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Author Topic: Corruption in Government  (Read 57559 times)

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AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #450 on: September 04, 2017, 07:37:12 pm »
Agelbert NOTE: To be filed in the same category as questions about bears going poop in the woods.  ;D




Is Trump mentally unfit to properly run this country?

Jim Brasseur, Retired U.S. Naval Officer and Physician Assistant (1969-present)

Updated Aug 24, 2017

While I have had the privilege of over 45 years of medical practice, I do not believe that I have anywhere near the psychiatric or psychological experience to provide a knowledgeable clinical opinion of Mr. Trump’s mental fitness.

On the other hand, as a well experienced 67 year old American, my opinion is that Mr. Trump is screwy as a loon, is a threat to this country and the world and he shouldn't be allowed to lead a ghost town in Death Valley where he was the only occupant, let alone the United States.

It'd be one thing if he were just a clown, but given his actions to date and the global political environment, he is remarkably dangerous.



96.1k Views · 3,915 Upvotes

https://www.quora.com/Is-Trump-mentally-unfit-to-properly-run-this-country

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #451 on: September 08, 2017, 08:00:37 pm »


September 7, 2017

Clinton Attacks Sanders in New Book -- RAI With Thomas Frank (2/6)

On Reality Asserts Itself, Thomas Frank  , author of 'What's the Matter with Kansas?' and 'Listen, Liberal,' and Paul Jay discuss Hillary Clinton's new book 'What Happened,' and identify the real differences between Clinton and Sanders.


http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=19944
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #452 on: September 09, 2017, 02:07:34 pm »


September 8, 2017

Puerto Rico Drowning in Debt: Irma Deepens the Crisis

Mark Weisbrot says debt cancellation and restructuring will be the only answer to rebuild Puerto Rico


http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=19959
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #453 on: September 12, 2017, 08:16:43 pm »
 

SEP 11, 2017

On 9/11: How We Hyped Terrorism and Slighted the Real Threat: Climate Change

SNIPPET:

But in the meantime, burning fossil fuels has been causing some 200,000 premature deaths each year. The plain way of putting it is that driving our cars and heating or cooling our homes is killing people ten years before their time. It is killing nearly 0.1% of the American population each year. That is more than the nearly 3,000 killed in 2001. And it is every year. Since 9/11, in other words, by burning fossil fuels at such a furious rate, by burning coal to make electricity and gasoline to move automobiles, we have sent 3,200,000 Americans to an early grave.

But that death toll is tiny compared to the Climate Genocide our political leaders and captains of industry have planned for us. The United States is emitting 5.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. The world is emitting some 45 billion metric tons of CO2. That heats up the oceans, which in turn put more water vapor in the air and support more destructive hurricanes. It also raises the sea level by melting surface ice and by increasing the volume of the sea water itself (warm water takes up more space).

One storm, fed by the extra warm water of the Caribbean, Harvey, appears to have caused $180 billion worth of damage. It totaled one million automobiles! Harvey was a 1 in 500 years storm. But then Irma was likewise. At one point it just sped along for days at 185 m/h, at a combined speed and duration that has never before been recorded.

Harvey comes after Hurricane Sandy, which caused $120 bn.in damage. Sandy was able to get all the way up to New York City because the Atlantic has warmed up. In the old days New York water would have been cold and would have stopped the Hurricane from getting that far north.

The United State should have swung into action in the 1970s when Exxon (was it Esso then?) scientists discovered that burning fossil fuels was causing global heating. We needed a Manhattan Project in the Reagan years to develop solar and wind. It did not happen. Reagan and Bush were in the back pockets of Big Oil.

Since 1977, 50 years ago, have we put 25 trillion metric tons of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere? That kind of concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is like setting off large numbers of atomic bombs. It makes it hot.

We haven’t spent $4-6 trillion on fighting climate change, even though burning fossil fuels polishes off 200,000 Americans a year and even though extreme weather is submerging cities like Houston and Miami from time to time, and will do so with increasing frequency.

It isn’t just storms. The American West has suffered from a long drought and an unusual number of fires in recent years. These phenomena, like the storms, are not caused by man-made climate change. There have been hurricanes and wildfires all along. Climate change is just prolonging them and making them worse. It is adding to their severity and longevity by a certain percentage– 10%? 30%.

Global heating will go on increasing and producing extreme weather. In 1750 there were 270 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It is now 410 ppm, the highest it has been for three million years. But the earth hasn’t yet heated up to the degree that such a high amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would predict. It will take centuries for that number to be translated into surface heat. All of Antarctica is going to melt. All of Greenland. Talk about a storm surge!

So we went in the wrong direction. Instead of invading and occupying Iraq, we should have created an army of scientists and engineers to invent better solar panels and better wind turbines and better batteries. The threat won’t come for the most part from hijacked jets. It will come from an atmosphere made angry and vengeful by our burning of fossil fuels. We should have been sending in the national guard to shut down the coal plants. We should have been banning gasoline cars.

Full article:

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/911-slighted-real-threat-climate-change-hyped-terrorism/

Agelbert NOTE: The following quote from a peer reviewed book is of extreme importance to all Americans:

Dilworth (2010-03-12). Too Smart for our Own Good (pp. 399-400). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.

Quote
"As suggested earlier, war, for example, which represents a cost for society, is a source of profit to capitalists. In this way we can partly understand e.g. the American military expenditures in the Persian Gulf area. Already before the first Gulf War, i.e. in 1985, the United States spent $47 billion projecting power into the region. If seen as being spent to obtain Gulf oil, It AMOUNTED TO $468 PER BARREL, or 18 TIMES the $27 or so that at that time was paid for the oil itself.

In fact, if Americans had spent as much to make buildings heat-tight as they spent in ONE YEAR at the end of the 1980s on the military forces meant to protect the Middle Eastern oil fields, THEY COULD HAVE ELIMINATED THE NEED TO IMPORT OIL from the Middle East.

So why have they not done so? Because, while the $468 per barrel may be seen as being a cost the American taxpayers had to bear, and a negative social effect those living in the Gulf area had to bear, it meant only profits for American capitalists. "

Note: I added the bold caps emphasis on the barrel of oil price, money spent in one year and the need to import oil from the Middle East.

This totally unjustified profit, never mind the needless lose of lives, then increases the power of the fossil fuel corporations to perpetuate a biosphere harming dirty fuel status quo. How? By "funding" politicians with rather large "donations" to keep renewable energy from competing with dirty energy.

If all this was just about power politics, I might not be that concerned. Humans, particularly the overly ambitious and aggressive ones, have always fought and schemed to control and fleece the population at large.

But now we know the future of our biosphere is at stake. Now we know the entire edifice of dirty energy is a knife in the back of the biosphere that will destroy our species and many others.


The system, as defined by the fossil fuel fascist dystopia that currently runs most of the human affairs among the 1 billion population in the developed world that is saddling the other 6 billion, who are totally free of guilt for causing it, with this climate horror we are beginning to experience, IS quite stubborn and does not wish to change the status quo.

Mother nature will force it to do so.

Whether it is done within the next two decades or not (i.e. a switch to 100% PLUS bioremediation Renewable Energy steady state economy) will dictate the size of the consequent die off, not only of humans but thousands of other species as well.

We are now in a climate cake that has been baked for about 1,000 years according to atmospheric, objective, proven with experimental data, science.


The Fossil Fuelers DID THE Clean Energy  Inventions suppressing, Climate Trashing, human health depleting CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on!   

 


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #454 on: September 13, 2017, 09:46:23 pm »
 

Republicans Won't Let Americans Vote (w/Guest Jason Kander)


Sep. 12, 2017 3:02 pm

Thom speaks with Jason Kander ( former Secretary of State (D-MO)/President-Let America Vote & Chair-DNC's Commission to Protect American Democracy) on voter intimidation, suppression and efforts by Republicans that make it harder for people to vote.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #455 on: September 14, 2017, 10:49:36 pm »
Why We Must Talk About Trump’s Mental Health | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann | GQ


GQ

Published on Sep 6, 2017

A majority of Americans now think he’s “unstable.” Yet we’ve decided this topic is somehow taboo?



Trump Will Soon Be the Ex-POTUS | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann | GQ


GQ

Published on Sep 7, 2017

Despite the distractions, Trump's Russia troubles are growing much worse.

How Did Trump Remember 9/11? | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann | GQ


GQ

Published on Sep 11, 2017

He hardly did.


Robert Mueller is Zeroing in on Trump’s Cover Up | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann | GQ


GQ

Published on Sep 12, 2017

The outlines of the case that Robert Mueller must be building can now be glimpsed.

The Media Doesn’t Understand What Trump is Doing | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann | GQ


GQ

Published on Sep 13, 2017

Donald Trump’s not pivoting. He’s not changing. He’s just crazy.

It’s Now Dawned on Trump: People Hate Him | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann | GQ


GQ

Published on Sep 14, 2017

In a flash of strange self-awareness, Donald Trump acknowledges the truth.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #456 on: September 14, 2017, 11:27:58 pm »
Robert Reich: The Resistance Report 9/13/2017


Inequality Media Civic Action

Published on Sep 13, 2017

Join me for today’s Resistance Report, where we’ll be tracking issues we must not lose sight of: news on the Emoluments clause, an update on Medicare-for-all, dangerous new provisions in the Republican budget proposal, and more.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #457 on: September 17, 2017, 02:41:42 pm »
Agelbert NOTE: A film that accurately predicted what is happening in the Fascist USA RIGHT NOW.

Don't Be a Sucker - 1947

Don't Be a Sucker - 1947

775,693 views

Weirdo Video

Published on Sep 29, 2007

In this anti-fascist film produced by US Military in the wake of WWII, the producers deconstruct the politically motivated social engineering of Germany by the Nazi regime.

Its argument is just as timely today.


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #458 on: September 19, 2017, 07:06:23 pm »
This is the Legend Of Colin Kaepernick (w/Guest Rock Newman  )


Sep. 18, 2017 4:00 pm

Alex is joined by Rock Newman to discuss the a skilled worker being denied a job because of his political beliefs, the NFL and Colin Kaepernick.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #459 on: September 21, 2017, 10:39:27 pm »

Germany Wants To Know If Americans Have Gone Crazy Electing Donald Trump


Sep. 19, 2017 5:00 pm

Thom returns from with questions from the German public, HAS AMERICA GONE INSANE electing Donald Trump? What are the consequences of this going to be not just for America but for the world?

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #460 on: September 23, 2017, 03:34:08 pm »
EcoWatch

Meet the 4 Horsemen of the EPA-pocalypse

By Mary Anne Hitt

Every week, another decision that endangers our families seems to come out of Scott Pruitt's  and Donald Trump's U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The latest facepalm/outrage comes in the form of confirmation hearings that start this week for four completely unacceptable nominees to critical leadership positions at EPA.

This Wednesday, Sep. 20, the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works will decide whether to confirm Bill Wehrum to lead the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, David Ross as chief of the EPA's Office of Water, and Michael Dourson to head up the agency's chemical safety programs. Later this month, they will hold a hearing on the nomination of Andrew Wheeler as EPA's deputy administrator, the agency's second-in-command.

We can thank EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt for these four horsemen of the EPA-pocalypse—four people who will gladly choose polluters over public health and clean air and water standards every time.

Andrew Wheeler, who Pruitt has tapped for the number two spot at EPA, was described by the Washington Post as a "longtime coal lobbyist" and has worked on behalf of a company which reportedly has numerous environmental and worker safety violations. Wheeler has spent his career challenging vital life-saving environmental protections that keep our air and water clean so that we can keep our families safe (I wrote this post about him earlier this summer). He also used to be an aide for outspoken climate-denying and corporate-polluter-loving senator, James Inhofe.

Bill Wehrum, Pruitt's pick to head up the office in charge of enforcing the Clean Air Act and keeping your air safe to breathe, is a lobbyist who represents a host of coal, oil, gas, and chemical companies, and was a former George W. Bush-era EPA official. If you recognize his name, it's because he was also nominated to this position in 2006—his nomination was withdrawn when he failed to earn support of the 60 Senators needed for confirmation.

And while he's nominated to lead the EPA's air and radiation office, ironically enough, he's said that the Clean Air Act shouldn't apply to the carbon pollution that contributes to climate change and superstorms like Hurricane Harvey. As my friend John Walke at NRDC put it, Wehrum "is an industry lawyer who was largely responsible for the Bush EPA's record of violating the Clean Air Act more often, and allowing more illegal emissions of harmful air pollution, than any EPA administration before or since."

David Ross, nominated for for the top spot at the Office of Water, has sued the EPA many times related to its clean water safeguards in his work representing fossil fuel states like Wyoming, including challenging the Clean Water Rule and the Chesapeake Bay cleanup program (he lost the latter lawsuit, which the court called "long on swagger, but short on specificity"). According to E&E News, he "has represented states and industry in lawsuits against the agency—some of which were filed by then-Oklahoma Attorney General and now EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt."

Finally, Michael Dourson is on deck to head up the EPA division that oversees the chemical industry, called the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, "Dourson has extensive, longstanding ties to the chemical industry (as well as earlier ties to the tobacco industry). He also has a history of failing to appropriately address his conflicts of interest." The first example they cite hits close to home for me as a West Virginian—they report he was the sole spokesperson for an expert panel studying the 2014 Elk River chemical spill but failed to disclose, until cornered by a reporter, that he had previously "done paid work for both of the companies that produced the chemicals involved in the spill."

In addition, Dourson has spent much of his professional career writing studies that undermine existing science and concerns about toxic chemicals, and call for weaker regulations on chemicals like pesticides. As our friends at the United Farm Workers explain, Dourson was paid by Dow Agrosciences to downplay concerns about a toxic pesticide and cast doubt on a Columbia University study linking exposure to it by pregnant women to irreversible neurodevelopmental problems in children—in other words, to hide the fact that the pesticide is dangerous to kids. As you may have heard, in a highly controversial move the EPA recently reversed restrictions on the use of this pesticide, called chlorpyrifos, shortly after meeting with officials from Dow.

Senators shouldn't get fooled—Scott Pruitt has seized the EPA and is trying to install polluter lobbyists in key positions. We can't let dirty fuel lobbyists win—we need the Senate to draw the line and reject these nominations.

Mary Anne Hitt is the director of the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign.

https://www.ecowatch.com/pruitt-epa-nominees-2487546138.html

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #461 on: September 29, 2017, 08:23:28 pm »
SEP 24, 2017 TD ORIGINALS

The Abuses of History

By Chris Hedges

SNIPPET:

Quote
The historian Carl Becker wrote, “History is what the present chooses to remember about the past.” And as a nation founded on the pillars of genocide, slavery, patriarchy, violent repression of popular movements, savage war crimes committed to expand the empire, and capitalist exploitation, we choose to remember very little. This historical amnesia, as James Baldwin never tired of pointing out, is very dangerous. It feeds self-delusion. It severs us from recognition of our propensity for violence. It sees us project on others—almost always the vulnerable—the unacknowledged evil that lies in our past and our hearts. It shuts down the voices of the oppressed, those who can tell us who we are and enable us through self-reflection and self-criticism to become a better people. “History does not merely refer to the past … history is literally present in all we do,” Baldwin wrote.

If we understood our real past we would see as lunacy Donald Trump’s bombastic assertions that the removal of Confederate statues is an attack on “our history.” Whose history is being attacked? And is it history that is being attacked or the myth disguised as history and perpetuated by white supremacy and capitalism? As the historian Eric Foner points out, “Public monuments are built by those with sufficient power to determine which parts of history are worth commemorating and what vision of history ought to be conveyed.” 


full article:

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-abuses-of-history/

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #462 on: October 02, 2017, 10:36:08 pm »
Quote
Lynda Jones · Paradise Beach, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Yet another try to prevent more clean energy producers from entering the market (Solar and wind energy generation). Some of our politicians have got their hands deep in the coal sales cookie jar, and the bribe for building an outdated nuclear power plant already proven to be unsafe elsewhere in the world (including Russia- please google it) makes them very keen to keep clean energy out. Bugger them- in the most painful of all possible ways.
Oct 1, 2017 8:41am



September 30, 2017

DOE Proposes Outrageous, Massive Coal and Nuclear Bailout

By Miles Farmer

Department of Energy (DOE) Sec. Rick Perry just proposed a massive bailout for coal and nuclear power plants. The radical and unprecedented move is couched under a false premise that power plants with fuel located on site are needed to guarantee the reliability of the electricity system. The proposal relies on a mischaracterization of DOE's own recent study of electricity markets and reliability (discussed here), which if anything demonstrated that this kind of proposed action is not justified.

If adopted, the proposal would essentially ensure that coal and nuclear plants in regions encompassing most of the country continue to run even where they are too expensive to compete in the energy market. It would saddle utility customers with higher costs, while posing obstacles to the electricity system integration of cleaner and less risky energy sources such as solar and wind.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is still carefully analyzing the proposal, but below is a very preliminary take:

The proposal would bail out expensive and uncompetitive coal and nuclear plants

The proposal asks the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to take action within 60 days that would financially prop up "fuel-secure resources," which must have "a 90-day fuel supply on site enabling [them] to operate during an emergency, extreme weather conditions, or a natural man-made disaster." This requirement is aimed squarely at coal and nuclear power plants, which would generally be able to satisfy these criteria.

Many coal and nuclear units are very expensive and are having trouble competing in the wholesale electricity market (as discussed here). So the proposal asks FERC to bail out these power plants by essentially guaranteeing them profits and insulating them from competitive market forces. The proposal amounts to a massive subsidy that would ensure the plants continue to operate, rather than being economically retired when they are more expensive than other units (including wind and solar) that sell electricity at lower cost.

The proposal would radically reshape electricity regulation for most of the country

The rule would have a massive scope, covering regional wholesale markets where electricity is bought and sold to serve most of the nation's customers. It would apply to areas where the electricity system is operated by regional entities known as Regional Transmission Operators (RTOs) or Independent System Operators (ISOs), which administer competitive markets for electricity. The RTOs tell the more expensive plants not to operate when there's cheaper electricity available from other plants.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

As shown in the map, RTOs cover most of California, the Midwest and southern states in the middle of the country, as well as the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is not subject to FERC jurisdiction and would not be covered by the proposed rule, if adopted.

Secretary Perry's proposal would be a radical departure from the way FERC currently regulates electricity prices in these regions. Under FERC's system, electricity prices in RTOs are governed by competitive market forces. A power plant is only insulated from this system by FERC under extremely limited circumstances, where a detailed examination of the grid reveals that the plant is needed for reliability purposes. The plant is then guaranteed its costs of operating, but only on a temporary basis, until a replacement can be constructed.

The proposal would lead to higher energy bills and more pollution


Customers across the country would ultimately foot the bill for supporting these more expensive plants. While no credible analysis has been conducted of the costs (which can't even be done given the vagueness of the proposed rule), it is safe to assume that the toll would be many billions of dollars.

The proposal also would favor more expensive and risker power plants over cleaner and safer energy sources such as wind and solar power. Coal power plants emit a massive amount of pollution. They are one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases causing climate change. Coal plants also cause an array of other problems, such as acid rain and asthma. And while low-carbon, nuclear energy poses myriad health and safety risks (discussed here).

The proposal is unjustified

The purported basis for the proposal is that "[t]he resiliency of the nation's electric grid is threatened by the premature retirements of power plants that can withstand major fuel supply disruptions caused by natural or man-made disasters."

But DOE's own reliability report found that all regions of the country have excess supply of energy resources needed to meet demand. Furthermore, while it included a brief discussion of the potential benefits of on-site fuel supply, it also highlighted examples of power plants with on-site fuel supply failing, such as coal plants that could not operate during the 2014 Polar Vortex when their fuel supplies froze in the extreme cold.

The lesson that no type of power plant is immune to weather-related disruptions was clear during the recent hurricanes. Nuclear power plants had to be taken off-line in preparation for Hurricane Irma. Natural gas plants and pipelines suffered disruptions during Hurricane Harvey, and the onsite coal pile at a W.A. Parish plant in Texas became so saturated with rainwater that the coal could not be delivered into storage silos, forcing the plant to switch to natural gas for the first time in eight years.

Nuclear Availability in Florida during Hurricane Irma.Data from SNL Energy, "Daily Nuclear Operations"

Ultimately, the proposal's justification is as flimsy as Secretary Perry's initial suggested basis for subsidizing coal and nuclear—that "baseload" is necessary for the system, a myth that has been thoroughly debunked (as discussed here and here).

DOE is asking FERC to rush to judgment

FERC has already adopted detailed regulations to ensure the reliability of the grid, and follows established processes to consider any necessary tweaks. As DOE's own report explained, these systems have worked to meet the industry's high reliability standards even as the mix of generation serving customers' needs has changed dramatically.

DOE is asking FERC to sidestep that normal process by adopting its radical proposal in a mere 60 days, a timeline that would make it impossible to conduct any of the rigorous analysis that would surely be necessary before making such extreme changes. DOE's proposal is so vague that FERC could not possibly adopt it as is, making it hard to see how FERC could possibly advance it in a manner that complies the procedural requirements for a formal rulemaking proposal.

FERC should reject Secretary Perry's proposal

Perhaps the only silver lining in Secretary Perry's proposal is that DOE has no independent authority to adopt this proposed rule, which is already eliciting pushback from leaders like NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. As discussed here, FERC, not DOE, is the agency primarily responsible for regulating electricity markets. FERC should reject Secretary Perry's outrageous and poorly thought out request.

Miles Farmer is a clean energy attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

https://www.ecowatch.com/doe-coal-nuclear-bailout-2491308467.html

 
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #463 on: October 02, 2017, 11:06:24 pm »


Perry to FERC: Prop Up Failing Coal and Nuclear With Piles of Cash

When the Department of Energy’s grid study came out in late August, we said it was obvious that it would be used to justify undeserved handouts to coal and nuclear (even though its contents didn’t actually support that idea). On Friday, fleet-footed DoE Secretary Rick Perry danced around reality to confirm those suspicions by proposing a new rule for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

This new rule Perry wants FERC to consider would make power plants that keep a 90-day fuel supply on hand eligible to receive “full recovery of costs” if they can “withstand major fuel supply disruptions caused by natural and man-made disasters.” In plain language, it would force the public to pay billions to coal and nuclear plants that can’t compete with gas and renewables.

The supposed justification for this handout is national security. Perry’s reasoning--directly contradicted by his own agency’s grid study--is that in times of emergency the country needs coal to keep the lights on. In the real world (which apparently the Trump administration can only reach via pricey private jets) natural and man-made disasters often incapacitate the very power plants Perry wants to prop up with ratepayer money.

During the 2014 polar vortex, for example, natural gas lines were constrained and coal piles froze, but wind and solar worked fine. During Harvey, coal piles were flooded, yet after Irma, it was solar panels that were used to keep traffic lights operational. And of course in Fukushima, a nuclear plant was rendered inoperative by the tsunami and caused a crisis on top of that natural disaster. Yet these are the sources Perry wants taxpayers to subsidize in the name of reliability. 

This certainly makes it seem like Perry’s request is less about reliability and more about political patronage and shielding dirty old inefficient and costly energy sources from the competition of the free market. Perry’s not coy about this either. “For too long, coal in this country is reviled,” he told the crowd at a speech at a coal mine last Thursday. “It’s time coal in this country is revived.”

To be fair, at least Perry didn’t show up with bags full of cash to give a failing coal plant. Instead, the DoE offered $3.7 billion in loan guarantees to Georgia utilities who are failing to get a pair of nuclear plants up and running. (That’s apparently 7 Solyndras, if you were wondering.) This is on top of another $8 billion utilities have already received, and still might not be enough to complete the project. At what point does it make more sense to just burn the money itself instead of trying to sustain these coal or nuclear plants?

While the loan for the nuclear plant is likely money wasted, it remains to be seen whether FERC will find Perry’s request justifiable. As an independent agency, Perry can’t force FERC to have taxpayers pour money into failing power plants. If there isn’t a legal and financially viable way to meet this request, FERC can decline. And if they don’t, green groups will sue, and a judge will have to decide whether rugcutter Rick’s arguments cut mustard.

To ballet your fears, here’s our guess. After looking at the facts, FERC’s career staffers will politely tell Perry that they did the hustle to try and make this work, but couldn’t swing it. The idea is just corporate welfare mambo-jumbo, they might say, so Perry can take the idea and flamengo back to dancing on TV. 

Agelbert NOTE: Let us hope and pray that sanity prevails. But with the Trump Wrecking Crew, we can not count on sanity.


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #464 on: October 11, 2017, 10:42:58 pm »
Robert Reich: The Resistance Report 10/10/2017


Inequality Media Civic Action

Published on Oct 11, 2017

Today's Resistance Report on Trump's rogue foreign policy, his cruelty towards immigrants, and the 25th Amendment.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

 

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