Trump admin slaps solar, wind operators with retroactive rent bills

[justabubba]

Yeah, that's kind of how life works in government. We subsidize things we want more of. If we want more strip mining, more mountain top removals, more filthy coal ash pits like the one that burst near my hometown, more air pollution, more lung disease, we can subsidize coal and other fossil fuels.

This is a house flooded with toxic coal ash. Nice work TVA!

The good part about that spill is the clean up is going to kill 100 or so workers who were poisoned by the ash and were forced to work in the cleanup without adequate protective gear, while being lied to about the dangers of what was included in that ash they breathed for weeks or months. It just came out recently that the State of TN changed a bunch of readings on the nuclear elements in that ash - deleted them or reduced them by 97% or so, which was nice. I'm so proud of my state government for that.

MORE OF THAT PLEASE!!

is there a thread about this?

 

[JasperL]

is there a thread about this?

I think I've started one a while ago. The spill is an old story, but the sick workers and how the private contractor and TVA are trying to screw them is ongoing. Maybe I'll start another one. It's shameful what they're doing, actually. About 50 workers are already dead, many more sickened, and Jacobs Engineering appears to have the attitude that if they string it out long enough, they'll all be dead or just give up. And the state of Tennessee and the feds appear to be acting as corrupt puppets of Jacobs Engineering. I guess if you're a $10 billion company, it's the politicians that get on their knees for you.

For 190 workers, they're now offering the whopping sum of $10,000 each to settle their lawsuits, or next to nothing after expenses, and the $10,000 would be reduced by any medical bills paid for by Medicare for the damages caused by Jacobs.

Not sure if you can access this story or not because sometimes the local paper has a firewall, but here's the most recent:

Get Access

Here's another one: The Complete Story of the Kingston Coal-Ash Spill

 

[AlphaOmega]

Trump admin slaps solar, wind operators with retroactive rent bills - Reuters

(Reuters) - The Trump administration has ended a two-year rent holiday for solar and wind projects operating on federal lands, handing them whopping retroactive bills at a time the industry is struggling with the fallout of the coronavirus outbreak, according to company officials.

The move represents a multi-million-dollar hit to an industry that has already seen installation projects canceled or delayed by the global health crisis, which has cut investment and dimmed the demand outlook for power.

It also clashes with broader government efforts in the United States to shield companies from the worst of the economic turmoil through federal loans, waived fees, tax breaks and trimmed regulatory enforcement.

U.S. power plant owner Avangrid Inc, majority owned by Spain’s Iberdrola, received a bill for more than $3 million for two years of rent on its 131-megawatt Tule wind project on federal land near San Diego, according to spokesman Paul Copleman.
==========================================================
Coal is on the way out & now solar/wind renewables can't catch a break in the pandemic, where power demand has dropped. And in some states if you put solar panels on your roof to get free of the grid, the utility bills you anyway.

If green energy is what you all tout it to be then why do you need us help them pay their bills. Time to move out from mom and dads basement and start paying bills like everyone else.

 

[jpn]

I think I've started one a while ago. The spill is an old story, but the sick workers and how the private contractor and TVA are trying to screw them is ongoing. Maybe I'll start another one. It's shameful what they're doing, actually. About 50 workers are already dead, many more sickened, and Jacobs Engineering appears to have the attitude that if they string it out long enough, they'll all be dead or just give up. And the state of Tennessee and the feds appear to be acting as corrupt puppets of Jacobs Engineering. I guess if you're a $10 billion company, it's the politicians that get on their knees for you.

For 190 workers, they're now offering the whopping sum of $10,000 each to settle their lawsuits, or next to nothing after expenses, and the $10,000 would be reduced by any medical bills paid for by Medicare for the damages caused by Jacobs.

Not sure if you can access this story or not because sometimes the local paper has a firewall, but here's the most recent:

Get Access

Here's another one: The Complete Story of the Kingston Coal-Ash Spill

Yeah, when comparing the cost of fossil fuels to renewable fuels, how exactly do you include these costs on the fossil fuel side? 50 dead? What's the cost in dollars there?

 

[JacksinPA]

Coal ash contains most of the inorganic materials from the coal, the stuff that doesn't burn: mercury, lead, arsenic, etc. As seen in that spill, finding a place to keep it is a major effort & expense which gets tacked on to your electric bill.

 

[Dayton3]

The right-wing obsession with the fossil fuel industry is staggering.

Eight more months.

Eight more months.

Christmas is in only seven more months.

 

[JasperL]

Yeah, when comparing the cost of fossil fuels to renewable fuels, how exactly do you include these costs on the fossil fuel side? 50 dead? What's the cost in dollars there?

Or the tons of toxic waste spilled all over that area... Those costs disappear, of course, as does the cost of millions of tons of that waste sitting in often unlined pits slowly polluting ground water all over the southeast.

 

[JasperL]

Coal ash contains most of the inorganic materials from the coal, the stuff that doesn't burn: mercury, lead, arsenic, etc. As seen in that spill, finding a place to keep it is a major effort & expense which gets tacked on to your electric bill.

Which TVA shortcutted, to save some money, which is why the pond broke. That was bad enough, but then TVA and Jacobs Engineering didn't want to pay what it costs to clean it up safely, so poisoned a few hundred workers, then those corrupt sociopaths told the workers to f*** off and literally die when the toxic waste made them ill, and they're still doing it, more than a decade later.

 

[eohrnberger]

Eco nuts are mad because their beloved green energy projects can no longer squat on government lands and actually have to *gasp* pay rent just like everyone else? Boo hoo...

Agreed. Why should the tax payer be on the hook to pay for green tech that can't compete in the market without government life support?

Frankly, I think that all government subsidies to the private sector should be terminated, never to return. Let the market figure it out, its a far more efficient and effective allocator of resources than the federal government ever was or ever could be.

 

[eohrnberger]

Does the same regulations apply to all the oil rigs, a d cattle ranchers on public land???

It should, if it isn't.

 

[JasperL]

Trump is both all powerful and feckless. He has minute details of the smallest actions in obscure corners of the government but has never read a daily briefing. He's both personally involved daily in two year long legal battles with solar operators and does no work because he's golfing daily.

It's amazing the power some ascribe to Donald J. Trump.

What's also amazing is how the buck never stops on his desk. It's an amazing feat for a president. Literally nothing bad is his fault, but he claims all the credit for what goes well. I guess that makes him the envy of incompetent bosses everywhere.

"The Buck Stops Here" is for suckers. The new Presidential motto is "I don't take responsibility at all" with the corollary, "All the credit goes to ME!"

 

[JasperL]

If he is so small and petty, then why do you guys obsess over him so much? The deep state needs to be removed. The resistance from previous administrations against Trump needs to go. He was voted president, not the deep state. The deep state for three years now has tried to override the will of the voters.

Deep state!

I'm pretty sure we all have to drink now. Way to go.

 

[beefheart]

Trump admin slaps solar, wind operators with retroactive rent bills - Reuters

(Reuters) - The Trump administration has ended a two-year rent holiday for solar and wind projects operating on federal lands, handing them whopping retroactive bills at a time the industry is struggling with the fallout of the coronavirus outbreak, according to company officials.

The move represents a multi-million-dollar hit to an industry that has already seen installation projects canceled or delayed by the global health crisis, which has cut investment and dimmed the demand outlook for power.

It also clashes with broader government efforts in the United States to shield companies from the worst of the economic turmoil through federal loans, waived fees, tax breaks and trimmed regulatory enforcement.

U.S. power plant owner Avangrid Inc, majority owned by Spain’s Iberdrola, received a bill for more than $3 million for two years of rent on its 131-megawatt Tule wind project on federal land near San Diego, according to spokesman Paul Copleman.
==========================================================
Coal is on the way out & now solar/wind renewables can't catch a break in the pandemic, where power demand has dropped. And in some states if you put solar panels on your roof to get free of the grid, the utility bills you anyway.

Coal, its your grandfather's fuel.

Dinosaur tech.

 

[JasperL]

The trouble with green energy is that it has never been self sufficient without subsidies from the government. They should be able to pay their rent or go bankrupt.

Fine, let oil and gas and coal and other fossil fuels pay the full freight as well, including the costs of pollution, our overseas adventures in the ME to protect oil supplies, and all the rest. If those industries want to pony up their past subsidies, that would be great as well.

 

[JasperL]

Solar and wind are nothing but silly ass fantasies for stupid Environmental wackos. Never would be feasible without government subsidies. In other words another form of welfare.

Speaking of welfare how about all those assholes that have electric cars? They get to drive around on roads but don't have to pay for them because they aren't paying the fuel tax that is used to fund the construction and maintenance. More welfare bums.

The year 2000 wants its energy talking points back.

 

[JasperL]

I hate government and I hate taxes. But even an Libertarian like me knows that if you drive a vehicle on a road and don't pay the fuel tax then you are a filthy ass welfare queen.

I see, so if the legislature is too stupid and incompetent to extend a tax to electric vehicles, you're a welfare queen if you don't voluntarily pay more than the law requires, because the legislature is too incompetent to impose that tax on you?

That's an interesting theory. Do you have a newsletter where we can read more?

By the way, Moon Bats don't know anymore about Economics as they do History, Biology, Climate Science, Ethics ot the Constitution.

Most of what the stupid Environmental Wackos refer to as government subsides to the fossil fuels are legitimate business deductions for expenses (mostly exploration) that all other kinds of other industries get.

Finding oil and getting it to the market place is a very risky endeavor. If the oil companies had to pay taxes on those expenses like the dumbass Environmental Wacko think they should then it would tremendously increase the cost of fuel that would frigging wreck our economy. The stupid solar and wind bull**** will never come close to providing the energy that seven billion people need. Nothing more than an Environmental Wacko wet dream.

Another thing. I am against all government transfer payments. Welfare, grants, bailouts, entitlements and subsidies. That includes any direct subsidies that the petroleum industry gets. It also includes the filthy ass health care subsidies that idiot Obama gave to the welfare queens and the Illegals.

Using the terms "Moonbat" and "Environmental Wacko" a bunch of times adds to your credibility as a very serious new member. Nice job!

 

[Top Cat]

Eco nuts are mad because their beloved green energy projects can no longer squat on government lands and actually have to *gasp* pay rent just like everyone else? Boo hoo...

Ya know, they also cause cancer. Bwahahahahahahaha! Jeeezzus H Keeerist the cult is thick.

 

[justabubba]

Or the tons of toxic waste spilled all over that area... Those costs disappear, of course, as does the cost of millions of tons of that waste sitting in often unlined pits slowly polluting ground water all over the southeast.

Duke Energy settlement results in the country’s largest coal ash cleanup - The Chronicle

 

[justabubba]

What's also amazing is how the buck never stops on his desk. It's an amazing feat for a president. Literally nothing bad is his fault, but he claims all the credit for what goes well. I guess that makes him the envy of incompetent bosses everywhere.

"The Buck Stops Here" is for suckers. The new Presidential motto is "I don't take responsibility at all" with the corollary, "All the credit goes to ME!"

all of the authority with none of the responsibility

bookends 'privatize the profits and socialize the losses' as was demonstrated in the notso great recession

but then we do have the best government money can buy

 

[JasperL]

Duke Energy settlement results in the country’s largest coal ash cleanup - The Chronicle

That's a good example of the "subsidies" coal plants have received for DECADES. Like you say below - privatized profits, socialized losses. In the case of Duke Energy and coal, it's the pollution costs offloaded onto residents of NC for as long as there have been coal plants.

What's stunning about the practice is it's supported by gutless and corrupt EPA and equivalents at the state level, who just lie to the public about the risks.

 

[Metric Mouse]

What's also amazing is how the buck never stops on his desk. It's an amazing feat for a president. Literally nothing bad is his fault, but he claims all the credit for what goes well. I guess that makes him the envy of incompetent bosses everywhere.

"The Buck Stops Here" is for suckers. The new Presidential motto is "I don't take responsibility at all" with the corollary, "All the credit goes to ME!"

What an absolute rascal!

 

[GDViking]

Bio-diesel is a substandard product. Why do you want to force people to use a substandard product? Do you hate working folks?

Seems to work very well for the Navy!

 

[Dannytoro1]

Seems to work very well for the Navy!

Aside from the crazy cost problem plaguing the DOD biodiesel program. Funny how much more costly it is compared to commercial biodiesel.

 

[Dannytoro1]

Why should ANY energy form receive a free rent subsidy? Especially given they are already smothered in other freebie subsidies? Has anyone noticed the Country is currently going broke?

 

[GDViking]

What's also amazing is how the buck never stops on his desk. It's an amazing feat for a president. Literally nothing bad is his fault, but he claims all the credit for what goes well. I guess that makes him the envy of incompetent bosses everywhere.

"The Buck Stops Here" is for suckers. The new Presidential motto is "I don't take responsibility at all" with the corollary, "All the credit goes to ME!"

He reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Bart's new line is "I DIDN'T DO IT"!!!