The climate doom-cryers may be losing some ground right now, both figuratively and literally. People are growing weary of the Chicken Little-like shouting of falling skies, and those people are also growing more and more aware of the fact that the frenzied predictions of the climate scolds never seem to materialize; like any other fake prophet, they just keep pushing the dates back.
Never let it be said, however, that the proponents of climate panic aren't organized. They are, and you'd better believe it. And there's a term for their political outlook, which describes them as "watermelons" - green on the outside, red on the inside. Why? Because when you scratch the surface, they are all socialists on the inside; just listen to any of the far left talking policy, and climate change and the desperate need to abandon much of our modern technological lifestyle will come up, sooner or later.
Which brings me to an organization called the U.S. Climate Alliance. This organization states as their purpose:
The U.S. Climate Alliance is a bipartisan coalition of governors sustaining America’s fight against climate change with bold, state-led action.
Launched in 2017 by the governors of Washington, New York, and California, the Alliance now includes governors from 24 states and territories, representing approximately 55% of the U.S. population, and 60% of the U.S. economy.
There are 23 member states to this alliance; those are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Nevada, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Michigan, and New York. Note that this is a coalition of governors, not state legislatures. Note also that all 23 member states in the U.S. Climate Alliance, except for Wisconsin, have Democrat governors.
This is, at its heart, an association of Democrat governors presiding over mostly blue states. And it will be a platform plank in the 2028 presidential elections; you can bet on that. And they are pushing policies that will necessarily drive up electricity rates.
Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT)'s David Wojick has pointed out some of the reasons. He writes:
The 23 members of the Alliance are basically those states with Democrat governors. This is not quite true, as one member has a Republican governor and two states with Democrat governors are not members. It is close enough that we can think of it as the Democrat governors organized to end fossil fuel use.
The fundamental goal is clearly stated on their home page:
“Alliance members are committed to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
What is deeply ironic is that the Democrats are widely running on a platform of affordable electricity which is often simply termed “affordability.” The reality is that the standard steps for reducing fossil fuel use all work to drive up the cost of electricity.
There are four different technologies involved in cutting fossil fuel use. Here is a quick look at how each drives up the cost of electricity.
We've looked at these technologies before. They are:
Unreliable, low energy-density, intermittent wind and solar power. As we've shown many times, these can be useful in niche applications, but they don't scale up well, and the manufacture and installation of large-scale facilities are horrendously expensive and soak up a lot of resources — as does disposing of units that are past their usable lives.
Grid-scale batteries, which again simply don't scale up well; these are, like so many climate "solutions" solutions desperately seeking a problem, and are only needed in the first place to make up for the intermittent, unreliable nature of wind and solar power.
Electric vehicles; again, good for certain drivers, like urban and suburban commuters, but which are expensive, requiring subsidies to be marketable. These are fine if it's the choice of the consumer, but the blue-state scolds want to mandate them.
And, finally, state-mandated energy efficiency projects, mostly funded by the utility ratepayers. The Alliance is a little vague on what form these would take, but David Wojick has some insights as to their end goals:
The Climate Alliance states are heavily promoting all four of these very expensive technologies because this is how fossil fuel use is reduced in accordance with the Paris Agreement. All the member states have “Clean electricity standards” and 19 have “100% clean electricity goals.” Many have “energy storage goals” as well and massive efficiency programs.
Blue states, with Democrat governors, pushing policies that will make energy, particularly electricity, more expensive for everyone. And in an election year, these issues can and must come to the forefront; in this year's midterms as in any election, "...it's the economy, stupid" applies, and voters are already focused on energy costs. And here's the thing: Oil prices rise and fall, with international tensions and with new developments. But these proposed changes in utility-scale electricity generation and transmission would be long-term. They wouldn't just raise rates for the next few weeks. They would raise rates forever.
And all, remember, in the service of an agenda that is taking a mostly natural phenomenon — the warming that is normal for an interglacial period — and making it into a political agenda. Weigh the promises of the scolds accordingly when you go to vote in November, and at all costs, go to vote in November.
