Trump’s energy secretary orders a Washington state coal plant to remain open
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What a fucking joke. The only thing these asshats care about is causing as much grief as possible for no reason at all.
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I vote for sending in Krampus. Trump is going to Hell soon anyways, might as well get it over with now.
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ColdWetDog
Ars Legatus Legionis
This will fall apart after the first judge looks at it.
Welcome to our world
- No emergency
- No loss of power from coal to NG
- Legal babble that would get you a failing grade in any law school class
Welcome to our world
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Republicans don't care that they don't follow their own philosophies when it interferes with their ability to gain power or money. Rules are for everyone else.
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Obviously, get the lawsuit going. There’s not much to think about. This is Trump. They only deal with bribes or lawsuits. Everything else is wasteful talking.
At some point, a state should just ignore orders from Trump’s gov’t and do what they want. Will be curious how it goes.
At some point, a state should just ignore orders from Trump’s gov’t and do what they want. Will be curious how it goes.
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The lines won’t get built when the Bonneville Power Administration and other bureaucracies weigh you down in red tape.
Also, who pays the wages of these employees that return to work? That’s assuming they haven’t taken other positions elsewhere.
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Looking at this table on Wikipedia it seems to me the more logical course of action would be keep building out wind farms and let go of that trivial amount of production from coal. Of course the only electrical emergency here is from the recent windstorms that took out a lot of power lines. That's ignoring the threat of new AI data farms coming online and pumping out bullshit faster than we can grow capacity, which I'm sure has nothing to do with this dumb declaration of an emergency.
EDIT: And looking at the number for solar I wonder if that's just measuring commercial production. The panels on our house in Seattle put enough back into the grid that we only have bills three months out of the year and they're small.
EDIT: And looking at the number for solar I wonder if that's just measuring commercial production. The panels on our house in Seattle put enough back into the grid that we only have bills three months out of the year and they're small.
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There needs to be more pushback from the general public (which might finally get Congress to do something about it) given that these moves COST the ratepayers more money. The one in MI forced to stay open mentioned in the article has cost an additional $80 million to keep running according to the power company, which also says it doesn't need the power it generates.
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Aside the current Asshat in the governor's office who's also a dictator-wannabe reactionary toad, this tends to describe Louisiana since Reconstruction regardless of who's in the White House. Any number of federal laws and executive orders have been either ignored or maliciously complied with over the past 150 years, not all for racist reasons (for example it's legal to drink alcohol at 21, just not buy it in order to get federal highway grants).
It's a mistake to consider either of the two main US political parties as monolithic entities with unified agendas. States rights advocates are just as vocal as Trumpist big government reactionaries, they just don't happen to have the political will to consistently tell the faction in power "no" when the majority of the Republican electorate is firmly populist. The one exception seems to be Mitt Romney, the one Republican voice that appears to be remarkably consistent in his messaging and principles (even if I don't necessarily agree with him, I can respect that).
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Hmm... if it's confirmed that the plant must stay on coal (after it goes through the courts), public utilities commissions should maybe mandate that the costs for those be itemized on customer bills.
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AND if I'm Washington State, my next question is, "So you're going to pay for it? I ask because the State of Washington is not paying an additional dime towards its operation."
In the interim (since right-wing Judges love to draw out cases in regard to Republicans I mean), this sounds like an excellent opportunity for Washington State to give an itemized "Trump Coal Tax" on their energy bills each month (we know how much the President likes his names on things, etc)
In the interim (since right-wing Judges love to draw out cases in regard to Republicans I mean), this sounds like an excellent opportunity for Washington State to give an itemized "Trump Coal Tax" on their energy bills each month (we know how much the President likes his names on things, etc)
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"There is, however, no imminent shortage of electricity in Washington state or across the Pacific Northwest,"
We have a completely dishonest Federal administration. Lies are just a tool for them.
We have a completely dishonest Federal administration. Lies are just a tool for them.
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This is true nationwide. As for drinking below 21, it's not uncommon when provided by a parent or legal guardian
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Coal and nuclear. Trump and republicans both directly enrich themselves by pushing for these.
Should pump all the smoke and garbage into all the nazi towns.
Should pump all the smoke and garbage into all the nazi towns.
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How exactly can Trump force a private company to do this? I guess I could see if the company didn’t want to transition (ooh - maybe the “transition” word is the reason) but was doing so only because of a state law, the feds might be able to override the state law. But it doesn’t seem that’s what’s happening here.
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Yeah, our son left Washington state to go to college in Louisiana so I looked up the drinking laws and aside from our lack of drive up daiquiri stands they aren't actually all that different. I guess our lingerie espresso stands fill that evolutionary niche.
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There will come a time when Congress will need to get back to their core function, which is assigning work for the president to do (think Bob Dole vs G H W Bush). Otherwise, any jackhole can endlessly claim everything is a "national emergency." The worst part about this whole mess is that I can, reluctantly, lay a healthy piece of blame at the feet of both Harry Reid and Barack Obama. The former for his stupid filibuster shenanigans which brought us the current SCOTUS, and the latter for that "I have a pen and a phone" strategy which set the table for this government by EO debacle.
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I'd argue that there IS an energy emergency in the PNW, specifically, in the systems generating power from the Columbia river.
Thing is, the emergency is that it is now approaching winter, and the regular snowpack in the area that feeds the Arrow Lakes and the Columbia watershed is nowhere to be seen -- all the water that normally starts becoming snowpack in September is instead flooding the rivers and lakes.
This issue won't become a problem until next July at the earliest. Which means that by then, the plant's transition from coal to methane needs to be fully complete, so it is prepared to cover some of the high demand periods when the reservoirs and the river system start to run low.
Preventing this from happening for an extra 90 days is the absolute worst way to prepare for the energy emergency.
Thing is, the emergency is that it is now approaching winter, and the regular snowpack in the area that feeds the Arrow Lakes and the Columbia watershed is nowhere to be seen -- all the water that normally starts becoming snowpack in September is instead flooding the rivers and lakes.
This issue won't become a problem until next July at the earliest. Which means that by then, the plant's transition from coal to methane needs to be fully complete, so it is prepared to cover some of the high demand periods when the reservoirs and the river system start to run low.
Preventing this from happening for an extra 90 days is the absolute worst way to prepare for the energy emergency.
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Which ironically would mandate a switch to EVs as those are the only ones that could be powered by coal.
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Very much so. At least Joe was representing the misguided desires of his constituents (even if it was against their actual best interests). Donnie doesn't have that excuse.
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I listened to Joe on a podcast, and it wasn't just about his constituents. He's a naive moron. He was directly confronted on how his behavior was ultimately helping people like Trump and all he could say was "I hopes his better angels will appeal to him in time" or something like that. It was as stupid as when Bush Jr said he believed Putin's word because "l looked him in the eye." Naive idiots, both of them.
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Oh there's a reason. It's called "owning the lib-tards".
(I didn't say it was a good reason...)
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There's absolutely nothing the Trump administration can do to keep it open.
This is performance art at best, and blatantly unconstitutional. Washington will probably just close it. What the fuck is the government going to do? Sue them? Fine, close it. Let the government sue. Let the state draw that out until after the civil war and then it can be safely ignored.
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Indeed. Someone should dump a few tons of coal in front of Mar A Lago and set it on fire. Surely Trump would be thrilled.
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Another issue is most coal plants try to keep somewhere between 30 and 90 days worth of coal on site to cover transportation disruptions. Sounds like this plant has been burning off that reserve as part of the switch over to natural gas. Without any reserve, any disruption in coal delivery will cause the plant to either shut down or limit output. The recent floods and such are probably causing just such transport disruptions. Would not be surprised if the railroads would have trouble getting enough coal there giving the many current local issues. In addition to the floods and such, the railroads have probably moved those coal trains to other parts of the country or scrapped the coal cars.
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Those data centers in eastern Washington in the high desert. Isn't that where all the republican votes come from? Where all the little Rs next to those house seats and senate seats come from? Not saying democrats aren't lining their pockets, but lets not forget where those datacenters reside and who benefits most from them.
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