On Sunday the Great Plains Alliance for Clean Energy (GPACE) and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius were a political tag team in the Wichita Eagle as they both pushed for a long-term energy policy focused on unreliable sources of energy.
Don’t misundestand: I am all for using wind energy when it makes sense. I was one of the authors of the 1979 study, Wind energy applications in agriculture, when I worked for a research firm in Manhattan while at K-State. That research project looked at typical energy loads at various kinds of farms, for different times of the day, for different seasons, and attempted to show how much of a farm’s power load could be met with wind energy, and what was needed to make the wind turbines economical feasible. The project involved engineering energy experts, professors from the electrical and nuclear engineering departments at K-State, as well as economists from the firm, Development Planning and Research Associates. There were no politicians working on that project.
On Sunday, the Wichita Eagle gave Gov. Sebelius space in its paper for her congratulations to the Democratic legislators in the Wichita area: “Delegation Strong on Energy.” Sebelius said: “These legislators have been partners in this effort, working to reach across the aisle and get results. They are helping to secure a clean energy future for Kansas.” If Gov. Sebelius’ energy policy is such a good idea, why is she having problems getting Republicans on-board? If Gov. Sebelius’ energy policy is such a good idea, why doesn’t the free market find solutions? Why is Gov. Sebelius promoting unreliable energy production using wind, and trying to guarantee it success by killing reliable energy production using a coal power plant. When we retire do we only want energy for heating and cooling when the wind blows? Why does Sebelius’ plan use more politicians, than economists and engineers?
Meanwhile, the Great Plains Alliance for Clean Energy (GPACE) is promoting the death of reliable energy in Kansas through television ads, and an ad in Sunday’s Wichita Eagle that paralleled Gov. Sebelius commentary. Sebelius commentary in the Eagle was free, but the GPACE 527 PAC had to pay for their ad with the same message?
A flawed energy policy has affected my life a great deal. When I started studying nuclear engineering at K-State in the early 1970s, the number of orders for new nuclear power plants peaked. By the time I graduated with a degree in nuclear engineering four years later, the number of orders for new nuclear power plants had gone to ZERO. There have been no new nuclear power plants in the U.S. for about thirty years.
With nuclear power killed through regulations, and with politicians like Gov. Sebelius who are trying to kill coal power through regulations, our retirement years may be doomed to periods of brown-outs and black-outs since our energy policy plan is ignoring peak power needs.
Unfortunately Sebelius energy policy is more about winning elections than solving long-term energy problems.
Thanks to the Voice for Liberty in Wichita for Wichita Eagle information in this article.
Related: GPACE Action 527 PAC Identifying Global Warming Voters in Kansas, Kansas Meadowlark, May 18, 2008.
Tags: 527 PAC, GPACE Action, Great Plains Alliance for Clean Energy, Kathleen Sebelius, Scott Allegrucci
May 29th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I recall that early in the first Bush-Cheney term in office, there was a very secretive gathering of individuals with interests in the energy business. After a bit of research, I uncovered some facts about this gathering (Ref: Wikipedia “Energy Task Force”). The participants included many “big oil” people such as CEOs and other individuals who were involved in the oil and energy business. This gathering was known as the “Energy Task Force,” and took place in early 2001.
The purpose of this gathering was ostensibly to lay out the energy plan for America during their term in office. Many of the recommendations were literally written by the oil, gas and coal companies. Considering the present situation with gasoline, fuel oil, propane, electrical energy, aviation fuels, diesel fuel, etc., all of us have to wonder what the plan was.
Was the plan intended to help America establish a comprehensive, fair energy plan? Or was the plan to enrich all the companies represented at that meeting, as evidenced by the record profits they have enjoyed throughout the Bush-Cheney term? We can only guess because details of this meeting have not been revealed to the world.
The current situation that has resulted from these questionable decisions has been a disaster for America. Bush-Cheney fully realized that the Republicans had an opportunity to pass any bill they wanted because they controlled every branch of our government. It was a great opportunity to enrich their friends and biggest contributors.
So this very secretive and mysterious “Task Force” had its meeting, and we are now seeing the result - $4 gasoline, $5 diesel. All facets of energy are skyrocketing in price. Is there a pattern here? How about the loosening of loan practices that produced all the sub-prime loans in the banking industry? Who made that call? Was it a case of more of the awful choices for appointments to key positions by Bush-Cheney or just another get-rich scheme for their supporters that didn’t work out as planned?
Those choices gave us people who were absolutely unqualified for the jobs they were given. This is true for the so-called “Energy Task Force,” Katrina, the Iraq war, budgeting the economy, etc. The financial fallout from the Iraq war has increased the national debt to record levels and weakened the U.S. dollar to record low exchange rates. The weakened dollar is now worthless against just about all currencies, and this drives the price of oil up in U.S. dollars. So, “we the people” are saddled with increasing costs for virtually everything we buy. “Great job, Bushie!”