Scuttlebutt: Time Marching On
Time marches on. Or does it? Like many others, I have lost track of time. Days just seem to run into one another. I can't tell anymore what is the most useful way to keep track of time. A calendar? A sundial? Or just a scratch on the wall?
You can't blame people for that desire to go back to “the way it was”. We are all going stir crazy a little bit, but, of course, we just need to hang in there and keep our heads down until the bullets quit flying.
It makes me think of a kid staring at a pile of presents under a Christmas tree. Though the kid knows it should wait, there is an uncontrollable urge to rip open a gift, even if it does mean getting in trouble.
Movement has definitely picked up around here, but I don't get the feeling people are being casual about their behavior. We have avoided being hit very much at all here on the coast and part of that is adhering to social distancing and quarantine measures. It appears the virus is not here and we don't want it to get here. Though many have serious concerns, this stay-at-home order isn't that bad for those who are not economically stressed by the restrictions. Gardening, assisted by pretty perfect gardening weather, is booming. Writers are getting their manuscripts written. Songs are being composed. Building supply stores report that home repair projects are surging. Many office workers, forced to work at home, are finding that the 2-hr commute may not really be all that necessary. Parents are spending more time with their kids (not always a positive). More pot is being smoked!
We must applaud those heroes who are keeping community life alive by working our grocery stores, credit union, bank, post offices and other essential businesses. Thanks, folks!
And speaking of the post office, can you believe the Republicans are once again going after the Postal Service? I wrote a column way back in 2011 about proposals to go private with mail service. My research at the time revealed that the cheapest you could send a letter to Petaluma from Point Arena by FedEx or UPS was $7.29. Now it is $8.50 and will take 4 days. Is this what Republicans want for our nation?
Mitch McConnell and his oligarchy cohorts have so completely neutralized the Congress that nothing is really being done beyond COVID relief, except appointing his people as federal judges. This is something that Trump-hating Democrats and Independents who couldn't bring themselves to vote for Hillary were warned about. So thanks, you highly-principled non-voters!
Meanwhile dumb stuff just keeps happening. This month I am highlighting yet another nuclear boondoggle, this time in Georgia. The Southern Company is expanding a nuclear plant, Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro, Georgia. The project was begun in 2013 and is now 69 months behind schedule. That would be bad enough, except that those delays have also caused the project to be an additional $11 billion over budget. That means the estimated cost of the expansion has risen from $14 to $28 billion. So who gets to pay for that? Southern's stockholders? Their Board of Directors or the sub-contractor? Oh, yes, it is the ratepayers.
When the project began Georgia created something called the Nuclear Construction Cost Recovery Rider. This $400 charge to each customer was suppose to pay for the project. Now they are being asked to pay an additional $385 each for the cost overruns. In addition, the Georgia public utility commission just approved a $4 monthly increase in meter fees, plus an additional $24 a month for the next two years on utility bulls. This 40% rate hike leaves residential customers with some of the highest electricity bills in the nation. The Partnership for Southern Equity, a clean energy group, has pointed out the faulty accounting used to justify the rate increases, while the commission received over 6000 letters of protest. Rates increases were nonetheless approved 4-1.
But all is not nuclear in Georgia. They are also progressing on a fairly ambitious drive to produce solar energy. After all, they do share a border with the Sunshine State.
When construction of the Vogtle Plant began Georgia had less than 100 MW of solar power. Today they have over 1700 MW and by the time the Vogtle Plant is finished, solar will produce more energy than the two new units being constructed. And while the Vogtle Plant is being constructed, solar has already provided 9 million MWh to the grid.
The Vogtle Plant is the largest construction project in the state of Georgia. This is a powerful incentive to keep building, despite the costs. Over 9000 workers are employed directly or indirectly. That sounds pretty good, but according to the US. Energy and Employment Report solar represents 4-5 times as many jobs overall compared to nuclear power and while the construction jobs for the nuclear expansion will be winding down as the units are completed — but the pace of solar is increasing — the state will see more Georgians working in solar for the foreseeable future.
None of these huge construction costs, of course, even come close to what it will cost to deal with the nuclear waste the plants will produce. That is a 10,000 year + endeavor that will cost ratepayers untold amounts in the future, and none of that is included in the official thinking of the alleged economic benefit of nuclear power. Ratepayers would be better off paying those 9000 workers to dig a hole and then fill it back in.
Image by annca from Pixabay
