NC Rep Harrison Wants Higher Energy Prices

Representative Pricey Harrison (D) wants higher prices. Apparently Miss Harrison, a retired attorney really thinks that the people of North Carolina aren't paying enough for their electricity. In her commentary, she doesn't say if she thinks that gas prices are high enough to make her happy or not. But she says that prices for electricity and natural gas simply aren't high enough, so she's working to increase the price (not the tax) that people will have to pay to use them -- to make more jobs.

She starts out by complaining:

North Carolina ranks in the top four states in the country for increases in carbon dioxide emissions. CO2 emissions in our state increased at twice the national rate from 1990 to 2004. Emissions from our coal-fired power plants, which increased 52 percent during that time, account for almost half our state's total.

Of course that MIGHT be because North Carolina gained 633,929 residents between 2000 and 2005 -- the sixth largest increase in the country. Do you think that all these new residents might need to actually use electricity? Apparently Miss Harrison thinks they are using too much, so she wants to raise the prices up so people will not be able to afford electricity.

So, what, exactly, would she do to stop people from using so much evil electricity? She has introduced House Bill 77. This bill would REQUIRE that any facility that generated electricity generate a specific, random, percentage from "renewable sources" -- no matter the cost. And no, they're no allowed to use nuclear, either. This bill would require that by 2021 20% of the total electric power sold in the state be generated from her specific, preferred methods -- no matter the cost, no matter what other ways to generate electricity may be discovered in the coming years.

She argues that nuclear is no good because too many smart people would be highly paid to run those plants -- but if North Carolina can build dozens of solar and wind power plants (no matter if they work or not) -- then North Carolina can have lots of dumb people employed.

Throughout her entire argument and the entire bill, there is no mention of cost to the consumer. The power companies will be forced to spend large amounts of money on inefficient methods and will be forced to pass on those massive costs to the consumer.

Indeed, this bill will have the desired effect Miss Harrison wants -- it will reduce the amount of CO2 emissions and the amount of dependency on foreign sources of energy -- by forcing more of the poor in North Carolina to turn back the clock 100 years and live without electricity.

Posted by: Ogre at 11:02 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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