Monday Morning News, Views, Links -- Part II

Wow: Chicago's unfunded liability for upcoming large pension programs has almost doubled. S&P cuts ratings; will make borrowing even more expensive. Chicago has less room to maneuver than California which seems to have turned things around. "Chicago's overall unfunded liability of the four plans is $19.4 billion as of 2012, up from $11.9 billion in 2009. The plans altogether are 35% funded, the ratings firm said." I track the financial health of US cities here.

Now that the "war on coal" has been won, the administration turns to "war on natural gas." Look at who President O'Bama wants to put in charge of FERC.

Naturally, Mr. Binz's alternatives to gas are green "renewables" like wind and solar. Or so he said at a November 2012 forum at the University of Denver, citing research from the federal National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The 2012 study does show that the 80% scenario is theoretically possible, but only if the assumptions are wildly unrealistic. The lab assumes that gas as a share of the U.S. power mix could plunge to 3% by 2050 from 16% in 2010, and coal to 9% from 51%. Wind will climb to 39% from 2%, and solar from 0.01% to 7%.

Mr. Binz wants to make that happen, and don't worry about the costs of the transition. He said that this "renewable energy future was no more costly, or in the realm of the same cost, as any other clean technology. In other words, if you accept that we're going to have to make these reductions in carbon and in other criteria pollutants, renewables are not going to be more expensive as a total package than other proposals such as nuclear, such as carbon sequestration from coal and natural gas."

The cost? Look at the experiences of Germany and Spain.