President-Elect Trump’s Climate/Energy Policy: 100-Day Action Plan a Good Start

From MasterResource

By Robert Bradley Jr. — November 7, 2024

Ed. Note: This post was originally posted on January 19, 2017, with Donald Trump on deck to take the Presidency.

“Good news indeed! Energy cuts are easy cuts compared to the hard budget choices that lie ahead in the transition from statism and stagnation to a vibrant, coordinated, expanding entrepreneurial economy.”

Rome is not burning, but Joe Romm at Climate Progress is. “Will Trump go down in history as the man who pulled the plug on a livable climate?” he writes, with the subtitle, “The fate of humanity is in the hands of a denier who pledged to kill domestic and global climate action and all clean energy research.”

Really, Joe?

But Romm goes on to (usefully) report:

The Australian journalist Graham Readfearn notes that while you can’t find Trump’s original “100 day action plan” for energy and climate on the campaign website anymore, “it was archived by Wayback Machine”.

Here is my 100-day plan:

  • We’re going to rescind all the job-destroying Obama executive actions including the Climate Action Plan and the Water of the U.S. rule.
  • We’re going to save the coal industry and other industries threatened by Hillary Clinton’s extremist agenda.
  • I’m going to ask Trans Canada to renew its permit application of the Keystone Pipeline
  • We’re going to lift moratoriums on energy production in federal areas
  • We’re going to revoke policies that impose unwarranted restrictions on new drilling technologies. These technologies create millions of jobs with a smaller footprint than ever before.
  • We’re going to cancel the Paris Climate Agreement and stop all payments of U.S. tax dollars to U.N. global warming programs.
  • Any regulation that is outdated, unnecessary, bad for workers, or contrary to the national interest will be scrapped. We will also eliminate duplication, provide regulatory certainty, and trust local officials and local residents.
  • Any future regulation will go through a simple test: is this regulation good for the American worker? If it doesn’t pass this test, the rule will not be approved.

AIso importantly, Trump (as Romm noted) has announced a plan to cut $100 billion in climate related federal funding over eight years, which would require “zeroing out all federal clean energy R&D, efforts to help countries around the globe deal with climate and the entire government’s climate science effort.”

Good news indeed! Energy cuts are easy cuts compared to the hard budget choices that lie ahead in the transition from statism and stagnation to a vibrant, coordinated, expanding entrepreneurial economy.

via Watts Up With That?

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November 8, 2024 at 08:01AM

Manchester’s £24m green network that doesn’t contribute to net zero (and loses money!)

By Paul Homewood

 

 

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Bosses have admitted ‘mistakes were made’ when setting up Manchester’s £24m green energy network.

The Manchester Energy Network uses a huge boiler on Lower Mosley Street to generate power, with excess heat from the system vented to major buildings in the city centre like Manchester Art Gallery, the Bridgewater Hall and Manchester Central to keep them warm.

But the council-owned network has lost more than £1m since being powered up in 2022. It was also billed as a greener way for the city to keep the lights on when town hall chiefs approved construction in 2018, but so far it has not helped meet net zero targets monitored by climate scientists at the Tyndall Centre.

That’s because it’s fuelled by gas generated from biomass, which is then certified as environmentally-friendly with Renewable Gas Guarantees of Origin (RGGOs). But the ‘credentials’ of RGGOs began to be questioned by the government in 2021 — before the network even opened.

It was revealed earlier this year bosses ploughed on with using RGGOs because they ‘sought advice, but not from the Tyndall Centre’.

That meant the £24m project could not help meet Manchester’s net zero targets, but it has replaced ageing infrastructure making ‘customer’ buildings more efficient.

Now, Sarah Narici, the council boss brought in to steady the ship, has admitted ‘mistakes were made’ in the set-up of the system.

Appearing before a resources and governance scrutiny committee on Thursday (November 7), Ms Narici also confirmed RGGOs would no longer be used in the future. She said: “The arrangements have been made and continue to be there to exit from the RGGOs. These cannot contribute to our zero-carbon pathway.

“Please be assured the pathway put forward… will fully comply with Tyndall Centre recommendations.”

While the move will satisfy some of the concerns over the network, more financial woes are expected to be reported at the end of the year. Thus far, the council-owned special purpose vehicle company has made a £1,324,202 loss in its first two years of operation.

Another loss is ‘likely’ for its third financial year which ended in April 2024, a council report from March said, with final accounts published in December.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/bosses-admit-mistakes-manchesters-24m-30318984

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November 8, 2024 at 07:55AM

SHOCK NEWS!! Ultra-rich using jets like taxis

 

By Paul Homewood

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The mega-rich are using private jets like taxis, warn climate scientists who tracked flights to calculate the planet-warming gases they release.

The scientists worked out that the carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to climate change, rose by 46% between 2019 and 2023.

Researchers traced all private flights globally, including summer weekend trips to Ibiza, Spain and travel to the Fifa World Cup and the UN climate conference in Dubai.

Flying in a private jet for a single hour can release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than the average person produces in a year, according to the research team.

“There are a lot of people using these aircraft as taxis, where you cover whatever distance by aircraft simply because it’s more convenient,” Professor Stefan Gossling, from Sweden’s Linnaeus University, who led the research, said.

“If somebody’s flight emits in one hour as much as an average human being emits in a year – just to watch a soccer game – then perhaps it shows those people think they are outside the standards that we have as a global community.”

In 2023, private flights produced an estimated 15.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide – the equivalent of 3.7 million petrol cars being driven over the course of a year, external – according to the research.

Overall, that is small compared to global carbon emissions. It represents about 1.8% of emissions from all air travel, and aviation is 4% of global emissions.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2lvq4el5vo

 

Maybe they should start with cancelling all future climate conferences and holding them on line then!

But there is a more serious issue here.

Putting taxes

What will they do to stop or at least reduce private flights?

Putting taxes on flights will not make the slightest difference to billionaires, showbiz luvvies, the political elite or big business.

And you can guarantee that whatever sanctions are put on private jets, the ordinary air traveller will be next in line.

via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

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November 8, 2024 at 04:38AM

Hydrogen facility will definitely open in Bradford

From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

Funding to build the UK’s largest hydrogen production facility in Bradford has been confirmed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

Bradford Low Carbon Hydrogen, a redevelopment of a former gas storage site, is the largest of 11 green hydrogen projects set to receive a share of £2bn from the government.

The Bradford project, which already has planning permission, is expected to create up to 125 new jobs for the city.

It will have the capacity to produce 12.5 tonnes of hydrogen each day, removing around 800 diesel buses from West Yorkshire’s roads on a daily basis.

The project is being delivered by joint venture partners N-Gen and Hygen, with support from Bradford Council.

Hydrogen production will secure the future of Bradford’s Birkshall site which has a rich heritage stretching back almost 100 years, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

It was previously home to three large gas holders, with the site producing and storing gas for use by the city’s homes and businesses.

Hydrogen does not emit carbon when burned, meaning it can support the decarbonisation of several sectors, including heavy transport such as HGVs and buses.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpvzkkeg2g1o

So for a hundred million or two, we will get enough hydrogen to power 800 diesel buses!

Bargain!

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November 8, 2024 at 04:03AM