Tag: Energy

While the Republican controlled congress fiddles with bills and resolutions that will never make it to the President's desk, the damage is already being done. The EPA has made it unprofitable for a power company to do business in the UP.  As the Candidate Obama put it so bluntly in 2008:

"If someone wants to build a new coal-fired power plant they can, but it will bankrupt them because they will be charged a huge sum for all the greenhouse gas that's being emitted."

The Presque Isle Power plant in Marquette faces a shutdown as a major buyer seeks electricity off the grid from elsewhere. From Energy Biz:

"Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., which operates two iron ore mines in Michigan, has notified We Energies that it will begin buying electricity from Integrys Energy Services, a retail electricity provider that sells electricity in states that have opened up their power markets to competition, Cliffs spokesman Dale Hemmila said.

Cliffs spent $120 million with We Energies last year, according to a filing with the Michigan Public Service Commission."

While the competitive forces are straight up and legitimate, A shutdown of this plant due to a federal regulatory nightmare will have an unpredictable effect on the stability of electricity in the Upper peninsula.  Costs for residents will likely skyrocket, and service will become sub-par.

Malfunctioning carbon units ...and, the silence from the easily manipulated bourgeoisie liberals, and their retrograde planning Nerd bike trails becomes deafening.  The environment does not rule me.  I rule over the environment.

But in the meantime, note that those young conservative stalwarts fighting for "truth and the American way, civil discourse (especially from 'bigot haters'), and eventual control of the Michigan GOP, are perfectly willing to use the tools of the left to draw support from the left.  Where else but the Obama 'petition' site is the calling out for Agema's Resignation. Using the site favored by low information voters for its pretense of reaching the president himself, One of the signers of the other petition, Timothy Maurer, "Greater Detroit Area Republican" has continued to advance such greatness as Homosexuality, destruction of family, spread of disease, and the neo-RINO mentality.

Bravo young Maurer! Obama will invite you for a beer summit soon to discuss your 'concern'.

What a champ!  What a hero to young Pizza munchers who want to be Republicans, but can't because they don't like personal responsibility, family values, the first amendment, or anything else that Republicans stand for!  What a supporter of strong families, and tradition, by holding Barack Obama's hand and opening up the internal debate of Michigan Republicans into a place where the left can emerge from the underbelly of our nation and weigh in with their agenda for advanced personal destruction.  Support as expressed by a [non-Republican] Jennifer from Holland:

" I am not Republican, though I hold many of the values they proclaim to support: I believe in strong families, based in commitment to one another and their communities. I believe in helping those less fortunate than myself and allowing people to believe what they wish, as long as their beliefs do not cause harm or loss to others. I have been married for 13 years and we have a son we are raising to be a good human being. But you would deny me my family of 13 years simply because my spouse is another woman. ... "

And that son will learn tolerance! And will learn how to be intolerant of intolerance to promote tolerance of the intolerable!

Yes MR. Maurer, you seek "a big tent" with no walls. Am I right?  Is that what you desire?

The wind tunnel effect of prop 2 and 4 puffery by labor leaders smelling the money of forced union membership might  seem to be enough to be filling the sails of prop 3, but alas, no amount of hot air, deep sighs or physical reality matches the required blow to make it happen.  Prop 3 is a non starter from the physics sense alone:

"That's because almost the entire state of Michigan is "poor" or "marginal" for wind as a resource at 50 meters above ground (see image), according to the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The information says Michigan's best wind opportunities at 50 meters, which would be classified as "excellent" and "outstanding," are all located offshore.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory says annual wind speeds of about 6.5 meters per second at 80 meters or higher are "generally considered to have a resource suitable for wind development."  "

Its not the point.

The use of energy and accompanying pollution that must surely be generated by coal fired and natural gas generation must surely be stopped.  Certainly, if we do that, then wind and solar technology by necessity will have to be improved or we all starve, lose our modern conveniences and health maintenance devices. (you know refrigeration, medical apparatus etc..) If only we would understand "necessity is the mother of invention", damn it!

And in the meantime a little equalization wouldn't hurt the dying planet too.

A demand for engineers in Michigan:

"Andrew Watt says he figures the shelf life of an auto engineer looking for a job in Michigan is about three days. Companies that wait longer than that will have to get back in line for the next candidate.

"If their skills are even on the edges of automotive, they can get a job," said Watt, whose iTalent LLC in Troy finds engineering and information technology workers for companies in nine states. "There's an extreme shortage. There's way more demand than supply."

Demand, Supply ..  Funny how such things work.

The long term effect of our emerging technical interaction with each other will continue to create demand for such things as better engineered automobiles, heavy equipment and other manufactured goodies.  But the most important thing that ties it all together is electricity.  Cheap, abundant electricity that will continue to power the goodies, toys, and necessary equipment that keeps us healthy, mobile, and interactive.

Environmentalists in Michigan, need to mature into the continuing reality of our still relatively industrial state.  Those idealists growing up and believing the world of The Lorax exists around us need to stop believing in the fairy tale promises of such efforts as the United Nations 25x25 plan which will appear on your Michigan ballot in November.

DR. Seuss is dead.

And yes, I DID say, the United Nations plan.

Mr I-want-to give-more-money-to-A123, proudly defended the Keystone XL pipeline in the new Highway Bill.  At least he suggests it will happen after November:

"Congress approved a new highway bill today without a Keystone XL pipeline provision championed by Congressman Fred Upton.

...

"They've done a good job in the last three-plus years of slowing us down," Upton said in an interview with MLive/Kalamazoo from the House floor before the vote. "It will probably take a change in November to see the project go forward."