A Free-Market Energy Blog

Energy and Environmental Review: March 13, 2023

By -- March 13, 2023

Ed. note: This post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, a free fortnightly published by physicist John Droz Jr., founder of the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions. The complete Newsletter for this post can be found here.

Renewables (General):

*** Illinois Put a Stop to Local Governments’ Ability to Kill Solar and Wind Projects. Will Other Midwestern States Follow? (This is a shameful violation of Home Rule)
*** Renewables: the more you have, the more you pay for backups
*** American Towns Don’t Want To Be Big Cities’ ‘Green Energy’ Graveyards

Wind Energy — Offshore:
*** NOAA and BOEM; Ignorance is Bliss
*** Anti Offshore Wind Project Petition Takes Off, Nearing 300K Signatures
Biden admin scientist raised alarm on offshore wind harming whales months ago
Whale death confusion abounds and some is deliberate
Greenpeace Betrays Founders to Peddle Junk Science

Wind Energy — Other:
NY’s CLCPA Hits First Cost Overrun, with More to Follow

Solar Energy:
How solar development incentives will cost Maine’s poorest the most
Big solar in NYS

Nuclear Energy:
Reactor building internal structures completed at Chinese SMR
Georgia Nuclear facility reaches first criticality

Fossil Fuel Energy:
*** Unstoppable
Biden, White House cited inaccurate ‘9,000 unused permits’ figure numerous times
Biden expected to approve Alaska oil drilling project in blow to climate activists
Delaware Voters Overwhelmingly Opposes Gas-powered Car Ban
Germany to Build 30 New Gas Plants

Electric Vehicles (EVs):
The Troubling Future of the Green Electric Revolution
Clean Car Rule for New York A Messy Case of California Envy

Miscellaneous Energy News:
*** The New Normal?

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Texas Tribune: Misleading on Climate

By Sterling Burnett -- March 10, 2023

“That all of these claims can be debunked with readily available data is a testament to the frailty of the current narrative on climate change. It’s a shame that so many journalists are willing to ignore the facts, fearmongering about climate change for political reasons, when in reality the data reveal there is more to fear from fear itself, not from climate change.”

A year ago, a Texas Tribune “Brief” listed seven alleged ways climate change is already impacting the state of Texas and its residents. When not outright false, the listed claims are extremely misleading. Yet María Méndez and Erin Douglas’s “Seven ways climate change is already hitting Texans” is not the first and will not be the last Tribune article piece which runs the gamut of common alarmist lines.…

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New Nuclear: Three Projects, Three Problems

By Kennedy Maize -- March 9, 2023

“NuScale’s estimated ‘levelized cost of energy’ (LCOE) … jumped by one-half last December (to $89/MWh from $58/WMh). The total cost for the project is estimated at a bit over $9 billion, but $1.4 billion is offset by DOE funding, which could increase in the future.”

More news, more problems regarding the live projects being counted on as the beginning of a new era of nuclear power. Back in the 1950s/1960s, the expectation was that learning-by-doing and scale economies would bring parity with fossil-fuel plants. Today, that same goal seems distant.

NuScale

NuScale Power’s small modular reactor project, designed to provide electricity to Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, a joint action agency serving 50 municipal utilities in Utah, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wyoming, has survived another near-death experience. Facing a vote by the participants in its project for six light-water pressurized reactors, totaling 462-MW on the grounds of the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory near Idaho Falls.…

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Global Cooling Alert! (1972)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 8, 2023
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Carbon Capture & Storage: ExxonMobil’s Big Political Play

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 7, 2023
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ExxonMobil Cans Algae (greenwash failure)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 6, 2023
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Are Grassroot Wind/Solar Foes ‘Cultish’? (Peter Sinclair vs. Kevon Martis again)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 3, 2023
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Reliable vs. Intermittent Generation: A Primer (Part II)

By Bill Schneider -- March 2, 2023
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Reliable vs. Intermittent Generation: A Primer (Part I)

By Bill Schneider -- March 1, 2023
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Geoengineering: New Area for the Climate Industrial Complex?

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 28, 2023
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