The thing I hate most about politics is that the truth gets pushed aside for convenient rhetoric. Here’s the thing Trump wants to maintain archaic energy production methods because they feed the pockets of the existing energy sector. Here’s a fundamental truth fossil fuels are never going to be environmentally friendly.
I live in Michigan where we have a over abundance of gas and oil pipelines. Some of these pipelines run within a thousand feet of schools and residential communities in violation of federal safety regulations. In fact anything within a 1000 feet of a pipeline is deemed to be in the incineration zone. In other words if there were an explosion anything in that zone would be burned to a crisp. The second thing that makes this crazy is that we keep building additional pipelines when we are only using about 40 to 50% of current pipeline capacity.
What’s it all about? The simple answer is MONEY AND GREED. Take for example Enbridge Line 5. Line 5 consist of two pipelines that runs from Superior Wisconsin and snakes its way through Michigan’s UP down through the Lower Peninsula and terminates at its destination point some 645 miles later in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. The pipelines runs below the surface of the Straits of Mackinac. That pipeline was originally built almost 67 years ago because Canada didn’t want the pipeline on Canadian land. Each day 23,000,000 million gallons of light crude is pumped through that pipeline. Less than 10% of that production is destined for American use yet we bear 100% of the risk for a leak. It’s not about jobs, it’s about money.
The truth about the push back against renewable energies is this. Renewable energies threaten to pull revenue out of established energy companies pockets. These companies employ an army of lobbyist many of whom are former US legislators or who have strong contacts and relationships with the legislative community. It’s about the money.
We could begin an orderly migration to renewable energies today. The change is not going to occur overnight. An example of green energy migration is Denmark. When you fly into Copenhagen you see a giant wind farm sitting in the ocean. That windfarm is a prime example of renewable success. Denmark produces almost 50% of its electrical energy through windfarms. 80% of global windfarm infrastructure is produced and manufactured by a Danish company. By 2030 Denmark projects that 80% of electrical energy in the country will be produced by windfarms. From a transportation perspective 1 out of every three Danes commutes by bicycle. Train service is among the best in the world. What Denmark illustrates is the viability and scalability of renewable energy.
When Trump and his cronies sneer at the green new deal they are really sneering at positive change. Renewable energy jobs are growing and in the long run are more stable because they are not dependent on market fluctuations in oil and gas prices.
The clown in the Whitehouse is pandering to unrealistic fears. Clean energy doesn’t kill jobs. It changes the nature of the jobs. Fossil fuels will never be clean. He’s never going to prop up the coal energy no matter how many times he talks about clean coal. Oil prices will continue to be unstable because supply exceeds demand and franking only exacerbates the problem.
The sooner we break the habit of carbon based energy the greater the chance we have of surviving into the next century. It’s simple we stop listening to a moron. We evolve or we perish its just that simple.
Think!!
Eyes Wide Open!!!