New England Liberals Shut Down Coal Power Plants, Now They're at Risk of Freezing
Because of years of left-wing environmentalism being forced on power companies in New England, these energy suppliers are now struggling to fulfill the demands of local residents seeking to merely stay warm during this intense winter.
“Officials at ISO-New England, operators of the region’s power grid, said energy demands during the recent arctic weather have placed major pressures on energy generators, forcing power companies to rely more on coal and oil to produce electricity,” the Hartford Courant reported this week.
The Courant further noted that though energy industry officials have for years recommended that New England fix its energy problems by, at the very least, constructing new natural gas pipelines, such proposals have “been blocked or withdrawn” mainly because of opposition from environmental groups.
State and federal regulations haven’t helped either. Speaking of which, these very regulations could now pose a major concern for locals.
“Environmental limitation on how much, or whether, some oil-fired power plants will be able to generate electricity could become a concern this week and for the remainder of the winter,” explained ISO-New England spokeswoman Marcia Blomberg in an email to Boston station WCVB.
It sounds like that’s not going to be good for anyone.
To really understand what’s happening in New England, however, you need to first be aware of how the region got to this point.
Writing for Scientific American four years ago, LIndsey Konkel explained how “(s)tringent environmental regulations and a steep drop in the cost of natural gas” spurred officials in New England to push away from coal and embrace natural gas.
“In 2000, coal accounted for roughly 18 percent of the region’s electricity generation while natural gas accounted for about 15 percent,” she wrote. “In 2012, just 3 percent of New England’s electricity was generated by coal, while 52 percent came from natural gas.”
While the increased reliance on natural gas isn’t a bad thing, the decreased reliance on coal is. What’s ironic is that liberals have complained about the gas as well.
“Natural gas is killing coal plants, but more natural gas infrastructure may be adverse to health and climate in the long run,” Konkel quoted N. Jonathan Peres, an attorney for the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation.
This is why multiple pipeline projects have been killed over the past few years, including one that “would have expanded an existing New England pipeline and was expected to save customers $1 billion a year,” as noted by The Daily Caller.
See the problem? The liberals in New England want nothing to do with coal, but they also want very little to do with natural gas as well.
And now, thanks to these liberals’ shortsightedness, power companies in New England are functioning at full capacity, struggling to provide locals with heat.
FYI, as of Saturday morning, the temperature is Boston is 10 degrees Fahrenheit, with an estimated low of -6 degrees expected, according to AccuWeather.
I sincerely hope the power companies in New England remain operational through this bad weather, but at this point there’s no telling what might happen.
H/T Breitbart
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