Saturday, December 8, 2007

House passes "energy" bill

It hasn't made it thru the Senate yet, and the president is talking veto, but the house passed one. It "closes tax loopholes" on the oil companies (raises taxes), pushes up the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) to 35 mpg, and requires electric power companies to generate 15% from "renewable" (solar, wind, tide, hydro) sources.
The CAFE change erases the distinction between cars and "light trucks". Right now light trucks only have to do 25 mpg, whereas cars have to do better. The CAFE law is responsible for the demise of the station wagon and the rise of the SUV. Station wagons were cars but SUV's were "light trucks". For that matter as unlikely as it sounds, the Chrysler PT Cruiser was a "light truck". Now everything under 8600 pounds Gross Vehicle Weight is subject to CAFE, anything heavier is a real truck and not subject to CAFE. Expect to see some really heavy SUV's come out to take advantage of being a real truck. The CAFE change seems to be rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Since Katrina and $3 gas, car buyers are buying the best fuel economy they can find. The market for SUV's and pickup trucks has collapsed, putting the Detroit big three into deep doo-doo. Toyota is selling all the Prius's they can make, even though the Prius is $5000 more expensive than Corolla. Do we really need to further roil the car market with legislation?
The 15% renewable electricity mandate is a cushy deal for the makers of renewable equipment, but it will boost my electric bill, a lot. Wind and solar are not firm power, A calm day, or nightfall, and no juice. The power company has to build real power plants (the works all the time kind) to keep the lights on under worst case. Worst case is a hot summer afternoon (last NY blackout) or a cold winter evening (first great blackout) . Then, as the load meters edge up and up, and unexpected failures take big plants off line, the system controllers cannot count on the wind blowing, or the sun shining. In short, that 15% "renewable" generation does nothing to prevent another great blackout. It's just money poured down the drain, my money as a matter of fact. I'm already paying 20 cents per kilowatt hour, up from 5 a few years ago, and I see no reason to pay yet more to purchase relatively useless "renewable" energy.
You want to do something for the electric power industry? Make 'em put in 15% nuclear power. It's firm power, it's clean, we have the technology. France is 80% nuclear, why not the US?
The final insult to tax and rate payers. This "energy" bill is 1000 pages long. At one lawyer per page, that's lifetime work for 1000 lawyers, at full fees or course. Plus some juicy pork too. Like a $1 billion rail connection to JFK airport. JFK is already on the subway, what more do you need?

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