a Cap and trade casualty

[OntarioVanMan]

End of Big Stone II could be trouble for South Dakota wind

South Dakota's wind industry may be "sidetracked" by the recent termination of plans to build a coal-fired power plant in the northeastern part of the state, according to a spokesman for the governor.

Big Stone II's fate was sealed recently when Otter Tail Power, of Fergus Falls, Minn., pulled out of the $1.6 billion project partnership. Otter Tail cited concerns about pending "cap and trade" legislation, which would require air polluters such as power plants to obtain permits and buy pollution allowances. The rest of the project partners pulled out when no replacement for Otter Tail could be recruited to invest.

"In the short term, because of cap and trade, and because it's relatively easy to get them built, I think that natural gas power plants will pick up nearly all of the slack from Big Stone II."

It's a natural progression, however, that as the demand for natural gas rises and supplies remain the same, electricity costs will also increase.

 

[chefdennis]

yeap, the hand if barry is all over this...1st with cap and trade killing the coal plant, then with eletric rates being forced up due to more demand for natural gas...but the natural gas increases will be just the beginning, because barry wants to get rid of all types of energy scorces that we use now...if it ain't green he wants to force it out.....as he said, "its change you can believe in..."

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I thought wind power was "green"....the C&P is killing wid investment and forcing the use of coal and natural gas at an increasing price...it doesn't make sense or cents.

 

[chefdennis]

yea well the power those windmill make is "green", but the "carbon footprint' to produce them is huge and when it is taken in the totality of it all, not so much green.....

As for the wind deals getting put on the shelfs, when those that would invest in them are also invested in coal and gas and oil, they are getting "Ascared" of what barry is willing to do to have his "Climate" mandate" put in place....now if you think barry really cares about the people and business, then you have to admit that he and his minions simply did not think this all the way through...you know, they din't look at the "unintended consequences".... or you can look at it as most americans are now seeing, he really doesn't give a da*mn about anything or anyone but his ideals, plans and himself....

 

[layoutshooter]

There are also questions about what damage those windmills might cause to the environment. Is is possible to remove TOO much energy from the atmosphere? Not a silly question and it IS being looked at. There is NO such thing, yet, as problem free energy. There might not ever be.

 

[greg334]

Yea another dumb study, just like the $4M study to see if auto workers can be retrained.

 

[layoutshooter]

It sounds dumb on the surface, but, SEVERAL universities around the world are looking at it. If you think about it, those things are nothing more than big brakes. The take the energy out of the atmosphere and transfer it down a wire to your house. The amount of energy taken out of the atmosphere is able to be measured. X number of watts per windmill. What is NOT known is how much energy can be taken out of the atmosphere before you do damage to the environment.

I kind of like the idea that we are looking into it rather than running willy nilly into these NEW forms of energy production like we have done in the past.