Posted on 01/27/2014 5:07:52 AM PST by TurboZamboni
State officials plan to update the way they consider environmental and health effects when determining the overall cost of energy production, a move that could help guide decisions ranging from the fate of aging power plants to using cleaner sources of energy.
The state Public Utilities Commission has agreed to update the way it considers costs, the St. Cloud Times reported . That could mean taking into account issues such as climate change, infant mortality and emergency room visits.
"What this would do is to cause Minnesota to take a hard look before investments are made in power plants so that ... we have a sense of what those ultimate costs would be, and we'll make fewer bad decisions," said J. Drake Hamilton, science policy director with the nonprofit Fresh Energy.
The efforts date back to 1993, when Minnesota passed a landmark law requiring the PUC to consider external costs when weighing various energy options. The aim was to create a level playing field between sources of electricity that emit a lot of pollution and those that don't, said Beth Goodpaster, an attorney with the nonprofit Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy.
"That way, a dirty resource would not be able to say, 'We're cheap,' because they would have to actually include all the costs associated with it," she said.
Coal plants, for example, emit sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, pollutants that contribute to smog and affect human health. They also release carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas linked to global warming.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
“Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.” — Candidate Barack Obama, Same interview as above
“We’re going to have to cap the emission of greenhouse gasses. That means that power plants are going to have to adjust how they generate power … but a lot of us who can afford it are going to have to pay more per unit of electricity, and that means we’re going to have to change our light bulbs, we’re going to have to shut the lights off in our houses.” — Candidate Barack Obama, Iowa PBS interview, November 9, 2007
This winter those coal plants the liberals hate are keeping a lot of people alive.
They want us to turn our heat down to 60 degrees to save nat gass because of the pipeline explosion in Canada too. So, it’s freezing cold with windchill ranging from -20 or so all the way down to -47 and they want us to be cold inside our dwellings too.
What happens when you heat your home to 60 degrees vs say 68 or 70 in this type of weather and the power or the nat gas goes out? Well, you have a lot less time to react and deal with anything before it freezes, that’s for sure.
60 degrees inside when it is -20 outside with strong winds still feels cold.
We brought the generator inside last night because it doesn’t like to start in cold weather and the high winds could have brought down power lines.
We have been very frugal with the propane (in short supply at premium prices while we export record amounts) and electricity this winter, but last night we forgot and left the propane wall furnaces set at 65 all night. The wood stove was also cranking all night. It was toasty this morning. We will, of course, pay for it when our bills arrive. December’s electric was $150 for actual energy used and $190 total including facility fees, taxes and low-income support funds.
Ouch!
“What happens when you heat your home to 60 degrees vs say 68 or 70 in this type of weather and the power or the nat gas goes out? Well, you have a lot less time to react and deal with anything before it freezes, that’s for sure....”
In Minnesota if you have your house too cold in order to save energy dollars, your pipes will freeze. Then your house will be flooded and you will have an new mini-ice arena and the kids can play hockey on it.
Meanwhile, a groop of doctors are working to ban burning wood as a heat source. God help us.
Ahh yes, the old “find a silver lining in any cloud” thought process. In theory, you have a good point, but what happens in spring when everything thaws out? You now have a moldy water park I guess. A water park for danger seekers?
Thousands of State workers in St.Paul depend on you to keep their offices warm.
My parents’ pension depends on it too. I grew up in an environment provided for by two parents that worked for MNDOT. Imagine all of the political bs I was exposed to. Both of my parents were active in AFSCMe for quite a while, my father was a steward for a number of years.
I have a few stories - mostly about the lavish annual parties (conventions) the unions threw at any of a number of Radisson hotels (St. Paul and Downtown Duluth mostly). I was taken along a number of times when my parents were on strike, picketing during the summer on 180 and a few other road construction projects.
I spent many a summer day as a young adolescent being bored to tears sitting alongside an unfinished section of highway or freeway. There I’d be, holding a picket sign and being told that it was the greedy SOBs (republicans) that caused all of our woes. Arne Carlson was a favorite target of my father’s anger when it came to wages and benefits not being as lavish as he would’ve liked.
Admittedly, we had it pretty good for a family of 7 (Mom, Dad, 3 girls and two boys). We weren’t rich by any stretch of the imagination, but there wasn’t a lot that I wanted for either. If I did want something that I didn’t need, I was encouraged to go work and get it for myself (stereo, video games and other non-essentials).
At least my parents and siblings did teach me that.
Is anyone demanding they also factor into their equations the filthy, constant spewing of falsified data-pollution coming from politician’s and environmentalist’s mouths?
Debbi
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