The agenda of the Biden administration, along with that of regressive Democrats, is to shut down the fossil fuel industry. Fossil fuel industries provide 10.3 million jobs and $1.7 trillion in US GDP.
Well, EPA Commissioner John Kerry says they can all be recycled to make clean energy solar panels. Would that be in China? At the same time, Biden has a “Build Back America” program where he calls to bring manufacturing back to the US. Good idea, but without fossil fuels, how can it be done?
Here’s what would happen with a shutdown of fossil fuels:
Coal is needed to make coke to mix with iron ore to make steel. It takes a lot of energy to process it.
Look around you at how many things are made of steel.
An example: a large “clean energy” wind turbine is made of 79% steel, about 355 tons. The rest is fiberglass, resin or other plastics, cast iron, copper and aluminum.
It is estimated that 583,000 turbines would be needed to replace existing electricity production systems. The amount of turbines and steel required varies depending on the size of the megawatt. However, this is a lot of steel and other materials. With our mines closed, the few US-made turbines would require imported material.
Most solar panels are made in China. Those made in the US are produced by mostly Chinese and South Korean companies using imported materials or simply assembling foreign-made panels. The panels do not work well in cloudy weather, and not at all when covered with snow.
The scam is the federal tax credit scam. Get a 30% credit on the cost of a home solar panel installation. If you install a $100,000 system in your mansion, you get $30,000 off your $30,000 tax bill = zero taxes. The average installation cost for the 2,000 square foot home is $20,000 with a $6,000 tax credit. If your taxes are lower, you get what you owe for that year. Then you have to go through the IRS Form 5695 dance every year to get the rest. The tax credit is really a subsidy to panel manufacturers.
More than 6,000 items are made with petroleum, including gas, diesel, lubricants, propane, tires, asphalt, pharmaceuticals, and plastics. Plastics include vinyl, synthetic fabric, and most vehicle interiors.
Under Governor Hochul’s Clean Power Plan, people will eventually have to give up their gas stoves. Will your Antigas Police (AGASPO, rhymes with Gestapo) take away the heat from the old people and the small generator?
Its worst requirement is to require school districts to purchase only new electric school buses after 2027 and to replace all gas buses by 2035. Many districts will have to replace their garages. The increased weight of electric buses will require new lifting equipment. Electrical charging points and foam firefighting equipment will be required. Although electric cars may be slightly less prone to fires than gas cars, when they do catch fire, it takes an enormous amount of water to put them out.
See how much water it takes to mine lithium and the environmental impacts of doing so. Even a staunch environmentalist would make a bad case of vapors.
Environmental hypocrisy: Environmental activists wearing precious synthetic clothing made with foreign oil are up in arms over Biden’s approval of the Alaska Willow Oil drilling project. At the same time, he throws them a bone by declaring 2.8 million acres of the Bering Sea off limits.
It also bans thousands of acres in Minnesota that could be mined for critical minerals used in all kinds of electronic equipment.
Activists are trying to stop a Nevada lithium mine from opening. It’s “we want clean energy, but not in my backyard.”
Conclusion: There is no such thing as clean energy. Everything has a cost.
I have sent similar letters to our senators, some state officials and our governor. The only response was from Senator Schumer, who thanked me for supporting his Energy Innovation Act. Governor Hochul sent an unanswered email thanking me for the contact, along with a campaign speech.
No one has read the letter or answered the questions, so don’t waste your time on them.
With the government today, especially in New York, it seems to me that the lunatics are running the asylums.
Richard Blakesley went to Gorham High School and then RIT. He was a machinist, draftsman, and engineer for several companies, including Wright Hibbard in Phelps, Gleason Works in Rochester, and Vesta Works Inc., a Canadian/Polish engineering company. He enjoys genealogy and car shows. He is married, lives in Bloomfield, and has four children, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
