THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 37, February 10, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
AMERICA IS RUNNING OUT OF ELECTRICITY
By Alan Caruba
THE ENVIRONMENTALIST MOVEMENT & AMERICA'S IMPENDING ENERGY CATASTROPHE: THE ENVIRONMENTALISTS' DRIVE
TO ENSURE THAT AMERICA WILL NOT HAVE ENOUGH ELECTRICITY TO MEET ITS ENERGY NEEDS -- THE
ENVIRONMENTALISTS USE THEIR PROPAGANDA ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING & GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS TO
SUCCESSFULLY DENY AMERICANS ELECTRICAL POWER
FULL STORY:
The provision of electrical power nationwide has become the chosen battleground for environmentalist groups laboring
night and day to insure there will not be enough of it to meet our needs.
The U.S. Department of Energy predicts that overall energy demand will grow by 45 percent between now and 2030.
The effort to insure Americans will not have enough electricity is deadly serious. Take, for example, the exultant news
release (January 17, 2008) from the Rainforest Action Network, “Proposed Coal Plants Losing Steam” celebrating “59 coal
plants cancelled or shelved in 2007.”
Since coal-fired utilities provide over 50 percent of the electricity generated in America, the need for additional plants
would seem obvious. A May, 2007, Business Week article about coal noted that, “Today, making electricity from
coal can cost half as much as using cleaner-burning natural gas.” Half as much at the plant translates to half as much in
the monthly energy bill to homeowners and others.
The Environmentalists, however, using the utterly bogus “global warming” hoax and asserting the false notion that carbon
dioxide emissions will transform the climate of the earth, are successfully denying Americans electrical power.
There is no global warming and CO2 constitutes about 0.038% if the earth’s atmosphere. In past eras, there was a lot more
CO2 and the result was the lush vegetation that kept a lot of dinosaurs munching away for several million years.
The brownouts in California are testimony to what happens when there is an insufficient number of plants to generate
electricity, whether it comes from coal, nuclear, or hydroelectric power.
Right now, the population of America is just over 300 million. The rate of population growth is 3 to 4 million people a year.
All will want and need electricity. Where will it come from if the Greens are successful in thwarting the building of power
generation plants?
“Coal-fired power plants are the wrong investment for our climate, our health, and our economy,” said Becky Tarbotton,
Director of Rainforest Action Network’s Global Finance Campaign. The truth: (1) Such plants do not affect the climate. (2)
Americans now have the longest life expectancy ever, so our health is not an issue. (3) Our economy is entirely based on
the availability and provision of electrical and other forms of energy.
The Greens opposed nuclear energy so successfully we haven’t seen a new plant built in thirty years. If you want to
increase the amount of electricity and, at the same time, reduce the cost of electricity, build a few and watch what happens.
Dr. Arthur Robinson of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine points out that, “The construction of just one
nuclear power station like Palo Verde (CA) in each of the 50 states, with a full complement of 10 reactors, would supply all
of the energy that the United States currently imports — with, in addition and at current prices, $300 billion per year worth
of excess energy to export.”
If we can’t get nuclear facilities built and we can’t get any new coal-fired plants, what does RAN propose? The same thing
as the other Greens do. Socalled “renewable energy.” And “efficiency.”
Neither solar nor wind energy is EVER going to be able to produce the amount of energy Americans use and need. The
laws of physics eliminate these “solutions” to our energy needs
Energy is measured in British Thermal Units, BTUs. One BTU is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of
one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2006, the United
States used 99.5 quadrillion BTUs of energy for electrical energy and for our transportation needs.
What energy sources were used to generate the power? Fully 40 percent came from oil, 23 percent came from coal, 22
percent came from natural gas, 8 percent came from nuclear plants, 2.9 percent came from biomass, including ethanol, 2.8
percent came from conventional hydroelectric dams, and less than 1 percent came from all other alternatives combined --
geothermal, wind, and solar power.
Along with the efforts to stop any means to provide the power America needs for its present and future energy, the U.S.
government heavily taxes energy industries and has placed so many restrictions on new nuclear and hydrocarbon power
production that there has been very little development for two generations. On top of this, it has mandated that a large
portion of the nation’s corn crop, an essential element of our food supply, be liquefied and burned for fuel!
The most recent “energy bill” passed by Congress and signed by the President actually bans Thomas Edison’s most
famous invention, the incandescent light bulb!
If this keeps up, we are going to run out of energy in America for electricity and for transportation. The vast oil tar deposits
in Canada are a target of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has challenged the granting of permits required to
expand refineries and pipelines on both sides of the border between the U.S.A. and Canada.
A recently proposed billion-dollar project by ExxonMobil to construct a storage facility and pipeline for liquefied natural
gas off shore of New Jersey immediately drew criticism by environmentalist groups seeking to thwart access to this energy
source. Meanwhile, the State’s largest daily reported on February 9, 2008, that New Jersey ratepayers “will see double-digit
increases in their electric bills.”
Whether it’s coal, gas or oil, the Greens are doing everything they can to return the United States to the same conditions
that existed from before the American Revolution to fifty years after the Civil War. The use and expansion of electrical
energy did not really begin until the Twentieth Century.
An energy catastrophe is looming for the nation, and Americans cannot even look to Congress to avert it.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
The Earth's Natural History, Global Climate Changes,
& the Future of Human Life & Civilization on the Planet:
Science, Ideology, & Public Policy
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
Caruba has a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com.
Caruba’s new book, Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy, has been published by Merril Press.
© Alan Caruba 2008
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume X, 2007
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity