ENB Pub Note: This article is from David Blackmon’s substack “The Energy Absurdities”. It falls right along with the numerous stories around the globe where climate activism has closed nuclear reactors only to see higher electricity prices and carbon pollution increase. Be careful what you ask or protest for, and you may get your wish. Subscribe and support David’s Substack HERE: https://blackmon.substack.com/p/sundays-energy-absurdity-when-the
When New York officials finally retired the Indian Point Nuclear Plant – the last nuclear facility in the state – in 2021, climate alarmists cheered the emissions-free power generating facility as “progress.” It was a decision of idiots made for the worst possible reasons, but never mind that – Indian Point had been a target of the climate alarm lobby funded by leftwing billionaires like Mike Bloomberg and Bill Gates for years now, so this was a “win” for the alarmists.
Those alarmists just assumed the closing of the plant would pave the way for more of their rent-seeking wind and solar projects to come in and save the day while raising utility bills for every New Yorker. Because of course they expected that – the state is completely run by grifting Democrats who are always eager to support the globalist agenda and force their constituents to foot the ever-rising bills for it, after all. What else would they do?
Welp, according to The Guardian, what they’ve done is replace the huge amount of generation Indian Point had been providing not with wind and solar, but with – gasp! – natural gas instead. Isn’t that awesome?
Here’s an excerpt from the story:
When New York’s deteriorating and unloved Indian Point nuclear plant finally shuttered in 2021, its demise was met with delight from environmentalists who had long demanded it be scrapped.
But there has been a sting in the tail – since the closure, New York’s greenhouse gas emissions have gone up.
Castigated for its impact upon the surrounding environment and feared for its potential to unleash disaster close to the heart of New York City, Indian Point nevertheless supplied a large chunk of the state’s carbon-free electricity.
Since the plant’s closure, it has been gas, rather then clean energy such as solar and wind, that has filled the void, leaving New York City in the embarrassing situation of seeing its planet-heating emissions jump in recent years to the point its power grid is now dirtier than Texas’s, as well as the US average.
“From a climate change point of view it’s been a real step backwards and made it harder for New York City to decarbonize its electricity supply than it could’ve been,” said Ben Furnas, a climate and energy policy expert at Cornell University. “This has been a cautionary tale that has left New York in a really challenging spot.”
[End]
It’s a “cautionary tale,” y’all, and those poor New Yorkers have been left in a really challenging spot consisting of…well, of better stability and reliability on their power grid, thanks to the 24/7 natural gas generation that has been chosen as the means of reliably replacing the stable and reliable power they had been receiving from Indian Point.
Could it possibly be that Gov. Kathy Hochul and her appointees have had a sudden change of heart? Could it be that they have decided that maybe, just maybe it’s a good thing to have a reliable power grid?
Oh, perish those silly thoughts – surely, it’s just an oversight and we can expect some heads to roll within the bureaucracy over this temporary failure to leverage the renewable grift.
“Cautionary tale.” Good lord, these people are shameless.
