Energy, Health and the Environment: Connecting the Dots

When you don't understand something follow the money and then you will find out the "why". The richest and the most evil Americans are members of the banking, energy and medical industries. I'll say in again only in bold. The richest and the most evil Americans are members of the banking, energy and medical industries. One more time for clarity.
The richest and the most evil Americans are members of the banking, energy and medical industries. Ya got that peasants?

The knock on renewable energy is its high price compared with fossil fuels. But a new European Commission analysis finds onshore wind power is cheaper than coal and gas when the “external cost” of fossil fuels to health and the environment is calculated, according to leaked documents obtained by The Guardian.

The Guardian reported that when those external costs are included, onshore wind farms generate 1 megawatt-hour of electricity at a price of 105 euros, compared with 164 euros for gas, 233 euros for coal, and 133 euros for nuclear power.

The European Wind Energy Association said that by factoring in air quality, climate change, and adverse health effects of energy sources, the report shows that the price of coal is more expensive than the highest retail electricity price in the EU’s 28 countries.

“This report highlights the true cost of Europe’s dependence on fossil fuels,” Justin Wilkes, EWEA’s deputy chief executive, said in a statement. “Renewables are regularly denigrated for being too expensive and a drain on the taxpayer. Not only does the commission’s report show the alarming cost of coal, but it also presents onshore wind as both cheaper and more environmentally friendly.”

It's a given that America is no longer a democracy and has descended into a plutocratic kleptocracy. Run by the scum of the earth that makes ISIS look like humanitarians. This is why that despite the fact that renewable energy is cheaper than fossil fuels American corporate gangs will fight alternative energy such as wind, solar, hydroelectric and geothermal. Filth like the Koch brothers cannot own the wind, sun, waves, rivers and heat from mother earth. The Koch brothers are filthy fucking evil and they are part of the shadow government. They know that their coal kills and maims millions of Americans each year but they are mobbed up with the banksters who are mobbed up with the real big money and that is the American medical industrial complex which exists to exploit and create human suffering on a global scale.

Criminal traitors like Duke Energy can burn wood chips and switch grass in their coal fired generating plants at a lower cost than coal but they know that coal kills and maims and they know that 20% of the US GDP is the medical industry and that by 2020 it will be 25%

The dots are connected and if you deny this you are an enemy of America and you need to be treated as such! 

List Of North Carolina Most Deadly Coal Plants

North Carolina has 67 operating coal-fired power units at 25 locations totaling 13,279 megawatts (MW).

A Shocking History of North Carolina's Coal Plants

Coal-fired power plants produced about 62 percent of the electricity generated in North Carolina. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) projects this amount to be 67 percent by 2010.^[1]

North Carolina produces a disproportionately large amount of carbon dioxide, in large part because of the state’s numerous coal plants, and ranks 14th in the nation in CO₂ emissions. The state produces 77 million tons of CO₂ every year, an amount only slightly less than California’s 79 million tons, despite the fact that North Carolina’s population is one quarter the size of California.^[2]

One of Duke Energy Coal Ash Spills

North Carolina-based Duke Energy is planning an 800MW expansion at its Cliffside plant that would emit an additional 6.25 million tons of CO₂ per year. Duke Energy is the nation’s third largest producer of carbon dioxide, emitting 108 million tons of CO₂ per year, despite CEO Jim Rogers’ public calls for federal legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Duke’s eight plants in North Carolina produce 41 million tons of CO₂ each year, more than half of the state’s total yearly carbon dioxide emissions.^[2]

In May 2010 the Union of Concerned Scientists released a report titled, Burning Coal, Burning Cash: Ranking the States that Import the Most Coal. In the paper the group reported that North Carolina was the second most coal dependent state in the country, spending $2.3 billion on coal imports in 2008.^[3]

A

• Asheville Plant

B

• Belews Creek Steam Station
• Buck Steam Station

C

• Canton Mill Power Plant
• Cape Fear Steam Plant
• Cliffside Plant (existing)

D

• Dan River Steam Station

E

• Edgecombe Genco
• Elizabethtown Power Plant

G

• G.G. Allen Steam Plant

I

• International Paper Roanoke Rapids Power Plant

L

• Lee Steam Plant
• Lumberton Power Plant

M

• Marshall Steam Station
• Mayo Generating Plant

P

• Primary Energy Roxboro Power Plant

R

• Riverbend Steam Station
• Roanoke Valley Energy Facility

R cont.

• Roxboro Steam Plant

S

• Southport Plant
• Sutton Steam Plant

U

• UNC Chapel Hill Cogeneration Facility
• Unifi Kinston Power Plant

W

• Weatherspoon Plant
• Weyerhaeuser Plymouth Power Plant

Cost of Coal Compared to Other Fuels

Fuel                     Cost             Btu Content         $/MMBTU

Wood Chips      $34/ton            5,000 Btu/lb          $4.25

Switchgrass      $60/ton            7,500 Btu/lb          $5.00

Coal                   $120/ton            25 MMBtu/ton       $6.00

Oil                       $2.50/gal        140 MBtu/gal           $22.32

Natural Gas      $1.25/therm      100 MBtu/therm    $15.63

Source

Switchgrass  

• A native, warm season grass

• Requires minimal fertilizer and water

• Can grow on marginally productive land

• Harvest with traditional agricultural equipment

• Switchgrass will yield 3-4 tons per acre

• Low density, benefits to densifying

• Immature market: Harvesting would create jobs for decent people

Natural Gas 

• Is the cleanest fuel next to hydrogen
• Requires drilling and fracking
• Failing gas pipe infrastructure
• Natural gas is highly explosive

Oil     

• Can be burned far more cleanly than coal.
• Not renewable
• Expensive
• Causes major environmental disasters
• Drilling and refining is dangerous

Wood Chips 

• Can be burned cleanly
• Renewable 
• Not enough trees to meet demand

Coal 

• Coal mining harms the environment and kills the miners.
• Coal ash kills
• Fly ash from coal kills
• Coal cannot be burned cleanly
• Coal plants increase cancer rates
• Coal plants cause many diseases in children
• Coal stinks

Duke Energy and their well payed whore NC Governor Pat McCrory are examples of corporate gangsters who kill and rape our kids.

Click here to see what the Duke Energy corporate gangsters pocket each year.

Click HERE to see how one former Duke CEO pocketed 5.5 million per hour!

Criminal Republicans On Duke Energy Payroll Give Duke Green Light To Pollute

When we think of scumbag governors we think of criminals and pedophiles and in other words Republicans like war criminal George W Bush, serial killer Rick the closet fairy Perry, Medicare fraudster Rick Scott, Arnold the pedophile Schwarzenegger, Serial cheater and wife abuser Mark Sanford, criminal Chris Christie  bribe taker Bob McDonald of Virginia, the many scandals of  Wisconsin Criminal Governor Scott Walker , Nikki Haley facing an ethics investigation, serial liar and slut Sarah Palin, criminal liar Paul Lepage of Miane, Governor Tax Cheat Romney and scandalous John Kasich to name a few. 

MORE DIRT ON SCOTT WALKER

We can add another name to the Republican Governors Hall of Shame and that is that lying weasel Pat McCrory who was voted America's worst governor. McCrory and his Republican gangsters have given Duke Energy carte blanche to continue to pollute Western North Carolina's French Broad River with deadly fly ash from Duke's coal plants. 

DANGERS OF COAL ASH

MORE ABOUT COAL ASH

COAL ASH POLLUTING CATAWBA RIVER AND WHY COAL ASH IS BAD

Click here to contact North Carolina criminal Governor  Pat the polluter McCrory. 

By MITCH WEISS and MICHAEL BIESECKER Associated Press

Duke Energy was in a bind.

North Carolina regulators had for years allowed the nation's largest power company to pollute the ground near its plants without penalty. But in early 2013, a coalition of environmental groups sued to force Duke to clean up nearly three dozen leaky coal ash dumps spread across the state.

So last summer, Duke Energy turned to North Carolina lawmakers for help.

Documents and interviews collected by The Associated Press show how Duke's lobbyists prodded Republican legislators to tuck a 330-word provision in a regulatory reform bill running nearly 60 single-spaced pages. Though the bill never once mentions coal ash, the change allowed Duke to avoid any costly cleanup of contaminated groundwater leaching from its unlined dumps toward rivers, lakes and the drinking wells of nearby homeowners.

Passed overwhelmingly by the GOP-controlled legislature, the bill was signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory, a pro-business Republican who worked at Duke for 28 years.

"For decades, Democrats have stifled small businesses and job creators with undue bureaucratic burden and red tape," McCrory said at the time. "This common-sense legislation cuts government red tape, axes overly burdensome regulations, and puts job creation first here in North Carolina."

Environmentalists saw the legislation, and its little-noticed provision benefiting Duke, differently.

"This sweeping change gutted North Carolina's groundwater law," recounts D.J. Gerken, a senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center.

The level of coordination between Duke and North Carolina's lawmakers and regulators had long been of concern to environmentalists. But when a Duke dump ruptured on Feb. 2 — spewing enough coal ash to coat 70 miles of the Dan River with toxic sludge — the issue took on new urgency.

Federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into the spill, issuing at least 23 grand jury subpoenas to Duke executives and state officials.

Duke Energy accused of mishandling more coal ash wastewater

Los Angeles Times‎

The first batch of subpoenas were issued the day after an AP story raised questions about whether North Carolina regulators had helped shield Duke from a coalition of environmental groups that wanted to sue under the U.S. Clean Water Act to force the company to clean up its coal ash pollution.

Physicians for Social Responsibility Explain the Dangers of Coal Ash Ponds

Still, regulators alone could not protect the company from its huge liability if the environmental groups persevered in court. So Duke officials lobbied — successfully — to change state law, itself.

Their vehicle was the Regulatory Reform Act. And they took aim at a provision that had been on the books for decades, requiring Duke to halt the source of contamination if its subterranean plumes of pollution crept more than 500 feet from its ash dumps.

North Carolina's 14 coal-fired plants have 33 waste pits. Each is surrounded by a "compliance boundary," with monitoring wells tracking the spread of underground pollution.

A compliance boundary is like an early warning system. If groundwater contamination inside the line exceeds state environmental standards, a company is supposed to take corrective action. The goal is to stop the spread of pollution to neighboring properties, as well as rivers and streams.

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UPDATE: In 2012 the Charlotte Observer reported that all 14 of the coal-fired power plants in the state of North Carolina are leaking toxic metals into our groundwater. Coal ash ponds, which store the byproducts of burning coal, contain carcinogens and heavy metals such as mercury, lead, arsenic, iron manganese, sulfate, chromium, boron, selenium and chloride. - See more at: http://quitcoal.org/category/topics/water-pollution-and-overuse-coal-plants#sthash.j1oTP5CT.dpuf

Board of Directors For Puke Energy

Ann Maynard Gray
Chairman of the Board
Former Vice President, ABC Inc. and Former President, Diversified Publishing Group of ABC Inc.
Member, Compensation Committee
Chair, Corporate Governance Committee
Member, Finance and Risk Management Committee
Director of Duke Energy or its predecessor companies since 1994

William (Bill) Barnet III
President and Chief Executive Officer, Barnet Development Corp.
Member, Finance and Risk Management Committee
Member, Regulatory Policy and Operations Committee
Director of Duke Energy or its predecessor companies since 2005

G. Alex Bernhardt Sr.
Chairman, Bernhardt Furniture Company
Member, Nuclear Oversight Committee
Member, Regulatory Policy and Operations Committee
Director of Duke Energy or its predecessor companies since 1991

Michael G. Browning
Chairman, Browning Investments, Inc.
Member, Audit Committee
Member, Corporate Governance Committee
Member, Finance and Risk Management Committee
Director of Duke Energy or its predecessor companies since 1990

Harris E. DeLoach, Jr.Executive Chairman, Sonoco Products Company
Member, Corporate Governance Committee
Member, Nuclear Oversight Committee
Director of Duke Energy or its predecessor companies since 2006

Daniel R. DiMicco
Chairman Emeritus, Nucor Corporation
Member, Corporate Governance Committee
Member, Nuclear Oversight Committee
Director of Duke Energy or its predecessor companies since 2007

John H. Forsgren
Retired Vice Chairman, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Northeast Utilities
Member, Finance and Risk Management Committee
Member, Nuclear Oversight Committee
Director of Duke Energy or its predecessor companies since 2009

Lynn J. GoodVice Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Duke Energy Corporation
Director of Duke Energy or its predecessor companies since 2013

James H. Hance Jr.
Retired Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer, Bank of America
Member, Audit Committee
Member, Compensation Committee
Chair, Finance and Risk Management Committee
Director of Duke Energy or its predecessor companies since 2005

John T. Herron
Retired President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Nuclear Officer, Entergy Nuclear
Member, Nuclear Oversight Committee
Member, Regulatory Policy and Operations Committee
Director of Duke Energy or its predecessor companies since 2013

James B. Hyler, Jr.Managing Director, Investors Management Corporation
Member, Audit Committee
Member, Finance and Risk Management Committee
Member, Regulatory Policy and Operations Committee
Director of Duke Energy or its predecessor companies since 2008

William E. Kennard
Senior Advisor, Grain Management
Member, Finance and Risk Management Committee
Director of Duke Energy or its predecessor companies since 2014

E. Marie McKeePresident, Corning Museum of Glass
Member,Audit Committee
Chair, Compensation Committee
Member, Corporate Governance Committee
Director of Duke Energy or its predecessor companies since 1999

E. James Reinsch
Retired Senior Vice President and Partner, Bechtel Group and Past President, Bechtel Nuclear
Member, Finance and Risk Management Committee
Member, Nuclear Oversight Committee
Director of Duke Energy or its predecessor companies since 2009

James T. Rhodes
Retired Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Nuclear Power Operations
Chair, Nuclear Oversight Committee
Member, Regulatory Policy and Operations Committee
Director of Duke Energy or its predecessor companies since 2001

Carlos A. Saladrigas
Chairman, Regis HR Group, Concordia Healthcare Holdings, LLC
Chair, Audit Committee
Member, Compensation Committee
Member, Regulatory Policy and Operations Committee
Director of Duke Energy or its predecessor companies since 2001

Philip R. Sharp
President, Resources for the Future
Member, Nuclear Oversight Committee
Chair, Regulatory Policy and Operations Committee
Director of Duke Energy or its predecessor companies since 2007