“Georgia Power says the Vogtle project creates lots of jobs and buys lot of building materials. The same could be said about the construction of a large pyramid. The question should be about the value of the costly project verses other things that might have used the labor and materials.”
Thanks to Jonathan Gruber of Obamacare fame, we now know all about behind-the-scenes development of government policies that override consumer wishes, hide the truth, and generally regard the public with contempt.
In Georgia, one Dick Spellman, a consultant for the Public Service Commission, is the sinister architect behind the PSC’s imposed Demand Side Management (DSM) program administered by the utility.
The premise of mandatory DSM programs is that consumers are too stupid to know what is good for them; but policy experts, like Spellman, do.…
Continue ReadingLately, people in and out of the federal government have expressed nostalgia for the good old days of bipartisan lawmaking. Today, we have legislative gridlock, and an ideologically polarized Congress; back then Congress got things done.
There is some truth to this, but what were the results of bipartisanship?
With respect to energy, the answer is mostly awful.
Here’s a list of some major pieces of energy legislation (and the votes) of the last 40+ years; commentary to follow:
| Bill/Year | Final House Vote | Final Senate Vote |
| Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973 (EPAA) | 348-46 | 83-3 |
| Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA) | 300-103 | 65-27 |
| Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act (1980) | 302-107 | 66-31 |
| Magnetic Fusion Energy Engineering Act of 1980 (MFEE) | 365-7 | Acclamation |
| Energy Security Act of 1980 (SFC) | 317-93 | 78-12 |
| Comprehensive Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct 1992) | 381-37 | 93-3 |
| Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005) | 275-156 | 74-26 |
| Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) | 314-100 | 86-8 |
The table shows there was plenty of bipartisanship.…
Continue Reading“Cape Wind was wrong project, wrong time, wrong place. It was too big and costly. Its impacts were poorly mitigated and its benefits highly questionable. In the end, it was the regulatory arrogance of the Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and the Obama Administrations that did the most harm. A lot of people were offended and willing to stand up to the abuses. Remember, it was Massachusetts’ spirit that triggered the Revolutionary War.”
Cape Wind was supposed to be America’s first offshore wind project. Chief sponsor Jim Gordon labored since 2001 (14 years!) on his vision of 130 massive spinning fans sited in shallow federal waters off New England’s historic coastline (468 MW at maximum capacity). Mr. Gordon was the darling of environmental groups and green-minded politicos who pushed big wind at any price.…
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