Archive for category Jon Huntsman
The Madness of King Coal
Posted by Gary Kunkel in Climate Change, Environment, Gary Herbert, Global Warming, Jon Huntsman, Utah Politics, utah on July 14, 2010
Back when Utah had a governor who thought global warming existed, and who also though we might need to take significant steps regarding our air pollution, the state funded a study by Synapse Energy Economics, Inc, with the help of the Harvard School of Public Health. It estimated, predictably, that each year over 2 billion dollars in health and water costs are wasted, and approximately 200 lives lost due to coal plant power production in Utah. Not to mention that other “externality” to coal power, global warming.
Wow! Our state funded study showed us that that nasty air we see every winter is bad for us? It’s time for us all to come out for energy efficiency and renewable energy power generation, right? Say farewell to King Coal right Governor Herbert?
Of course not, this is Utah, and what happened next was also as predictable as it is sad.
According to a report at KSL.com, the state “sidetracked (the study) and refused to vouch for it — after it ran into a wall of opposition from industry.”
The study figured $8 million per death, using long established statistical methods.
Clean energy advocate Arthur Morris was at a state meeting where industry representatives denounced the study.
“Kind of went crazy,” Morris said. “It was a little bit surprising to me that they were so incensed by valuing people too much.”
“Anything that would increase energy costs gets our attention,” said attorney Jim Holtkamp, air quality chairman for Utah Manufacturers.
Of course, no one seems to have quibbled with the 202 lives lost, just how much dollar value was placed upon them. Which, makes some sense, I suppose, when all you really care about is the bottom line.
Supposedly “public meetings” were held when the study came out a few months ago. Check out Rocky Mountain Power’s statement to KSL about their meeting:
We disagree with the study’s conclusions. Rocky Mountain Power participated in an initial review of the published study along with a broad group of Utah business stakeholders including the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, Utah Manufacturers Association, Utah Association of Energy Users, Utah Industrial Energy Consumers, Utah Mining Association, Deseret Power and others. Together, we identified enough concerns with the assumptions used in the study’s analysis to determine that its results should not be relied on.
-Jeff Hymas, Rocky Mountain Power
Funny, I wonder why clean air advocates and “the public”, never heard about any meeting, and somehow all of the business stakeholders managed to get the news…
It’s time to choose clean air over dirty air, and make the state pay attention to this study and do something about it. The study not only shows the cost of the current path, but was designed to show the benefits of changing course. It estimated the cost of substituting energy efficiency and renewables for 1/3 of the least efficient coal plants and found:
To achieve even more dramatic co-benefits, if approximately one-third of Utah’s most inefficient and polluting coal generators are replaced with a rigorous energy efficiency program and either gas or renewable energy, externalities amounting to $70 – $79 could
be realized for each MWh of coal retired or displaced.5
Did I say cost, sorry I meant savings, as that number “exceeds the cost of most electrical generation.”
If anyone out there would like to participate in getting this study publicized and forcing the state to do something about it, feel free to attend this Thursday’s 6pm meeting of the Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment (UPHE), at the University of Utah Orthopedic Hospitals’ 3rd floor conference room. All who care about Utah air quality are welcome, whether health care providers or not. I will summarize the meeting and action plan in a post after Thursday night.
I’m at work but can answer comments or questions about the meeting after 5 or tomorrow.
By the way, hello and thanks for having me, I’m a physician in Salt Lake, and I’d much prefer cleaner air!
Gary
Mike Lee: Taxpayers Ought to Bail Out BP
Posted by Richard Warnick in Disaster, Energy, Hypocrisy, Jon Huntsman, Mike Lee, National Politics, Republicans, Sam Granato, Utah Politics, Utah Pollution on June 25, 2010
A week ago, U.S. Senate candidate Mike Lee sat down with the Salt Lake Tribune’s Robert Gehrke for a wide-ranging interview. When asked if taxpayers ought to pay the economic costs of the BP oil spill, Lee answered candidly.
SL TRIBUNE: Currently there’s a cap on liabilities that BP is expected to pay $75 million dollars. There’s legislation that Bill Nelson sponsored to increase that liability to $10 billion dollars. The oil companies say that will put them out of business. Is that something you would be supportive of, increasing that cap on liability for environmental damage?
MIKE LEE: No.
SL TRIBUNE: Why is that?
LEE: This company is reliant, the entire industry, is reliant on the insurance its provided by law. Now had that cap not been in place, we would be facing a completely different question. But you have a set of settled expectations that you give to a business when it decides to make an investment in this. Our country benefits from this type of activity and allows us to produce more oil and allows more of our petro dollars to remain in the United States. We’ve relied on that, and to take that away I think would be a mistake.
SL TRIBUNE: Does that leave taxpayers on the hook for part of the damage?
LEE: Well yea probably does. And the government can look at that and say look, we put this damages cap in place, so we understood what that meant.
SL TRIBUNE: Isn’t that equivalent to a bailout?
LEE: I don’t think, well, I don’t think that’s equivalent to a bailout. I think that’s the government saying there’s some things its going to — if you look at the Outer Continental Shelf, something over which the United States has jurisdiction, and the United State wants to clean that up, then it’s free to do so. There’s nothing in that liability cap that requires the Federal government to do it. Well I’m not sure that necessarily means the taxpayers will end up paying the bill. It maybe the industry generally will just contribute to it. In fact I would expect other people involved in offshore drilling will have a part of the clean up because they would want to to show this can be done safely and when disasters do happen it can be cleaned up.
Mike Lee’s philosophy is what I call “Wall Street Socialism.” Corporations want to privatize their profits and socialize their losses (or simply dump negative externalities like oil spills on the public). Bumper-sticker version: “Taxpayer Bailouts for Billionaires.”
Vote for Sam Granato, or else this guy will be our new senator.
Guv Huntsman resigning for China ambassadorship.
Posted by Becky Stauffer in Barack Obama, Jon Huntsman, Republicans on May 15, 2009
Channel 4 News (also heard on Channel 2) reports that Governor Jon Huntsman has been offered and will accept the ambassadorship to China. The announcement is to be made tomorrow from the White House.
The good guv has been under a lot of criticism lately for being a no-show at some important R Party events in Utah. This might explain why he has been occupied elsewhere. Now I’m thinking about the implications of being appointed to this slot by a Democratic president. Local Repubs will make the most of it for certain, but it may be a big asset to Huntsman if he decides to run for president in 2012, as he seems to be one of the only in his party who gets it, that the country has moved to the center — including Republican voters.
The question now is whether Lt. Governor Gary Herbert will serve out Huntsman’s term or if there will be a special election. As we recall when Governor Leavitt resigned to fill a Bush cabinet spot, the Lt. Gov can serve in an interim period, but it seems there isn’t an automatic transfer of power. Maybe some of our readers have more knowledge of this process.
Huntsman was scheduled to visit China with other governors later this month, but the trip was canceled because of the swine flu outbreak.
UPDATE 8:30 pm: The Salt Lake Tribune now has the story up. As does the DesNews. UPDATE: Now on KSL. I was feeling a little unsure of the sources earlier, but feel more confident now.
The Deseret News also offers a little more insight about succession and a special election.
The appointment of Huntsman would mean that Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert would take over as the state’s chief executive. A special election for the governor’s office would be held in 2010, under a new state constitutional amendment.
Republican Party – a Super Minority
Posted by Becky Stauffer in Homophobia, Jon Huntsman, National Politics, Republicans, Utah Politics on April 29, 2009
Just as the Democratic Party prepares to take a filibuster-proof Super Majority in the Senate, the Republican Party is endeavoring to maintain a solid Super Minority among voters.
A recent poll shows that only 21 percent of adults identify themselves as Republicans, while 35 percent identify themselves as Democrats and 38 percent as independent. Clearly to win elections, either party must hold a strong appeal for that large independent group. Right now, those people are pleased with Obama’s performance and are not very happy with Republicans (see said poll results). Read the rest of this entry »
Sawed-Off Shotguns, Spineless Utah Republicans and The Golden Arches
Posted by Cliff Lyon in Gun Control, Jon Huntsman, Utah Legislature, Utah Politics, assault weapons, utah on April 2, 2009
Link: The driver , of a white Dodge Intrepid pulled into the drive-through at about 2 a.m. at McDonald’s at 210 W. 500 South in Salt Lake City and ordered food from the lunch and dinner menu, police said.
When a clerk told her the restaurant was serving only items from the breakfast menu, the woman drove to the second window, police said. Two men got out of the car, and one pulled a sawed-off shotgun out of the trunk, police said. He fired once or twice into the drive-though window before the two men and the woman left…
Unfortunately, the new law making it perfectly legal to carry loaded guns in your car WITHOUT a concealed carry permit is not retroactive.
That’s right. Amid strong public opposition, the rural, religious, right-wing politicos that run the state have taken Utah closer to the territory of the Wild Wild West for which they yearn.
Link: The two bills make changes to current gun laws to allow loaded firearms to be carried in vehicles without the necessity of a concealed weapons permit, and require businesses to allow loaded firearms in vehicles parked on their property…
…all for which will only make it easier for pretty much anyone to steal a loaded gun without having to confront its owner. Yeaaaaah!!!
On the issue of allowing loaded firearms to be carried in vehicles without a concealed weapons permit, 60 percent of respondents were somewhat or strongly opposed, while 35 percent were somewhat or strongly in favor.
Ah, but the gun lobby is very very active at the Capitol and the spine of the average pioneer, well…absent.
Seemingly, Republican legislators are willing to take the sides of gun rights lobbyists against the rights of property owners,” Gunn said. “Legislators are saying that gun rights trump property rights.
But then what are Republicans if not hypocrites.
Brooks on Jindal “A Disaster For The Republican Party
Posted by Cliff Lyon in Jon Huntsman, Republicans, Utah Politics on February 25, 2009
Blog pundits are comparing the Palin disaster with the Jindal choice. The incompetence of the current Republican party is astounding.
If they had a brain between them, they would be pushing Jon Huntsman Jr.
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