Articles tagged as

RGGI

Global Warming Still a Hoax

Steve MacDonald
Missed global warming targets - its not getting warmer
Missed global warming target - "it's not actually getting warmer"

How much warmer has the world become since a) 1880 and  b) the beginning of 1997?

The answer to a) 0.75C
The answer to b) zero.

How much has wacky left wing energy policy based on this ridiculous idea cost us?  Enough to buy the world a coke and keep it company several hundred times over.  Include the global costs of compliance, regulation, loss of productivity and global GDP, dollars diverted to bankrupt green-energy projects, and energy inflation, and the whole-scale abandonment of cheap reliable energy has probably cost the world trillions.

But hey, we wasted that money and accumulated all the debt to help developing nations and our children…to..uh…remain developing nations and to inherit Anthropogenic  Massive Debt.   Which is why recent temperature data was released quietly with little to no media fanfare–they needed a few extra days to work on their narrative.

Maggie Hassan Proud to be a Sponsor of That Tax

Steve MacDonald

Maggie Hassan keeps saying we need to have a conversation about taxes.  We have them all the time.  The difference is that Democrats talk about raising them (hundreds of them), and Republicans talk about controlling or lowering them.  And then there are the conversations about taxes that slip out when you are least expecting them to.

We get just such an example from the September 19th Gubernatorial debate on business and the economy; when asked about RGGI, the Regional Greenhouse Gas initiative, Candidate Hassan said this…

I was proud to be a sponsor of that tax, eh, the energy efficiency program because it has saved businesses millions and millions of dollars and created over 400 jobs.

That’s a notable quote right there.

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Good Call, Maggie – Higher Electric Rates for NH


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Maggie -The Red- Hassan

From inception, Maggie “The Red” Hassan has been a strong proponent of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the “Cap and Trade” program that New Hampshire participates in with other northeastern states.  She was instrumental in its 2008 passing and continues to advocate strongly for this nonsensical government swindle.

Maggie -The Red- Hassan

On her campaign website, Maggie declares that RGGI is “good for the economy and the environment” and that it can “help our families and businesses save money on their energy costs“.

Aside from the fact that the RGGI revenue stream has been a severe disappointment (which should only disappoint the beneficiaries of it : enviro-tyrants, the Green industry, and big-government types looking to fill deficits), PSNH recently made a statement that effectively nullifies the argument that RGGI will reduce rates for consumers and businesses.

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GrokTV Event-Granite State Institute of Politics Republican Gov. Debate – Questions 9 – 12

Skip

And now for the third set of four questions (list of previous questions and their links after the jump) from the Granite State Institute of Politics Republican Gov. Debate that was hosted by John Burt, questions asked by Speaker Bill O’Brien and  Alex Talcott , and answered by the Candidates for the Republican nomination for NH Governor, Ovide Lamontagne and Kevin Smith.

Question 9:

“One of the least known aspects of Obamacare is how it seeks to hijack State finances in order to expand insurance coverage particularly in the area of Medicaid. One area it does this in is doubling income elegibility.  That’s the aspect to bring forward the decision. That’s the aspect and the reason for the Supreme Court decision that it is optional to the States.  Can you tell us whether or not NH should take up that option and expand its population?  As part of your answer, can you tell us where Medicaid is going in NH and how NH is going to finally be able to protect its sovereignty from the Federal Government trying to push us to overspending here in NH?”

Question 10:

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RGGI…still a Scam (Audio)

Steve MacDonald

RGGI Picking your pocketsIn my quest to mix it up , how about Blogs on Tape?  Here’s the audio version of “RGGI…still a Scam,” my GrokTALK! special presentation about the ongoing effort to end the scourge of the Regional Greenhouse Gas initiative.  (or something…)

If you’d prefer the print version the full transcript is on the jump.

 

[jwplayer mediaid=”17907″]

 

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Add A Half-Mil to Norelli’s Debt Tab

Steve MacDonald

RGGI deficit spending by NH democrats leaves us another 600K in the holeNew Hampshire Watchdog is reporting that up through 2010 the Democrat controlled New Hampshire State government overspent RGGI revenues to the tune of about $600,000.00 dollars.   They just assumed we’d have more revenue.  Hmmm..where have we seen that before?   SO much like their regular budgeting they spent (more)  money we didn’t have, leaving someone else with the hard work of fixing things.

NH Watchdog’s Grant Bosse reminds us of the RGGI tab, the sad state of the Cap and Trade scheme,  as well as the Democrats taking 3.1 million dollars out of that scheme to (cough-cough) ‘Balance’ the State budget.

So Teri ‘ Billion Dollar Deficit’ Norelli strikes again.

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RGG-Die!

Steve MacDonald

I’ve had a thing or two to say about RGGI.  Just drop my name and ‘RGGI’ into a search engine and start counting.  If you start reading you will notice a trend.  RGGI, the Regional Greenhouse Gas initiative, is a broad based tax or fee on all energy and all persons who use it.  This tax could increase without anyone every holding a vote, or having a hearing. It was passed by the Democrat majority legislature with that in mind, during New Hampshire’s political experimentation years (democrats were left in charge of everything), and signed by then-and-God-only-knows-why-he-is-still-Governor John Lynch.

(I never call RGGI Reggie, by the way.  This makes me think of Reggie Mantle from The Archie’s, which makes me think of Veronica Lodge, who was kind of hot in a post-pre-pubescent animated sort of a way, which might explain my fondness for dark haired women, but probably not.   Maybe Isis from the Shazam Isis power hour, or how about Wonder Woman?  Did I mention that I don’t call it Reggie?)Reggies revenge

RGGI’s proponents claimed it would be good for the environment, which was only true if the "environment" was one littered with taxpayer financed slush funds whose purposes were as ephemeral as the lefts idea of rights or  justice.  And Carbon trading to reduce emissions was already a well known lie that ten years of cap and trade in Europe had already proved demonstrably false.  If we just assume the folks who claim to be the smartest people in every room had to know this–being so damn smart–then this was obviously meant to be yet another large slush fund to be raided by current and future Democrat majorities, all but for two fortuitous events that got in the way of pay day.

First, the left’s nationwide social engineering experiment with housing rights collapsed the economy before the program got up to steam, making the RGGI carbon credits worth progressively less until they are now almost completely worthless.  Second, we voted the left-wingers out of office for a ruinous spending agenda and their chronic inability to balance the books despite scores of new taxes and fees, and laying siege to every pile of money within view, public or private.

We wont even get into the left wing law firms that lined up to manage the grants and the distribution of funds for approved projects, or the list of Democrat friendly recipients.

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Another Whack at RGGI

Steve MacDonald

..what I find particularity perverse is that “Republican” Senators in New Hampshire could be tying themselves to the Massachusetts compromise as the tipping point at which staying in RGGI would then no longer make sense.

NH Senate Should BEG Our forgiveness on RGGI

Steve MacDonald

Fools!God has a sense of humor.  Just days after Republican State Senators in New Hampshire bent over backwards to the green lobby (and refused to leave RGGI) a major green lobby advocate (George Monbiot) announced that none of their ideas work. (Ideas like cap and trade for example.)  Now, just days after that, a highly credentialed European scientist who was on the Anthropogenic Global Warming Government money "Gravy Train" has a message to those who continue to support CO2 mitigation of any kind, and in particular the failed variety like RGGI…

..to those who still believe the planet is in danger from our carbon dioxide emissions: Sorry, but you’ve been had. Yes, carbon dioxide is a cause of global warming, but it’s so minor it’s not worth doing much about.

So who is David Evans?  Here’s his bio from the article.

David Evans consulted full-time for the Australian Greenhouse Office (now the Department of Climate Change) from 1999 to 2005, and part-time 2008 to 2010, modelling Australia’s carbon in plants, debris, mulch, soils, and forestry and agricultural products. He is a mathematician and engineer, with six university degrees, including a PhD from Stanford University in electrical engineering.

Is this speaking truth to power?

The whole idea that carbon dioxide is the main cause of the recent global warming is based on a guess that was proved false by empirical evidence during the 1990s. But the gravy train was too big, with too many jobs, industries, trading profits, political careers, and the possibility of world government and total control riding on the outcome. So rather than admit they were wrong, the governments, and their tame climate scientists, now outrageously maintain the fiction that carbon dioxide is a dangerous pollutant.

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It Isn’t Easy Being ‘Green.’

Steve MacDonald

It Isn't Easy...The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is a reflection of failed ‘Green’ policy, the shadow of an idea that doesn’t work on so many levels that even prominent members of the Green movement have begun soul searching over their own contradictions about the ideas which encouraged it’s genesis (and its goals) in the first place.

Perhaps the best, and most recent example, comes to us from Walter Russell Mead in his review of George Monbiot’s recent admission that "…because of a whole series of intellectual mistakes, the global green movement’s policy prescriptions are hopelessly flawed."  A  "thoughtful and brutally clear expose of the intellectual bankruptcy of the green movement from one of the smartest people in it." 

Why is it always the really smart people who are so stupid?

Mead sums it up: "regardless of what is happening to Planet Earth, the green movement does not have coherent and workable solutions."

Greens like to have it both ways.  They warn darkly about “peak oil” and global resource shortages that will destroy our industrial economy in its tracks — but also warn that runaway economic growth will destroy the planet through the uncontrolled effects of mass industrial productions.  Both doomsday scenarios cannot be true; one cannot simultaneously die of both starvation and gluttony.

…

More, Monbiot also acknowledges the contradictory and inconsistent nature of the green solutions.  He acknowledges that there is no prospect for democratic politics to impose the draconian limits on consumption and economic activity that green dogma requires.  Every ‘solution’ the greens have come up with has a fatal flaw of some kind; none of it works, none of it makes any sense.

All of this is true, whether it comes from a prominent intellectual of the movement like Monboit, some dopey, indoctrinated public school kid, or say…a misguided New Hampshire State Senator who can’t read the writing on the wall and is afraid to educate his own constituents on the costs of failed policy.  Policy whose expense and waste do not go down if we continue to pursue them.

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GrokTalk! Saturday May 7th , 2011

Steve MacDonald

GrokTalk!Live Streaming local and National News with opinion you could only get from GraniteGrok.

EMail: GrokTALK@GraniteGrok.com     Call us!  603-524-7478

This week…

NH State Senator Gary Lambert. On today’s program Senator Lambert will will talk to Skip about his position on RGGI and why he is against repeal. Campaign site, State Senator page

Chuck McGhee – from Resident power.  Resident power (A GrokTALK! Sponsor) is a new company trying to take advantage of the deregulated electricity market to bring cheaper power to New Hampshire’s homes and businesses.

Dr. Cooper -Liberty Harbor Academy (pending confirmation): Liberty Harbor Academy is a new and different concept of high school designed for the student who the traditional academic model does not fit.

Ann Marie Banfield – Working with experts in education from across the country, she offers valuable insight into problems and successes in education.

A Grokster or two?  You never know who might call in. Hey! You could call in. Join us.

Learn more about our guests on the Jump

This week, GrokTALK! is brought to you by:

Resident Power

 

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For Repeal of RGGI

Don

This morning NHPR had a program on RGGI.  Senator Peter Bragdon spoke for keeping RGGI and  Representative Jim Garrity spoke for repeal.  I tried to call and comment but didn’t get on the air.  They suggested that I send in my comments, so I sent the comments below.  Some of my comments are reactions to Peter Bradgon’s comments supporting RGGI.   

 

"I am for repeal of RGGI.

1.  We have plenty of energy in this country in the form of coal and gas, and even oil if the government would let us get it.  We do not need to import fuel from countries that want to kill us to generate the electricity we need.  My understanding is that gas can be relatively easily burned in oil fired energy plants, we have lots of natural gas.   

2.  It is hard to believe that wood pellets burn more cleanly than oil or certainly than gas.  While I understand the desire to buy locally, they should compete like other fuels. 

3.  If energy efficiency is beneficial to people, governments, businesses, etc., then why do the rest of us have to subsidize it for them?

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All Hail King Reggie (RGGI)

Steve MacDonald

…you can make excuses, legislate give backs that will only grow the taxpayer funded bureaucracy to manage them, tie our exit to yet another outside power (like some other state), or just bend over and kiss King Reggies….ring. Yes.  All hail king Reggie.  Long may he tax us without fear of retribution.

RGGI Must Die!!

Steve MacDonald

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is a Tax. It is broad based, affecting every aspect of our lives. And it is a tax beyond our constitutional control. These added costs, this tax, is set outside the state and can be affected by third parties and secondary markets, none of whom answer to any elected or appointed official in that we can elect or remove form office. No one will ever get to testify at a hearing before any of these actors moves to increase our taxes; they will simply go up with the cost of credits sold through RGGI.

Green Choice

Steve MacDonald

…this is a tax that can increase without ever seeing a public hearing. No one will testify. No one you vote for will be held to account for the tax increase. You will just pay more.

A Global Warming Alarmist In ‘Efficiency Sheeps’ Clothing?

Steve MacDonald

GoreJim Grady, President and owner of LighTec in Merrimack, has a letter in the Sunday Telegraph on the current effort in the New Hampshire legislature to drop out of RGGI, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.  He expresses some concern over Republican objection to the plan, points out what he sees as inconsistencies in objections to it, and does not believe it should be mothballed.

But there are problems.

Jim argues that the fee created by RGGI is actually a small cost that benefits all of us, and that we should not object to such a tax because we have had something similar in place in the State for 12 years now.

Most House members seem utterly unaware that for the past 12 years the state has levied a “tax” on the many that indisputably benefits the many: the Systems Benefit Charge (SBC). If you look at your electric bill, you’ll see a tiny charge of $0.0035 per kilowatt-hours of energy usage to pay for state-sponsored energy efficiency. This SBC “tax” (like RGGI, bipartisan) benefits the many by reducing the need to make multi-billion dollar investments in new power plants and electricity transmission and distribution systems.

But Jim never explains why, if we have that tax in place to benefit state sponsored efficiency projects, why we signed onto a separate system that adds an additional tax, supervised by an out of state entity, that skims a portion of that "tax" off the top for administrative costs?  How does that help everyone in New Hampshire when it diverts some of that so-called benefit away from the state. 

Why not make a case to raise the SBC to fill the stated need?  Why add a separate system, run by an outside third party, based on the questionable need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions?

Because Jim Grady was a member of the working group for the Carbon Co2alition, whose goal is or was…

… to advocate for a national energy policy that protects our communities and environment from the ravages of global warming caused by carbon pollution.

That affiliation might have been good to know in advance.  But we can take a look at that right now…

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RGGI is One – Less – Tax

Steve MacDonald

The New Hampshire House voted overwhelmingly to take the state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) yesterday. The vote signals the beginning of the end of another failed left wing experiment.

Lynch Lied.com Updates

Steve MacDonald

Swing on over to Lynchlied.com to check out some of the most recent ‘lies.’  There’s a new one posted that is near and dear to my heart.  (I’ve been talking about it for years) It reminds us that John Lynch’s support of RGGI is a broad based tax that has sucked 25 million dollars out … Read more

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