Some of their power plants anticipated tighter standards, and updated accordingly. East Kentucky Power in Winchester, also in Ben Chandler's district, has already spent $666 million on a variety of emissions-control technologies and devices at its coal-based Spurlock Station. They are now concerned that under one EPA proposal, the electric utility may not get credit for much of its previous investments and the reductions in emissions it has already accomplished.
Ben Chandler Does It By The Book
Ben's Energy Manual:
When visiting Ben Chandler's office in November 2009, I spotted a copy of "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" on Chandler's office bookshelf. Curious, I checked a copy out of the local library, and began to read.
It didn't take too much reading to realize this book was Ben Chandler's manual for energy policy. In a nutshell, coal, oil, and natural gas (underground fuels) are described as "fuels from hell" because they are finite and emit CO2 when burned. "Fuels from Heaven" (wind, solar, biomass,etc.) come from above ground and are said to be endless!
The challenge is to get us to give up our hellish fuel supplies, which are affordable and effective, and replace them with heavenly energy sources, i.e. windmills, solar panels, algae, switchgrass, etc., which don't meet our needs.
Understandably, because coal and oil yield so much energy for the dollar, we, as short-sighted consumers, have to be prodded... make that aggressively prodded (coerced, forced, ordered) away from them. Through a combination of taxation and regulation of fossil fuel and rewards for "heavenly innovation" including tax incentives and federal funding, we will be led from darkness into light! Ta-dah!!!
Actually, reality is going the other way...from light to darkness as our power becomes more limited and expensive.
But that's the way Chandler, Obama, and Friedman plan for it to be. Birth pangs, as it were, on the way to the New World Order!
In the end, green things will "simply be the norm, because the ecosystem of prices, regulations, and performance standards will demand it. Therefore you won't legally or financially be able to build anything that isn't green."
I attended a luncheon in Danville, KY in April 2010 and had the opportunity to ask Ben about Friedman's book and its impact on his decision-making. Rather than distancing himself from it, he embraced it:
"I, of course, am not a scientist myself, so I have to rely on what the people who are expert in a particular subject say... I think we need to move to a green economy... I make no apologies."
Indeed, Ben is NOT a scientist, but neither is Thomas L. Friedman or his energy "buff" expert! Listen below as Ben's mother describes the day our little Ben became a "buff", too:
Ben was having trouble with Geology at UK. After complaining that he didn't think he would make it through the course, young Ben had an epiphany! "Mother, I'm going to love Geology! Life is an attitude."
And so "Ben-The-Buff" has joined with his other "Buff Buddies" to regulate our power supply into green submission. Cap and Trade was his first choice, but since the Senate refused to cooperate, the EPA picked up the regulatory ball and is running with it!
Humming a "Happy" Tune! Listen to Happy-Go-Lucky Ben share his Sunny Side of the Street lesson on keeping a good attitude:
Source : WHBN Radio Aug. 10, 2011 All you need to do is be nice, turn off the news, and let Ben do Obama's bidding unhindered by nasty opposition from home! That's the way to a better country and a better life! Choke, gasp....
Gee, was Ben this cheery when Bush was president? In a word...NO! More on that later....
