The Real Red Sea

Many months ago, I announced to a planning group that I work with that the President would probably sooner than later make a climate change address that would begin the beginning of carbon pricing in not only our future carbon plants, but in our existing plants, and most certainly our coal plant.

Not a single person in the room agreed with me. 

On the 18th of June, Obama made his address.

WASHINGTON AP— Taking climate change efforts into his own hands, President Barack Obama is proposing sweeping steps to limit heat-trapping pollution from coal-fired power plants and to boost renewable energy production on federal property.

Obama, in a speech Tuesday at Georgetown University, was to announce he's issuing a presidential memorandum to launch the first-ever federal regulations on carbon dioxide emitted by existing power plants, moving to curb the gases blamed for global warming despite adamant opposition from Republicans and some energy producers.

The news media was all over it.

Cable Networks Snub Obama Climate Change Speech

Huffington Post

Clearly, cable news is no place for a discussion about climate change. President Obama found that out the hard way on Tuesday.

Obama addressed a crowd at Georgetown University to announce a new climate change plan, which included changes to limit power plants' carbon dioxide emissions and increase renewable energy production.

All three cable networks turned to Obama's remarks but cut away from the speech well before it was intended to end. MSNBC cut away first, turning to correspondents to analyze the remarks even before they were over. Fox News cut away next, saying the remarks would be streamed online, and turned to a guest critical of climate change to weigh in on the president's announcement. Host Megyn Kelly wondered aloud whether the country even needed to tackle the issue.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer cut in soon after. After saying that Obama was making "a major, major address" about climate change, he proceeded to talk over the president's remarks.

Viewers took to Twitter to comment on how all three cable networks were not carrying Obama's full announcement. The New York Times' Brian Stelter tweeted that viewers could watch Obama's climate change speech on one cable network that was airing the announcement in its entirety—The Weather Channel.

I watched it on the White House site.

It was a little long, a little hot, and a lot short of specifics.  But the President had made good on his State of the Union speech.

The linchpin of Obama's plan involves new and existing power plants. Forty percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, and one-third of greenhouse gases overall, come from electric power plants, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. The Obama administration already has proposed controls on new plants, but those controls have been delayed and not yet finalized. Tuesday's announcement would be the first public confirmation that Obama plans to extend carbon controls to existing plants

Oh, but not to worry, "he will never get these through Congress".  He doesn't need Congess.

Obama's announcement came two days before we were bringing 570 MWs of wind power to our board for initial approval.  The second and final approval came on the 27th of June.  These contracts will provide energy from winds which match our peak very nicely and will actually help reduce our fuel costs and customer bills for a generation.

Meanwhile, on the Hill,  even before Obama spoke, reaction from Republicans was swift and dismissive, reflecting the opposition to climate legislation on Capitol Hill that prompted a frustrated Obama to sidestep lawmakers and take action himself. Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said imposing carbon rules on power plants amounts to a national energy tax.

A week before, this UN statement by the head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) followed the release earlier in the day from the International Energy Agency (IEA) of a report which shows that unless more is done to tackle energy sector emissions, the international community will see a spike in temperature increase of between 3.6 and 5.3 degree Celsius.

Now I know that the Minority Leader doesn't speak French and all that metric stuff, but five degrees Celsius is about nine degrees F warming.  That will be a TAX  that will break the back of civilization itself.

Right now, one in four kWhs in our electric system are renewable.  Almost half are carbon free. By the end of next year, one in three kWhs purchased by our customers will be renewable energy, and more than half of our energy will be carbon free.  And our rates are still under 10 cents... if you don't try to hog too many.

Sure, it's easy down here in Texas...  Lots of wind, lots of good sun, and a small island of blue sanity surrounded by a sea of red madness.

If the Rs don't quit ignoring the signs and the warnings,

the real sea just might

turn red.

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