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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   16082 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 19, 2022

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News article

The U.S. Department of Energy has cleared the way for Texas power plants to pollute more than is usually allowed, such as by burning dirtier fuel oil instead of natural gas, to keep the electricity on through Christmas morning.

 

Plants will be able to take advantage of the waived requirements only if ERCOT issues a level 2 or higher energy emergency alert, which includes asking residents to cut back power and interrupting large industrial customer’s electricity, according to the letter. At least one environmental advocate applauded the specificity of the request.

So far, such measures haven’t been taken and the state’s power grid has withstood arctic temperatures through much of the state nearly two years after a catastrophic and deadly electricity outage.

Government page

On December 23, 2022, the Department of Energy (DOE) issued an emergency order… to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), authorizing specific electric generating units (resource list) located within the ERCOT area to operate at their maximum generation output levels due to ongoing extreme weather conditions and to preserve the reliability of bulk electric power system.

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