US Switching From Coal To Natural Gas -- Market Realist -- November 11, 2014

Still catching up. From the other day. Market Realist is reporting, part 4: why the switch to natural gas.

Part 3: why you should care about Obama's war on coal.

A seven-part series.

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Miscellaneous Wind Stories

North Dakota presses on. This is kind of cool -- it's a great story for those who like this sort of stuff. The good news? Hillary, Barry, and Pocahantas will all say "they didn't build that." The Dickinson Press is reporting:

A North Dakota wind farm proposed in the migration route of an endangered bird has been revived after the developer unsuccessfully sued Xcel Energy for pulling out of the project in 2011.

San Diego-based EDF Renewable Energy first proposed the 100-turbine, 150-megawatt Merricourt Project in 2008.

The wind farm would straddle southeastern North Dakota’s McIntosh and Dickey counties and produce enough renewable energy to power 43,500 homes, the company said.

Xcel Energy Inc. signed a $380 million deal to purchase the wind power and assets from EDF, formerly known as enXco.

But Minneapolis-based Xcel terminated the contract after EDF failed to secure a site permit from state regulators by March 31, 2011. The delay was blamed in part on concerns raised by federal officials about the potential effects on the endangered whooping crane and threatened piping plover.

By the way, that "piping plover"? It's one of the poster birds for the environmentalists. Even the folks in Massachusetts are starting to say that if the piping plover cannot recover after 50 years of humans protecting it, it wasn't meant to be.

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Obama's Failing Solar Farm

On Life Support
Feds Could Help

SBYNEWS is reporting:

Obama gave the California-based Ivanpah Solar Electric Power Plant $1.6 billion of your tax dollars already claiming that it would bring a thousand jobs and power to millions of people. 

But the plant is still failing financially and now is demanding another $539 million taxpayer bailout to keep it afloat. 

Like all of Obama’s so-called “green energy” projects, this is a massive failure and a giant waste of tax money. 

After already receiving a controversial $1.6 billion construction loan from U.S. taxpayers, the wealthy investors of a California solar power plant now want a $539 million federal grant to pay off their federal loan. 

"Wealthy" investors? I hope they are wealthy; that's what investing is all about. And if the federal government is offering grants, they should take it.

I'm sort of a spectator in all of this, but I do pay high electric rates in Texas through NRG:

The Ivanpah solar electric generating plant is owned by Google and renewable energy giant NRG, which are responsible for paying off their federal loan. If approved by the U.S. Treasury, the two corporations will not use their own money, but taxpayer cash to pay off 30 percent of the cost of their plant, but taxpayers will receive none of the millions in revenues the plant will generate over the next 30 years. 

In the big scheme of things, it matters not to me.  But if the grant helps hold down my utility costs, I say, "go for it."