Are You Prepared To Pay More For Electricity?

Last week, President Obama announced plans to confront the growing threat of climate change.  He wants to cut carbon pollution by reducing the use of coal to produce electricity.  ”Carbon pollution is contributing to a higher risk of asthma attacks and more frequent and severe storms, floods, heat waves, and wildfires, driving up food prices and threatening our communities.” 

Almost 2/3 of Nebraska’s energy is produced by coal.  Mr. President, what will happen to our electricity prices if you are successful in reducing the use of generating units that use our cheapest resource?  Won’t that drive up food prices and threaten our communities? 

A researcher just published a new study that says chlorofluorocarbons are to blame for global warming since the 1970’s.  By demonstrating the link between CFCs, ozone depletion and temperature changes in the Antarctic, Professor Qing-Bin Lu was able to draw almost perfect correlation between rising global surface temperatures and CFCs in the atmosphere.  Please see May 30^th’s complete article at www.sciencedaily.com.

My point is….one study says this, another says that.   Think of it this way:  there’s a strong correlation between the crowing of a rooster and sunrise.  It doesn’t mean his crowing made the sun come up.  However, if locked in a dark room, one might use the rooster’s crow as an indicator that sunrise has occurred.   We believe a study that best fits our own value system.  We see things not as THEY ARE, but as WE ARE. 

What if the science is not as solid as some would have us believe (we are locked in a dark room).  The correlation between CO2 levels and temperature has been disputed on both sides over the past  40 years.  How sound is the science?  If Dr. Lu has found an independent variable that correlates much better with global temperatures than does carbon, I think we should consider it a valid predictor (the rooster crowing at sunrise) until someone can find a better one.

Ask yourself what will happen if you open your electric bill and it’s three times more than it used to be for the same amount of kilowatt hours AFTER Obama pushed his climate agenda all the way through congress.  Will you blame Dawson Power? 

I’m not against a greener planet.  I’m against pushing an agenda so hard and so fast, that we can’t recover from the negative financial impact it creates on our families, our farms, our communities, and Nebraska.  The price of electricity affects EVERYTHING.  

Gwen Kautz, General Manager