Greens demand coal-friendly Trump-appointee recuse himself from FERC grid decisions

Steve Milloy | Tuesday, December 18, 2018 · 11:05 PM | FERC, Grid

“A coalition of leading environmental groups is threatening to sue Trump’s recent appointee to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission if he doesn’t recuse himself from work that could be used to advance Trump’s coal agenda. The appointee, Bernard McNamee, joined FERC, the nation’s lead energy regulator, earlier this month after a contentious confirmation fight in the Senate, which Democrats framed as a vote on Trump’s plan to rescue coal plants. The Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Earth Justice, and the Union of Concerned Scientists on Tuesday filed a formal petition with FERC on Tuesday, asking that McNamee recuse himself from two key FERC dockets addressing grid resiliency.”

Source: Washington Examiner Web | PDF

If only smart grids weren’t run by stupid people

Steve Milloy | Tuesday, December 18, 2018 · 11:24 AM | Grid

“The rise of renewable power and electric vehicles and the increasing severity of weather events are converging to put more stresses on our grid. Now even the smallest power outage creates large financial impacts on both businesses and individuals.” So, of course, electric utilities and grid operators are taking the most reliable electricity generators (i.e., coal plants) off the grid. Brilliant.

Source: UtilityDSive.com Web | PDF

New Jersey issues rules for rejoining cap-and-tax pact

Steve Milloy | Tuesday, December 18, 2018 · 11:14 AM | New Jersey

Former Gov. Chris Christie removed New Jersey from the Northeast cap-and-tax initiative known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in 2011. His successor, Democrat Phil Murphy, rejoined the charade in January 2018. Now New Jersey is subsidizing nuclear plants and mandating wind/solar to help reduce CO2 emissions by a ridiculously small amount — about 540,000 tons per year. As global manmade CO2 emissions are on the order of 50 billion tons per year, Garden Staters will be paying even more for electricity (they already pay the 11th highest electricity rate) to reduce annual emissions by an irrelevant 0.00108%.

Source: UtilityDive.com Web | PDF

Only 2 of 196 Paris climate signatories have promised to cut more CO2

Steve Milloy | Tuesday, December 18, 2018 · 10:09 AM | Paris Climate Hoax

Although the signatories to the Paris Agreement are supposed to revise their climate “ambitions” (i.e., CO2 cuts) upwards within the next 18 months, only the tiny Marshall Islands and Fiji have done so. We don’t call it the Paris Climate Hoax for nothing.

Source: EurActiv.com Web | PDF