{"id":263187,"date":"2023-06-21T14:10:10","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T12:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=263187"},"modified":"2023-06-21T14:10:13","modified_gmt":"2023-06-21T12:10:13","slug":"top-u-s-grid-official-says-fossil-fuel-power-plant-closures-could-have-catastrophic-consequences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=263187","title":{"rendered":"Top U.S. Grid Official Says Fossil Fuel Power Plant Closures Could Have \u201cCatastrophic Consequences\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From \u00a0ClimateRealism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Guest Post by Nick Pope<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Editor\u2019s note:\u00a0U.S. grid officials are now warning that shutting down reliable power sources like coal and gas prematurely as part of an effort to prevent climate change will have serious consequences.\u00a0<\/em>Climate Realism\u00a0has pointed this out numerous times, including\u00a0here<\/a>,\u00a0here<\/a>, and\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Commissioner Mark Christie warned of the potential for \u201ccatastrophic consequences\u201d for the reliability of the American power grid if the U.S. does not stop phasing out fossil fuel infrastructure before renewable infrastructure is capable of replacing its output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christie made the remarks<\/a> as part of his testimony at a Tuesday hearing held by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. \u201cI think we\u2019re heading for potentially very dire consequences, potentially catastrophic consequences in the United States in terms of the reliability of our grid, and I think that the basic reason is that we\u2019re facing a shortfall of power supply,\u201d Christie testified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stark warning from one of the federal government\u2019s top energy regulators comes as the Biden administration continues to clamp down<\/a> on fossil fuel production and infrastructure. Biden personally pledged a \u201cguarantee<\/a>\u201d that his administration would \u201cend fossil fuel<\/a>\u201d as a candidate for the presidency in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe problem is not the addition of wind and solar. The problem is the subtraction of coal and gas and other dispatchable resources which are the ones we need during this transition to keep the lights on. That\u2019s the fundamental problem,\u201d Christie continued. \u201cThe grid has to have power being fed into it every second of every minute of every hour of every day to keep the lights on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christie warned that continued \u201ccascading retirements\u201d of coal and natural gas power plants in the U.S. could lead to energy shortages and outages for the country\u2019s power grid. The grid must \u201chave a power supply that is feeding into the grid on a continuous basis\u201d in order to stay operational at all times and avoid outages, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chevron CEO and Chairman Mike Wirth pleaded with Biden to adopt \u201ca change in approach\u201d to his administration\u2019s energy policies in a June 2022 exchange<\/a> of letters with Biden. While several legislative proposals and compromises have occurred since then, the overall tenor<\/a> of the administration\u2019s energy policy has not changed much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A May 2023 grid reliability assessment report<\/a> from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation identified elevated risk for blackouts in more extreme summer weather conditions for Americans living in most of New England and nearly all of the country west of the Mississippi River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nick Pope is a contributor at <\/em>The Daily Caller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally published by <\/em>The Daily Caller<\/a>. Republished with permission. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <\/em>licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Commissioner Mark Christie warned of the potential for \u201ccatastrophic consequences\u201d for the reliability of the American power grid if the U.S. does not stop phasing out fossil fuel infrastructure before renewable infrastructure is capable of replacing its output.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":231838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818279,691819409,691820385,691818130,691820384],"class_list":{"0":"post-263187","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-blackouts","9":"tag-ferc","10":"tag-fossil-fuel-power-plant","11":"tag-renewables","12":"tag-u-s-grid","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0blackouti.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-16sX","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":264096,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=264096","url_meta":{"origin":263187,"position":0},"title":"Planned For Failure: Shutdown Coal-Fired Power Plants & Get Ready For\u00a0Blackouts","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"27\/06\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Power grids are finally balanced affairs that were never designed for the haphazard occasional delivery of wind and solar. Maintaining voltage and frequency within critical defined tolerances is a cinch with conventional generators, like nuclear, gas and coal-fired plants, which deliver the goods, around-the-clock and irrespective of the weather.","rel":"","context":"In \"Blackouts\"","block_context":{"text":"Blackouts","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=blackouts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0-Blackout-47.jpeg?fit=1200%2C941&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0-Blackout-47.jpeg?fit=1200%2C941&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0-Blackout-47.jpeg?fit=1200%2C941&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0-Blackout-47.jpeg?fit=1200%2C941&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0-Blackout-47.jpeg?fit=1200%2C941&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":291593,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=291593","url_meta":{"origin":263187,"position":1},"title":"Correct, Hot Air, Premature Coal Closures Pose a Serious Threat to Grid Stability","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"17\/12\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent article at Hot Air claims that climate-focused energy policies, including premature closures of coal power plants, threaten the reliability of the U.S. electrical grid. This is true.","rel":"","context":"In \"Blackout\"","block_context":{"text":"Blackout","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=blackout"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-375.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-375.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-375.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-375.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-375.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":262071,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=262071","url_meta":{"origin":263187,"position":2},"title":"Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner Mark Christie: Power grid is facing \u2018dire consequences\u2019 due to coal & gas retirements","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"14\/06\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Testifying before the US House, FERC Commissioner Mark Christie says America\u2019s power grid is facing \u2018very dire consequences\u2019 due to the ongoing retirement of coal and natural gas power plants.","rel":"","context":"In \"FERC\"","block_context":{"text":"FERC","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=ferc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0-Blackout-457.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0-Blackout-457.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0-Blackout-457.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0-Blackout-457.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0-Blackout-457.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":261234,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=261234","url_meta":{"origin":263187,"position":3},"title":"Real Contenders: Coal & Gas-Fired Power Still Dominate America\u2019s Electricity\u00a0Grid","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/06\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The same wind and solar-obsessed ideology that wrecked Germany\u2019s power supply is on clear display in the USA.","rel":"","context":"In \"Biden Administration\"","block_context":{"text":"Biden Administration","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=biden-administration"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0JWayneLeonardPowerStation-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0JWayneLeonardPowerStation-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0JWayneLeonardPowerStation-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0JWayneLeonardPowerStation-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0JWayneLeonardPowerStation-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":366665,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=366665","url_meta":{"origin":263187,"position":4},"title":"A simple way to save the grid from more wind and solar","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"18\/02\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The President says he would like to stop new wind power development from wrecking America\u2019s electric power grid. 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