like Democrat voting Chicago residents are raaaaacists.

Read More »

Read: Florida Law Provides Lots Of Money To Send Illegals To Democrat Run Areas »

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Washington Post, Which Supports The Forced EV Push, Notices The Environmental Issues Created

By William Teach May 11, 2023 – 4:35 pm

Right above the headline at the article you’ll notice it says “clean cars, hidden toll”

To meet EV demand, industry turns to technology long deemed hazardous

On a remote island close to where the Pacific meets the Indian Ocean sits one of the first refineries built specifically to support the world’s transition away from fossil fuels.

Rocks unearthed here contain traces of nickel, a key ingredient in electric vehicle batteries. Extracting it, refining it and readying it for export is a gargantuan task.

More than $1 billion has been sunk into the processing facility, the first in Indonesia to use an acid-leaching technology to convert low-grade laterite nickel ore — which the country has in abundance — into a higher-grade material suitable for batteries. Foreign investors and lenders cite the project as evidence of their commitment to fighting climate change.

But the sprawling facility, bordered on one side by forest and on the other by blue seas, faces a major challenge: what to do with the roughly 4 million metric tons of toxic waste produced every year — enough, approximately, to fill 1,667 Olympic-size swimming pools.

Yeah, we noticed this issue years ago

In 2020, the companies behind the project told the government they had a solution: They would pump the waste into the ocean. They ultimately backtracked in the face of public pressure. But it’s not clear that the on-land storage alternative they’ve offered instead is significantly safer.

So, wait, this was a Known Issue years ago, and the WP is just now telling their inside the beltway consumers about it, after pimping the forced electric vehicle push?

And as global demand for nickel surges, company executives and Indonesian government leaders are turning to a refining technology long considered too risky to embrace, too perilous for the environment and for local communities.

This technology, using acid under conditions of intense heat and pressure to remove nickel from raw ore, has never been tested before in Indonesia, where the frequency of earthquakes, heavy rainfall and landslides can make it especially treacherous to transport and store hazardous waste. The process poses steep environmental costs that have yet to be reckoned with, according to interviews with more than 40 people familiar with the country’s nickel industry, visits to six largely isolated mining villages in eastern Indonesia and visual analyses by mining experts.

So, screwing these villagers in a 3rd world (2nd world?) nation to take care of the Elites in the 1st world.

The surging interest in nickel is part of the global boom in demand for a range of metals used in making EVs, which typically require six times the mineral inputs of their fossil-fuel burning counterparts to make them run. But while the transition to EVs is widely considered essential in addressing climate change, there has often been little recognition of the toll that extraction and processing of these raw materials — including technologies now urgently needed to produce the quantity and quality of minerals required — will take on the lives and livelihoods of local communities and the surrounding environment.

Little recognition? Those who are against the forced EV push have been noting it for years. Even if we support EVs (which I do), we just do not like mandates, we note it. They may be much better for air quality and not having gas and oil on the ground and in the waters, EVs create their own environmental damage, and this rush to force them on citizens hasn’t factored in the overall damage.

Read: Washington Post, Which Supports The Forced EV Push, Notices The Environmental Issues Created »

Posted in Global Warming, New Climate Deniers | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach May 11, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…is a lake that is obviously shrinking from carbon pollution heat, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Real Climate Science, with a post on Liz Cheney’s version of “real men.”

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 8 Comments | Trackback URL

Two Week Long Chinese Coronavirus Emergency Ends Friday

By William Teach May 11, 2023 – 10:30 am

It ended for most people quite some time ago, it’s mostly just government and some people who think a mask actually works who still took this seriously

U.S. ends COVID-19 emergency. Here’s what that means for you

President Biden has signed a GOP-authored bill declaring an end to the COVID-19 national emergency, and the president is eliminating certain vaccine requirements beginning Friday, as the World Health Organization declares an end to the global pandemic emergency.

The White House is winding down its COVID-19 response team, and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has declared the public health emergency will end on Friday.

“Obviously, we’re in a different place now than we were two and a half years ago when the president came into office, right?” White House COVID-19 Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said in a briefing with reporters Tuesday. “Hospitalizations and deaths are down by well over 90%. And the secretary made a decision to end the public health emergency because we are in a much better place.”

Cute. Congress passed a bill when ends it, which Biden signed. Anyhow, what does this all mean for you? For one Paxlovid will continue to be free for a bit, but, eventually it will be something paid for by your insurance. And

COVID-19 vaccines will continue to be free of charge until the nation’s stockpiled vaccines expire or run out, and Jha said the federal government still has an ample supply. Because they qualify as preventative services under the Affordable Care Act, vaccines will continue to remain free even that for most Americans, Jha said.

Jha says “nearly” every COVID-19 death is now preventable.

Is this like how more people died once the vaccines were available and citizens were forced to mask up than before? Seriously, how many people are getting the jab? I do not know of anyone.

Federal workers and contractors will no longer need to be vaccinated against the virus or obtain an approved exemption. The president on Tuesday issued an executive order ending the vaccine requirement for such workers as of May 12, saying, “we no longer need a government-wide vaccination requirement for federal employees or federally specified safety protocols for federal contractors.”

No more COVID vaccine requirements for international travelers

Does this mean that federal workers currently not working in their offices will be required to come back to the office? So far, Biden has only put out guidance that he’d really like them to, but, not requiring them to.

Most people did move on. Now the Biden regime needs to figure out other ways to run the lives of US citizens.

I’d already set this to post at 1030 when I ran across this delusion piece at the NY Times

Experts See Lessons for Next Pandemic as Covid Emergency Comes to an End

A lot went wrong during the coronavirus pandemic as the virus tore through a polarized nation and public health leaders, policymakers and elected officials struggled to respond.

Chronic underinvestment in public health at the federal, state and local levels only made things worse. All told, more than 1.1 million people have died of Covid-19 in the United States, and more than 1,000 are still dying each week.

Despite the vaccines and forced masking. So, what are those lessons? Surely they have to include “don’t act like dictators. Don’t lock people down. Don’t shutter their business, nor pick and choose which businesses to close. Don’t spend like idiots”, right?

Public health experts say that when managing an infectious disease outbreak, communication is not part of the response. It is the response.

Yes, perhaps the Elites can explain why they’re blowing off the restrictions they instituted for the peasants. Like how Biden and his people never wore masks while addressing the press, despite a Biden mask mandate when indoors at a federal building.

The C.D.C. was hamstrung during the pandemic by antiquated data systems and inconsistent data sharing between the federal government, states and health providers. And unlike Britain and Israel, which have national health care systems, the United States has no mechanism for a free flow of data between public health agencies and private providers.

Is this like how the Biden admin and all sorts of government officials attempted to shut down people having their say?

School closures have been a particularly contentious topic, but many experts now agree that some schools were closed for too long and that abruptly removing millions of children from American classrooms has had harmful effects on their emotional and intellectual health.

Ya think?

In the early months of the pandemic, frontline health workers faced dramatic supply shortages, forcing them to reuse face masks, wear ill-fitting personal protective gear or go without such equipment altogether.

Nope, nothing about government not being authoritarian.

Read: Two Week Long Chinese Coronavirus Emergency Ends Friday »

Posted in Bat Soup Virus, Joe Biden | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

Greenpeace, A Few Italians Sue Italian Energy Company Over Hotcoldwetdry

By William Teach May 11, 2023 – 7:15 am

Have they considered what the outcome will be if they win?

Greenpeace sues Italian energy company ENI over climate change

Greenpeace and an environmental coalition including 12 Italian citizens are suing Italian energy company ENI, accusing it of knowingly contributing to climate change.

The complaint names ENI as well as its two biggest shareholders, the Italian Economy Ministry and the Italian state lender and public investment bank, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. It’s seeking past and future damages as a result of “climate change to which ENI has significantly contributed by its conduct in recent decades, while being aware of it,” according to a statement from Greenpeace Italy.

In a statement, ENI said it would demonstrate in court the “groundlessness” of the lawsuit and the “correctness” of its decarbonization strategy, which it said was balancing sustainability, energy security and competitiveness.

ENI also said it would consider legal action on its own against one of the plaintiffs, ReCommon, for alleged defamation.

Good on ENI to fight back. They should disconnect service from any plaintiffs, tell them to install solar panels on their own

The plaintiffs are also asking the court to oblige ENI to change its industrial strategy to reduce emissions by at least 45% by 2030 compared to 2020 levels to keep the average global temperature increase within 1.5 degrees Celsius, as called for by the Paris Climate Agreement.

OK, let’s say ENI loses: how much will this cost them in direct payouts and in infrastructure upgrades, which will be passed on to consumers? If they have to replace reliable, dependable, cost efficient fossil fuels with expensive, unreliable wind and solar? Have they really considered the consequences, or, do cultists just not care or think?

Read: Greenpeace, A Few Italians Sue Italian Energy Company Over Hotcoldwetdry »

Posted in Climate Cult, Global Warming | 11 Comments | Trackback URL

US Warns Illegals That Border Is Not Open But Will Allow Them In And Untracked

By William Teach May 11, 2023 – 7:00 am

Does the government talk to the government? Here’s the shot

U.S. Warns Migrants Before End of Pandemic Restrictions That ‘Border Is Not Open’

A day before a pandemic-era rule that was used to swiftly expel migrants at the southern border is set to expire, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, warned migrants on Wednesday against crossing illegally into the United States.

“Our border is not open,” Mr. Mayorkas said, adding that those who enter illegally will now face tougher consequences, including expulsion from the country. “Do not risk your life and your life savings only to be removed from the United States if — if and when — you arrive here.”

Chaser

Biden admin to allow for the release of some migrants into the U.S. with no way to track them

After more than 11,000 migrants were caught crossing the southern border on Tuesday, the Biden administration is now preparing a memo that will direct Customs and Border Protection to begin releasing migrants into the U.S. without court dates or the ability to track them, according to three sources familiar with the plans.

The Biden administration began releasing migrants without court dates to alleviate overcrowding in March 2021, but had previously enrolled those migrants in a program known as Alternatives to Detention, which required them to check in on a mobile app until they were eventually given a court date. The new policy would release them on “parole” with a notice to report to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office but without enrolling them in the program.

The more than 11,000 border apprehensions in a single day is a record and surpasses expectations of 10,000 per day predicted by Department of Homeland Security officials on what could come when Covid restrictions lift late Thursday.

“We’re already breaking and we haven’t hit the starting line,” one DHS official told NBC News, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the person isn’t authorized to talk to the media.

So, basically, dereliction of duty, failing to follow the law. Releasing illegals into the nation with zero attempt to track them.

Read: US Warns Illegals That Border Is Not Open But Will Allow Them In And Untracked »

Posted in Democrats, Illegal Immigration, Joe Biden | 6 Comments | Trackback URL
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