US: Get Ready For Brownouts Or Worse

As I wrote in a recent Little Miss Chatterbox comment section:

The Demorats are simply the Party of NO.

And we're about to pay a HEFTY PRICE not only in dollars but LIVES as well. Petroleum is only the TIP of the energy iceberg.

Yes, solving this problem requires a full and complete multi-faceted attack; not JUST "conservation" will do it. There is only ONE energy source that will run vehicles at this point: OIL. We NEED to continue on this trail while SIMULTANEOUSLY seeking all the other alternatives -- which includes not just saying NO to these alternatives.

DRILL NOW, BUILD NOW and, as the new graphic to the RIGHT side of my blog indicates, CUT NOW.

We are desperately RUNNING OUT of INFRASTRUCTURE on EVERY LEVEL in this nation and, on behalf of "Enviros" and the Religious Left, the Demorats have fallen into lockstep in terms of assuring our crisis turns ever deeper -- and actually begins to cost AMERICAN LIVES. Because, quite frankly, they do not understand nor care.

We all know the energy challenges facing us now, and NO one facet shall quell the crisis facing us at this point. Conservation, individually, is not the answer. Conservation won't run my car in the interim. Good thoughts won't run my car in the interim. And this country cannot abandon petroleum wholesale anyway -- too many other items (besides vehicles) require oil, to include just about everything in our world as well as various chemicals required for the medications we need -- heating oil, jet fuel, fuel oil, LPG, diesel. Vehicles are just one element of the oil situation.

The answer consists of the following multi-faceted attack:

• Drill for more oil, domestically and internationally; yes, everyone knows it's no panacea and yes everyone knows it will take years for the additional oil to ramp online -- but I want this done if for no other reason than to tank up our strategic oil reserves for the future of our military when push comes to shove;
• Keep the thought of conservation going, but conservation alone doesn't really address the problem;
• Continue to seek alternative energy sources;
• Continue to refine the quality of hybrid vehicles;
• Continue to examine the feasability of mass-produced hydrogen vehicles;
• Build more infrastructure on every level;
• More and wider surface streets;
• More and wider freeways;
• More and more numerous rail lines;
• More electrical generation stations;
• More coal fired plants;
• More propane plants;
• More NUCLEAR plants

And here is why:

Constant brownouts and some major blackouts are in our immediate future. The Demorats' saying NO to EVERY chance to build ANY form of infrastructure has ASSURED this conclusion.

If you think runaway oil prices are upsetting, just wait for what's in store for electricity. Similar forces are in play. Demand is rising fast; supply is not. The cost to get coal and natural gas out of the ground is going up, and to that expense must be added the cost of the carbon permits that Congress and the presidential candidates are contemplating. Environmentalists are getting power plants scotched. China is sucking up energy. Leave such dynamics in play long enough, and price spikes in electricity follow. But that's just the beginning. We may be facing brownouts (voltage reductions) and even rolling blackouts.

Mark Mills in Forbes wrote:

By as early as next year our demand for electricity will exceed reliable supply in New England, Texas and the West and, by 2011, in New York and the mid-Atlantic region. A failure of a power plant, or a summer-afternoon surge in the load, could make for a blackout or brownout. "There really isn't any excess in the system," says Rick P. Sergel, chief executive at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).

Mr. Mills, who writes the Energy Intelligence column for Forbes.com. concludes:

Recall the summers of electric discontent for California in 2000 and 2001? Wholesale electricity prices skyrocketed, reflecting tight supply conditions (conditions that were exploited, but not created, by traders at Enron). The consequences were a bankruptcy filing by the state's biggest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (amex: PCG.PR.A - news - people ), and the early departure of a governor.

Multiply by dozens of states. Add in brownouts. Buy candles.

Again, what I've been writing for quite some time: we desperately need more infrastructure. OIL is only ONE point on the chart, albeit a large point. As I wrote on March 13th:

Again, remember who placed the country onto the path it's obviously taking: lacking the energy necessary to keep it running; namely: The Demorats.

In "Infrastructure" I proffered a quote from Fornicalia Senator Tom McClintock:

The Governor’s (Schwarzenegger's) crusade against “greenhouse gases” is, in fact, the single greatest impediment to the era of public works that he has promised, and the crusade for public works construction is the biggest impediment to reducing “greenhouse gases” that he has promised.

On August 20th of 2007 I wrote:

In my opinion, for the past 20+ years Americans have sacrificed infrastructure for social programs that have yielded little if any benefit -- except perhaps to create an entire "needy" class dependent on government and to eliminate males entirely from black families. And, of course, to ensure we keep the constant flow of worker drones (i.e., Mexican laborers) funneling into our country so as to continue the consistent underclass.

In that amount of time, however, we have done our level best to ensure that the necessary infrastructure to accommodate all the additional people has been seriously curtailed.

I created my then-list of requirements:

--Power generating stations;
--Sources of water;
--Adequate emergency response staffing (fire and police);
--Hospitals;
--Refineries for petroleum distillates;
--Interconnecting surface roads with sufficient capacity;
--Expanded freeways to accommodate future traffic needs;
--Sufficient railbeds to accommodate future interstate rail traffic;
--Airport expansion;
--Sewer capacity, water treatment capacity;

Are you ready, America? Get ready for the 1800s all over again:

• Get ready to be boiling in the summer;
• Freezing in the winter;
• And unable to get anywhere or acquire anything.

You can thank the Enviros, the Religious Left and the Demorats for it all.

And I'm not so sure that isn't what the Enviro and the Religious Left really want.

BZ