Warning. Washington customer's electric, natural gas in jeopardy! We the People Must Act to prevent California and Texas style disasters in Washington State!
Avista hosted a public meeting on Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at 5 p.m. The public meeting will begin with a presentation on each draft plan and give an opportunity for questions. Then participants will have the chance to select from a variety of topic areas to learn more and give direct feedback. Please register in advance to attend. (If this link doesn't work for you, go online or phone them at 800-227-9187)
Don't let the California and Texas disasters happen here!!!
Additional information on the administrative processes that prompt such meetings is listed here:
The place to track the goings on with Clean Energy implementation and Avista would be through the UTC, here are two links that would help tracking:
https://www.utc.wa.gov/regulatedIndustries/utilities/energy/Pages/CleanEnergy.aspx
https://www.utc.wa.gov/regulatedIndustries/utilities/energy/Pages/EnergyCompanyAdvisoryGroup.aspx
The Department of Commerce acts in concert with the UTC on clean energy rulemaking
https://www.commerce.wa.gov/growing-the-economy/energy/ceta/
More information about these serious concerns in this article by Dave Boleneus:
Dave Boleneus: "Electric Grid is in Jeopordy!"
Warning. Washington customer's electric, natural gas in jeopardy.
Last chance to object.
Coming soon will be your last chance to object to Avista's plan to delete (remove) much of your supply of electricity. Power outages due to insufficient supply happening in Texas today (because relying on wind turbines) and California this summer (because cancelling reliable forms of electricity) are coming to Washington State. Any of the 30 states unwisely submitting to renewable portfolio standards can expect a similar result.
Avista provided notice of their coming hoped-for approval of its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for natural gas and electric supply. It will be discussed locally and then for approval by the WA Utilities and Transportation Commission with the final meeting in May. Check out the MyAvista.com/ IRP for details.
1. Why is it changing? The situation is serious, perhaps not reversible. Washington passed the Clean Electricity Transformation Act in 2019 requiring that all sources of electric generation using coal or natural gas be shut (cancelled). The cancellations happen rapidly from now to 2030. Utilities - customers' friendly role ended since the Washington legislature co-opted the planning role for itself and wresting it away from utilities.
2. Why is Washington doing this? It's on a fool's errand to save the climate from carbon dioxide. The state says that the cost of carbon is shown by its social cost but their calculator forgot to add the immense benefit carbon dioxide provides, like boosting growth of field crops to produce food provided by Washington's $50 billion annual contribution from agribusinesses. The benefits of CO2 are estimated at 200 to 500 times larger than the social costs economist Dr. Roger Bezdek says. Math error?? Farms worldwide have benefitted to the tune of $12 trillion in farm incomes due to carbon dioxide since the 1960s with another $20 trillion predicted.
3. Why, Why? The democrats in the Washington legislature feel they are better power planners than the utility experts, and in passing the clean energy act, the legislature is saying, without any expertise in the subject, their intellectual ability is superior to the experts employed by utility companies. Legislators in Ontario held the same opinion but were thrown out of office when the public discovered their renewable folly.
4. What will happen? All forms of fossil fuels used for generating electricity must cease (end). The coal and natural gas plants amounting to 800 megawatts will be cancelled with much help from Sierra Club to be replaced by 700 to 800 megawatts of new solar and wind generation. Avista has 442 megawatts of hydroelectric but in time of need they will need to buy more electric supply from outside sources. Still the question remains if those sources will be available at a time that other customers are equally desperate for electric supplies?
5. So what's the problem? A megawatt of solar or wind cannot replace a megawatt of natural gas or coal, because coal and natural gas are full time power and wind and solar are not. Nuclear power is being cancelled too. Coal, nuclear and natural gas are fuels while wind and solar represent an occasional potential for generation of electricity. Wind and solar only work about 15% of the time and during the 5 winter time months in Washington, they only work about 4% of the time according to the Bonneville Power Administration. At 4% wind and solar are only making 28 to 30 megawatts, not 700 or 800 MWs so a large shortage results. The wind generation record shows that no electricity is generated for extended or long periods of up to 5 to 12 day-long stretches. Ask yourself: Can I go for 12 days without electricity or natural gas? For any month from October through March wind generating facilities are "still" (not moving) for 15 to 21 days each month according to the BPA records. The reason is overcast and calm weather conditions. They spring to action when the spring arrives, but only partly so.
6. What's the result? Customers will go without electricity for long periods. Avista says that for any 10 day period during Washington's winters, ending use of coal or natural gas will cause more than 50% of customers to be in blackouts. Has anyone considered how smart phones and computers will work under these conditions? How about electric for heating, cooking food, refrigeration, keeping frozen foods and that Roku/Apple TV for the latest movies? Do all of you have generators, barbees, white gas stoves? What about our electric cars?
7. What about batteries, hydrogen, fuel cells? BATTERIES ARE 5-FOLD MORE EXPENSIVE THAN WIND TURBINS, provide only a few hours of electricity and then only sufficient for stabilizing. Without active solar or wind, batteries cannot be charged. Creating hydrogen to power fuel cells depends entirely on surplus wind and solar, but wind and solar generation remain at extreme levels of deficit.
8. Are there other impacts on people? Yes. Wind turbines are well known to create low frequency sound, or infrasound created by the rotating blades. Industrial sound experts say it is not safe for humans or farm livestock to be within several miles of wind turbines for extended periods. The sound is endless for days, nights, that no barrier can prevent, with result of sleeplessness, fatigue, and more serious health impacts to major organs of the brain, heart, respiratory system according to the World Health Organization, University Hospital Toronto, University of Virginia Medical School and Max Planck Institute. Wind turbine infrasound noise in rural Finland caused serious to adverse symptoms to neighbors 10 miles and more away. Neighbors impacted by wind turbines in the U.S. and worldwide have organized and successfully stopped wind developments. Others have abandoned homes to escape. A Mason County Michigan family lost $121,000 to a forced sale of their rural farm to escape the noise when 56 wind turbines were built near them. Real estate values are seriously impacted as well. Wind turbines also kill birds but the developers can do this legally by obtaining waivers, even to kill eagles. The wind turbines and solar panels do not create pastoral settings; rather they convert landscapes into industrial developments where animals and man cannot coexist. Finally, the cost of electricity from wind or solar, even when not operating, is several times more expensive than traditional forms of electricity. A bank executive in Ontario estimated that Ontario's cost of wind-generated electricity to be 44 cents per kilowatt-hour compared to 8 cents per kilowatt-hour that Avista customers pay today. Costs in Germany and Australia are like Ontario. This means your $157 per month utility bill would skyrocket to $860 per month, a level creating energy poverty for fixed income seniors and low income households.
Register to attend this online meeting! https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dGkqejcaRLa8epxI0rKclA
CONTACT Avista and your legislators and let them know--"We are concerned about the power grid!! Don't let the Texas disaster happen here!!"
Avista 800 227 9187
Click here for House Energy and Environment Committee Members
Click here for Senate Environment, Energy and Technology Committee Members
February 18, 2021