Legalectric

It’s debate time… it drives me crazy…
The question was whether they believed that global warning is a problem and what they’d do about it. Not one of the three candidates said one word about closing down CO2 generating coal plants, and not one candidate said one word about renewable energy planning and siting so that the thousands of coal plants in the permitting process now and in the immediate future would not be built. Not a word. All focused on a CO2 market, where those who pollute would pay a high price for their emissions — it assumes, assures continued emissions and does nothing to reduce CO2 emissions. What does promotion of a CO2 market do to concretely reduce global warming?

The question I want answered:

Do you believe global warming is a problem, and what would you do about reducing CO2– in answering this, address reductions in CO2, not CO2 credits that shift and tax emissions, but net reductions.

And a question from the audience that was so extreme. It’s a guy saying we have a 13% annual electricity growth, forecasting rolling blackouts, we need to build generation, blah blah blah. What a load of shit.

Pawlenty is going on about baseload capacity, clean burning facilities and for course he means… not just the Benson turkey turds plant, but Mesaba, “a new technology that’s on the drawing board” in NE Minnesota WHICH HE DID NOT ADDRESS BY NAME! Yup, we know it’s Excelsior’s Meaba coal gasification project and that Pawlenty’s distancing himself from it. Hatch says 3,500MW by 2015 (HUH? but it’s better than 6,300MW or 8,000MW but where did that come from?), that we have to go to alternative energy, he supports renewable mandate of 20% by 2020, and he’s talking up wind, that we have issues with transmission which we’ll have to deal with, wants long term subsidies for wind, building code standards. Hutchinson says don’t expand demand, because the most ready source is conservation and make it economically rewarding, and he’s got a 2% annual conservation plan, and he’s particularly concerned that we need to address all the power plants that need to be replaced, because there is no plan, and we have to do this or we will simply replace in kind and that’s something we should be afraid of

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Pawlenty just said we got rid of the Profile of Learning and got some other standards. HUH?

Oh, this is infuriating, now Pawlenty is talking about putting on a property tax cap, and even my grrrrrrrrrls don’t like that one, they jumped up and started growling! Here the state funding is cut and shifted to local governments, and so where are we supposed to get it to cover local necessary services? This is so dishonest.

And now Pawlenty’s trying to say that people weren’t booted off Minnesota Care. Give me a break…

“To argue that we should make things better isn’t criticism, it’s leadership.” Nice phrase from Hutchinson.

“Do you accept any responsibility for the property tax increases?” And Pawlenty talks his way around and around and around and misrepresents LGA cuts, which are only a part of it.

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Let’s just set up a ring and let them duke it out. Oh, I miss Jesse! There a lot to be said for a no-bullshit direct approach.