Climate Doom: Germany Looks To Re-Open Coal Plants, American Warmists Call For Nationalizing Oil Industry

Didn’t the climate cultists tell us that renewables would provide abundant clean, green energy at an affordable price?

Germany Plans Coal U-Turn, Gas Funding to Offset Russian Cut

Germany is stepping up efforts to respond to a cut in Russian gas supplies by reviving coal plants and providing financing to secure gas for the winter, an effort that would cost about 15 billion euros ($15.8 billion) at current prices.

The package of measures was announced days after Moscow slashed deliveries on its main gas link to Europe, hitting supplies to Germany and creating a knock-on effect for France, Austria and the Czech Republic. Austria responded to reduced flows by reviving a dormant coal power station.

Bringing back plants burning the heavily polluting fossil fuel is the latest sign of how Europe’s climate fight is taking a back seat as governments seek to hedge against energy shortfalls provoked by President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Stephan Haufe, a spokesman for Germany’s economy ministry, said Monday at a regular news conference that despite the latest policy reversal the ruling coalition in Berlin is still standing by a pledge to aim for a complete exit from coal by 2030.

Sure thing, Sparky. This “green” stuff looks great, right up to something in the Real World intrudes with the cold, dead Mackerel of reality. Then they need to go to reliable, affordable, dependable energy.

He also said Germany will respect limits set out in the European Union’s emissions certificates program. The European Commission’s energy spokesman, Tim McPhie, told reporters in Brussels on Monday that member states that resort to greater use of coal to secure energy supplies in the short term must respect the bloc’s binding climate goal for this decade.

“We know that the energy mix and the plans of member states will adjust slightly because we are in an unexpected situation where we’ve decided to end our dependency on Russian fossil fuels,” McPhie said.

There’s always something unexpected in practice, vs theory.

And here’s the Modern Socialists at The New Republic

Biden Wrote a Stern Letter to Oil Refiners. His Government Should Take Over the Industry Instead.
A National Refining Company could lower gas prices without giving up on climate targets.

In its quest to find someone to blame for high gas prices, the White House has zeroed in on a new villain: oil refiners. In a letter this week—as gas prices reached $5 per gallon—Biden called “high refinery profit margins” unacceptable, pledging to use “all reasonable and appropriate federal government tools” to bring more refined products to market and lower prices at the pump. That language doesn’t suggest that he’s considering having the government take over refining, but this would, in fact, be entirely reasonable and appropriate—and more effective than any measures he’s considering.

Socialists/Marxists/Democrats hate when you call them that, and then they recommend nationalizing industries. Go figure. Because it would be entirely reasonable and appropriate for the federal government to nationalize it, right? Because the government is oh-so responsible with money and federal agencies, right? What could possibly go wrong? How’s the nationalization of industries in Russia, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela worked out? Heck, an oil rich country like Venezuela is a disaster.

There’s too much to unpack in the rest of the screed, but, basically, they want to nationalize all the refineries, particularly those shut down since the pandemic started. That would be so easy without the people who know what the hell is going on, right? And wouldn’t create any lawsuits, right? And then they could sell the gas at a loss until things get back to normal, then close them again as people are forced into EVs they cannot afford.

Even a publicly-owned refinery company wouldn’t solve broader problems like sourcing tools and steel or finding enough workers that are trained to run such facilities. That work would likely be contracted out to existing crews; refineries could be run in partnership with industry. Getting a shuttered refinery up and running would still take several months. But having the state hold the keys also means it wouldn’t have an obligation to return fat profits to shareholders—either now or in the coming decades as refineries should be shutting down. “There’s no way that the energy transition in the oil and gas industry happens at a reasonable rate without greater state intervention,” Brew added.

Strange, these people keep saying they are not authoritarians.

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