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If only the grid could run on hypocrisy

31 Jul 2019 | News Roundup

With a blackout in Manhattan last week we got a taste of the future. Namely terrible energy policy from politicians who then blame the victims while insisting that they themselves have done nothing wrong. Specifically here New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who attacked the Con Edison gas and electric utility for playing “Russian roulette” and threatened to shut it down. In fact, as Robert Bryce argues, it is he who has been jeopardizing the supply.

Cuomo’s administration is shutting down the Indian Point nuclear plant because like radioactivity is bad, man. There goes ¼ of the Big Apple’s power supply, and about the most reliable quarter. Even though the New York Independent System Operator has repeatedly warned of the consequences. But the governor has been calling for it since 2011 and now he’s getting his wish. So are his constituents.

Well, if not nuclear, then how about not natural gas either? The New York state government has repeatedly blocked new pipelines even as electricity produced from gas in the state has almost doubled. And don’t look for relief, because the governor has accepted the Climate and Community Protection Act that mandates 70% generation from renewables by 2030 and 100% carbon-free by 2040. Just not nuclear because, again, no nukes because no nukes. Whatever this plan might achieve, community protection isn’t on the list, as Manhattanites got a grim foretaste last week.

It would be bad enough on its merits. But to have Cuomo then start yelling at others for taking crazy risks with the state power supply is incandescent hypocrisy.

Likewise, places like Berkeley, California are preventing people from hooking up to natural gas. It’s trendy. But it has real-world consequences and they aren’t pretty. For instance, 74 American medical and public health groups issued a “U.S. Call to Action” in June calling for an end to hydrocarbon fuels. But wait until they get a blackout at a hospital and see how they like it. Or air conditioning that goes off during a heat wave.

It won’t be pretty. But nothing is uglier than a politician causing a problem and then screeching threats about whoever caused it. Buy this man a mirror.

2 comments on “If only the grid could run on hypocrisy”

  1. The vast majority of politicians are pathologically disposed to using the coercive power of the state to dictate how other people live their lives. Once the legitimacy of state functions transcend the police, military, and courts, and locally and more arguably, roads ,sewer, water, and parks, you invite the worst of humanity to aspire to political office. The idea that politicians should be allowed to pimp hysteria to secure a mandate to be responsible for deciding over issues as critical as access to energy (to say nothing of education and health care) is as sane as allowing monkeys to play with live hand grenades. Whether it is a Conservative Prime Minister banning incandescent light bulbs, or a Liberal PM and his green priest adviser, strangling the life out of the Oil and Gas sector, this is how civilizations die.

  2. I asked Google to name me one hospital with a renewable emergency power generator. You guessed probably right, not a single one.
    All emergency power generators run on diesel or natural gas. Because that is reliable.
    So, if you have an operation after 2040, the chirurg might walk out on you while saying:"I'll be back when the wind picks-up".

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