A Real Looming Energy Crisis

A regulator in the Kansas Department of Health and Environment recently denied a permit for a large coal-fired power plant solely because of the global warming gases it would emit. The ownership and the electricity would be shared by 67 cooperatives in Kansas and neighboring states, so a lot of people would be affected by this new power plant.

I've blogged about the myth that is man-made global warming many times before (here and here), so I assume you know that I don't subscribe to the belief -- and yes, it is a belief rather than a fact -- that we're the cause of any potential warming that might be occurring.

Here's the problem. America is already waaaaaay too dependent on foreign sources of energy (mainly oil). We haven't built any new refineries since the '70s, nor have we developed any real nuclear power capabilities despite the fact that the U.S. has the cleanest, most efficient technology to do both in the entire world. Why not?

Environmentalists.

These wacko environmentalist groups have successfully stifled essentially all development on American energy, using emotional plays like 'man-made global warming', just as this Kansas decision indicates. Why do you think the price of gasoline always spikes in the spring? It's because all the refineries have to switch over to a different (summer) blend, and the entire refinery has to be flushed out in order to prevent mixing the two blends. That means downtime, and that means prices go up.

The problem here is that by doing stupid things like this, we're going to encounter real, legitimate problems in the future. The energy crisis is not going away, especially as America continues to grow. If catastrophe strikes and we are cut off from foreign sources of oil, we'll experience some major, major pain, even to the point of being unable to protect our country due to gas shortages.

We need to shake off the myths with which environmentalists have successfully shackled our national energy progress and begin constructing new oil refineries and nuclear power plants. And, we certainly need to be allowed to continue the less-controversial energy production means like coal plants.

There's my two cents.