Editorials & Other Articles

red dog 1

(27,820 posts) Mon Jun 4, 2018, 03:21 PM Jun 2018

Leaked Document Shows Trump Officials Planning To Force Americans To Keep Coal & Nuclear Plants

Last edited Mon Jun 4, 2018, 04:00 PM - Edit history (1)

LEAKED DOCUMENT SHOWS TRUMP OFFICIALS PLANNING TO FORCE AMERICANS TO SPEND BETWEEN $311 MILLION AND $11.8 BILLION A YEAR TO KEEP UNPROFITABLE COAL AND NUCLEAR ENERGY PLANTS FROM SHUTTING

BOINGBOING.net (blog)
June 2, 2018

Officials in Trump's Department of Energy prepared a plan to use unprecedented "emergency powers" to force the US grid to rely on expensive, unprofitable coal and nuclear power, rather than paying market rates for cheaper sources of energy: renewables and natural gas.

The plan will cost Americans an additional $311,000,000 - $11,800,000,000 per year, according to estimates from researchers at Energy Innovation and the Climate Policy Institute.

The plan poses the "premature retirements" of these unprofitable power-plants as a national security matter, that would leave the country vulnerable to cyberattacks and extreme weather events.

The plan proposes action under the Cold War-era Section 202 Federal Power Act and the Defense Production Act invoked by Harry Truman 68 years ago to subsidize US steel production.

More:
https://boingboing.net/2018/06/02/defense-production-act.html

7 replies

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Highlight:

Leaked Document Shows Trump Officials Planning To Force Americans To Keep Coal & Nuclear Plants (Original Post) red dog 1 Jun 2018 OP

Check your header line. Leaded instead of leaked. hedda_foil Jun 2018 #1

Thanks for that red dog 1 Jun 2018 #2

Distributed renewable generation is a lot less vulnerable to weather events than a fixed power plant VMA131Marine Jun 2018 #3

+ 1 red dog 1 Jun 2018 #4

Surely, surely this can be prevented -- RandomAccess Jun 2018 #5

It's just optics Chakaconcarne Jun 2018 #6

So much for letting the "free market" decide. world wide wally Jun 2018 #7

hedda_foil

(16,375 posts)

1. Check your header line. Leaded instead of leaked.

Reply to red dog 1 (Original post)

Mon Jun 4, 2018, 03:30 PM

Jun 2018

red dog 1

(27,820 posts)

2. Thanks for that

Reply to hedda_foil (Reply #1)

Mon Jun 4, 2018, 04:01 PM

Jun 2018

After posting this, I rushed over to the DU Lounge to post another thread & missed my mistake

VMA131Marine

(4,140 posts)

3. Distributed renewable generation is a lot less vulnerable to weather events than a fixed power plant

Reply to red dog 1 (Original post)

Mon Jun 4, 2018, 04:08 PM

Jun 2018

If every home had solar panels on the roof and some battery storage, people could count on having at least some power everyday even in the event of a widespread power outage.

red dog 1

(27,820 posts)

4. + 1

Reply to VMA131Marine (Reply #3)

Mon Jun 4, 2018, 04:22 PM

Jun 2018

Also, wind farm technology has made great strides in the last 2-3 years.
I forget which state, but one state has something like 20% power on the grid from wind farms