SALLY MORRIS: REGULATIONS TO OFFSET REGULATIONS?
It is nearly springtime in Australia. Australia can get very hot in the summer. The Australian state of Victoria, in the southeast corner of the continent, sits on a hundreds-of-years' supply of coal. But today Victoria is looking forward to serious power shortages during the hot Australian summer. It seems that Australia, in lockstep with the rest of the Western world, has been hobbling its coal industry to the detriment of the people and the industry of Australia. At this rate they could turn themselves into a third world outhouse. Well, at least they can take satisfaction in that they are making the world better . . . or maybe not. Because CO2 emissions by human endeavor DON'T CAUSE CLIMATE CHANGE! And in any event, unless you can get China and India, two CO2-emitting powerhouses off the coal, you couldn't make any difference even if making a difference made a difference.
This is a cautionary tale for North Dakota and America. The last thing we should be considering is shutting down our fossil fuels. Victoria, Australia, was once an exporter of power. It is now depending upon other power-lacking states to help supply its needs. Victoria has vast supplies of oil as well as coal but here they are, prepraring their people to expect a blistering summer without sufficient electricity. Perhaps they can find a fountain, like the folks in Paris. I don't know - I've never been to Melbourne. Do they have enough fountains for a severe power shortage?
We can't afford to follow the Australians as though we were lemmings. This is a story to continue to watch as it develops. One hopes that reason will prevail and that Australians will demand their government quit playing these dangerous games. As it stands now, Australia is scrambling to develop "regulations to offset the regulations that are actually causing the impasse". And so they go - further down the rabbit hole.
Let's keep this clearly in mind as we consider how best to deal with our good fortune - abundant coal and oil in North Dakota.
Here it is from the horse's mouth:
DakotaBeacon