Oregon to Dump Coal

[Ben]

I really thought this would be CA, but I guess the Portland lib concentration is denser than the San Fran lib concentration.

I'll be really interested to see how this plays out. Higher prices for sure. Infrastructure-wise, they'll need most of the electricity in the West, where they're not going to get a lot out of solar. From the article it appears that they're going full NIMBY and looking at filling Eastern Oregon with wind turbines to power the urban centers in the West.

I'm guessing this might not have passed if the eco-nazi organizations and politicians that pushed it would have learned that Portland would have been surrounded by many square miles of wind turbines.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/08/24/warnings-rate-hikes-as-oregon-becomes-1st-state-to-kill-coal.html

[AmbulanceDriver]

There are times I really hate my state.

[Angel Eyes]

But the phase-out already has groups warning that residents are headed for big rate increases and brownouts.

"This is basically a wind mandate," said the Cascade Policy Institute's John Charles, while suggesting alternative energy sources won’t be able to meet the state’s needs. "There's no way wind can physically power the grid because days, weeks on end, wind produces zero."

...

In Oregon, coal power still fills one-third of the electricity demand. Despite a building boom, renewables such as wind and solar power make up just 8 percent of the electricity portfolio.

Venezuela, here we come!

[MechAg94]

What the hell are they smoking up ......................................nevermind.   

[MechAg94]

"When they're done, there will be nowhere for animals or people to be in eastern Oregon without living under a wind turbine," she said.

I guess this means the politicians in the capital won't have to look at them. 

For the money it will cost them, they could probably invest in the coal plants environmental systems and make it the cleanest plant in the world.  Or just build a couple nuclear reactors.

[Triphammer]

I've been wondering if power companies in neighboring states could shut down transmission lines into Oregon. Making them entirely dependent on wind or whatever.

[RocketMan]

Idiots.  I am an Oregon native that is sure glad I escaped that place.  Something that ten years ago I would have never thought.

[tokugawa]

correct me if this is wrong, but I have heard those wind turbines are so highly subsidized none would be built without joe publics money.

 Personally, I hate the things-  Ok, they don't like a power plant, yeah, that's like a landfill- all the crap in one place- those wind towers are like litter, scattered all over . For all the lefts insistence on increasing the area of "wilderness, shutting down dirt bike access, and closing rifle ranges, for them to be such an advocate for the ugly wind farms is just prove they really don't give a *expletive deleted*it- they just want to hammer anything their opposition likes.
 The bastards don't even give a *expletive deleted*it about all the raptors the blades eat,or the birds the solar farms fry.

 The left is filled with hypocrites of the first order.
 

[Ben]

The bastards don't even give a *expletive deleted*it about all the raptors the blades eat,or the birds the solar farms fry.
 

That's what I find incredibly hypocritical. They make a big deal, including PR, about fining oil companies, timber companies, etc. hundreds of thousands of dollars for every dead bird, but wind and solar companies get a pass, even from the freakin' Sierra Club.

Also, yes, my understanding is that wind is extremely subsidized and that energy costs would be outrageous without the subsidization. Same with solar [cough]Solyndra[/cough].