A Darwin Award for the Fossil Fuel Industry

A recent survey by Kelton Research shows that 94% of Democrats, 93% of Independents, and 89% of Republicans think that it's important for the U.S. to develop and use solar power.

So where's the controversy? Surprise! It's contrived.

If you go to the Mt. Wheeler Power website (our local power cooperative), you will find a link to “keep our power rates from going through the roof.” When you follow that link, you will find yourself on the Deseret Power website. Sure, the top of the page says Mt. Wheeler Power, but the actual address is www.deseretpower.com/mwpower

The very first line in their letter to you is; “We are continuing our grassroots effort...” (italics mine). Excuse me, but just because they show a picture of a cowboy, this is not a grassroots effort. This is a letter from a company that operates one of the 200 dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the world. The Delta plant emits 16 MILLION TONS of carbon per year!

No wonder they don't want a cap and trade of carbon emissions.

To what lengths will they go to maximize their profits? Well, they just might be willing to lie to us. This poster is on the front door of the Mt. Wheeler Power facility.

Sorry about the grainy picture. My phone camera doesn't have a flash. But the poster essentially says that the Waxman/Markey Carbon Cap and Trade Bill is just about the worst thing that could ever happen. In my letter to the Editor of the Ely Times, I pointed out that the EPA estimates of the cost to American families was about 5% of what this poster states. To see the letter, click here. To see the EPA Preliminary Analysis, click here and see page 5.

...Do I support the Waxman/Markey Clean Energy Security Act? Well, sort of. It's better than nothing. But it is far from the best idea. Unfortunately, with the weakened political power that America now has (due to the partial corporate takeover of our government), this may be the best we can get for now.

Personally, I would prefer a straight carbon tax. The tax could be balanced out with a reduction in income taxes. A simple carbon emission tax would provide the incentive to convert to cleaner power generation technologies. And a simple carbon tax could not be played, manipulated, or cheated like the Cap and Trade program has been in Europe.

Here is a video from a couple of rouge EPA attorneys that explains a better plan than Cap and Trade.

This isn't just about how much money we will have to spend. The stakes here are likely to be unimaginably high. Our environment is going out of balance. Think about it like riding a bike. The consequences of going out of balance on a bicycle are far greater than the act of losing balance might indicate.

Moreover; the genie we have let out of the bottle may be far more dangerous than we ever expected. Scientists are now starting to suspect that the most devastating mass extinction on Earth was caused by prehistoric burning of coal deposits. Explosive encounters between magma and coal 250 million years ago likely led to a combination of climate change and ocean acidification that led to the extinction of 70% of the Earth's species on land and 95% in the oceans.

My greatest fear is that Carbon Cap and Trade legislation is only one more ineffective act in 30 years of typical governmental bureaucracy foot dragging – too little, too late.

But nature has a way of dealing with arrogance and stupidity.

Even if Carbon Cap and Trade fails to reduce CO2 emissions, we are running out of oil. Worldwide oil “production” has been flat for 5 years now. And though the “officials” don't want us to panic, we may already be on the downside of peak oil. It is now very likely that fossil fuel prices are on the verge of skyrocketing – whether we tax them or not.

Ironically, with rising fossil fuel prices may come rising industry profits. The fossil fuel industry just might welcome these shortages. They have been profiting from the suffering of future generations, and may soon profit from the suffering of ours. That's how out of touch they really are.