Comments on: Obama’s EPA Cues $130 Billion Race to Cut Pollution by 2015

By: Ralph

Ralph — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:43:00 +0000

I just saw in yesterday’s paper, another local resident just celebrated her 107th birthday. She watched as the plant was built and lived close to it all of her life.

By: Ralph

Ralph — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:39:00 +0000

From a frustrated resident of Oregon who points to the negative realities of wind energy:
It has been most interesting to read a lot of these comments posted. I am a resident of eastern Oregon that has had some experience with the Iberdrola people and their approved wind project here. Here in eastern Oregon it is a very real prospect of losing your property value by 25% to 40% when a project like theirs moves in. Being in a 2 mile foot print of an industrial wind turbine project has been shown to affect property values. Notification is non-existent if your property boundary is not within 500′ of the project. The cost of these projects is well guarded because if the public knew how much of the bill that the American tax payer was paying there would be outrage. The cost to us for these renewables (wind) cannot compare to our hydro power-this is a fact. BPA has had to adjust to the new wind turbines coming on line since their power is intermittent- they call it “dirty power”. The grid must adjust every few seconds.Since Iberdrola (and other wind companies) sued BPA and won- our power bills will rise AGAIN. Just look at the hikes that have already been passed on to rate payers because of wind power. These comapnies would also like you to believe that they create jobs. During the constuction phase they do.It depends on the size of the project as to how long these jobs last- most are around 1-3 years. After that? Well when it has been stated that it cost $16 million to create one permanent job at Shepards Flat- you do the math. Also the shelf life of these turbines has been questioned.It is all but impossible to get an answer to this question from the wind companies. We have heard that they are viable for 10-15 year shelf life. Can they generate enough power (intermittently) to pay for themselves when it cost approximately 2.6 million (current project) per turbine to construct? Again do the math. I do not pretend to have the answers to our current energy crisis. Education and transparency in the siting of these huge industrial wind projects (they are NOT “wind farms”) will open new avenues to the average Oregonian who needs to make informed decisions about our current energy situation. I wonder how well recieved these wind companies would be if they were siting turbines in Portland or the metro area?

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:25:00 +0000

Some people smoke their whole life and don’t die from it. But it is scientifically proven that smoking kills.

It is scientifically proven that coal plants kill.

The exception does not disprove the statistical significance.

By: Ralph

Ralph — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 23:44:00 +0000

At a small restaurant just up the street from an old coal fired power plant, a group of very old men gather for breakfast every morning. They were born about the time the plant first began operating. They grew up within sight of the plant. They left the area to help win WWII. When they returned, they bought houses near the plant, and went to work at it. They worked at the plant for 35 years or more. They have been retired for 30 years or more and still live near the plant. The oldest just turned 93. He still drives and gets along quite well. He scoffs at the notion that power plants are such vicious killers.

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:01:00 +0000

Ralph, Germany just had a stunning, record year for clean energy, and there’s no sign it regrets or should regret it’s fast steps forward. Spain has a number of other issues that are creating problems for it.

China is a key focus because it’s about to eat our lunch in clean energy and take the global driver’s seat economically. And that’s a threat to your way of life and many others’.

By: Ralph

Ralph — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:39:00 +0000

The answer is China. Communist China. Stalin was right.

By: Ralph

Ralph — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:17:00 +0000

Since my links were edited although they include references to industry studies that do not have a political position to advance. I have worked in the power industry for many years. The scrubbed coal and nuclear plants will run for many, many years. They are what keeps the lights on for most of the nation.

I often wonder why the President does not mention the clean energy policies of Germany and Spain as he did several years ago. Maybe its because both of these countries have cut subsidies to renewable energy. The increase in electric prices and fiscal issues converged. It was determined that it just wasn’t worth such a huge expense. When will this country wake up? We have plenty of coal and natural gas. Why not develop the technology to burn these fuels cleaner?

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:13:00 +0000

Ralph, the links you provided were op-eds full of, yet again, a ton of unsubstantiated claims and enough misinformation that i could spend all day debunking it, as i have many times.

I don’t have time for that, and we don’t condone the spreading of misinformation here on CleanTechnica.

I’m sorry you are so easily convinced of so-called failures in this industry, but look around our site and hopefully that will clear some things up for you.

Cheers

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:17:00 +0000

Ralph,

I understand that you have a hard transition coming up. But a shift to clean energy is creating more jobs than it’s hurting. And it’s highly needed for many other reasons as well.

And your concerns about clean energy are really unsubstantiated.

By: Ralph

Ralph — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:52:00 +0000

I will soon depart to work the night shift in a coal power plant. The plant will close permanently later this year. 100’s of middle class jobs gone.

By: Ralph

Ralph — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:40:00 +0000

I will soon be unemployed because the plant I have worked at for most of my life is closing due to the EPA MATS regulations. Faced with the high unemployment in the current economy, I will probably face foreclosure on my home. My kids in college will probably have to withdraw. There are very few “green jobs”. The government skews the numbers by counting bus drivers and trash collectors. Windmills and solar panels don’t require large staffs. These green technologies would collapse without government tax credits. Both are intermittent and require coal, gas, hydro, or nuclear to supply a reliable supply of electricity. The Chinese are buying our coal and will gladly burn it.

If the war on drugs was as successful as the war on coal, there would be fewer inmates to support with our taxes.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:57:00 +0000

By our way of thinking we should all live in caves?

No, by our way of thinking we should transition from old, dirty energy to clean energy. Wind and geothermal are the cheapest forms of new energy going on the grid. Wind drives the cost of electricity down. Your assumptions just don’t hold up, sorry..

We used to use whale oil. We used to burn torches. We transitioned to better technologies. Now, we are transitioning again. And the only real question is which countries will benefit the most from that, which countries will get the jobs and economic growth coming from the clean energy transition.

By: RegularStuff

RegularStuff — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:52:00 +0000

What absolute ignorance. Raising the cost of electricity by shutting up to 20% of our coal powered energy plants will impose burdens on the poor and middle class. Your ideology ignores the real world experience of other nations that have seen their “green” ecomomies fizzle and their jobs disappear. Never mind that your cohorts will sue to block any necessary infrastructure needed for solar and wind farms! By your way of thinking we should all live in caves. Do us all a favor. If this is what you believe, save us the energy you consume and get off the grid now!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:14:00 +0000

ZShahan, could you give us the details of you wind and solar installation? What is you rated capacity, installation cost and yearly revenue? You must be making a huge profit from your solar panels.

I am curious about your success. If it is really that profitable I would like to get into the business too. Do you have a trick for making power at night?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:02:00 +0000

Susan you are completely ignorant of the structure of business. The coal and utility industries are publicly traded companies whose shares are mostly owned by employee pension funds and insurance reserve funds. Their profits are paid out as dividends quarterly or reinvested to maintain plant. New cost increases will be charged to the customers with a markup. Regulated utilities are guaranteed a fixed profit on all of their costs.

These new rules will increase the profits of the coal and utility corporations.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:41:00 +0000

Yes it can: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-path-to-sustainable-energy-by-2030
Coal is anything but cheap: http://cleantechnica.com/2011/02/17/cost-of-coal-500-billion-year-in-u-s-harvard-study-finds/ (mind you, this piece was written by a former coal miner who left the industry bcs of how dirty it is)

Coal is abundant? Compare total reserves to annual solar potential: http://cleantechnica.com/2011/08/23/solar-power-intro-3-key-solar-power-points-top-solar-power-news/

By: Rdensav

Rdensav — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:37:00 +0000

This lady doesn’t know what she is talking about. Solar and wind energy CANNOT meet the demand like coal and at a fraction of the cost, which results in the consumer paying less for their electricity bill.
Thank GOD for coal. Coal is abundant, cheap, and is cleaner than it has ever been. Try telling thousands of people in power and coal industry that you are actually helping the economy by going out of business.
People on the left think with feelings not common sense.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:19:00 +0000

and by the way, i said *helping* to keep the economy afloat. there’s a big difference there…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:17:00 +0000

i’m actually not sure what this rambling comment is even trying to say..

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:07:00 +0000

Solyndra is a tiny portion of the solar industry that failed. It is not the solar industry.

If an orange juice company fails, does that mean the orange juice industry is a scam and a failure? No

The solar industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the U.S. right now. It added nearly 7,000 jobs this year (at a 6.8% growth rate). Is that a sign of failure?

Last year, global solar PV nearly doubled, its growth rate doubled. That strong growth is projected to continue. Do you want the companies benefiting to be Chinese companies or U.S. companies?

Thank about it, kind sir.