Who needs clean air?
by digby
I guess all those coal miners will be happy and that’s all that matters. They are Real Americans. But they will die too …
President Trump has ordered Energy Secretary Rick Perry to take “immediate steps” to prevent the further closures of coal energy plants around the U.S., the White House said Friday.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Bloomberg News in a statement that the president had ordered the Department of Energy to take the measures due to a national security interest in securing the power grid’s resilience.
“President Trump has directed Secretary of Energy Rick Perry to prepare immediate steps to stop the loss of these resources, and looks forward to his recommendations,” Sanders said Friday.
Sanders added that “impending retirements of fuel-secure power facilities” pose a risk to national security and prompted Friday’s actions.
The statement from the White House comes hours after Bloomberg obtained a draft memo detailing a DOE plan to order grid operators to buy electricity from coal and nuclear plants that are at risk of retiring due to cheaper energy available from renewable energy sources and natural gas.
“Too many of these fuel-secure plants have retired prematurely and many more have recently announced retirement,” the 41-page memo reads.
Look at that again: a DOE plan to order grid operators to buy electricity from coal and nuclear plants that are at risk of retiring due to cheaper energy available from renewable energy sources and natural gas.
This is insane.
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