NY Daily News, RCE, & Forbes, Alhajji on the podcast, bird baths in the drought
Three new articles, Alhajji comes back on the podcast, & a few thoughts about birdbaths
Another week packed with travel and energy-related news. On Monday, I was in Jonesboro talking to the Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation. Coops provide electricity service to some 600,000 homes, farms, and businesses in the state. Arkansas has about 3 million people, so the coops have a big footprint. I talked about ERCOT, federal tax credits, the Manchin-Schumer bill, and the ongoing energy crisis in Europe. My trip to Jonesboro this week – and Nacogdoches last week – reinforced my belief that the urban-rural divide is a real problem in America. The divide is worthy of a deeper dive than I have time for today, but the thing I hear about from ranchers, farmers, merchants, and others who I meet in small towns is that they are increasingly distrustful of policymakers at the federal level, particularly when it comes to energy. The Manchin-Schumer bill shows that they have reason to be concerned. Five items today:
NYDN: The foolishness of closing Indian Point
RCE: Manchin-Schumer proves the power of The Swamp
Forbes: Manchin-Schumer means billions more for wind and solar
Alhajji: Putin “wants to break the EU”
Birdbaths in the drought
Lorin took the photo of the Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) above.
On Monday, the New York Daily News published my piece on how the premature closure of Indian Point is already haunting New York, just 15 months after it was foolishly shuttered. I have a personal connection to that plant. In 2018, along with my colleague, Tyson Culver, and two photographers, we visited Indian Point. It was a marvel of technology and power density. I've seen a lot of industrial facilities during my career but Indian Point was one of the most impressive. The plant is prominently featured in our documentary, Juice: How Electricity Explains The World. As I explain in the NYDN article, the downsides of closing the plant were well known before it was prematurely shuttered. I began:
The premature shuttering of the Indian Point Energy Center is looking dumber with each passing month.
Last month’s heat wave caused a surge in demand for electricity and air conditioning that strained the region’s power grid. On July 21, more than 4,000 New York City residents were left without power for several hours and Con Ed asked residents of Queens to slash their power use. The utility even reduced voltage on some of its lines while it worked to restore service. The heat wave underscored the fragility of New York’s electric grid and the foolishness of the premature closure of the nuclear reactors at the 2,069-megawatt Indian Point Energy Center, which was shuttered in April 2021.
In the wake of that closure, New York consumers are paying more for their electricity, greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector are soaring and the grid is becoming less reliable.
I concluded:
While the non-profit groups and Cuomo were able to score political points by disconnecting more than 2,000 megawatts of cheap, reliable, carbon-free power, the unfortunate punchline here is obvious: electricity prices in New York are soaring, the reliability of the grid is declining and greenhouse gas emissions are rising. That’s a lousy trifecta.
The closure of Indian Point will haunt New York for many years to come.
Again, here’s a link.
Subscribe to this "news" letter. Click here
Anas Alhajji: Putin wants to break the EU
I have known Anas Alhajji for more than 20 years. I don’t recall exactly how we met, but we have been in touch frequently over the last two decades and I always find his take on the energy world to be insightful, and usually, far different from the common wisdom that’s being put out by other energy commentators. That difference is due, no doubt, to his vantage point and life experience. Anas is the editorial advisor of Attaqa, the only Arabic-language media outlet focused on energy. In his third appearance on the podcast, (his last appearance was March 29, 2022) he explains why the sanctions against Russia are not stopping its energy exports, why the contradictions in the Manchin-Schumer bill “are laughable,” why he is more long-term bullish on natural gas than oil, and the political significance of President Biden’s recent trip to Saudi Arabia. We also talked at length about natural gas supplies in Europe and why, in his words, Putin wants “to break the EU.”
It was an interesting conversation. The audio is on my website and all the major podcast outlets. The video, as always, is on YouTube.
On Wednesday, Real Clear Energy published my piece on Joe Manchin’s reversal on the reconciliation bill:
Never doubt the power of The Swamp.
That’s the apparent lesson to be learned from Senator Joe Manchin’s reversal on the energy-related provisions of the pending reconciliation bill. Last month, Manchin derailed the measure which included some $300 billion in energy-related provisions. Manchin was pilloried by climate activists and by former Obama advisor, John Podesta, who declared that Manchin had “single-handedly doomed humanity.” But last Wednesday, Manchin switched his position and agreed to a deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer which has been dubiously dubbed the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.” The Manchin-Schumer deal shows, yet again, that the Washington Favor Factory never sleeps. The 700-plus-page bill is filled with outrageously expensive subsidies for the solar and wind sectors and lavishes lollipops on nearly every energy-related special interest in Washington. The legislation is so broad and has so much corporate welfare that it has been endorsed by – get this – Exxon Mobil and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
I concluded:
Finally, be wary of the claims about how world-changing and climate-saving the deal will be. A one-page summary of the deal published by Senate Democrats claimed it “lowers energy costs, increases cleaner production, and reduces carbon emissions by roughly 40 percent by 2030.” That last claim was dutifully reported by the New York Times without any context or skepticism. The Times said the deal will “put the United States on track to slash its greenhouse gas emissions to roughly 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.”
Let’s look at the numbers. In 2005, US emissions totaled some 5.9 billion tons. Between 2005 and 2021, those emissions declined by about 20 percent, or roughly 1.2 billion tons. Thus, to slash emissions by another 20 percent -- and do so in just eight years -- will require cutting another 1.2 billion tons of emissions. For perspective, that’s nearly equal to all of the energy-related emissions from U.S. industry in 2021. (According to the EPA, industrial emissions last year totaled 1.4 billion tons.) Put another way, cutting that much emissions would require cutting domestic oil use by more than half. (Last year, oil-related emissions totaled 2.2 billion tons.) Call me a skeptic, but that will not happen.
Furthermore, as Shellenberger has reported, the Joint Committee on Taxation determined that the Manchin-Schumer bill will raise taxes “by $3 billion more on Americans earning below $200,000 per year than on Americans earning between $200,000 and $500,000 per year.” In addition, Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema reportedly wants changes in the bill. The Wall Street Journal cited one investment firm that “put the chance of the deal’s passage at just 65 percent, saying that among other risks, progressives may not agree to permitting overhauls that help boost fossil-fuel production.”
In short, this deal may be a long way from becoming law. But whether it becomes law or not, it shows again that the Washington Swamp will always deliver to special interests.
Again. Here’s a link.
Subscribe to this "news" letter. Click here
This afternoon, I published a piece in Forbes about the provisions in the bill that will extend the tax credits for solar and wind indefinitely:
On Thursday, Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema signaled her support for the reconciliation bill now pending in Congress. By consenting, Sinema likely paved the way for a legislative package that one media outlet dubbed “the biggest and most consequential climate change bill ever passed by Congress.”
The bill — dubiously dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 — includes $370 billion in energy-related spending. That’s only an estimate. The 700-page bill is so complex that few legislators (and even fewer reporters) understand, or care, how much it will cost. Manchin-Schumer leaves no special interest unrewarded. The bill gives lollipops to electric vehicles and perennial-not-ready-for-prime-time technologies like carbon capture and hydrogen. The legislation is so broad and has so many carve-outs that it has been lauded by Exxon Mobil and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
But the biggest favors in the bill are going to – who else? — Big Wind and Big Solar. Indeed, the language in the bill assures that the corporate welfare for wind and solar won’t expire for decades.
I concluded:
The sad truth is that the Manchin-Schumer bill contains some of the most far-reaching energy and environmental measures of the modern era and yet the biggest provisions in the bill, including the cost of the tax credits, and how more wind and solar will affect the integrity and cost of operating the electric grid, have barely been debated in Congress. In short, Manchin-Schumer shows, yet again, how perverted the parliamentary process in Congress has become.
To conclude, I’ll cite a recent claim from John Kerry, the Biden administration’s climate envoy, who said “Solar and wind are less expensive than coal or oil or gas. They just are less expensive.” If that were true, the solar and wind sectors wouldn’t need federal subsidies. But the Washington Favor Factory never sleeps. If the Manchin-Schumer bill becomes law, Big Wind and Big Solar will be able to count on tens of billions of dollars in federal tax credits for decades to come.
Again, here’s a link.
Birdbaths during the drought
As I’ve mentioned in previous epistles, the heat and drought here in Texas have been hard on people, the land, and the animals. We have been refilling our birdbaths every morning. Some days, we have lots of visitors to the birdbaths, some days the visits are fewer. This morning, a young Blue Jay perched on the birdbath outside my office to get a drink. About three days ago, a Red-shouldered Hawk landed in a tree about 15 feet from where I was standing and calmly waited on the perch while I refilled the large birdbath outside our kitchen window. Once I completed that task, the Hawk swooped in for a rather long soak. Our birding pals, Frank and Peggy, had Painted Buntings (male and female) at their birdbath a few days ago, as well as a Ladderback Woodpecker.
If you count the dog bowls, we have about 10 birdbaths in our yard. Yes, it sounds like a lot, and I reckon it is. But we’ve found that birdbaths are very effective in attracting birds. The birds will drink from the dog bowls, but they won’t bathe in them, likely because the slope of the walls in the bowl are too steep. But the dog bowls are far cheaper than well-designed birdbaths. Blue Jays seldom visit our feeders, but they will drink and stomp around the birdbaths like they are paying the mortgage. Northern Cardinals tend to be exuberant bathers. White-winged Doves like to bath. They also like to dip the tips of their tails in the water.
All that brings me to my recommendation on the best design for a birdbath. In my experience, birds like a slight lip, or bead, on the edge of the birdbath. It makes it easier for them to perch. I like the large two-part concrete birdbaths we bought from a roadside vendor down near San Antonio. They attract Hawks. But they are heavy and rather tippy. Our favorite design is the one pictured above. The bird facing away from the camera is a Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria.) The birdbath is made by Campania and can be ordered from Hayneedle. We like this design because it’s one piece, it’s not too heavy, it’s easy to clean, and it attracts birds.
That’s it for today. I hope you have a good weekend.
Want to help?
1. Share this email to your friends and colleagues. Or have them email me so I can add them to my distribution list.
2. Subscribe to the Power Hungry Podcast.
3. Rent or buy Juice on iTunes or Amazon Prime.
4. Buy A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations and give it a positive review.
5. Follow me and Juice on Twitter.
6. Need a speaker for your conference, class, or webinar? Ping me!
Watch Juice for free on Roku!
If you haven't seen our documentary yet, here's a reminder: you can watch Juice: How Electricity Explains the World, on Roku Channel, for free. Just click this link. If your friends haven't seen it, send them a link. Or if you have a prime membership, you can watch it on Amazon Prime.