I watched a documentary on Winston Churchill, and the narrator said something that struck a chord with me. He said when Churchill spoke to the people he told them, “They could do it,” and when Hitler spoke at one of his many rallies, he said, “Only I can do it.” Where have I heard this before?
Donald Trump has no background in technology. He listens only to himself and displays a misanthropic view of literately everything. He sees himself as a supreme ruler, and only he decides. He intervenes where he shouldn’t like the “Sharpie” incident where he drew an additional hurricane alert area that almost immediately had national and local weather officials saying the addition he drew on the map was wrong. Again like Churchill who was ignored by Parliament about preparing for war, Fauci, Birx and the CDC were ignored by Trump. Viral infections must be evaluated immediately, but the delay caused by Trump’s pronouncement that Covid-19 was a hoax that would go away in a month was costly. His suggestion that we ingest bleach and/or shine a light into an orifice was even more than irresponsible. This is why over 100,000 Americans (see footnote) met an early grave. I still remember Dr. Brix’s facial expression when he said this. She should have pushed him aside and screamed, “Don’t do this!”
Now in his second term, he has stated that he will stop wind and solar projects, declaring the are “Expensive, inefficient and harmed wildlife,” none of which is completely true. Wind turbines do occasionally kill birds. However, major steps are being taken to mitigate this, and tall glass buildings kill more. As for beached whales, for which Trump has declared wind turbines were responsible, is not true. For decades whales have suffered various viruses that damage their directional sensing, and the sound of freighters such as oil vessels disorient them and cause them to beach themselves. Wind and solar also are the least costly of all the electrical energy production methods.
I believe in general that Trump will defund states that don’t do his bidding, in particular those committing to large-scale wind and solar energy. He continues to misstate the cost, effectiveness, and animal deaths related to wind turbines. He disregards the truth about the harm hydrofracking does; ie: earthquakes and pollution of our fragile water table. He ignores the leadership that America used to hold in regard to the environment. However, it’s clear that a majority of Americans believe anything they hear that comes from the current President.
Foxes watching the energy hen house
Fox 1 — PCAST, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technologies
David Sacks is the head of PCAST. He is a proponent of deregulating AI, saying it should not have any constraints. He has a podcast called “All-In,” which I suggest the reader check out to get a feel for this billionaire’s view that AI should proceed unfettered. Bill Gates and Elon Musk warned us about AI. Here’s what Musk said at the MIT AeroAstro Centennial Symposium in October 2014 (note the year):
“I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I were to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it’s probably that. So we need to be very careful with artificial intelligence. I’m increasingly inclined to think that there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don’t do something very foolish.” (Elon, my how you have changed!)
Sacks and Vice President Vance (see Germany conference) want full-steam ahead with AI. What does that have to do with energy, in particular electricity? In a word, everything. Ohio is selling its electricity to AI data centers in 100 MEGAWATT blocks. It will be interesting to see what happens to the general consumer in Ohio. Vance is from Ohio.
Fox 2 — Head of the DOE, the Department of Energy
Trump has placed a hydrofracker named Chris Wright of Liberty Energy to head the DOE. Wright does not believe that the human race is responsible for climate change. Apparently Trump was unable to detect bias here. Wright has publicly stated that climate change will collapse under its own weight. He has impressive credentials, a graduate of MIT in engineering. However, evidence is not in Trump’s vocabulary nor is it in Wright’s. Liberty Energy is a $2.9 billion company that is engaged entirely in hydrofracking. Perhaps that might be the real motivation against alternate energy. (Just sayin’)
Fox 3 — Head of the Environmental Protection Agency
Trump selected Lee Zeldin, whose first act was to cite that President Biden had apparently put $20 billion into a slush fund for green energy. This money was targeted for green projects under the EPA. Zeldin fails to mention who these “leftist organizations” are and that these funds were for green projects. Biden received no benefit from money. Zeldin, as of yet, has not said what he is going to do with the 500,000 abandoned mines, the thousands of miles of toxic streams from the coal mining days, capping of abandoned wells, how to apportion payments of coal mining operations that go bankrupt as soon as they are hit with a fine from the EPA. Not to mention the recent firing of 388 EPA personnel. The crux of his job as EPA director to ensure the safety of the public and the environment does not appear to be a priority.
Fox 4 — Head of the Bureau of Land Management
Kathleen Sgamma, a prominent advocate for the oil and gas industry, has been nominated to lead the BLM. As president of the Western Energy Alliance, Sgamma has been a vocal proponent for increased fossil fuel development on public lands, often challenging federal regulations she perceives as restrictive to energy production. Her nomination aligns with the administration’s “energy dominance” agenda, aiming to maximize domestic energy and mineral production
Fox 5 — National Energy Council and the Department of the Interior
I like the selection of Doug Burgum of North Dakota. I think he is very progressive with a balanced energy track record. In my humble opinion I don’t see him putting up with Trump’s expectations. This one may not be watching the hen house like Trump wants, and he may upset the apple cart.
Fox 6 — House Committee on Energy and Commerce
This is a Republican-dominated committee. Congressman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, is the senior member of the committee and chair of the Energy subcommittee. On Feb. 5, that subcommittee held a hearing titled “Powering America’s Future: Unleashing American Energy.” The two chief witnesses who appeared were:
• Amanda Eversole, Executive VP and Chief Advocacy Officer, American Petroleum Institute
• Brigham McCown, Senior Fellow and Director, Initiative on American Energy Security, Hudson Institute
Witnesses are “pre-selected” by the committee. The Hudson Institute is more about legal issues that challenge the “drill baby drill” mantra. Basically they discuss how can this administration gets around legal challenges by those opposed to that mantra.
(Footnote: according to the CDC at that early stage, 10% of these deaths were healthcare workers, ie: doctors, nurses, orderlies, etc. Donald Trump failed to listen to his medical advisors. According to JAMA, America is already 17,000 doctors short.)
Jim Bobreski of Penn Yan is a process control engineer in power production for 43 years. He also is the author of “Alternate Energy and Climate Change in the Age of Trump,” available at Longs’ Bookstore in Penn Yan.