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Coal Power, Energy and Electricity Fundamentals, Keeping America Great, Nuclear, Nuclear Power Generation, Regulations

Musings of a Nuclear Engineer and a Coal Power Engineer on the Bulk Power Supply for the Future

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This document summarizes discussions of Don Spellman, a senior nuclear engineer, retired U.S. Navy Submarine officer and Dick Storm, a retired coal power engineer. We have had ongoing discussions for several years regarding the inadequacy of new replacement of Dispatchable or Base Load capable coal and or nuclear power plants. Therefore, We decided to jointly write this article to share our views.

Introduction

America’s Grid grew from the days of Edison, Tesla and Westinghouse to about the 1990’s in an orderly, well planned manner. Both wholesale and retail electricity was both reliable and affordable. America’s Grid was the best in the world. Up until that time, planning for growth was done by regional, regulated utilities such as Duke Power, Virginia Electric Power Company (VEPCO), Carolina Power & Light (CP&L), Philadelphia Electric, Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO), Delmarva Power, South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCE&G), Santee-Cooper and so forth. Each of these Regional Utilities were accountable for future new generation planning, selecting the most appropriate new generation capacity and planning for growth. That was then. About 1990 there became a movement to De-Regulate Electric Utilities and to separate electricity generation from Transmission and Distribution. Not all states agreed to this, but many did and the huge PJM Interconnection which includes most of the northeast between NJ and Illinois serves as a controlling agency to determine which power generation will be utilized based on the lowest price bid. PJM and the other RTO’s such as MISO, ERCOT, NY-ISO, NE-ISO, CAISO serve as “Air Traffic Controllers” to direct Bulk Power from the least cost generators. It should be mentioned, of the once fine Regional Utilities mentioned above that have merged with others and become part of the PJM Interconnection, at this writing, Santee-Cooper in South Carolina remains as one of the sole survivors. The S.C. Legislature may yet kill it, but as of today, Santee- Cooper is alive and well and still generates most of it’s electricity from reliable, affordable coal and 322 MW of joint ownership with Dominion Energy in the Summer nuclear plant.

Well, this de-Regulation model worked pretty well when we had an abundance of excess generation capacity, (1990-12012 when nuclear and coal provided about 70% of America’s electricity. It continued to work pretty well as the U.S. entered the “Shale Gas Revolution” about 2012 and natural gas became a lower cost fuel than coal. The EPA’s War on Coal hit its stride during the Obama administration and the Endangerment Finding was made a law, thus essentially outlawing the building of new coal plants. Electricity prices continued to be reasonable due to the switching of Bulk Power domination by coal and nuclear to natural gas. As long as gas remained below $3.00/ million BTU, this was no problem. Then the government incentives for wind and solar continued to escalate and become attractive for both private generators and for Regulated Utilities. More and more wind and solar was forced onto the Grid and backup generation capacity has been by natural gas turbines. Long story shortened, what was a very reliable Grid with regional accountability for investing in new generation capacity has become a hodgepodge of Dysfunctional Regulations and Rules/laws. Meanwhile, the public has been wrongly indoctrinated into believing that wind, solar and batteries are less expensive and more environmentally acceptable than coal or nuclear power.

The two senior engineer authors of this article have watched this horrible breaking of our once well-tuned, reliable and well managed Bulk Power Supply and we remember the low cost, reliable electricity provided in in 2008 which was about 70% coal and nuclear power. About 50% coal and 20% nuclear. In the author’s opinions and experience, coal and nuclear are the two sources that must be deployed quickly to keep America’s Grid reliable, resilient and affordable. This is based on a combined 100+ years of experience. Our Bios are at the end.

Electricity Load Growth till 2050, Expected Demand and Needed Generation Resources

From FERC – “U.S. electricity demand is projected to surge by 20% to 25% by 2030 compared to today’s levels. This sudden spike—driven by the AI and data center boom, industrial reshoring, and electric vehicle adoption—means that peak grid demand will jump from 760 GW to an estimated 850–930 GW.” 

From NERC – “The North American electric grid faces intensifying reliability risks over the next decade as demand growth driven by data centers and artificial intelligence threatens to outpace resource additions”, according to the 2025 Long-Term Reliability Assessment (LTRA) released Jan. 29 by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).

90 GW of New Dispatchable Generation is Needed by 2030

Total PEAK electric load of the lower 48 states is expected to rise from 760 GW to 850 GW by 2030. So, let’s do the math

(850 – 760 = 90GW minimum needed by 2030. (= 90 GW/4 yrs = 22 GW per year). “

The U.S. currently has about 1400 GW of installed generation capacity. About 97 GW of existing nuclear generation with anaverage age of about 40 to 60 years. Therefore the 90 GW  minimum  needed capacity by 2030 according to FERC is about a 12% increase in total generation capability. This new generation should be capable of 24/7 Dispatchable or Base Loadcapable. Only nuclear, coal and natural gas generators can provide base load capacity plus being able to “follow the load” at peak summer and winter needs. 

Nuclear power plants once on-line can achieve a 96% base load capacity factor as Duke Energy has proven. Well run coal plants can achieve a 24/7 capacity factor of over 75% when properly operated and maintained. Future electricity load growth of the magnitude of 100-170 GW by 2030 has been forecasted by FERC, NEMA, ICF and others. This amount of new generation is realistically impossible to build in four years.

90 GW of New Dispatchable Generation by 2030, What are the Options?

The electricity growth in the next decade, if we are to continue a growing economy and including improve industrial production, power EV’s, AI-Data Centers and is not hyperbole or exaggerated growth expectations, to expect electricity peak Demand to grow and require 90 GW New Generation. We think this is a realistic estimate.

Annual Additions Needed: 850 – 760 = 90 GW minimum needed by 2030. (= 90 GW in 4 yrs is  22 GW per year). So, the U.S.will need to add about 22 GW of generation capacity every year to keep up, roughly double the historical pace. 90 GW/year is about 7 –  1300 MW nuclear units or 15 – 800 MW coal plants or 10 – 880 MW Combined Gas Cycle gas plants or, obviously, a mix of these discounting the contribution from wind or solar units as they do not provide base load capacity nor load following capability and have very low capacity factors.

The new generation capacity in our analysis should be all Dispatchable power generation capacity. Dispatchable means it can respond to demand immediately, as soon as it is needed to meet peak power summer and winter loads. Reliable and either Dispatchable or Base Load generation of Bulk Power has been proven over decades to be affordable by Nuclear, Coal and Gas fueled thermal power plants

How About Building an appropriate number of New Coal Plants by 2030 or 2050?

To put this in perspective of new coal plants. Let us look at the Cross Generating Station owned and operated by Santee-Cooper in the lowlands of South Carolina. This coal plant has modern FGD and emissions controls. It is an example of a clean coal plant The four units, each about 600 MW in capacity was constructed between 1984 and 2005. The 4-unit plant is rated at 2350 MW. Let that sink in. This is about the same generation capacity as the Vogtle nuclear expansion of units 3 and 4 which took over ten years to build. The coal plant below was constructed over a 20 year period.

90 GW of new Dispatchable Generation is the equivalent of 38 plants similar to Cross Generating Station

Dr. William Happer of the CO2 Coalition presented a description of a modern coal fueled power plant with Alice’s breath. The slide from Dr. Happer’s presentation is show below.

The numbers are “Ball Park” approximate for a coal power plant. For a nuclear power plant, of course, the cooling tower plume would have no CO2 and only water vapor. Such as is shown below in the photo of the Vogtle nuclear power plant.

Above is a picture above of the 2 new 1000 MW Vogtle Nuclear units. The white plume emitted from a modern nuclear plant is entirely water vapor and even purer than the above picture of Alice’s breath. 

Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle expansion. This is about 2,000 MW of new capacity that was installed in the last dozen years. That 2,000 MW of new capacity required $35 Billion dollars of capital expenditure including the initial fuel load and 12 years to complete. Delays were primarily due to poor management practices, changing regulations. and supply chain issues. This plant has two similar sized Westinghouse reactors with an experienced workforce available at an existing plant. It still took 12 years to complete.

If the 90 GW of new capacity could be achieved by building new nuclear units like Plant Vogtle, then it would take about 77 new 1,300 MW Vogtle like nuclear units 3 & 4 to be built in the next 10 to 25 years. Current reorganization at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should lead to a significant reduction in nuclear plant construction time and cost.

Don Spellman spent 20 years in the nuclear NAVY, 11 years consulting to 4 new build reactors related to design control and configuration management and then 26 years at Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a lead engineer for nuclear fuel development, implementation of DOE’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Facility at Savannah River National Laboratory and implementation at ORNL of a spent fuel examination facility.  Therefore, the comments and discussion regarding nuclear are from an experienced nuclear power engineer.

How About Building An Appropriate Number of Combined Cycle Gas Fueled Plants by 2030?

An 880-megawatt (MW) gas-fired electric plant usually operates as a combined-cycle unit, capturing waste heat to generate extra electricity. A notable regional example is the Delta Energy Center: An 880-MW combined-cycle plant located in Pittsburg, California. Natural gas is the default fuel for power generation for quick response new power generation. Every new MW of new bulk power that is installed by wind and solar generation must be backed up by dispatchable bulk power that can to be brought on-line when the sun sets and the wind stops. Gas powered generation It is the easiest form to get permitted to build. Utility executives like gas because it is also the least capital cost. Because of these economic realities in a thoroughly dysfunctional regulatory environment, natural gas has risen to become the primary fuel source for power generation. Now at about a 43% of the total U.S. electricity generation. Natural gas has replaced coal as the  primary energy source since the revolutionary advances in hydraulic fracturing for natural gas production which became commercially viable about 2010. Before the shale gas revolution, coal provided about 50% of electricity production and nuclear about 20%.

Here is a picture of a typical CCGT power plant. This one is 600 MW. Notice the stack plume? This is mostly water vapor from the combustion of hydrogen in the natural gas fuel. Each pound of hydrogen when combusted, creates nine pounds of water, thus the extreme white plume of water vapor on a cold winter day.

Back to CCGT capacity to meet the 90 GW of new generating capacity by 2030. It would take 102 (880 MW each) units such as the Delta plant in California to produce 90 GW.

America Needs a Balanced Generation Portfolio for the Grid

Combined cycle power plants (CCPPs) are highly efficient systems that generate electricity efficiently and cleanly. However, in our opinion, America is too dependent on pipeline supplied gas supplies now and increasing the CCGT fleet will only exacerbate that single fuel dependence. For Grid reliability, resiliency and to provide adequate quantities of affordable Bulk Power, we believe a Balanced Generation Portfolio is optimum. Such as, shown below.

Fuel is the Major Cost Component in the Production of Electricity in a Gas Power Plant

Natural gas has been abundant and cheap since the Shale Gas Revolution which began about 2010. The U.S. produces more gas than any other country and has begun exporting as LNG. The cost of gas, however, has been volatile and will likely remain volatile based on Global demand. Here is a chart comparing the cost of gas to coal over the last 44 years.

The cost component of power production from a CCGT is about 90% fuel cost. Thus, if the fuel cost doubles as it has in the past during extreme demand periods, so does the production cost of electricity double. Thus, our recommendation of a Balanced Generation Portfolio which includes coal and nuclear generation. Another consideration is national security and Grid Resilience. If nearly 50% of America’s Bulk Power is generated from pipeline supplied gas and there is a major pipeline failure, then power shortages can occur. A coal plant has on-site fuel storage capability for months, nuclear, years of on-site energy storage. Batteries, hours.

Historical Bulk Power Generation When Coal and Nuclear Provided Approx. 70% of America’s Power

These were the good old days. In 2010 Coal provided about 50% and nuclear about 20% of the fuel for America’s Bulk Power Supply.

The chart of electricity cost trend in the U.S. by states below is from 1978-2025 by the St. Louis Federal Reserve.

Compare the electricity costs from when nuclear and coal provided over 70% of America’s electricity to after 2020 when the “Green New Deal” also known as the Inflation Reduction Act” was passed into law. After spending billions on wind and solar, the electricity costs have steadily risen and the future electricity supply reliability is compromised. Here is a trend of electricity prices across the U.S. since the huge investment in wind and solar and the destruction of reliable coal plants without replacing with in-kind, Dispatchable power generation capacity.

St. Louis Federal Reserve Graph of U.S. Electricity Rates 1980-2025

The map of the U.S.A. below with electricity costs by state is from 2010 data. As shown by the St. Louis Fed. graph above, since 2010 electricity rates have grown about 75%.

Conclusions

  • Since about 2012 American energy policy has been created by academics, politicians, NGOs, green energy advocates, educational institutions, the UN, the WEF, the MSM and others, none of which have any practical experience in electric power generation such as the authors of this article. The energy policy was driven by ideology and politics, not science, engineering or sound economics
  • America’s misguided energy policies have Self-Sabotaged the U.S. Bulk Power Supply by shutting down reliable coal and nuclear plants Since 2010, over 150 GW of Dispatchable or Base-Load capable nuclear generation has been shut down.
  • The destructive Net-Zero Carbon path set by Congress and most states, is still in place. This inspiration of President Trump’s energy policies to apply common-sense and science based solutions is helpful. However, President Trump’s Executive Order Declaring and Energy Emergency has NOT yet moved the private sector to begin the process of building the number of new coal plants needed to meet the anticipated electricity generation increases of the future
  • The authors of this article are not the sole experts that understand the shortage of future Bulk Power Supply. There are also well respected organizations that have been publishing reports as outlined by us. Examples: FERC and NERC
  • A true electricity shortage and severely escalated electricity production costs are predicted beginning December 2016 due to the dereliction of duty of energy policy makers at both the Federal and state levels.
  • Building the needed nuclear and coal power generation over the next decade will be difficult for many reasons. Amongst them: Rebuilding the U.S. Domestic Supply-Chain will take time, including both talent in the workforce as well as manufacturing capacity, Regulations must be abolished, including the EPA Endangerment Finding, New Source Review and other Rules, State Regulations, Utility management strategy to use the lowest cost fuels and reversing the public indoctrination which demonized coal and nuclear, by educating the public on the true facts of electric power generation

Respectfully submitted,

Richard F. (Dick) Storm

Donald Spellman

Dick Storm and Don Spellman Bio’s

Dick Storm is a registered Professional Engineer with over 50 years experience in electric power generation with coal power after graduating from Williamson in 1962. Began work with B&W in Nuclear and Special Products but transferred to the B&W Power Generation Division, due to being a young person that hated the paperwork of nuclear regulations and red tape. He then began working in acceptance and special performance testing of coal plants and fuel burning equipment as a B&W Results Engineer.  In 1969 joined Riley Stoker as a Senior Service engineer to lead new plant startups. Served as a senior or lead startup engineer at numerous major coal plants over 300 MW size, including; Tampa Electric, City of Lakeland, Jacksonville Electric Authority, SCE&G, and CP&L Sutton #3.

In 1972, joined Carolina Power and Light Company and progressed from lead startup engineer on the 720 MW Roxboro #3. After startup, he was promoted to Operations Superintendent at Roxboro Generating Station, 1973-1977. 

Began the Technical Services Group at Flame Refractories, Inc. 1977 -1992. This engineering services group specialized in applied solutions to improve large high pressure boiler performance, reliability, project management of plant upgrades and pressure part renewal and modifications for reduced emissions and improved Heat-Rate

Then, in 1992, Founded Storm Engineering, later, Storm Technologies and Fabricated Solutions.
Storm Technologies, Inc. and the Fabrication Facilities have grown since Dick’s retirement in 2012 to present under the direction of Danny Storm.  

Storm now serves as a consultant and part-time instructor of short courses in continuing education programs at USCB-OLLI courses and with Storm Technologies, Inc. Seminars. Has volunteered to present energy and electricity generation courses in Schools and Colleges.
Over the years have authored numerous articles for POWER Magazine, published technical papers and presentations.

Donald J. Spellman

In 1980, Mr. Spellman completed a successful 20-year military career in Navy nuclear submarines reaching rank of Lieutenant Commander and qualification as Nuclear Submarine Chief Engineer Officer. During his Navy career, Mr. Spellman received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University supported by the U.S. Navy and completed Master of Science studies in Ocean Engineering (nuclear programs) at the University of Rhode Island. in 1976. In 1976 He received a Commendation from the Commander U.S. Pacific Fleet for service as Navigator USS Snook during a Western Pacific deployment. 

 After Navy retirement, Mr. Spellman served as a project manager for Gas-Cooled Reactor Associates (GCRA) from 1980 to 1982, he provided supervision and technical direction for research and development of the modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor.

 After 1982 he was employed for 10 years in various roles as an engineering and management consultant for Management Analysis Company to the commercial nuclear power industry. He was responsible for directing utility assumption of design responsibilities after construction completion as a principal reviewer on the reactor plant Change Control Boards and conducted design change reviews at three different reactor plants.

In 1991, Mr. Spellman joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a member of the DOE Technical Standards Program and later as the Program Manager for ORNL support for the Fissile Materials Disposition Program Domestic Reactors Project in support of the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Materials Disposition (NA-23). He had responsibility for technical support, research and development, and programmatic tasking associated with the U.S. reactor option for disposition of weapons-grade plutonium as mixed-oxide nuclear fuel. Mr. Spellman was a member of the DOE Source Evaluation Board for the selection of a prime contractor to provide design, construction, and operation of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River National Laboratory. Additionally, at ORNL he guided laboratory nuclear fuel development activities primarily related to nuclear fuel post irradiation hot cell examinations. He was a member of the ORNL High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) independent safety oversight committee (Reactor Operations Review Committee). Primary responsibility for this committee was to periodically review operations and maintenance activities at HFIR and review periodic updates to the HFIR Safety Evaluation Report to the Department of Energy.

In 2017, Mr. Spellman retired from Oak Ridge National Laboratory after 26 years of service. Since retirement from ORNL, he served as a Subject Matter Expert on retainer back to the laboratory and for various other tasking for Xcel Engineering, Inc., Oak Ridge, TN.

References and factual based technical information for further reading and reference

  1. Drivers of Electricity Growth: https://gridstrategiesllc.com/wp-content/uploads/FINAL-2025-LTRA-Review.pdf
  2. NERC December 2025 Report on resource Inadequacy: https://www.nerc.com/newsroom/resource-adequacy-risks-intensify-across-north-america-as-demand-growth-surges
  3. POWER Magazine on Load Growth and Inadequate Bulk Power Supply: https://www.powermag.com/nerc-warns-long-term-grid-reliability-risks-mounting-from-surging-demand-lagging-resources/
  4. NERC Long Term Electricity Demand: https://www.nerc.com/globalassets/our-work/assessments/nerc_ltra_2025.pdf
  5. Cross Generating Station: https://grokipedia.com/page/cross_generating_station
  6. Roxboro Generating Station: https://grokipedia.com/page/roxboro_power_station
  7. EIA on Coal Plant Shut Downs since 2010: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67427
  8. Dick Storm presentation to the ASME Plenary Meeting in Dallas, TX, summer 2011 on the importance of coal power
  9. NERC Long Term Assessment:   https://www.nerc.com/globalassets/our-work/assessments/nerc_ltra_2025.pdf
  10. EIA on Fuels for electricity generation 1950-2025: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/electricity-in-the-us.php
  11. Grid Strategies on Load Growth: https://gridstrategiesllc.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/National-Load-Growth-Report-2023.pdf
  12. https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/fact-sheet-ferc-takes-action-supercharge-americas-grid-efficiency-reliability-and
  13. https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/presentation-report-2026-summer-energy-market-and-electric-reliability-assessment
  14. Over half of coal plant capacity will be shut down by 2026 by IEEFA (Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis: https://ieefa.org/resources/us-track-close-half-coal-capacity-2026
  15. NEMA Electricity Growth Forecast to 2050 to be about 50%: https://www.makeitelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/Documents/News_Blogs/grid-reliability-study-nema-deck.pdf
  16. NEMA now predicts 55% capacity increase by 2050: https://www.publicnow.com/view/A42C2BC3294ACB64F9720CBD22AEC44186D3DE72
  17. Utility Dive on Load Growth in next five years: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/electricity-load-growing-twice-as-fast-as-expected-Grid-Strategies-report/702366/ 
  18. EIA on Coal Plant Shut Downs since 2010: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67427

#Energyreality, Coal Power, economic prosperity and energy

Thoughts on Primary Energy and the Way the World Really Works

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The Developed world and the Developing countries depend on energy to run. Developing countries need reliable PRIMARY Energy to progress from muscle power to machines and the Developed countries, including China and India require lots of reliable primary energy to sustain their quality of life. I am one of the few people who focus on PRIMARY energy and the crucial part coal plays in providing up to 25% of our needed primary energy. Dependable, affordable primary energy is what makes the world really work.  Over 80% of the primary energy needed comes from four conventional sources:

  1. Crude oil
  2. Natural gas
  3. Coal
  4. Nuclear

Wind and solar are parasitic power sources, and Kathryn Porter wrote an excellent speech she gave to the government of Namibia on “Green vs. Base Load” https://watt-logic.com/2026/04/20/green-vs-baseload-the-most-suitable-energy-for-a-developing-country/ Renewables are a distraction from the reality of how things really work in the world.

I (so has NERC, FERC and other reputable orgs) have been warning of electric power shortages for years. This year could be the year that matters. 

The Iranian War and closing of the Straits of Hormuz is a huge problem for LNG supplies to the world. Especially to Europe, South Korea and Japan. The foolish Net Zero Carbon path that western countries have adopted (S.C. too) has forced dependence on natural gas fuel. I wrote a blog post a couple years ago on the enormity of primary energy that America uses. The average American only understands the importance of energy in his or her life when a major weather disaster such as a hurricane makes gasoline, Diesel and electricity scarce for a few days or a week. Many are too young to remember the Oil Embargoes of 1973-1974 and 1978-1979.

Well, the Shale Gas Revolution in the U.S. nearly killed coal but it makes the U.S. mostly energy independent. Here is an excellent article by Giacomo Prandelli on the world impact of LNG supplies. Not so much of a big deal in May but likely a critical energy supply issue come next winter.

Primary energy is important. Remember this statement next December and January.

Dick Storm, May 21, 2026

#Energyreality, economic prosperity and energy, Energy, Politics and Economic Prosperity, Keeping America Great

Pros and Cons of Renewable and Conventional Electricity Generation in the Red State of S.C., Part 2

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The S.C. Legislature had two choices: 1. Keep Electricity prices reasonable to keep low electricity costs for citizens plus, attract more industry or 2. Transition to Solar, Wind, Batteries, Natural Gas and create significantly higher electric bills. They chose option 2. just as most U.S. Blue states did…

The experiences of most countries and U.S. states that have “transitioned” to renewable energy has caused electricity prices to sharply rise and caused de-industrialization. Yet, the U.S. policymakers continue the “War on Coal” by implementing harmful Net-Zero Carbon policies. The Green New Deal/Inflation Reduction Act policy momentum continues into 2026. Investments in new electricity generation for fiscal year 2026, according to the EIA is still over 90% renewables. That’s right, not one Dispatchable or Base Load coal or nuclear plant is planned for construction in 2026, according to the EIA as of January 2026.

South Carolina although believed to be a very Conservative state, the energy policy is just as Blue as California or Massachusetts. The South Carolina law (S.C. Code Ann. §58-37-40) directs the retirement of coal-fired generation:

S.C. General Assembly — H.3194 (Session 124, 2021–2022)

Part 1 of this article covered Winter Storm Fern and the importance of coal to provide over 80% of the low country’s electricity production.

Let’s move forward to future planning for increasing generation to meet the growing Demand. Here below is the narrowly focused basis of low CO2 generation planning by Santee-Cooper (aka South Carolina Public Service Authority) updated IRP. As you can see, the primary driver of the type of new generation capacity is CO2 Emissions. Not Grid reliability, affordability, Dispatchability or industrial economics. This is in opposition to the Trump energy agenda and policy to exit the anti-American Paris Agreement and to repeal the CO2 Endangerment Finding and keep America strong. President Trump has done his part, our state, like many blue states and Deep State Bureaucrats, is continuing to trod down the destructive regulatory path of Net-Zero Carbon.

My Letter to S.C. Senator Davis, April 2025

I wrote to S.C. Senator Davis as a response to his Press Release asking for public comments. Here are some excerpts from my letter to Senator Davis:

“Electric Power Grids that have a high percentage of wind and solar must be backed up with fast start natural gas turbines or reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines (RICE). Because the cost component of the fuel used is up to 90% of the electricity production cost, then the electricity cost is as volatile as the fuel cost. Natural gas is a clean and abundant fuel. However, the cost of natural gas can vary from $2.00 per million BTU to $5.00 per million BTU. When the fuel cost varies, so does the electricity production cost. Sometimes doubling. The state electric rates of California, MA, CT and Hawaii are examples of extreme switches to renewables with natural gas or oil backup. Here are two slides used in presentations by me and other electricity generation experts during 2024. The ten highest cost states and ten lowest cost states are instructive when the sources of primary energy for electricity generation is considered. My blog referenced below has more references.”

This letter was written last year, well before the Iranian conflict began. Gas prices are likely to become more volatile and mostly higher when summer electricity Demand begins and of course, a lot higher next December.

“Repeal the S.C. Restrictions on Greenhouse Gases. The EPA Law referenced in the Santee-Cooper IRP and also applying to Dominion Energy and Duke, is flawed and in the process of properly being nullified by the new EPA Administrator. The shutting down of coal plants is the main reason why electric rates will increase, and Demand Response (Rationing) measures will need to be implemented.” (1. Below-From Santee-Cooper IRP)

“Maintain, Improve and Expand coal power generation in S.C. The lowest production cost electricity in S.C. is from the coal plants at the following plants: Cross, Cope, Winyah, Williams and Wateree Generating Stations. The 600 MW Pee Dee Coal Plant that was planned to be built about 2010 should be constructed ASAP. The existing coal plants should be authorized to perform all required maintenance to keep in first class operating condition until such time that new nuclear capacity is put on line. “

“Build sufficient new coal generating capacity at the Santee-Cooper (South Carolina Public Service Authority) with the same Balanced Generation Portfolio of coal, nuclear and gas as has been the practice for over 80 years of reliable and affordable electricity production by Santee-Cooper.  Santee-Cooper is the primary supplier of electricity to Palmetto Electric and the generation assets are over 60% coal fueled.”

“Stop the building of more non-Dispatchable solar and wind power generation systems. Stop subsidies and incentives for Solar, Wind and Battery Storage Systems (BESS). Why? Because shutting down of reliable, dispatchable, affordable coal plants has been done by these other states and the electricity costs are the highest in our country. California, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Connecticut and Rhode Island. (2. EIA  list of U.S. Electric Rates by state)Also, the high cost, non-competitive electricity experiences of Germany, Scandinavia and the UK are instructive. (3.) “

Included in the letter to Senator Davis was a couple charts, including this one of the renewable premium paid in electricity costs in various countries of the world.

I have written an article on my blog which outlines the good results of coal plants (such as Santee-Cooper’s excellent record of 80 years) and the references to other states and countries that have abandoned coal fuel. The blog post is here.

As of this writing, the S.C. Legislature has not budged from the the Net Zero path to increased electricity costs and less reliability.

Conclusion: S.C. is Planning for Electricity Price Rises and Less Grid Reliability

The previous blog posts showed many details of Palmetto Electric’s Bulk Power Supply, from Santee-Cooper. Here, here, here, here and here.

By planning for Net Zero Carbon, South Carolina is planning for higher electricity costs in lieu of building new coal plants to preserve our position as one of the states with the most Industry and consumer friendly low electric rates.

Additional references are listed below to show the clear rise in electric rates as more dependence on variable generation and battery storage. Another consideration is resistance to fuel interruptions during times of war, such as we have now. Coal power generation has the inherent advantage of storing weeks or months of primary energy in a coal pile on site.

Yours truly,

Dick Storm, March 17, 2026

References and information for further reading and research

  1. Santee-Cooper 2025 IRP Update  https://www.santeecooper.com/About/Integrated-Resource-Plan/presentations/Santee-Cooper-2025-IRP-Update.pdf
  2. Blue States are Like Watermellons, with electricity policy: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/blue-states-are-like-watermelons?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
  3. Mitch Rolling and Isaac Orr article on Obama caused escalating electricity prices: https://open.substack.com/pub/energybadboys/p/necessarily-skyrocket?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
  4. Example of Solar Panel Robustness during severe weather event in Indiana. March 2026: NIPSCO Solar Farm Destruction from Tornado, March 2026: https://open.substack.com/pub/energybadboys/p/solar-scattered-coal-still-standing?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
  5. CO2 Coalition — Striking Down the Endangerment Finding  https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/striking-down-the-endangerment-finding
  6. VJ Jayaraj (CO2 Coalition), Sept. 2025  https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/every-new-airport-every-new-highway
  7. S.C. Grid Info  https://www.gridinfo.com/south-carolina
  8. Winter Storm Fern Energy Review (Kilovar)  https://open.substack.com/pub/kilovar1959/p/fuel-the-january-26-winter-storms
  9. Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling on Blue States, High Rates: https://energybadboys.substack.com/p/blue-states-high-rates
  10. Staggering Cost of New England Electricity  https://yankeeinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/ISO-NE-r3b.pdf
  11. Big Beautiful Bill Must Stop Subsidizing Green Power  https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2025/05/28/the_big_beautiful_bill_must_stop_subsidizing_unreliable_power_grids_1112902.html
  12. Renewables Blueprint (American Experiment)  https://files.americanexperiment.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Renewable-Energy.pdf
  13. Electricity Prices by State (Electric Choice)  https://www.electricchoice.com/electricity-prices-by-state/
  14. President’s Executive Order on the Energy Emergency: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/declaring-a-national-energy-emergency/
  15. CO2 Coalition Fact Sheet. CO2 is NOT a pollutant, check the Facts on this web page to learn more: https://co2coalition.org/facts/
  16. Electric Rates by State (This Old House)  https://www.thisoldhouse.com/electricity/electricity-rates-by-state
  17. Alex Epstein — China Solar Panels and Coal Power  https://alexepstein.substack.com/p/talking-points-roundup-us-nuclears
  18. Dick Storm LI Post on SC Energy policies and failed coal and nuclear plant plans: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7184184178920312833?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  19. How Can a 6,000 MW Utility in 2030 Become a 9,000 MW Utility in 2050 and Still Meet Net Zero Carbon? Update of last year’s article, May 2, 2024: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/05/02/how-can-a-6000-mw-regional-utility-in-2030-which-likely-will-be-a-9000-mw-utility-in-2050-achieve-net-zero-carbon-an-update-on-my-electricity-provider-in-south-carolina/
  20. Coal’s Final Battle, May 18, 2024: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/05/20/coals-final-battle/
  21. Tom Shepstone’s Substack repost of Dick Storm commentary, May 20, 2024: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/why-we-the-american-people-must-win?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
  22. Visualizing 100 Quadrillion BTUs. Shouldn’t Coal Remain in our Energy Mix?” : https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/07/02/visualizing-100-quadrillion-btus-of-primary-energy-coal-should-remain-in-our-energy-mix/
  23. The Kingdom of Heaven Runs on Righteousness, The Kingdom of Earth Runs on Energy, Oct. 3, 2024:  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/10/03/heaven-runs-on-righteousness-earth-runs-on-energy/
  24. Why is Western Civilization Self Sabotaging the Primary Energy that Provides 80% of the fuel for America’s Life-Blood of Reliable Electricity, with the War on Carbon?.     : https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/12/17/why-is-western-civilization-self-sabotaging-the-primary-energy-sources-that-provide-80-of-the-fuel-for-americas-life-blood-of-reliable-electricity-with-the-war-on-carbon/
  25. Musings on the Self-Sabotaging Energy Policies and a Reminder of the History of the Rise and Fall of Nations:  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/01/13/musings-on-self-sabotaging-energy-policies-and-a-reminder-of-the-history-of-the-rise-and-fall-of-nations/
  26. The EPA “Endangerment Finding” and why it Needs to Go, Feb. 2, 2025: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-1ZW
  27. The SWAMP MONSTER vs. 300 Million Americans, Feb. 21, 2025: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/02/21/the-swamp-monster-vs-the-best-interests-of-the-united-states-of-america/
  28. Thomas J. Shepstone Substack on Dick Storm’s “Primer on How to Ensure Electricity Security (and How to Destroy It)”:  https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/a-primer-on-how-to-ensure-energy?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false 
  29. Thomas J. Shepstone version of Dick Storm article Feb, 2025. Time to Revoke the Endangerment Finding”  :  https://energysecurityfreedom.substack.com/p/its-way-past-time-to-revoke-the-pseudo
  30.  Existing EPA-Endangerment Rules Impact South Carolina Electricity Costs and Will Cause Rationing if the EPA Endangerment Finding Isn’t Repealed  Feb. 28, 2025: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/02/28/existing-epa-rules-increase-costs-and-will-cause-rationing-of-electricity-in-south-carolina-if-endangerment-finding-is-not-repealed/
  31. David Siegel videos on Climate Change: https://www.cuttingthroughthenoise.net/climate-curious 
  32. The EPA Endangerment Finding Needs to Go! Thomas Shepstone publishing of Dick Storm article, March 9, 2025: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/the-epa-endangerment-finding-needs?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false 
  33. The U.S. Self-Inflicted Electricity Generation Crisis was Created by GONGO the SWAMP Monster, March 19, 2025: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/03/19/the-u-s-self-inflicted-electricity-generation-crisis-was-created-by-gongo-the-swamp-monster-here-is-how-to-end-it/
  34. Coal Power, It is the End Result that Matters!:  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/03/28/coal-power-it-is-the-end-result-that-counts/
  35. My Letter to Senator Davis on Coal Power in S.C. April 1, 2025: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/04/03/response-to-palmetto-electric-request-to-contact-our-s-c-senators/
  36. The Solution to America’s Electricity Generation Crisis: Build New Coal Plants Now! https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/04/18/the-solution-to-the-nations-coming-electricity-reliability-crisis-build-new-coal-plants/
  37.  Clean Energy Crisis, May 2, 2025     https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/05/02/clean-energy-crisis-2/
  38. Thomas J. Shepstone, edited version of Clean Energy Crisis on Substack, May 3, 2025: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/the-clean-energy-crisis-and-why-it?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
  39. Repeal the IRA, Protect America’s Life-Blood of Energy and Electricity”:  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/05/15/repeal-the-ira-protect-americas-lifeblood-of-energy-and-electricity-supply/
  40. Ron Stein and Dick Storm co authored article in America Out Loud, May 19, 2025: https://www.americaoutloud.news/intermittent-electricity-from-renewables-cannot-support-ai-and-data-centers/ https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/05/27/internal-and-external-threats-to-the-u-s-electric-grid/
  41. Conventional Energy Including Coal is the Life-Blood of America:  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/06/18/conventional-energy-including-coal-is-the-life-blood-of-america/
  42. Thomas J. Shepstone published version of Dick Storm blog post on the “Madness of the Self-Inflicted Electricity Generation Crisis” https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/the-madness-of-the-us-self-inflicted?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
  43. Energy is the Economy and Electricity is the Life-Blood of western civilization Coal Can Make America’s Electricity Supply Great Again  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/07/30/energy-is-the-economy-electricity-is-the-life-blood-of-western-civilization-coal-can-make-americas-electricity-supply-great-again/
  44. Thomas J. Shepstone on Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/electricity-is-the-life-blood-of?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  45. SWAMP People and Organizations Against Making America Great, Foreign and Domestic https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/08/07/swamp-people-and-organizations-against-making-america-great-foreign-domestic/    
  46. Published by Thomas J. Shepstone on Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/fighting-the-swamp-and-our-enemies?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  47. Some Red States Still Embrace the Green New deal, Including the Usually Conservative State of S.C. Sept. 8, 2025:    https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/09/08/some-red-states-still-embrace-the-green-new-deal-including-usually-conservative-south-carolina/
  48. FIVE REASONS TO BUILD NEW COAL PLANTS NOW! COAL SHOULD BE INCLUDED AS A CRITICAL FUEL TO POWER AMERICA’S FUTURE, SEPT. 24, 2025:  HTTPS://DICKSTORMPROBIZBLOG.ORG/2025/09/24/FIVE-REASONS-TO-BUILD-NEW-COAL-PLANTS-NOW-COAL-SHOULD-BE-INCLUDED-AS-A-CRITICAL-FUEL-TO-POWER-AMERICAS-FUTURE/
  49. Ten Hard Truths of Electricity Generation in South Carolina, the Life-Blood of the Economy, Oct. 8, 2025: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/10/08/ten-hard-truths-of-s-c-electricity-the-lifeblood-of-the-economy/
  50. Reality of Building 32,000 MW of New Generation Capacity/Year. Solutions; Build New Coal Plants Now!,  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/10/22/reality-of-32000-mw-year-of-new-generation-demand-solution-build-new-coal-plants-now/
  51. Power for the U.S.A. Reality of Building 32,000 MW each year: https://powerfortheusa.com/2025/10/22/reality-of-32000-mw-year-of-new-generation-demand-solution-build-new-coal-plants-now/
  52. The Importance of Coal and Thermal Performance Improvements for Heat-Rate and Resiliency: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2026/02/08/the-importance-of-coal-thermal-performance-considerations-for-heat-rate-and-resiliency/
    https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/look-at-the-data-the-demise-of-coal?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
     
    https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/look-at-the-data-the-demise-of-coal?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
  53. Pros and Cons of Conventional and Renewables in the Red State of S.C.:     https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2026/03/11/pros-and-cons-of-conventional-and-renewables-electricity-generation-in-the-red-state-of-south-carolina-part-1/
  54.  Jason Hayes republishing of Why Electric rates in SC will Rise: https://open.substack.com/pub/jasonhayes/p/existing-epa-rules-increase-costs?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  55. Don’t believe the journalists of the MSM, Here are many Scientific Papers that dispute the affects of manmade Climate Change: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/01/14/nearly-140-scientific-papers-detail-the-minuscule-effect-co2-has-on-earths-temperature/
  56. Dr. Timothy Ball on the Corruption of Science, 2014: https://www.alachuacounty.us/Depts/epd/EPAC/BOOK%20REVIEW%20-%20‘THE%20DELIBERATE%20CORRUPTION%20OF%20CLIMATE%20SCIENCE%20by%20TIM%20BALL.pdf
  57. CO2 Coalition Website with many Facts and articles: https://co2coalition.org/facts/
  58. Ken Haapala and the Science and Environmental Policy Project:http://sepp.org/twtwfiles/2022/TWTW%209-10-2022.pdf
  59. Professor Richard Lindzen of MIT, Article on his views on Climate Change: https://clintel.org/the-imaginary-climate-crisis-how-can-we-change-the-message-a-talk-by-richard-lindzen/
  60. WUWT Sept. 2021, Summary of William Happer (Happer is Princeton Professor of Physics) and Wijngaarden   : https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/09/21/the-greenhouse-effect-a-summary-of-wijngaarden-and-happer/
  61. Climate Activism, WUWT March 23, 2022: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/03/23/climate-change-is-about-control-stupid-not-the-environment/ 
  62.  POWER Magazine, Sonal Patel, Sept 9, 2022, EPA Rules likely to shut down about 86 GW of coal generation in next few years: https://www.powermag.com/group-epas-coordinated-regulatory-assault-on-coal-power-could-push-retirements-beyond-86-gw-by-2030/?oly_enc_id=3247D5884312C9W
  63. Perhaps some day a Documentary will be made to summarize how Coal was Demonized by NGOs, government, WEF, MSM, Entertainment, Dark Money, and Environmental Extremists just as nuclear power was during the 1970 and 1980’s? Here is “Pandora’s Promise”, 2013 Movie to Expose the Facts about Nuclear Power and how it was wrongly Demonized, causing the collapse of the nuclear Supply-Chain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMutoR8YTlQ
  64. NIPSCO Solar Farm Destruction from Tornado, March 2026: https://open.substack.com/pub/energybadboys/p/solar-scattered-coal-still-standing?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
  65. Mid America Energy, video of building a wind turbine and the enormous quantities of steel and concrete required for each one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84BeVq2Jm88
  66. Thomas J. Shepstone and Ron Stein on the Trillions wasted on wind and solar generation, March 2026: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/8-trillion-of-investment-into-wind?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
  67. $8 Trillion in Investment and all we get from Wind, Solar and other renewables and all we get for it is Higher Electric Bills, Thomas J. Shepstone, Jr, Ron Stein, et al: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/8-trillion-of-investment-into-wind?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
  68. Capital Research Center on Warren Buffett’s Solar and Wind generation: https://capitalresearch.org/article/wind-power-doesnt-make-sense-without-the-tax-credits-part-1/
  69. Bjorn Lomberg: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bjornlomborg_nytimes-and-many-other-suggest-that-the-more-activity-7350118091680313344-CTSF?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAI4KQUBYW-cbQRlA1kgj9X3llGi7u6KNnQ
  70. Bjorn Lomberg on high cost of solar and wind: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bjornlomborg_the-expensive-green-delusion-despite-green-activity-7331637580842594304-yJtG?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAI4KQUBYW-cbQRlA1kgj9X3llGi7u6KNnQ
  71. Substack article by Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling on Solar with Battery Backup, July 5th, 2025:https://energybadboys.substack.com/p/the-baseload-solar-beatdown
  72. Substack by Orr and Rolling in 2024 on the Myth of Cheap Solar: https://energybadboys.substack.com/p/how-to-destroy-the-myth-of-cheap  
  73. Thomas J. Shepstone on Pennsylvania Solar project failure when tax subsidies were removed, March 2026: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/centre-county-solar-project-goes?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
  74. EIA List of Electricity Rates by State: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_a
    https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/03/20/hawaii-a-glimpse-into-the-future-of-the-green-new-deal-aka-inflation-reduction-act-here-is-an-update/
  75. Thomas J. Shepstone on Why Do Wind and Solar Need Subsidies if they are so Cheap?: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/why-are-solar-and-wind-still-government?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  76. EIA Most of new generation capacity in 2025 from Solar, Aug. 20, 2025: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=65964&utm_medium=email
  77. WSJ on Wind and Solar subsidies, Aug. 21, 2025: https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/why-solar-and-wind-power-can-thrive-without-subsidies-cee47663
  78. Why are California Electricity Prices So High?, Sub Stack: https://open.substack.com/pub/mestes/p/why-are-californias-electricity-prices?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  79. Excellent article by Tilak Doshi, Renewables are Not Cheap, Dec. 2025, WUWT, https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/12/06/time-to-stop-pretending-renewables-are-cheap/
  80. Energy Bad Boys article on Electricity, Highest Rates in Red and Blue States, Dec. 13, 2025:  https://open.substack.com/pub/energybadboys/p/blue-states-high-rates?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web  
  81. Energy Bad Boys Great Chart of Electricity Prices by States, Dec. 27, 2025: https://open.substack.com/pub/energybadboys/p/visualizing-2026?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
  82. Failures of the renewables transition era are insults to taxpayers. The worlds’ population depends on insulation, wires, computers, and fertilizers that “renewables” cannot provide.
    Published September 1, 2025, in America Out Loud NEWS
    https://www.americaoutloud.news/failures-of-the-renewables-transition-era-are-insults-to-taxpayers/
  83. Inside Climate News on Maryland Matters of Why Electric Costs are Escalating: https://marylandmatters.org/2025/09/01/why-prices-are-soaring-in-the-countrys-largest-grid-region-explained-in-5-charts/

Energy, Politics and Economic Prosperity, Regulations, Nuclear, Coal Power, Western Civilization, #Energyreality, BlueGreenAlliance

The Real Problem With American Energy Policy

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This post will be short and to the point. Myself and many of my energy experienced friends have watched as absolutely anti-American, anti-Human energy polices have come to be. My friend Tom cut through the BS and wrote the following as a response to the Daily Caller article which documented Chinese involvement in NGOs impacting U.S. Energy Policy. From my very experienced electricity generation engineer, Tom:

This shows the real problem we have in the energy sector:

  • Nuclear power is the safest way to generate safe, clean, environmentally friendly bulk power. But the woman running the cash register at Walmart has been convinced by Jane Fonda and Greenpeace that nuclear power is dangerous and has a huge environmental problem with waste. Neither of these, or all the other fallacies that are widely believed regarding nuclear power are true. How did it ever get this bad?
  •  Clean coal technology has advanced to an amazing level. Go to the top of Mount Washington in Pittsburgh, PA and look out over the clean bright city. Yes, 120 years ago the air was so bad that they needed streetlights during the day. The Monongahela River did indeed catch on fire (so did Lake Erie near Cleveland). But that was then, not now, and there is no way we are going back to using 1800’s technology for coal power plants. Yet, the West Penn Power and Cheswick plants were recently shut down and dismantled. The environmental groups have succeeded in brainwashing most of the non-technical people that climate change is real. They will believe Al Gore and Leonardo DeCaprio rather than the people that actually understand the environmental impact of energy generation. (oh, and they are fighting against building a datacenter on the Cheswick plant sight just because – it’s a lot easier to NIMBY everything than try to find real solutions).
  • The total thermal efficiency cycle for electric cars is far worse than burning a primary fuel in an internal combustion engine. How does this inefficiency impact the environment? (Answer: all the inefficiency is heat dissipated directly to the environment – how in the world does that not contribute to “global warming”?) But the public has become convinced that electric cars are cleaner and the way of the future. Why isn’t the technical community telling the non-technical community this side of the story? (I think we know, government $$$$$, just like wind/solar, the more the government gets to subsidize, the more money available for other nefarious activities. Isn’t this the trap ASME fell into?)
  • We can make nuclear safer, coal cleaner, and cars more efficient until the cows come home. The problem is – these facts don’t matter. The three-headed (now 4 with the new head of the justice system) doesn’t operate on facts. Until we start addressing this problem (Root Cause) we are just spinning our wheels. Maybe we should start with the ASME – when an organization that is supposed to be a premier technically based organization goes woke, how are the average non-technical people out there supposed to know that? If they can’t rely on ASME, then who can they believe? (think Covid, Anthony Fauci, Health & Human Services, the American Medical Association, etc….or even worse – the legal profession).

My thanks to Tom for giving me permission to share these concisely written, truthful and troubling facts.

I have written on the SWAMP Influencers, Federal Regulations and NGOs before. Tom just did it with a great economy of words.

Thank God for President Trump, Chris Wright, Lee Zeldin and a well qualified Cabinet of qualified people to look out for the best interests for America. In closing, let me suggest reading the references listed below if you are curious of who and how the absurd Federal Regulations have come to be.

Yours very truly,

Dick Storm, March 14, 2026

            

References and information that supports my opinion and text written above:

  1. Daily Caller article: https://dailycaller.com/2026/03/13/china-earthjustice-ccp-energy-oil-gas-green-foreign-agents-louisiana/
  2. Pelican Institute for Public Policy: https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/barriers_to_louisiana_energy_dominance_paper.pdf
  3. Capital Research on Power Industry Influencers, 2026: https://capitalresearch.org/?s=NGOs+against+U.S.+Power+Generation
  4. The War on Carbon, How it Came to Be” October 2021: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/10/16/the-war-on-carbon-how-it-came-to-be/
  5. Without New Thinking on Nuclear Power, Anti-Carbon Policy Can’t Succeed, Nov. 11, 2021 : https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/11/13/without-new-thinking-on-nuclear-power-anti-carbon-climate-policy-cant-succeed/
  6. The Green Energy Crisis is Here, Part 1, Sept. 17, 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/05/29/the-green-energy-crisis-is-here-part-1/
  7. The Green Energy Crisis, Part 2, “Meet Some of the People that Caused it”,  June 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/06/14/green-energy-crisis-part-2-meet-the-policy-makers-that-caused-it/
  8. Comparison of China and U.S. Energy Policies: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/01/18/comparison-of-china-energy-electricity-generation-with-u-s-a/
  9. The Green Energy Crisis, Part 3, June 26, 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/06/26/green-energy-crisis-part-3-public-energy-education-is-needed-each-person-in-the-u-s-uses-about-315-million-btus-of-primary-energy-year-this-is-not-practical-or-even-possible-to-replace-with-win/
  10. Wake Up America! Sept. 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/09/20/please-wake-up-america-your-energy-and-electricity-generation-reliability-are-at-risk/
  11.  Facing the Hard Truths of Energy, Part 1,  79 Quadrillion BTUs, The Enormity of the Fossil Energy Systems Providing Sustainable Lives, Jan. 11, 2024 : https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/01/11/facing-the-hard-truths-of-energy-part-1-79-quadrillion-btusthe-enormity-of-the-fossil-energy-systems-providing-sustainable-lives/
  12.  Influencers of U.S. Energy Policy, January 3, 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/01/04/influencers-of-american-energy-policy/
  13. Facing the Hard Truths of Energy, Part 2, The Reality of Replacing Conventional Forms of Energy, Jan. 2024: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/02/06/facing-the-hard-truths-of-energy-part-2-some-facts-on-the-reality-of-replacing-conventional-forms-of-energy/
  14.  Facing the Hard Truths of Energy, Part 3, The Transition that Isn’t, from the perspective of Minerals, Feb. 8, 2024: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/02/08/facing-the-hard-truths-of-energy-part-3-the-transition-that-isnt-from-the-perspective-of-minerals/
  15. Facing the Hard Truths of Energy, Part 4, The True Agenda for Climate Policies, Feb. 13, 2024: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/02/13/facing-the-hard-truths-of-energy-electricity-generation-and-environmental-protection-part-4-what-is-the-true-agenda-for-climate-policies/
  16. 114th Congress, Majority Staff Report, Obama’s Carbon Mandate, August 2015: http://www.scientificintegrityinstitute.org/USSEWP080415.pdf
  17. Gina McCarthy, Climate Czar, IRS 990 form when she worked at the NRDC Action Fund, between Obama and Biden Administrations, 2020: Click to access nrdc-actionfund-990-2020.pdf
  18. Gina McCarthy Bio on EPA website: https://archive.epa.gov/epa/history/administrator-gina-mccarthy-2013-2017.html 
  19. Competitive Enterprise Institute, “Cooler Heads”, Sept 9, 2022, Excellent reading of more on extremists and their effectiveness in fighting coal and hydrocarbons: https://go.cei.org/webmail/287682/949316776/68e507be334cf34c7d54b4b2a348b50f1d373ec69c94d0d629001f91129chttps://www.wsj.com/articles/the-coming-global-crisis-of-climate-policy-europe-germany-energy-prices-bankruptcy-winter-subsidies-borrowing-green-nuclear-116626510701e7d
  20. Capital Research Center, Influence Watch, Sea Change Foundation, March 2022: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/sea-change-foundation/
  21. Environmental Protection Agency key people by Influence Watch: : https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/biden-administration-independent-agencies/#environmental-protection-agency
  22. National Review article on Uranium One Deal, during Obama Administration, 2017: https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/10/uranium-one-deal-obama-administration-doj-hillary-clinton-racketeering/ 
  23. Understanding the Uranium One Scandal, by Canada Free Press, Nov. 2017: https://canadafreepress.com/article/understanding-the-uranium-one-scandal 
  24. Podesta Appointed Biden’s Green Investment Czar, Gatestone Institute, Sept. 2022: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18943/john-podesta-green-investment
  25. Podesta paid $35 million by Russian Government for Uranium Deal, Breitbart News, 2019: https://newspunch.com/russian-govt-paid-35-million-john-podesta/
  26. New York Post article on Podesta Involvement with Russians when he was Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Chief, 2017: https://nypost.com/2017/07/05/uncovering-the-russia-ties-of-hillarys-campaign-chief/
  27. McCarthy Resigns from Whitehouse position, Sept. 2022, Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-national-climate-adviser-gina-mccarthy-resigns 
  28. Joe Goffman background by Daily Caller News Foundation, Aug. 2022: https://dailycaller.com/2022/08/23/biden-epa-ethics-law-watchdogs-joseph-goffman/ 
  29. E&E News, Goffman Appointment Deadlocked by EPW Committee, Nov. 2022: https://www.eenews.net/articles/committee-deadlocks-on-epa-air-nominee/ 
  30. Joe Goffman, EPA Extremist employed at top of U.S. EPA as Assistant Administrator: https://www.capito.senate.gov/news/in-the-news/capito-op-ed-joe-goffman-the-wrong-choice-to-help-lead-epa
  31. Big Green Radicals, 2014  : https://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/epa-report.pdf
  32. NRDC Influence Watch information: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/natural-resources-defense-council-nrdc/ 
  33. Business Insider, Links of Russian Funds to NRDC Funding to fight Fracking: https://www.businessinsider.com/a-russian-linked-company-in-bermuda-is-funneling-millions-to-us-anti-fracking-groups-2015-1
  34. Capital Research Center, The Left’s War on Coal: https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-lefts-war-on-coal-part-3/
  35. Department of Energy people, by Influence Watch: https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/biden-administration-department-of-energy/
  36. John Kerry, Far Left Support, Fox News Aug 2022: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/john-kerrys-climate-office-rife-ties-far-left-green-groups
  37. Activist Facts, Sierra Club, Beyond Coal, Beyond Gas, Nuclear: https://www.activistfacts.com/organizations/194-sierra-club/
  38. Background on the “World Economic Forum” and Klaus Schwab: https://larryalextaunton.com/2022/10/the-great-jet-set-klaus-schwab-the-world-economic-forum-and-the-new-fascism-part-1-the-perils-of-utopia 
  39. John Podesta, Head of 300+ Billion dollars of U.S. Taxpayer funds for clean energy. Check Influence Watch to read some interesting background on his career: https://www.influencewatch.org/person/john-podesta/ 
  40. Everything we know about the Uranium One Deal, Business Insider April 28, 2015: https://www.businessinsider.com/everything-we-know-about-the-hillary-clinton-russia-uranium-scandal-2015-4?op=1 
  41. Inside the War on Coal Politico, The Agenda 2015: https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/05/inside-war-on-coal-000002/
  42. EPA Retains Tools to Harm Coal Power Production, Utility Dive, July 1, 2022: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/supreme-court-epa-GHG-carbon-power-plant/626456/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202022-07-01%20Utility%20Dive%20Newsletter%20%5Bissue:42837%5D&utm_term=Utility%20Dive
  43. Bezos plans to give Billions to Environmental Org’s: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/20/jeff-bezos-pledges-1-billion-to-conservation-through-bezos-earth-fund.html
  44. Influence Watch Report of Enormous Funding of Environmental Groups, by wealthy Billionaires, 2014 : https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2020/10/chain-of-environmental-command-2014-report.pdf
  45. Green Watch (several Parts Series) Oct. 2020 Funding of Sierra Club, Greenpeace and other Environmentalists Groups to Fight Carbon. Not only coal but also natural gas production: https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-greening-of-pennsylvania-part-4/
  46. NRDC China Office: https://chinadevelopmentbrief.org/ngos/natural-resources-defense-council-nrdc/  
  47. Don’t believe the journalists of the MSM, Here are many Scientific Papers that dispute the affects of manmade Climate Change: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/01/14/nearly-140-scientific-papers-detail-the-minuscule-effect-co2-has-on-earths-temperature/
  48. Dr. Timothy Ball on the Corruption of Science, 2014: https://www.alachuacounty.us/Depts/epd/EPAC/BOOK%20REVIEW%20-%20‘THE%20DELIBERATE%20CORRUPTION%20OF%20CLIMATE%20SCIENCE%20by%20TIM%20BALL.pdf
  49. CO2 Coalition Website with many Facts and articles: https://co2coalition.org/facts/
  50. Ken Haapala and the Science and Environmental Policy Project:http://sepp.org/twtwfiles/2022/TWTW%209-10-2022.pdf
  51. Professor Richard Lindzen of MIT, Article on his views on Climate Change: https://clintel.org/the-imaginary-climate-crisis-how-can-we-change-the-message-a-talk-by-richard-lindzen/
  52. WUWT Sept. 2021, Summary of William Happer (Happer is Princeton Professor of Physics) and Wijngaarden   : https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/09/21/the-greenhouse-effect-a-summary-of-wijngaarden-and-happer/
  53. Climate Activism, WUWT March 23, 2022: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/03/23/climate-change-is-about-control-stupid-not-the-environment/ 
  54.  POWER Magazine, Sonal Patel, Sept 9, 2022, EPA Rules likely to shut down about 86 GW of coal generation in next few years: https://www.powermag.com/group-epas-coordinated-regulatory-assault-on-coal-power-could-push-retirements-beyond-86-gw-by-2030/?oly_enc_id=3247D5884312C9W
  55. Washington Post, Earth First Eco Terrorist Group with leader (Tracy Stone-Manning) now part of Biden Administration, BLM Dept: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/07/14/did-bidens-pick-lead-bureau-land-management-support-eco-terrorism/
  56. CEI-Patrick Michaels, Case for Vacating EPA Endangerment Finding (CO2): https://cei.org/studies/the-scientific-case-for-vacating-the-epas-carbon-dioxide-endangerment-finding/
  57. Vaclav Smil, World Energy Expert Bio: https://www.science.org/content/article/meet-vaclav-smil-man-who-has-quietly-shaped-how-world-thinks-about-energy 
  58. EPA Workforce by EEOC 18,000+ employees: https://www.eeoc.gov/federal-sector/environmental-protection-agency-epa-0
  59. D. Roy Spencer  (NASA Scientist) website: https://www.drroyspencer.com/global-warming-101/
  60. NASA Engineers Presentation,” The Right Stuff Climate Team” (Retired NASA Engineers): https://www.therightclimatestuff.com
  61. Sustainability, Science or Religion, Science Matters, by Ron Clutz: https://rclutz.com/2022/01/16/why-sustainability-isnt/?like_comment=39170&_wpnonce=d774fe4278
  62. History of Control of people by Politicians and the origins of the Climate Scare: http://www.davdata.nl/math/piedpiper.html
  63. EIA Real Time Electric Power Generation by Fuels & Transmission and Distribution: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/gridmonitor/dashboard/electric_overview/balancing_authority/SC
  64. Foundation For a Free Economy article on Water & Forest Management Cause of California Fires, Jan. 15, 2025:  https://fee.org/articles/why-los-angeles-is-burning/?utm_source=salesforce&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fee-daily
  65. Subject: Chinese Communist Party Using Nonprofit Networks To Attack American Energy, Report Suggests | The Daily Caller

https://dailycaller.com/2026/03/13/china-earthjustice-ccp-energy-oil-gas-green-foreign-agents-louisiana/

#Energyreality, Coal Power, economic prosperity and energy

The Importance of Coal, Part 2: Coal Power in the Rest of the World

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Coal power in America remains important and I wrote on that last week. This is a followup to provide an overview of the importance of coal as a form of primary energy in the rest of the world. The key phrase is Primary Energy.

Ron Stein and Nancy Perlman wrote an excellent article on the importance of providing primary energy to the six billion people on the planet that are living in poverty. Lifting them from poverty requires energy, just as energy powered the citizens of countries living in the Developed world.

“In poor countries, millions of those in poverty die every year. 
From indoor air pollution from having to burn wood, charcoal, grass, and dung, because they don’t have natural gas, propane or electricity for cooking and heating. 
From bacteria and parasites in their water and food, because they don’t have electricity, water treatment or refrigeration. 
From malaria and other diseases, because their substandard clinics and hospitals lack electricity, clean water, sufficient vaccines and antibiotics, even window screens. “
 
It’s disheartening that the wealthier country governments have chosen electricity generation “winners,” i.e., wind and solar, to generate electricity, paid with taxpayer funds, to support the Government Mandates and Subsidies.”

How about India and China?

China did in fact lift millions from poverty since they entered the World Trade Organization and became the world’s leading country in manufacturing. One example is their use of enormous amounts of coal as the primary energy to produce aluminum. Before the year 2000 China was an insignificant producer of aluminum. Look what they did in 20 years.

How did China power their economy to become the world’s largest producer of aluminum, steel and most manufactured products in such a short time? They did it with coal power. Thomas Shepstone, Jr. and Duggan Flanigan also wrote about energy intensive aluminum production. Here is an overview of China’s energy production during this period of astounding industrial production growth. This chart below is from my July 2025 presentation to the Coal Institute.

China consumes over 50% of the world’s coal. They understand the sources of primary energy that are viable for affordable, Dispatchable and reliable electricity production, so does India. From the IER (Institute for Energy Research)

“China and India – both considered “developing countries” by the IPCC – are burning record amounts of coal and using more kinds of energy to keep energy prices affordable and increase the standard of living for their people.
Wind and solar energy in China and India are complements, not substitutes, to their massive growth in energy, particularly in fossil fuels.
Fossil fuels provided 82 percent and 88 percent of China and India’s energy, respectively, in 2022.”

How about India, Germany and the UK?

From the Economic Times: “India’s coal consumption could more than double ‍by mid-century before plunging ​sharply as the country shifts toward cleaner energy, ⁠long‑term projections published by government think-tank NITI Aayog show.“

Germany’s path to Net Zero has created much loss of industry. Here are a few references:

WUWT on the Decline of German Chemical Industries due to High Energy Prices, and How Germany is Dismantling it’s Core, by Tilak Doshi.

German De-Industrialization post on the “Last Pipe” from Vallourec Factory.

Lars Shernikau’s blog post on the decline of German Industry due to missteps of Green Policies. Dr. Shernikau is a well respected author and world renowned energy expert.

Coal use in the world has steadily increased.

So if Coal Is Such an Obvious Source of Primary Energy, Why is the West Self Sabotaging Their Economies?

I provided a presentation to the ENERUM Energy Forum in Columbus in 2022 to ask this question. A similar presentation to Liberty University in 2023. I am glad to send those presentations. upon request.

Getting back to aluminum production, here is a graph of U.S. and China production. As America shut down many coal plants and electricity costs rose, China was building new coal plants to provide reasonable cost electricity to smelt aluminum in huge quantities. Many folks, including me believe that China Dumped aluminum on the International markets in lieu of counterfeiting U.S. currency. Note the rise of aluminum produced in China during the years 2004-2014 (from chart above). Both of these charts are from a presentation to the Delaware County Bar Association in 2016 to discuss energy, the economy and how it impacts the Real-Estate Market. Yes, I know that sounds abstract, but reasonable cost energy = jobs, especially for energy intensive industries such as aluminum smelting, then the jobs impact the Real-Estate market.

The Self-Sabotaging and excessive environmental laws of the U.S. have not only seriously (I hope not mortally) wounded the aluminum industry, but also steel and heavy manufacturing. Steel production by country is shown below. Why do western politicians continue to do their best to weaken their countries and force manufacturing overseas? It is not only the U.S. it is Australia, Germany the UK and more. President Trump is trying to correct the U.S. problem, but he has much opposition by the Democrats.

The west has been committing energy suicide. Here are links to several articles written by Professor Vaclav Smil, CO2 Coalition’s Gregory Whitestone and Ron Stein. Vaclav Smil for Fraser Institute, “Why Net Zero is Impractical and Unrealistic” and Scam of the Century: Ridding the World of Crude Oil Without a Replacement is Global Suicide”, by Ron Stein and Gregory Whitestone, July 2024. I have also written much with many credible other references on the Self-Sabotaging of the U.S. electric Grid. Here, here and here are three such articles.

Professor Samuele Furfari whom I admire and follow, has written much on the fallacy of hydrogen, wind and solar. Here is a short article he wrote for the CO2 Coalition. Here is an excerpt:

“Over the past ten years, the EU has reduced its energy demand by 6.1 EJ. In contrast, the rest of the world has increased its energy demand by 76.8 EJ – thirteen times more. This is not surprising given that the EU’s competitiveness is currently under threat from the Green Deal. This tragedy is even recognised by the Mario Draghi report, although it does not directly attribute faults to the Green Deal n order to remain politically correct. Instead, the report blames the increase in energy prices, which are nevertheless the consequence of EU energy policy. Outside the European Union, renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power have generated 8 EJ. This figure actually surpasses the change in energy demand within the EU itself. Nevertheless, over the past ten years, fossil fuel consumption has increased by 59 EJ. This means that outside the EU growth in fossil fuels has outpaced that of renewables by a factor of 7.3. In other words, while modern renewable energy is expanding, fossil fuel use is increasing at a rate more than seven times greater. Contrary to the commonly held belief within the EU that the gap between renewables and fossil fuels is narrowing, the reality is that the gap is widening. The evidence suggests that the EU has indeed achieved results in the energy transition, undergoing a profound transformation of its electricity sector and setting benchmarks for renewable energy integration and emissions reduction. However, the EU’s progress is not being matched elsewhere, and its leadership is merely symbolic because the rest of the world is accelerating its use of fossil fuels more than its use of renewable energy. When a leader realises that no one is following them, they must reconsider whether they are truly leading.” I emboldened the line which I thought was most important. It is not only the EU that has chosen the foolish path of Net Zero Carbon, but many other countries and states remain on this course. So, let’s take a look at Australia.

Australia

I saw Ben Tan’s post on LinkedIn where he showed the primary energy used in Australia 1984-2024. It is copied below. This shows the constant need for coal power, steady since 1983.

Two other Australian sources for up to date enelectricity generation by source are Rafe Champion and Ben Beattie. I thank them for their articles, links and information. Here below is the Australian Grid generation by fuel for Feb. 22, 2026. Note that it is over 50 % coal. (at one point 38.5% Black coal and 13.2% Brown Coal) Solar and wind were producing 45% at this same moment. Solar does very well during the sunshiny 6 hours or so of the day and wind does well when the wind is blowing, but the voltage control, base load, sudden increased demand requirements (like turning on a 150 MW electric furnace in a steel mill). Also, the rotational inertia and Grid stability are provided by the coal and gas plants.

Numerous references are included at the end from Rafe Champion, PA Pundits and others on the problems with wind and solar. Although electricity generation is complicated, it is not rocket science. If the politicians would do just a little bit of reading and research and maybe even ask folks like us that do understand, they could make right decisions. However, across the west politicians insist on weakening their countries. Just like the U.S. presidents Obama and Biden (before President Trump began the Herculean job of correcting anti-American Energy policy) and the German and UK politicians. Of course, even many Bureaucrats and state Legislatures to this day, are still stuck on the destructive path of Net Zero Carbon. Even my Conservative (Red) state of South Carolina. Here is a quote From the Santee-Cooper IRP: “As required by S.C. Code Ann. §58-37-40(A)(4)(c), Santee Cooper has evaluated a Net Zero CO2 “

This reminds me of Charlie Reese’s last column on how a minority of legislators and judges can force their Ideology on the citizens. Off topic but voter energy education and voter turnout needs to be improved. As I said, we even have misguided voters and politicians in the deep red state of South Carolina. We have got to improve the energy IQ of the voters.

Recent Articles to Support Building New Coal Power Generation Plants

Rather than repeat my same message, here are recent articles I have written in an attempt to explain the case for new coal plants, including two articles on the need to build new coal plants based on coal being the default source of primary energy. The default source of primary energy because the electricity growth is expected to out pace the production of gas turbines to provide for all new generation and nuclear generation, although a very good approach, will take a decade or more to provide the needed electricity generation capacity.

  1. Ten Hard Truths of Electricity Generation in South Carolina, the Life-Blood of the Economy, Oct. 8, 2025: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/10/08/ten-hard-truths-of-s-c-electricity-the-lifeblood-of-the-economy/
  2. Reality of Building 32,000 MW of New Generation Capacity/Year. Solutions; Build New Coal Plants Now!,  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/10/22/reality-of-32000-mw-year-of-new-generation-demand-solution-build-new-coal-plants-now/
  3. Power for the U.S.A. Reality of Building 32,000 MW each year: https://powerfortheusa.com/2025/10/22/reality-of-32000-mw-year-of-new-generation-demand-solution-build-new-coal-plants-now/
  4. Power for the U.S.A. Advantages of Coal Power, Dec. 21, 2025: https://powerfortheusa.com/2025/12/21/advantages-of-coal-fuel-for-electricity-generation/
  5. 100 Quadrillion BTUs and Why Coal Should be Included in the Primary Energy Portfolio: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2026/01/28/one-hundred-twenty-quadrillion-btus-and-the-need-for-coal-to-provide-at-least-20-quads-of-americas-primary-energy-part-l/
  6. Dick Storm Presentation to EPRI on the Importance of Applying the Fundamentals for Achievement of the Best Thermal Performance, Feb. 8, 2026: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2026/02/08/the-importance-of-coal-thermal-performance-considerations-for-heat-rate-and-resiliency/
  7. Thomas J. Shepstone published version of Dick Storm article on Obtaining Best Performance from Coal Plants, Feb. 2026:  https://energysecurityfreedom.substack.com/p/look-at-the-data-the-demise-of-coal

Conclusions

• Wind and Solar are the Highest Cost Power and Cannot Meet Demand, they are a risk to national security and when a region exceeds 30% renewables and the electricity rates are the highest

• More Dispatchable Bulk Power Plants Need to be Built

• Coal, Gas and Nuclear Plants provide the lowest cost, most reliable Power over the long term

• States and Countries on Path to Net-Zero Carbon are Paying a high price

• Natural Gas Prices will likely rise in the future

• Electricity prices will rise with fuel cost as well as from inflation of components and construction costs. 

• Production prices of electricity will follow fuel cost

• A Balanced Generation portfolio is Beneficial as a Hedge Against Fuel Cost Volatility

• America should learn from the experiences of Germany, CA, Hawaii, CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ and other states with high electricity costs

• States and countries that have shut down coal plants have experienced increased electricity production costs. This is not a forecast, this is fact

Thank you for reading and

Yours very truly,

Dick Storm, February 22, 2026

References and articles for further research:

  1. America Out Loud, article: Net-Zero is NOT Affordable by the 6 Billion Living in Poverty: https://www.americaoutloud.news/net-zero-is-not-affordable-by-the-6-billion-living-in-poverty/
  2. Comparison of China and U.S. Energy Policies: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/01/18/comparison-of-china-energy-electricity-generation-with-u-s-a/
  3. Duggan Flanigan and Thomas J. Shepstone, Jr. on the energy intensive production of aluminum: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/trump-is-saving-american-aluminum?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=post%20viewer
  4. The importance of Aluminum by the Economic Policy Institute, 2021: https://www.epi.org/publication/aluminum-producing-and-consuming-industries-have-thrived-under-u-s-section-232-import-measures/
  5. The Aluminum Association: https://www.aluminum.org/PowerUp
  6. Dick Storm Blog post, “Wake Up Americans!” Sept. 21, 2023:  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/09/20/please-wake-up-america-your-energy-and-electricity-generation-reliability-are-at-risk/
  7. Energy and Economic Prosperity, Talk to Delaware County Bar Association, July 2016: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2016/07/25/energy-and-economic-prosperity-my-thoughts-dick-storm/
  8. Thomas Shepstone Published Coal Institute presentation by Dick Storm, July 20, 2025: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/the-unpopular-but-hard-truths-of?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  9. Columbus, Ohio Energy Forum, ENERUM, 2022, Dick Storm presentation: Dick Storm Presentation to Columbus Energy Forum, Columbus, Ohio August 2022: : https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_presentation-and-speakers-notes-from-august-activity-7068650158862827520-B-_W?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  10. Institute for Energy Research, 2023: https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/fossil-fuels/coal/china-and-india-burn-record-amounts-of-coal/
  11. German De-Industrialization post on the “Last Pipe” from Vallourec Factory: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7112422447580082176-MMm3?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  12. “Why Net Zero is Impractical and Unrealistic”: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/halfway-between-kyoto-and-2050
  13. Scam of the Century, Ridding the World of Crude Oil Without a Replacement is Global Suicide”, by Ron Stein and Gregory Whitestone, July 2024: https://www.americaoutloud.news/scam-of-the-century-ridding-the-world-of-crude-oil-without-a-replacement-is-global-suicide/
  14. Are You Worried about the Future of America? Jan. 21, 2021 Thoughts on Energy Policies, Industrial and Economic Growth: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/01/21/are-you-worried-about-the-future-of-america/
  15. U.S. War on Carbon Accomplishes Two Things, Weakens America, Enriches China, Jan. 30, 2021: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/01/30/us-war-on-carbon-accomplishes-two-things/
  16. Blue Planet in Green Shackles, What is Endangered, Climate or Freedom”: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-nD
  17. Dick Storm presentation to the Coal Institute, July 2025, Myrtle Beach, SC. Published by Thomas J. Shepstone, Jr.: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/the-unpopular-but-hard-truths-of?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  18. Australia Grid, Real Time: https://explore.openelectricity.org.au/energy/nem/?range=3d&interval=5m&view=discrete-time&group=Detailed
  19. WUWT on Power in the West by David Wojick: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/08/12/electric-power-fantasies-collide-out-west/
  20. Dr. Samule Furfari on Energy Additions, Not a Transition, Fossil Fuels are the Bedrock of Progress, July 2025: https://co2coalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025-07-Energy-Addition-Not-Transition-Fossil-Fuels-Remain-the-Bedrock-of-Progress.pdf
  21. The Very Real Costs of the War on Coal, Real Clear Energy, July 2025: https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2025/07/31/the_very_real_human_impact_of_coal_closures_1125990.html
  22. The Coming Electricity Reliability Crisis and the Importance of Coal, Sept. 12, 2024:  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/09/12/the-electricity-reliability-crisis-and-the-importance-of-american-coal/
  23. The Kingdom of Heaven Runs on Righteousness, The Kingdom of Earth Runs on Energy, Oct. 3, 2024:  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/10/03/heaven-runs-on-righteousness-earth-runs-on-energy/
  24. Charley Reese’s Last Column, “545 vs. 300,000,000 : https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/11/27/charley-reeses-last-column-a-classic-commentary-written-over-twenty-years-ago/
  25. Why is Western Civilization Self Sabotaging the Primary Energy that Provides 80% of the fuel for America’s Life-Blood of Reliable Electricity, with the War on Carbon?.     : https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/12/17/why-is-western-civilization-self-sabotaging-the-primary-energy-sources-that-provide-80-of-the-fuel-for-americas-life-blood-of-reliable-electricity-with-the-war-on-carbon/
  26. Musings on the Self-Sabotaging Energy Policies and a Reminder of the History of the Rise and Fall of Nations:  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/01/13/musings-on-self-sabotaging-energy-policies-and-a-reminder-of-the-history-of-the-rise-and-fall-of-nations/
  27. The EPA “Endangerment Finding” and why it Needs to Go, Feb. 2, 2025: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-1ZW
  28. The SWAMP MONSTER vs. 300 Million Americans, Feb. 21, 2025: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/02/21/the-swamp-monster-vs-the-best-interests-of-the-united-states-of-america/
  29. Thomas J. Shepstone Substack on Dick Storm’s “Primer on How to Ensure Electricity Security (and How to Destroy It)”:  https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/a-primer-on-how-to-ensure-energy?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false 
  30. Thomas J. Shepstone version of Dick Storm article Feb, 2025. Time to Revoke the Endangerment Finding”  :  https://energysecurityfreedom.substack.com/p/its-way-past-time-to-revoke-the-pseudo
  31. Existing EPA-Endangerment Rules Impact South Carolina Electricity Costs and Will Cause Rationing if the EPA Endangerment Finding Isn’t Repealed  Feb. 28, 2025: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/02/28/existing-epa-rules-increase-costs-and-will-cause-rationing-of-electricity-in-south-carolina-if-endangerment-finding-is-not-repealed/
  32. Bjorn Lomberg on the High Cost of Solar and Wind, Climate Change Dispatch, Jan. 2, 2025: https://climatechangedispatch.com/wind-solar-hidden-truth-behind-rising-electric-bills/
  33. Frazer Institute, “Hot Air, Cold Truths, Bjorn Lomberg, March 2025: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/hot-air-and-cold-truths-bjorn-lomborg
  34. Delaware County Insider, Wind and Solar are Expensive, Bjorn Lomberg, May 24,  2024: https://delawarevalleyjournal.com/lomborg-the-true-cost-of-wind-and-solar-energy/
  35. Yahoo Finance and National Post, March 2025, Bjorn Lomberg, Wind and Solar are Expensive: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/bjorn-lomborg-solar-wind-power-100008520.html
  36. Alabama Attorney General is amongst 22 states in appeal to return to coal for power generation revival of the Grid: https://gulfcoastmedia.com/stories/alabama-attorney-general-calls-for-reviving-americas-energy-grid-with-coal,257548?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0XeLob6rYc5WaBBtSyuB7vHctTdzVhTJxJZ96bExtALJBFoqUPAJPKaY0_aem_8TNpNEKQSIdjNrJTJeBF8Q#//
  37. Life Powered article on the Unreliability of Wind & Solar in Texas, March 29, 2025: https://lifepowered.org/reliability-standards-to-reduce-the-cost-of-wind-and-solar-volatility-in-texas/
  38. Joanne Nova on Coal Plant Approvals of the world: https://joannenova.com.au/2025/06/not-dying-global-approvals-of-coal-plants-back-up-to-2015-high/
  39. Vijay Jayaraj on the importance of energy to Developing countries: https://californiaglobe.com/fr/the-lethal-fog-of-clean-air-hypocrisy/
  40. Lars Schernikau, “Unpopular Truths” Newsletter on the decline of German Industry due to failed energy policies: https://sh1.sendinblue.com/3gvdip76f0lpfe.html?t=1744529565190  
  41. PA Pundits on Offshore Wind and National Security, Feb. 22, 2026: https://papundits.wordpress.com/2026/02/22/new-book-explores-how-offshore-wind-undermines-national-security/#like-287902
  42. Future Coal 2025: https://www.futurecoal.org/energy-security-takes-centre-stage-as-global-coal-demand-hits-record-high-in-2025/
  43.  EIA on rising electric prices: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67106&utm_medium=email
  44. WUWT on the Decline of German Chemical Industries due to High Energy Prices, Feb. 4, 2025: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/02/04/germanys-chemical-reckoning-how-europe-is-dismantling-its-industrial-core/
  45. Thomas Shepstone and Robert Bradley, Feb. 4, 2026: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/tell-republican-rino-we-dont-need?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
  46. Rafe Champion Substack on Wind Droughts in Australia:
    https://rafechampion.substack.com/p/defusing-the-wind-drought-trap
  47. South Carolina Legislation to force Electric Utilities to a path of Net-Zero Carbon:
    https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess124_2021-2022/bills/3194.htm

    “As required by S.C. Code Ann. §58-37-40(A)(4)(c), Santee Cooper has evaluated a Net Zero CO2

#Energyreality, Coal Power, economic prosperity and energy, Fossil Fuels are Important, Keeping America Great

One Hundred Twenty Quadrillion BTUs and The Need for Coal to Provide at Least 20 Quads of America’s Primary Energy-Part 1

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Coal fuel should be included in the future electricity generation portfolio based on the laws of physics, available forms of primary energy, proven economics of electric power generation and the proven track record of coal power for providing reliable, dispatchable and affordable electricity generation. The CO2 Coalition’s Angela Wheeler interviewed me for the CO2 Coalitions Podcast, “Climate De-Brief” and here are my views of the absurd anti-American energy policies, many of which are still strangling President Trump’s path to restoring America’s Greatness. Energy is, in fact, The LifeBlood of Our Economy.

Part 1:
https://youtu.be/LYcJFIhxTe0?si=eyJwQcYy7Cruwkib
Part 2:
https://youtu.be/GrmXdpNGiUw?si=hi_Cr0EfeZICxPzI

Coal as an Important Source of Primary Energy

This article will attempt to show some of the reasons why based on the merits of coal why it should be increased as in the portfolio of reliable sources of primary energy.
Speaking of BTUs, I would like to start with describing the potential sources of the primary energy America needs and is using now to supply 100 quadrillion BTUs of primary energy.

Back to Basics: Let’s Look at the Available Sources of Primary Energy

From a primary energy viewpoint, America has used right at 100 quadrillion BTUs of energy each year since about the year 2000. 

This includes all forms of energy including oil, gas, coal, nuclear and renewables. As more AI Data Centers are built, more manufacturing is reshored, more EVs placed on the highways and greater electrification is transitioned across the economy, the demand for total primary energy is expected to increase. Coal is the most practical, achievable and available addition to provide 10-30 quadrillion BTUs more per annum of growing primary energy supply. Do you remember the phrase from a couple years ago, “Electrify Everything”? Let’s get back to the basics of Primary energy and then look at the incredibly huge contribution of conventional fuels. Also, the diminutive contribution of wind and solar.

Conventional forms of energy, that is those forms of energy we have depended on for the last hundred years, still provide well over 90% of the Primary energy that we need for our economy to thrive and to power our lives.

The Enormity of 100 Quadrillion BTUs

The statistics of energy use, fuel sources, electricity generation, plant efficiencies and much more are well understood by people who read this. However, outside of our energy professional’s network there are millions of Americans that have low energy IQ’s. Some of the low energy IQ individuals create national energy policy. As a result of indoctrination by renewable energy proponents many Americans believe that wind and solar can replace coal, gas and yes, even nuclear. 
 
The public in general, has a very weak understanding of the generation of electricity and how it is managed. Therefore, I thought I would describe in understandable terms; primary energy, electricity and the enormity of 100 Quadrillion BTUs. Perhaps this will reach people and politicians that are otherwise unaware of the magnitude of the primary energy supplied by conventional forms of energy which we absolutely need to power our lives.

Reliable, Dispatchable and affordable Electric power generation is the Life-Blood of any country’s economy. The source of most of the electric power generation for most of the industrialized world since the Industrial Revolution has been Thermal Power generation. Even in the western countries that have attempted to transition to carbon free sources of electric power generation, thermal power continues to dominate. For the year 2024 about 76% of the electric power production was from thermal power. The primary energy of over 90 quadrillion BTUs was provided by coal, gas, nuclear, oil and Biomass.  

One of the advantages of Thermal generation is just about all forms of Thermal power are dispatchable on demand. Gas turbines and Reciprocating gas engines obviously respond faster than a pulverized coal or nuclear unit, but most of the thermal power plants are in fact, dispatchable. 

The demand for electricity is growing. The quantity of growth in the future in debatable however, most experts agree, electricity demand is growing and U.S. growth may require as much as 100 GW of new generation by 2030 and 800 GW of new generation by 2040. Limited battery backup is available for intermittent renewables. Proven sources of dependable, affordable and dispatchable power are needed for grid reliability.

Gas fuel provides 43% of America’s electric power generation. Nuclear is now accepted by almost everyone. However, deploying 100 GW of new nuclear power generation by 2030 is unrealistic, given the record of permitting and construction times from recent new nuclear power plants such as Vogtle 3 and 4 which took about 10 years to build. In the U.S. nuclear power provided about 808 TWh of electricity out of about 4200 TWh total or about 19%. This is commendable, however, most of the U.S. nuclear plants were built decades ago and are an average age of about 42. 

Think about the need of 100 GW of new power generation by 2030. If the growth in supply was all nuclear, 100 GW would be equivalent to completing 45 new nuclear units the size of Vogtle units #3 & 4 in four years, if started today. 

Included in the heading “Conventional Energy” is Hydro. Why? Because it is important, it is dispatchable and it has been around for well over 100 years. Therefore, in my view, it qualifies as being conventional. When hydropower is included with thermal power, the total Primary Energy from conventional sources exceeds 90%. 

This is the primary energy that generates electricity, provides ground and air transportation, commercial & Residential heating, cooling, cooking and very importantly, industrial production. Electricity generation consumes between 33 to 40% of the world’s total primary energy. 

Electrify everything was the buzz phrase of a few years ago. Let’s look at the enormity of replacing the conventional fuels we all depend on now.

Thermal electric power generation dominates U.S. electricity generation. Gas fuel has taken the lead from coal since about 2010. The total Thermal power generation in the U.S. in 2024 was about 76% Thermal generation. 

The Enormity of BTUs Measured in Quadrillions

About 43% of America’s electricity was generated from pipeline supplied natural gas in 2025. It is hard to visualize 33 Quadrillion BTUs of methane, so I thought showing huge LNG tanker ships might be a way to describe the challenge of increasing America’s total Primary energy consumption from the current @ 100 Quads to the range of 120 Quads by 2050.

How About Coal?

In the year 2008 America consumed about 20 Quadrillion BTUs of coal generated electricity. Since then natural gas use has overtaken coal’s #1 position and coal in 2025 generated about 16% of America’s electricity and consumed about 10 Quadrillion BTUs. Coal has been demonized by many and is not perceived by the public to be the Treasure of American energy that I believe it is.  

However, from the standpoints of physics, economics, proven track record, dispatchability, energy storage and reliability….Coal is an important fuel for the next twenty or thirty years. Here are thirteen advantages of coal as a source of primary energy for electricity generation:

  • Coal Power is Proven Here and Now
  • Energy Density
  • Reliable
  • Affordable and has the best record of low cost electricity production over the long term
  • On-Site Fuel Storage for months
  • Dispatchable
  • Coal Plants are Robust and have a long life when properly maintained
  • The Manufacturing Supply-Chain is Established
  • America is the Saudi Arabia of Coal and has hundreds of year supply
  • Operations and Maintenance Training and Protocols are Established
  • Manufacturers, EPRI and Training companies all have an established library of Best O&M practices
  • Flyash/Bottom Ash Use as Concrete Additive for Strength and resistance to spalling, FGD sludge byproduct used for sheetrock and also a source of Rare Earth Minerals
  • Modern Coal Plants are clean and the emissions of major pollutants have been corrected with backend pollution control equipment. The six main pollutants have been reduced since 1970 in spite of increases in GDP, Population, auto miles driven and greater use of energy in all forms. The EPA chart below shows the progress achieved.

Conclusions

  • Wind and Solar are the Highest Cost Power and Cannot Meet Demand
  • More Dispatchable Bulk Power Plants Need to be Built
  • Coal, Gas and Nuclear Plants provide the lowest cost, most reliable Power
  • States and Countries on Path to Net-Zero Carbon are Paying a high price
  • Natural Gas Prices will likely rise in the future
  • Electricity prices will rise with fuel cost as well as from inflation of components and construction costs. 
  • Production prices of electricity will follow fuel cost
  • A Balanced Generation portfolio is Beneficial as a Hedge Against Fuel Cost Volatility
  • America should learn from the experiences of Germany, CA, Hawaii, CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ and other states with high electricity costs
  • States and countries that have shut down coal plants have experienced increased electricity production costs. This is not a forecast, this is fact
  • Building new clean coal plants are needed to continue America’s excellent record of providing reliable electricity at affordable costs.
  • Coal is the default fuel to increase America’s Primary energy supply beyond 120 Quadrillion BTUs in the next decade

Part ll will cover electric power generation in the rest of the world and some of the advances of clean coal power generation.

Thank you for reading this and very truly yours,

Dick Storm, January 28, 2025

References and Info for further reading:

  1. EIA on Coal Power Generation updated January 2026: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67084&utm_medium=email
  2. FIVE REASONS TO BUILD NEW COAL PLANTS NOW! COAL SHOULD BE INCLUDED AS A CRITICAL FUEL TO POWER AMERICA’S FUTURE, SEPT. 24, 2025:  HTTPS://DICKSTORMPROBIZBLOG.ORG/2025/09/24/FIVE-REASONS-TO-BUILD-NEW-COAL-PLANTS-NOW-COAL-SHOULD-BE-INCLUDED-AS-A-CRITICAL-FUEL-TO-POWER-AMERICAS-FUTURE/
  3. Ten Hard Truths of Electricity Generation in South Carolina, the Life-Blood of the Economy, Oct. 8, 2025: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/10/08/ten-hard-truths-of-s-c-electricity-the-lifeblood-of-the-economy/
  4. Reality of Building 32,000 MW of New Generation Capacity/Year. Solutions; Build New Coal Plants Now!,  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/10/22/reality-of-32000-mw-year-of-new-generation-demand-solution-build-new-coal-plants-now/
  5. EIA Most of new generation capacity in 2025 from Solar, Aug. 20, 2025: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=65964&utm_medium=email
  6. WSJ on Wind and Solar subsidies, Aug. 21, 2025: https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/why-solar-and-wind-power-can-thrive-without-subsidies-cee47663
  7. Why are California Electricity Prices So High?, Sub Stack: https://open.substack.com/pub/mestes/p/why-are-californias-electricity-prices?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  8. Excellent article by Tilak Doshi, Renewables are Not Cheap, Dec. 2025, WUWT, https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/12/06/time-to-stop-pretending-renewables-are-cheap/
  9. Energy Bad Boys article on Electricity, Highest Rates in Red and Blue States, Dec. 13, 2025:  https://open.substack.com/pub/energybadboys/p/blue-states-high-rates?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web  
  10. Energy Bad Boys Great Chart of Electricity Prices by States, Dec. 27, 2025: https://open.substack.com/pub/energybadboys/p/visualizing-2026?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
  11. Failures of the renewables transition era are insults to taxpayers.
    The worlds’ population depends on insulation, wires, computers, and fertilizers that “renewables” cannot provide.
    Published September 1, 2025, in America Out Loud NEWS
    https://www.americaoutloud.news/failures-of-the-renewables-transition-era-are-insults-to-taxpayers/
  12. Inside Climate News on Maryland Matters of Why Electric Costs are Escalating: https://marylandmatters.org/2025/09/01/why-prices-are-soaring-in-the-countrys-largest-grid-region-explained-in-5-charts/
  13. GRIDWATCH Australia
    AT 6.30 PM eastern time THE  WIND WAS CONTRIBUTING 13%  OF DEMAND IN THE EAST 
    AND  2.5% IN THE WEST OH DEAR!!  
     https://www.nem-watch.info/widgets/RenewEconomy/
  14. WHAT ABOUT TEXAS? 
    https://www.gridstatus.io/live/ercot
  15. BRITAIN
    https://grid.iamkate.com/    
  16.  PJM https://www.pjm.com
  17. MISO https://www.misoenergy.org
  18. Ed Ireland on TX wind and solar: https://substack.com/@edireland
  19. Interview with Dave Walsh on Bannon War Room, Rumble, Sept 5, 2025: https://rumble.com/v6yif84-walsh-91-of-new-capacity-power-being-built-this-year-is-solar-and-a-little-.html?e9s=src_v1_ucp_a
  20. Tom Shepstone Sub-Stack on Massachusetts high electric rates: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/political-reality-descends-upon-massachusetts?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  21. Tom Shepstone on POSIGEN Failure in PA, Sept. 8, 2025: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/posigen-provides-yet-another-example?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  22. Tom Shepstone on Wind and Solar after OBBB, Sept. 9, 2025: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/are-the-days-of-solar-stupidity-coming?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  23. Energy Bad Boys on Electricity Rates Rising due to Renewables, yet, Trump is blamed: https://open.substack.com/pub/energybadboys/p/the-number-one-reason-trumps-policies?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  24. HeatMap Newsletter: https://heatmap.news/politics/electricity-price-politics#
  25. POWER, Sept. 2025 on cost of solar and wind: https://www.powermag.com/solar-and-winds-hidden-price-tag-why-cost-isnt-the-whole-story/
  26. Fraser Institute on solar and wind cost: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/commentary/solar-and-wind-power-make-electricity-more-expensive-thats-a-fact
  27. Daily Caller, Sept. 2025: https://ijr.com/frank-lasee-how-wind-and-solar-are-quietly-inflating-electricity-bills/
  28. Forbes, Yes, Wind and Solar do Increase Electricity Prices: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2018/04/25/yes-solar-and-wind-really-do-increase-electricity-prices-and-for-inherently-physical-reasons/
  29. America’s Coal: https://americascoal.substack.com/p/estimating-the-real-cost-of-electricity
  30. IER on cost of solar and wind: https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/the-grid/rising-bills-bad-blame-whats-really-driving-electricity-prices/
  31. Energy Policy Research Chart of world electricity prices 2024. Excellent: https://eprinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/COW2024-34-USAndEuropeanHouseholdElectricityPrices.pdf
  32. EPI Charts: https://eprinc.org/chart-of-the-week/?gf_protect_submission=1
  33. Inside Climate, Great State by State chart: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/which-states-getting-hit-hardest-electricity-price-qybsc/
  34. EIA FERC Electricity and Energy Data, Sept. 2025:  https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/current_month/september2025.pdf
  35. Inside Climate News: https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/inside-clean-energy/
  36. Excellent Paper on the Cost of Wind and Solar across the World, Oct. 5, 2025:  https://www.cis.org.au/publication/the-renewable-energy-honeymoon-starting-is-easy-the-rest-is-hard/
  37. Clintel report in WUWT, Jan. 3, 2026: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/03/think-tank-iref-against-all-rationality-the-eu-persists-in-its-net-zero-delusion/
  38. WUWT on the UK Wind Subsidies hit record high CFd’s Jan. 20, 2026:  https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/20/cfd-subsidies-hit-record-high-in-2025/
  39. Australia’s Path to Net Zero :  
    https://open.substack.com/pub/chrisuhlmann/p/the-state-vs-the-people?r=1bynvt&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
  40. Bjorn Lomberg: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bjornlomborg_nytimes-and-many-other-suggest-that-the-more-activity-7350118091680313344-CTSF?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAI4KQUBYW-cbQRlA1kgj9X3llGi7u6KNnQ
  41. Bjorn Lomberg on high cost of solar and wind: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bjornlomborg_the-expensive-green-delusion-despite-green-activity-7331637580842594304-yJtG?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAI4KQUBYW-cbQRlA1kgj9X3llGi7u6KNnQ
  42. Substack article by Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling on Solar with Battery Backup, July 5th, 2025:https://energybadboys.substack.com/p/the-baseload-solar-beatdown
  43. Substack by Orr and Rolling in 2024 on the Myth of Cheap Solar: https://energybadboys.substack.com/p/how-to-destroy-the-myth-of-cheap  
  44. EIA List of Electricity Rates by State: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_a
  45. https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/03/20/hawaii-a-glimpse-into-the-future-of-the-green-new-deal-aka-inflation-reduction-act-here-is-an-update/
  46. Thomas J. Shepstone on Why Do Wind and Solar Need Subsidies if they are so Cheap?: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/why-are-solar-and-wind-still-government?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  47. Electricity Rates of World: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/cost-of-electricity-by-country
  48. IEA Global Energy Review, Electricity 2025:  https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2025/electricity
  49. Global Petroleum, Electricity Prices of World: https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/electricity_prices/
  50. Electricity Rates by U.S. State: https://electricityrates.com/electricity-rates-by-state/
  51. POWER article on China High Efficiency Coal Plants: https://www.powermag.com/chinas-pingshan-phase-ii-sets-new-bar-as-worlds-most-efficient-coal-power-plant/
  52. Advancements in Steam Turbine design, POWER Magazine:  https://www.powermag.com/advancements-in-steam-turbine-efficiency-for-modern-power-generation-reducing-costs-and-emissions/
  53. Area of states for reference of solar or wind land requirements: https://the50unitedstates.com/state-sizes
  54. EIA Electricity consumption in 2022 :  https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/use-of-electricity.php
  55. ICF Electricity Load Growth Forecast to 2030 and 2050: https://www.icf.com/insights/energy/electricity-demand-expected-to-grow
  56. IEEE Spectrum on the April 2025 Blackout in Spain: https://spectrum.ieee.org/spain-grid-failure
  57. EIA Gas Prices Jan. 2026:  https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67046&utm_medium=email
  58. Here is an absolutely nutty proposal, replace a reliable 2700 MW coal plant, (the Sherco Coal Plant) with solar panels. This is Minnesota where it gets very cold and also is known for heavy snowfall in the winter…, CNN report: https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/16/climate/coal-to-solar-minnesota
  59. Energy Bad Boys on Electricity Rates Rising due to Renewables, yet, Trump is blamed: https://open.substack.com/pub/energybadboys/p/the-number-one-reason-trumps-policies?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  60. HeatMap Newsletter: https://heatmap.news/politics/electricity-price-politics#
  61. POWER, Sept. 2025 on cost of solar and wind: https://www.powermag.com/solar-and-winds-hidden-price-tag-why-cost-isnt-the-whole-story/
  62. Fraser Institute on solar and wind cost: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/commentary/solar-and-wind-power-make-electricity-more-expensive-thats-a-fact
  63. Daily Caller, Sept. 2025: https://ijr.com/frank-lasee-how-wind-and-solar-are-quietly-inflating-electricity-bills/
  64. Forbes, Yes, Wind and Solar do Increase Electricity Prices: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2018/04/25/yes-solar-and-wind-really-do-increase-electricity-prices-and-for-inherently-physical-reasons/
  65. America’s Coal: https://americascoal.substack.com/p/estimating-the-real-cost-of-electricity
  66. IER on cost of solar and wind: https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/the-grid/rising-bills-bad-blame-whats-really-driving-electricity-prices/
  67. Energy Policy Research Chart of world electricity prices 2024. Excellent: https://eprinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/COW2024-34-USAndEuropeanHouseholdElectricityPrices.pdf
  68. EPI Charts: https://eprinc.org/chart-of-the-week/?gf_protect_submission=1
  69. Inside Climate, Great State by State chart: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/which-states-getting-hit-hardest-electricity-price-qybsc/
  70. EIA FERC Electricity and Energy Data, Sept. 2025:  https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/current_month/september2025.pdf
  71. Inside Climate News: https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/inside-clean-energy/
  72. Excellent Paper on the Cost of Wind and Solar across the World, Oct. 5, 2025:  https://www.cis.org.au/publication/the-renewable-energy-honeymoon-starting-is-easy-the-rest-is-hard/
  73. Clintel report in WUWT, Jan. 3, 2026: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/03/think-tank-iref-against-all-rationality-the-eu-persists-in-its-net-zero-delusion/
  74. WUWT on the UK Wind Subsidies hit record high CFd’s Jan. 20, 2026:  https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/20/cfd-subsidies-hit-record-high-in-2025/
  75. Australia’s Path to Net Zero :  https://open.substack.com/pub/chrisuhlmann/p/the-state-vs-the-people?r=1bynvt&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay

#Energyreality, Coal Power, economic prosperity and energy, Western Civilization

Reality of 32,000 MW/Year of New Generation Demand. Solution: Build New Coal Plants Now!

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Bulk Power Supply & Primary Energy:

The term BULK POWER means just that, Bulk Power in hundreds and thousands of Megawatts. America needs huge Bulk Power generation additions of about 30,000 MW per year, not small scale R&D projects of variable generation or unproven new SMRs. Perhaps some time in the future renewables and new nuclear will be viable and competitive. However for now, we need 100-800 GW of new electricity generation to replace the more than 200 GW of reliable coal plants that were either shut down or planned for shut down soon. Satisfying the growing electricity demand of the future requires lots (Lots= 30,000 MW each year) of new generation capable of 24/7 generation.

When I joined CP&L in 1973 I entered a door emblazoned with a sign: Bulk Power Supply. Then I thought the name odd and frankly, I have not seen it since. However behind that door were the men and women that managed the generation assets of CP&L which at the time was only about 5,000 MW. The Bulk Power Supply came from seven fossil plants. Those plants were; Cape Fear, Weatherspooon, H.F. Lee, Sutton, Roxboro, Asheville and Robinson, including (1973) one lone nuclear (H.B. Robinson #2) and some small hydroelectric plants in the western corner of N.C. Bulk Power Supply was measured in Megawatts. Many of those coal units (CP&L has been absorbed into Duke Energy of the Carolinas) have been shut down. Most of them have been demolished as shown on the video of the Sutton plant implosion.

These coal plants should have been replaced with new coal generation plants of higher efficiency and even better flue gas cleaning. America is paying a price which will rise further, for the loss of this vital generation capacity without replacing it in kind.

The Bulk Power Supply of America needs to grow by about 800 GW by 2050. Increasing the Bulk Power Supply is a huge challenge which has been vastly underestimated. Do the math. Building new 800,000 MW of capacity in 25 years is 32,000 MW per year of new dispatchable, reliable and affordable new capacity.

Unfortunately, I think many Utilities and government officials have under-estimated the enormity of building 800 GW of new power generation. I tried to lay out my perspective in a presentation to the Coal Institute in July. 800 GW of new generation capacity is equivalent to building over 325 coal plants the size of Duke Energy’s Roxboro Coal Plant (2462 MW) or building 360 new nuclear units such as Southern Company’s Vogtle Units # 3 & 4. (2200 MW)

How About the Primary Energy to Generate 800 GW of New Electricity Generation?

As mentioned above, many experienced authors of energy and electricity generation do not dwell on the importance of primary energy, so I will. Primary energy is not magic and it is not free as the proponents for wind and solar suggest.

The results are now in for “the Global Science Project” of experimentation with wind and solar aka “The Green New Deal”. One simply has to observe the actual electricity prices in Germany, Hawaii, Spain, California, the UK and Scandinavia to know that wind and solar cost more, are not reliable and of course they are not dispatchable.

Primary Energy

Electricity is secondary energy, it must be produced from Primary energy. In the vernacular of physics one Kilowatt hour of electricity is equivalent to 3,412.6 BTUs of thermal energy. Thermal energy has proven to be the most reliable, dispatchable and affordable. The reporting of Total Energy use by countries and the world is usually done in BTUs for U.S. customary units or in Exajoules in International units. The total world, according to the IEA has used right at 600 Exajoules (rounded from 592) and is shown below in a graphic from the Visual Capitalist. The conversion of EJ to Quadrillion BTU is EJ x 0.9478=QBTU. Example 592 EJ x 0.9478= 562 Quadrillion BTU.

The U.S. uses almost one fifth of the world’s primary energy. A reminder that economic prosperity is driven by energy. America is still the world’s #1 economy and therefore it should not be a surprise that we use almost a fifth of the world’s total primary energy consumption. This is Primary energy used not only for electricity generation but also for transportation, Industrial production, heating, cooking and commercial uses. Remember the phrase “Electrify Everything?”

The First Prerequisite to a thriving economy is that there must be available, reliable and affordable Primary energy to generate that electricity.

America Uses about 100 Quadrillion BTUs Annually of Primary Energy

The LLNL Sankey Diagram shown below details the Primary Energy flows from sources to consumption. The U.S. has used right at 100 Quadrillion BTUs for the last 20 years. A little more than a third of total primary energy is used for electricity generation. (37.7%)

The chart above is from 2022. The one below from 2009. I used this chart in a presentation to the ASME in 2011 to attempt to impress the members with the importance of coal. At the time, America was using coal for about 45% of our electricity generation and the primary energy used to generate that power was about 20 Quadrillion BTUs of coal fuel. As can be seen from the two charts, natural gas increased about 10 Quads and coal decreased a similar amount. Basically, substituting natural gas for coal power production.

Self Sabotaging of the U.S. Bulk Power Supply

Since President Obama’s two term escalated war on coal over 50% of America’s reliable, affordable, Dispatchable and energy secure power generation has been shut down. I have called this self-sabotage. Mostly as a result of Federal Regulations, especially the politically inspired (not based on human health or science) EPA Endangerment Finding. But also due to NGOs and other voices working very effectively to demonize coal power. America had the most reliable, least expensive electricity supply in 2010 and the forces against coal power have steadily weakened our energy security, reliability and affordability. Electricity prices are climbing and will continue to do so as more unreliable, variable generation is forced onto the Grid, and backed up by natural gas fuel. Low prices of natural gas are not guaranteed into the future and fuel is the major cost component for thermal power generation. If the fuel cost doubles, so does the production cost of electricity.

The chart below from the IEEFA shows the path of coal free power generation. Some states and countries are ahead of my state of S.C. and the electricity costs in those states that have shut down their coal plants has escalated sharply. Germany has suffered from significant De-Industrialization as a result of forcing wind and solar on the nation. If America continues the path set by Net-Zero Carbon advocates, we all will join Hawaii, California, Spain, Germany, the UK, Massachusetts and Connecticut with higher cost power and possible de-industrialization.

Thanks to President Trump and Chris Wright, America’s energy regulatory policy is somewhat corrected. However, some states, even S.C. still have laws on the books to exit coal. I feel this is energy suicide. Coal is a national treasure that should be utilized. In fact, in my opinion, it is the best and only viable choice of primary energy to provide the needed electricity generation between now and 2050. A coal plant should be able to be built in four years. We have done it before and can do it again!

The Future 2025-2050

Electricity generation capacity will need to increase dramatically over the next 25 years. The projected growth has been well documented by many others including Stephen Heins, Thomas J. Shepstone, Jr., the ICF, NEMA and others. What is needed is an enormous amount of new, Dispatchable, reliable and affordable Bulk Power. About 800,000 MW of new Bulk Power. he workforce challenge is a topic to cover on another day.In my analysis, nuclear will play an important part. So will natural gas. However, there are three limits to just how much nuclear and natural gas can supply. These three constraints are Supply-Chain, pipelines and achieving a Balanced generation portfolio. The nuclear supply chain limits have been discussed before and although proven and an excellent clean choice, nuclear seems decades away before the needed capacity can be built. For example, it took America over 30 years (1957-1987) to design and build the existing nuclear fleet of about 97,000 MW of capacity. We now need eight times the nuclear fleet that was built over 30 years. Keep in mind, the legacy nuclear units built 1957-1987 were constructed when the Supply-Chain was well established, there were thousands of trained and experienced engineers at B&W, Combustion-Engineering and Westinghouse and craftsmen were much more abundant in the workforce. Many experienced engineers and craftsmen are now retired. Rebuilding the workforce is a topic for another day.

“Just in Time” Primary Energy

Today about 45% of the U.S. electricity generation at peak times is provided by natural gas through “just in time” pipelines. Not only is the Supply-Chain of new gas turbine plants limited but so are the pipelines and fuel supply. In my analysis, we already have too much dependence on pipeline provided natural gas. Remember the Colonial Pipeline Hack of 2021? Coal plants have the inherent advantage of being capable of storing several months of fuel on site.

The best choice for a Balanced Portfolio then, in my analysis is to build new coal plants. In Dick Storm’s Perfect World of Power Generation, I would like to see a Balanced generation portfolio of 30% coal, nuclear, gas, with 10% renewables. Illustration from the Coal Institute presentation.

Conclusion

The policy planners and utilities have gravely underestimated the growth of electricity Demand and now are catching up by using the “Easy Button” of purchasing gas turbines for backup power for wind and solar. Most of the capital being invested in new generation in this calendar year is for solar, wind and BESS (Battery Electricity Storage). This is a mistake that will cost Americans dearly.

President Trump, Chris Wright and Lee Zeldin have done the best they can to correct decades of poor flawed planning by the EPA and Congress with the Inflation Recovery Act version of the New Green Deal. However, many states and large Utilities still remain on a foolish path toward Net-Zero Carbon. For example, Here are five articles on U.S. and South Carolina Energy Policies:

  1. SWAMP People and Organizations Against Making America Great, Foreign and Domestic https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/08/07/swamp-people-and-organizations-against-making-america-great-foreign-domestic/
  2. Swamp Opposition to President Trump’s America First Agenda, Published by Thomas J. Shepstone on Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/fighting-the-swamp-and-our-enemies?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  3. Some Red States Still Embrace the Green New deal, Including the Usually Conservative State of S.C. Sept. 8, 2025:    https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/09/08/some-red-states-still-embrace-the-green-new-deal-including-usually-conservative-south-carolina/
  4. FIVE REASONS TO BUILD NEW COAL PLANTS NOW! COAL SHOULD BE INCLUDED AS A CRITICAL FUEL TO POWER AMERICA’S FUTURE, SEPT. 24, 2025:  HTTPS://DICKSTORMPROBIZBLOG.ORG/2025/09/24/FIVE-REASONS-TO-BUILD-NEW-COAL-PLANTS-NOW-COAL-SHOULD-BE-INCLUDED-AS-A-CRITICAL-FUEL-TO-POWER-AMERICAS-FUTURE/
  5. Ten Hard Truths of Electricity Generation in South Carolina, the Life-Blood of the Economy, Oct. 8, 2025: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/10/08/ten-hard-truths-of-s-c-electricity-the-lifeblood-of-the-economy/

America needs to begin building new Dispatchable, affordable and proven reliable Bulk Power Generation as soon as possible. As I see it, the best source of the needed primary energy to satisfy the demand is America’s own treasure of coal reserves. Think about the needed capacity in terms of 32,000 MW per year for 25 years. That my friends is a heavy lift. As a country we must unite behind President Trump to get this done…Wake up Americans!

Yours very truly,

Dick Storm, October 22, 2025

References and Further Reading:

  1. The Coal Institute Presentation by Dick Storm, July 2025: http://thecoalinstitute.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Dick%20Storm%20Presentation%20July%202025.pdf
  2. Institute for Energy, Economic and Financial Analysis. on Coal Plant retirements since 2011: https://ieefa.org/resources/us-track-close-half-coal-capacity-2026
  3. Duke Energy Carolinas, Demolition video of Sutton Unit #3, Nov. 2016: https://youtu.be/miSapiaJTpM
  4. The Coal Institute, Dick Storm presentation, July 2025: http://www.thecoalinstitute.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Dick%20Storm%20Presentation%20July%202025.pdf
  5. Dr. John Constable on the Importance of Energy, You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scYlWiunJo4
  6. The Ancestry of Energy by Pandreco: https://open.substack.com/pub/pandreco/p/the-ancestry-of-energy?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false  
  7. WSJ-Rahm Emanuel Opinion, Sept 17, 2025: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/rising-electricity-price-thank-trump-2270cf1f?mod=Searchresults&pos=1&page=1
  8. WSJ counter point to Rahm Emanuel OpEd, Sept. 21, 2025: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/big-electric-bill-thank-the-energy-subsidies-emanuel-trump-50d1dcd8?mod=opinion_more_article_pos32
  9. Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling on wind, solar and gas cause electricity prices to rise: https://open.substack.com/pub/energybadboys/p/rising-natural-gas-costs-make-wind?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  10. Devil’s Algorithm and Climate Matrix: https://open.substack.com/pub/tilakdoshi/p/the-devils-algorithm-unplugging-from?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  11. Energy Charts on Germany: https://www.energy-charts.info/charts/energy_pie/chart.htm?l=en&c=DE
  12. Ember Charts and Energy Info on worldwide energy use: https://ember-energy.org/data/electricity-data-explorer/?data=generation https://ember-energy.org/data/electricity-data-explorer/?data=generation&entity=United+States
  13. Tom Shepstone Sub-Stack on Massachusetts high electric rates: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/political-reality-descends-upon-massachusetts?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  14. Tom Shepstone on POSIGEN Failure in PA, Sept. 8, 2025: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/posigen-provides-yet-another-example?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  15. Tom Shepstone on Wind and Solar after OBBB, Sept. 9, 2025: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/are-the-days-of-solar-stupidity-coming?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  16. Energy Bad Boys on Electricity Rates Rising due to Renewables, yet, Trump is blamed: https://open.substack.com/pub/energybadboys/p/the-number-one-reason-trumps-policies?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  17. HeatMap Newsletter: https://heatmap.news/politics/electricity-price-politics#
  18. POWER, Sept. 2025 on cost of solar and wind: https://www.powermag.com/solar-and-winds-hidden-price-tag-why-cost-isnt-the-whole-story/
  19. Fraser Institute on solar and wind cost: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/commentary/solar-and-wind-power-make-electricity-more-expensive-thats-a-fact
  20. Daily Caller, Sept. 2025: https://ijr.com/frank-lasee-how-wind-and-solar-are-quietly-inflating-electricity-bills/
  21. Forbes, Yes, Wind and Solar do Increase Electricity Prices: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2018/04/25/yes-solar-and-wind-really-do-increase-electricity-prices-and-for-inherently-physical-reasons/
  22. America’s Coal: https://americascoal.substack.com/p/estimating-the-real-cost-of-electricity
  23. IER on cost of solar and wind: https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/the-grid/rising-bills-bad-blame-whats-really-driving-electricity-prices/
  24. Energy Policy Research Chart of world electricity prices 2024. Excellent: https://eprinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/COW2024-34-USAndEuropeanHouseholdElectricityPrices.pdf
  25. EPI Charts: https://eprinc.org/chart-of-the-week/?gf_protect_submission=1
  26. Inside Climate, Great State by State chart: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/which-states-getting-hit-hardest-electricity-price-qybsc/
  27. EIA FERC Electricity and Energy Data, Sept. 2025:  https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/current_month/september2025.pdf
  28. Inside Climate News: https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/inside-clean-energy/
  29. Excellent Paper on the Cost of Wind and Solar across the World, Oct. 5, 2025:  https://www.cis.org.au/publication/the-renewable-energy-honeymoon-starting-is-easy-the-rest-is-hard/
  30. Threats to the Electric Grid, Update, May 25, 2025: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/03/15/threats-to-the-grid-electricity-reliability/
  31. Colonial Pipeline Hack, 2021: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news/attack-colonial-pipeline-what-weve-learned-what-weve-done-over-past-two-years
  32. Mitch Rolling on Wind and Solar, Oct. 18, 2025: https://energybadboys.substack.com/p/more-is-less-with-wind-and-solar
  33. Watts Up With That, Oct 2$, 2025, What Green Transition? Coal Use Continues to Rise: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/10/24/green-transition-coal-use-hits-record-high/
  34. American Public Power on Electricity Growth to 2050: https://www.publicpower.org/periodical/article/study-sees-dramatic-rise-us-power-demand-2050
#Energyreality, Coal Power, economic prosperity and energy, Energy, Electricity, Economic Prosperity and Environmental Protection, Fossil Fuels are Important, Politics & Management

Ten Hard Truths of S.C. Electricity-The Lifeblood of the Economy

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There are a number of states that are on a path to higher electricity bills and less reliability, including S.C. Why? Because the S.C. Governor and the Legislature are still stuck on Net Zero Carbon. I thought it might be informative to list 10 unpopular truths:

Hard Truths that Apply to S.C. as Well as All Other U.S. States

  •  New nuclear plants will take decades to be built to replace existing coal and gas units
  • Electricity generation for Dispatchable Electricity Generation capacity takes years to build
  • Most of our electricity today comes from power plants that are more than 30 years old. S.C. examples: The Wateree coal plant began operation in 1970, Duke Energy’s Oconee nuclear plant, the largest in South Carolina, first unit started up in 1973, and the first Santee-Cooper Cross Unit began operation in 1984 and Winyah 1975.
  • The major production cost component of electricity generation for Thermal Power Plants is fuel
  • The proven lowest production cost of electricity is from coal, nuclear and gas
  • Coal prices have remained stable for decades
  • Gas prices are volatile and can fluctuate with market changes. Low gas prices into the future are not guaranteed
  • Wind, Solar, and Battery storage are higher-cost producers of Bulk Power. Forget the “Free Fuel Myth of Wind and Solar”. All states and countries that have taken the S.C. Net-Zero Carbon path now have high-cost electricity
  • South Carolina is on a similar primary energy path as Germany was fifteen years ago
  • It takes decades for the impact of energy policies to be felt by consumers and industry

Here is a presentation to the Beaufort Federation of Republican Men, which summarizes the S.C. path to higher cost electricity.

Bulk Power Supply and Demand Projections to 2052

The Supply/Demand Chart of Santee-Cooper is shown below. Note the plan to reduce coal power generation and replace it with gas, purchased power and variable renewables.

A Better Path: Build New Coal Plants

The low country of South Carolina has been well served by Santee-Cooper since 1934. Also known as South Carolina Public Service Authority. SCPSA is state owned and controlled.

Like TVA, Santee-Cooper began with hydroelectric generation and as with TVA, the electricity demand rapidly increased to loads far in excess of the available hydroelectric capacity. Thus coal plants were built and for most of the last 80 years most of the electricity generation has been from coal fuel. This continues to be the case. The screenshot below is the electricity generation the week of December 2, 2024. The primary energy provided for the power production was 77% coal fuel at this time and it will be needed again this coming winter.

To this day most of the Santee-Cooper installed power generation capacity is coal power plants. Here is a list of their generating assets. Over 60% are dispatchable and proven to be affordable coal power. Electricity costs in our region has been amongst the lowest in the U.S. for decades. Thanks to coal fuel. As the transition to more renewables and more backup natural gas is made, the cost of Bulk Power generation will increase as it has in Germany, the UK, Hawaii, CT, MA, NJ and other states that are ahead of S.C. in transitioning from coal to more renewable energy. The so called “Energy Transition” is the root cause of increasing electric rates. Hawaii as a poster child example of a transition to expensive “Green New Deal” renewables.

What About Industry?

About a third of S.C. electricity is used by industry. This is important for U.S. security, competitiveness and for the jobs industry provides. For the low country of S.C. there are at least two very energy intensive industries; Century Aluminum and Nucor Steel. Both of these industries use hundreds of Megawatts for steel and aluminum production. The main reason the plants were built in S.C. was because of reasonable cost electricity provided by Santee-Cooper. The Century Aluminum plant at full capacity will use over 400 MW and each Nucor plant about 175 MW. These two companies alone represent 24/7 Demand that is about a quarter of the huge Cross Generating Station’s capacity.

Can We Learn From the Experiences of Germany, the UK, California, Hawaii, Connecticut and New Jersey?

Each of these states & countries have been working toward a transition away from coal and toward renewables. In each case the electric rates have escalated to the point that they have caused industries to shut down and harmed the industrial capacity of the countries or states. Electricity is the LifeBlood of an economy. Ask a knowledgeable German citizen about the results of their energy transition.

The high German electricity rates have caused many very well run and established companies to shut down and/or relocate manufacturing into other countries. Three examples are BASF, Krupp Steel and VW

The Optimum Future Electricity Generation Capacity

A Balanced generation portfolio is optimum as a hedge against fuel cost escalation, security of generation and reliability of generation. In my experience and based on the well documented experiences of other states and countries, a balanced generation portfolio of no more than 20% renewables with the balance of generation from dispatchable sources such as nuclear, gas and coal, is best. Plenty of references are listed below (also the chart above) which show the results of over-reliance on windmills solar and battery backup or BESS (Battery Electricity Storage and Supply).

Conclusions

The main point I wish to make here is that Bulk Power, that is huge amounts of electricity generation from large power plants take years, even decades to replace or to use the word more common today, Transition. Most of the vital 24/7 electricity supply to S.C. is provided by aging power plants. Examples, Oconee about 53 years, Wateree about 55, Winyah 50 and Cross about 40 years old.

As reliable, affordable and dispatchable coal plants are shut down the electric production cost will increase and along with the rising production cost, eventually increased rates.

Building new coal plants as once was planned at the Pee Dee plant site, was and still is a good idea. So is building more nuclear plants but that takes time.

My suggestion for the S.C. Legislature is to remove the Net-Zero Carbon laws that are on the books and to provide ample funds for maintenance of the existing coal plants serving S.C. so well.

Respectfully yours,

Dick Storm, October 8, 2025

References and info for further Research

  1. Santee-Cooper Celebrates 90 Years: https://www.postandcourier.com/kingstree/business/santee-cooper-celebrates-90-years/article_07d4c756-f1e2-11ee-a2fd-5b7595de1823.html
  2. Palmetto Promise, 2019 article on Century Aluminum and Electricity Provided by Santee-Cooper: https://palmettopromise.org/tale-of-the-century/
  3. Century Aluminum to Return to 100% Capacity with new PPA, Oct. 7, 2025: https://www.alcircle.com/news/century-aluminums-mt-holly-smelter-set-to-return-to-full-capacity-by-2026-115747
  4. Dick Storm presentation, October 2025 to Beaufort Federation of Republican Men: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7379119520445071360?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAI4KQUBYW-cbQRlA1kgj9X3llGi7u6KNnQ
  5. America uses about 100 Quadrillion BTUs annually: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/05/16/back-to-basics-the-u-s-needs-100-quadrillion-btus-year-of-primary-energy/  
  6. Each citizen uses approx., 300 million BTUs annually https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/07/04/american-dream-100-quadrillion-btus/
    https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/08/22/energy-life-that-is-life-as-we-enjoy-it/
  7. EIA https://www.eia.gov/state/print.php?sid=SC
  8. Electric generation capacity of Dominion and Santee-Cooper about 12,000 MW of Bulk Power Capacity: https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/hjyEG/5/  Duke Energy about 6600MW
  9. Over 50% of S.C. total electricity generation is by nuclear power. 6 of the 7 nuclear units in S.C. are owned by Duke Energy
    Beaufort and Jasper counties are served by Palmetto Electric for transmission and Distribution of electricity https://www.palmetto.coop/sites/default/files/documents/Integrated-Resource-Plan.pdf
  10. Santee-Cooper 2025 updated IRP (Integrated Resource Plan that outlines Bulk Power sources for the future): https://www.santeecooper.com/About/Integrated-Resource-Plan/presentations/Santee-Cooper-2025-IRP-Update.pdf
  11. Dominion South Carolina updated 2025 IRP: https://www.dominionenergy.com/-/media/content/about/our-company/irp/pdfs/desc-integrated-resource-plan-2025.pdf
    https://south-carolina-energy-office-1-1-scors-eo.hub.arcgis.com/pages/electricity-data
  12. The S.C. Legislature has laws on the books to exit coal power and depend on gas, nuclear, solar, wind and Battery backup systems (BESS). All of which are higher cost generation than coal. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess126_2025-2026/bills/3309.htm
  13. The decision to cancel the Pee Dee Coal Plant in 2009  and the failure of SCE&G to complete Units 2 & 3 at the Summer Nuclear Plant will result in increased electricity costs for all of Palmetto Electric customers: https://www.powermag.com/south-carolinas-santee-cooper-shelves-2-billion-coal-plant-project/
  14. Wind, solar and BESS systems need to be backed up by Dispatchable generation. Usually that backup (and planned for S.C) is natural gas fueled generating plants. Therefore, one reason electricity costs are higher with solar and wind is because two to four times the generation capacity is needed over a coal or nuclear plant. Solar and wind are intermittent generators dependent on nature. Solar averages about 6 hours per day of generation.
  15. How Can a 6,000 MW Utility that will be a 9,000MW Utility in 2050, become Net-Zero Carbon? April 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/04/27/how-can-a-6000-mw-regional-utility-in-2030-which-likely-will-be-a-9000-mw-utility-in-2050-achieve-net-zero-carbon/
  16. Providing a Sustainable Million BTUs per Day/Person, May 17,  2022: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/05/17/providing-a-sustainable-million-btus-per-day-per-person-by-fuel-source/
  17. Duke Energy to keep coal units running, by Stephen Heins, Sept. 2025: https://open.substack.com/pub/stephenheins/p/headline-duke-energy-hoping-to-keep?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  18. Reuters on Duke Energy announcing the consideration of new nuclear and extending life of coal plants, Sept. 2025: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/duke-energy-considers-nuclear-reactors-coal-extensions-carolinas-energy-plan-2025-10-01/
  19. A Short History of Power Generation, Part 1, 1850-1955, January 2022: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/01/14/a-short-history-of-energy-electricity-and-how-our-high-quality-of-living-came-to-be-high-human-development-index-part-1-1850-1955/
  20. A Short History of Power Generation, Part 2:  https://wp.me/p5DzAo-k6
  21. A Short History of Power Generation, Part 3: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-ll
  22. A Short History of Power Generation, Part 4: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-n4
  23. “The War on Carbon, How it Came to Be”, Oct. 16, 2021: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/10/16/the-war-on-carbon-how-it-came-to-be/
  24. Energy and Economic Prosperity, Jan. 11, 2021: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/01/03/energy-and-economic-prosperity/
  25. Energy and World Peace, April, 2022: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/04/05/energy-world-peace/
  26. Comparison of China and U.S. Energy Policies: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/01/18/comparison-of-china-energy-electricity-generation-with-u-s-a/
  27. Energy and Economic Prosperity Nov.  2022: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/11/18/energy-and-economic-prosperity-2/
  28. Without New Thinking on Nuclear Power, Anti-Carbon Policy Can’t Succeed, Nov. 11, 2021 : https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/11/13/without-new-thinking-on-nuclear-power-anti-carbon-climate-policy-cant-succeed/
  29. The Rise and Fall and Rise Again  of Nations and the  Realities of Energy: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/08/15/the-rise-fall-and-rise-again-of-nations-and-the-realities-of-energy/
  30. Pillars of Modern Civilization, Ammonia, Food, Steel, Concrete, Plastics, Aluminum, July 2022: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/07/25/pillars-of-modern-civilization-all-dependent-on-energy/
  31. Dick Storm Blog post, “Wake Up Americans!” Sept. 21, 2023:  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/09/20/please-wake-up-america-your-energy-and-electricity-generation-reliability-are-at-risk/
  32. THE ERA OF RELIABLE, AFFORDABLE, ENERGY AND ELECTRICITY GENERATION: PART 1
    https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/10/04/the-era-of-reliable-affordable-energy-and-electricity-generation-part-1/
  33. The Green Energy Crisis is Here, Part 1, Sept. 17, 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/05/29/the-green-energy-crisis-is-here-part-1/
  34. The Green Energy Crisis, Part 2, “Meet Some of the People that Caused it”,  June 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/06/14/green-energy-crisis-part-2-meet-the-policy-makers-that-caused-it/
  35. Comparison of China and U.S. Energy Policies: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/01/18/comparison-of-china-energy-electricity-generation-with-u-s-a/
  36. The Green Energy Crisis, Part 3, June 26, 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/06/26/green-energy-crisis-part-3-public-energy-education-is-needed-each-person-in-the-u-s-uses-about-315-million-btus-of-primary-energy-year-this-is-not-practical-or-even-possible-to-replace-with-win/
  37. German Household electricity prices 2009-2024: https://countryeconomy.com/energy-and-environment/electricity-price-household/germany
  38. DW News, Germany YouTube on Germany’s dependence on Russian Gas and Oil: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/p4?projector=1
  39. Another YouTube video of German dependence on Russian Gas: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/p4?projector=1
  40. WSJ Jan. 2024 on relationship of Security of EU Economy, Russian gas and China: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/welcome-warily-the-eu-getting-serious-on-china-economic-security-net-zero-deindustrialization-de292bf1?st=JjwzXh&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalinkc
  41. “Update on Hawaii’s Glimpse of the Future of the Green New Deal” March 20, 2024:  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/03/20/hawaii-a-glimpse-into-the-future-of-the-green-new-deal-aka-inflation-reduction-act-here-is-an-update/
  42. The Reality of Electrifying Everything,  April 9, 2024: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/04/09/the-reality-of-electrifying-everything-and-the-primary-energy-required-to-generate-the-electricity/
  43. Am I Missing Something? Here is an Update on Hyundai’s Commitment to its EV Meta Plant in Georgia:   https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/04/14/am-i-missing-something-on-evs-here-is-an-update-on-hyundais-meta-plant-commitment-to-evs-and-hydrogen-vehicles/
  44. Tom Shepstone’s post on Substack of Dick Storm’s letter to Senator Tom Davis: https://energysecurityfreedom.substack.com/p/a-balanced-energy-portfolio-is-critical/comments
  45. Dick Storm LI Post on SC Energy policies and failed coal and nuclear plant plans: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7184184178920312833?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  46. DW YouTube on Russian oil and gas and Germany: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/p4?projector=1
  47. De-Industrialization of Germany article: 
    https://ceinterim.com/deindustrialization-in-germany/
  48. Rust Belt on the Rhine, De-Industrialization of Germany: 
    https://www.politico.eu/article/rust-belt-on-the-rhine-the-deindustrialization-of-germany/
  49. International Banker: Jan. 2025 https://internationalbanker.com/finance/germany-has-an-escalating-deindustrialisation-problem/
  50. Gatestone Institute Dec. 2024 on German Energy Policy and De-Industrialization: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21244/europe-germany-renewable-energy
  51. From WSJ, Jan. 2024. Net-Zero and German DeIndustrialization: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/welcome-warily-the-eu-getting-serious-on-china-economic-security-net-zero-deindustrialization-de292bf1?st=JjwzXh&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
  52. Devil’s Algorithm & Climate Matrix: https://open.substack.com/pub/tilakdoshi/p/the-devils-algorithm-unplugging-from?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  53. The EPA “Endangerment Finding” and why it Needs to Go, Feb. 2, 2025: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-1ZW
  54. The SWAMP MONSTER vs. 300 Million Americans, Feb. 21, 2025: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/02/21/the-swamp-monster-vs-the-best-interests-of-the-united-states-of-america/
  55. Thomas J. Shepstone Substack on Dick Storm’s “Primer on How to Ensure Electricity Security (and How to Destroy It)”:  https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/a-primer-on-how-to-ensure-energy?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false 
  56. Thomas J. Shepstone version of Dick Storm article Feb, 2025. Time to Revoke the Endangerment Finding”  :  https://energysecurityfreedom.substack.com/p/its-way-past-time-to-revoke-the-pseudo
  57. Existing EPA-Endangerment Rules Impact South Carolina Electricity Costs and Will Cause Rationing if the EPA Endangerment Finding Isn’t Repealed  Feb. 28, 2025: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/02/28/existing-epa-rules-increase-costs-and-will-cause-rationing-of-electricity-in-south-carolina-if-endangerment-finding-is-not-repealed/
  58. David Siegel videos on Climate Change: https://www.cuttingthroughthenoise.net/climate-curious 
  59. The EPA Endangerment Finding Needs to Go! Thomas Shepstone publishing of Dick Storm article, March 9, 2025: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/the-epa-endangerment-finding-needs?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false 
  60. The U.S. Self-Inflicted Electricity Generation Crisis was Created by GONGO the SWAMP Monster, March 19, 2025: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/03/19/the-u-s-self-inflicted-electricity-generation-crisis-was-created-by-gongo-the-swamp-monster-here-is-how-to-end-it/
  61. Coal Power, It is the End Result that Matters!:  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/03/28/coal-power-it-is-the-end-result-that-counts/
  62. My Letter to Senator Davis on Coal Power in S.C. April 1, 2025: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/04/03/response-to-palmetto-electric-request-to-contact-our-s-c-senators/
  63. The Solution to America’s Electricity Generation Crisis: Build New Coal Plants Now! https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/04/18/the-solution-to-the-nations-coming-electricity-reliability-crisis-build-new-coal-plants/
  64. Clean Energy Crisis, May 2, 2025     https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/05/02/clean-energy-crisis-2/
  65. Thomas J. Shepstone, edited version of Clean Energy Crisis on Substack, May 3, 2025: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/the-clean-energy-crisis-and-why-it?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
  66. Jason Hayes republishing of Why Electric rates in SC will Rise: https://open.substack.com/pub/jasonhayes/p/existing-epa-rules-increase-costs?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  67. Reality of Building 125 GW of New Coal Power Generation Capacity, Then and Now: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/05/07/the-reality-of-building-125-gw-of-new-coal-plant-generation-capacity-then-and-now/
  68. Repeal the IRA, Protect America’s Life-Blood of Energy and Electricity”:  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/05/15/repeal-the-ira-protect-americas-lifeblood-of-energy-and-electricity-supply/
  69. Ron Stein and Dick Storm co authored article in America Out Loud, May 19, 2025: https://www.americaoutloud.news/intermittent-electricity-from-renewables-cannot-support-ai-and-data-centers/
    https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/05/27/internal-and-external-threats-to-the-u-s-electric-grid/
  70. The Reality of Returning Major Power Generation Equipment Manufacturing to the U.S. 
    https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/06/01/the-reality-of-returning-major-power-generation-equipment-manufacturing-to-the-u-s/
  71. Present DangerChina.org  Threats to the Electric Grid, Frank Gaffney, Grant Newsom, Sam Faddis, Dave Walsh and Dick Storm: https://presentdangerchina.org/webinar-inside-our-wires-the-ccp-has-penetrated-our-electric-grid-will-xi-destroy-it/
  72. Conventional Energy Including Coal is the Life-Blood of America:  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/06/18/conventional-energy-including-coal-is-the-life-blood-of-america/
  73. Thomas J. Shepstone published version of Dick Storm blog post on the “Madness of the Self-Inflicted Electricity Generation Crisis” https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/the-madness-of-the-us-self-inflicted?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
  74. Energy is the Economy and Electricity is the Life-Blood of western civilization Coal Can Make America’s Electricity Supply Great Again  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/07/30/energy-is-the-economy-electricity-is-the-life-blood-of-western-civilization-coal-can-make-americas-electricity-supply-great-again/
  75. Thomas J. Shepstone on Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/electricity-is-the-life-blood-of?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  76. SWAMP People and Organizations Against Making America Great, Foreign and Domestic https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/08/07/swamp-people-and-organizations-against-making-america-great-foreign-domestic/
  77. Published by Thomas J. Shepstone on Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/fighting-the-swamp-and-our-enemies?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  78. Some Red States Still Embrace the Green New deal, Including the Usually Conservative State of S.C. Sept. 8, 2025:    https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/09/08/some-red-states-still-embrace-the-green-new-deal-including-usually-conservative-south-carolina/
  79. FIVE REASONS TO BUILD NEW COAL PLANTS NOW! COAL SHOULD BE INCLUDED AS A CRITICAL FUEL TO POWER AMERICA’S FUTURE, SEPT. 24, 2025:  HTTPS://DICKSTORMPROBIZBLOG.ORG/2025/09/24/FIVE-REASONS-TO-BUILD-NEW-COAL-PLANTS-NOW-COAL-SHOULD-BE-INCLUDED-AS-A-CRITICAL-FUEL-TO-POWER-AMERICAS-FUTURE/
  80. Forbes, Yes, Wind and Solar do Increase Electricity Prices: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2018/04/25/yes-solar-and-wind-really-do-increase-electricity-prices-and-for-inherently-physical-reasons/
  81. America’s Coal: https://americascoal.substack.com/p/estimating-the-real-cost-of-electricity
  82. IER on cost of solar and wind: https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/the-grid/rising-bills-bad-blame-whats-really-driving-electricity-prices/
  83. Energy Policy Research Chart of world electricity prices 2024. Excellent: https://eprinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/COW2024-34-USAndEuropeanHouseholdElectricityPrices.pdf
  84. EPI Charts: https://eprinc.org/chart-of-the-week/?gf_protect_submission=1
  85. Inside Climate, Great State by State chart: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/which-states-getting-hit-hardest-electricity-price-qybsc/
  86. EIA FERC Electricity and Energy Data, Sept. 2025:  https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/current_month/september2025.pdf
  87. Inside Climate News: https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/inside-clean-energy/
  88. Excellent Paper on the Cost of Wind and Solar across the World, Oct. 5, 2025:  https://www.cis.org.au/publication/the-renewable-energy-honeymoon-starting-is-easy-the-rest-is-hard/

#Energyreality, Coal Power, economic prosperity and energy, Energy, Politics and Economic Prosperity, Keeping America Great, Western Civilization

Some Red States Still Embrace the Green New Deal; Including “Usually Conservative” South Carolina

4 Comments

Anti-American, pro-CCP energy policies are not limited to Blue states. We expect foolish energy policies from California, Hawaii, Massachussetts, CT, ME and NY but not so much in “Red States” like South Carolina. S.C. is one of the most Conservative states in the U.S. However the S.C. political leaders have drank the “Green Kool Aid” and continue to permit and depend on solar with battery backup to be promoted to replace the reliable and affordable coal generation in our state.

My friend Dave Walsh was on Bannon’s War Room a couple days ago to discuss the surge in building of solar farms in America. One point that he made was: It is not only Blue States that have self-sabotaging energy policies, it is also Red States. Including my state of South Carolina. 91% of new U.S. generation capacity built last year was renewables. https://rumble.com/v6yif84-walsh-91-of-new-capacity-power-being-built-this-year-is-solar-and-a-little-.html?e9s=src_v1_ucp_a

A chart of investment in renewables supports the comments of Dave Walsh. Over 91% of the new generation installed in the U.S. in 2024 was renewables. This is also corroborated on the Global Energy Monitor website.

Mark Lewis on LinkedIn has also posted a summary of the persistent building of tax subsidized, parasitic and high electricity rate driving solar and wind. Mark’s post is here. A screen shot of the ENVERUS chart is copied below. This is from Ian Nieboer Substack article. Thank you Ian. As can be seen, the subsidies for wind, solar and battery storage continue well past 2030. In my opinion and observations, the subsidies for wind and solar are the root cause of increasing electric rates nationwide and a trend toward reduced reliability as well.

Back to my Red state of S.C. SenatorTom Davis, Governor McMaster and the SC Legislature still have coal plant shutdowns planned for Santee-Cooper. Here is an excerpt of the Press Release on “All of the Above EnergyPolicy” by Senator Davis:

These coal plants have a stellar record of keeping electricity prices and reliability amongst the best in the world. Tom Davis’ Press Release after the Governor signed the SC Energy Bill implied: “We consider all forms of energy, renewables, gas and nuclear”. I emailed Davis to remind him that over 40% of Palmetto Electric’s Bulk Power is from coal and that it is the lowest cost fuel. Davis got right back to me and said, “We won’t shut coal plants down until a better source is found”….This is Not reassuring because, starving an operating plant of required maintenance $$ will simply cause it to become an unreliable and higher cost asset…then, predictably, the improperly maintained equipment wear and tear will lead to a self inflicted decay and unreliability. After the deterioration, this will lead to a then obvious decision to replace the coal plants with higher production cost gas plants. This happened at the once magnificent McIntosh Unit #3 at the City of Lakeland in Florida. I know because I worked many years for the City of Lakeland as a contractor and/or consultant, including the startup and tuning of McIntosh #3 and many maintenance efforts 1982-2012.

Reminder, the generation cost component to produce electricity, for a gas plant is about 90% fuel cost. Therefore, if the gas price doubles, so does the production cost of electricity. Let that sink in. The gas fueled RICE (Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines) will produce electricity at a cost that tracks natural gas prices.

Fast forward to next year and the U.S. exported LNG will likely increase domestic gas prices in the U.S. this winter and beyond. I support President Trump’s interest in exporting LNG but we should use more American coal for power generation here in the U.S. until new nuclear plants are built. In fact, more new coal plants should be built as well. I presented my thoughts and analysis of the importance of coal power at the Coal Institute in July. Coal is a more stable and economical fuel for Bulk Power generation.

Natural gas prices are not always low. Here is a 44 year history of gas prices compared to coal.

A minority of the folks in the U.S. population (Including Policymakers) understand the basics of energy and power generation. My estimate is less than 3%. Why? Utility generating plants became huge, highly automated and it only takes a crew of three operators to run a 600-1200 MW coal plant. Also, the 97% of the energy naive public has been bombarded with green indoctrination and lies about “Free solar and wind power”. Thus, the combination of high productivity of coal plants over the years has been done with a very small work force that has experience in power generation. Then, secondly, the successful demonization of coal by the MSM, Entertainment and well funded NGOs has led us to the point of a Self-Inflicted electricity generation crisis. ( Maybe not all Self Inflicted, some foreign actors were also involved)

Piling onto the madness of anti-American energy policies we have, Utility managers trained in accounting or law that have teamed up with similarly low Energy IQ politicians to create harmful, anti-American, Net-Zero Carbon Policies…These are so called “Energy Policies”. Why and how can these insane policies be put into place? Because the policy makers simply do not understand basic power generation fundamentals. Much of the western world has been following the same destructive Net-Zero Carbon path. Five examples are the UK, Germany, Spain, Australia and Denmark. They all have high power costs that are killing their once productive Industrial base. My adopted state of S.C. seems to be right there with the UK and Germany with regard to foolish “Green Energy Policies”.

Conclusions

  1. Much of the Free Western World has been making the same mistakes on following a path to Net-Zero Carbon
  2. It is my opinion that the path to Net-Zero Carbon was to reduce the productive capacity of the west and increase the dependence on manufactured products from China. Net-Zero Carbon policies are Not based on sound energy policies or for protection of the environment. At best they are to promote government control of our lives. At worst they are to weaken the western free world and therefore by default, increase the world influence of China.
  3. Thankfully we have President Trump and Chris Wright to frame U.S. Energy Policy. However, the purpose of this article is to point out the fact that many states remain on paths to destroy reasonable cost, reliable electric power generation that supports industrial production and economic prosperity…

Yours very truly,

Dick Storm, September 9, 2025

References and information for further reading

  1. Mark Lewis post on LinkedIn on the building of renewables after passing the OBBB, Sept 7, 2025: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7370480088062046208-EhvU?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAI4KQUBYW-cbQRlA1kgj9X3llGi7u6KNnQ
  2. Ian Nieboer Substack and ENVERUS chart of OBBBA Subsidies: https://onenergy.iannieboer.com/p/questions-for-california
  3. Dick Storm presentation to the Coal Institute, July 2025. http://www.thecoalinstitute.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Dick%20Storm%20Presentation%20July%202025.pdf
  4. Global Energy Monitor website: https://globalenergymonitor.org/projects/global-integrated-power-tracker/dashboard/
  5. Rafe Champion Burn Coal or Freeze in the Dark: https://rafechampion.substack.com/p/burn-coal-in-australia-or-die-in
  6. Bjorn Lomberg: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bjornlomborg_nytimes-and-many-other-suggest-that-the-more-activity-7350118091680313344-CTSF?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAI4KQUBYW-cbQRlA1kgj9X3llGi7u6KNnQ
  7. Bjorn Lomberg on high cost of solar and wind: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bjornlomborg_the-expensive-green-delusion-despite-green-activity-7331637580842594304-yJtG?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAI4KQUBYW-cbQRlA1kgj9X3llGi7u6KNnQ
  8. Substack article by Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling on Solar with Battery Backup, July 5th, 2025:https://energybadboys.substack.com/p/the-baseload-solar-beatdown
  9. Substack by Orr and Rolling in 2024 on the Myth of Cheap Solar: https://energybadboys.substack.com/p/how-to-destroy-the-myth-of-cheap  
  10. EIA List of Electricity Rates by State: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_a
    https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/03/20/hawaii-a-glimpse-into-the-future-of-the-green-new-deal-aka-inflation-reduction-act-here-is-an-update/
  11. Thomas J. Shepstone on Why Do Wind and Solar Need Subsidies if they are so Cheap?: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/why-are-solar-and-wind-still-government?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  12. EIA Most of new generation capacity in 2025 from Solar, Aug. 20, 2025: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=65964&utm_medium=email
  13. WSJ on Wind and Solar subsidies, Aug. 21, 2025: https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/why-solar-and-wind-power-can-thrive-without-subsidies-cee47663
  14. Failures of the renewables transition era are insults to taxpayers.
    The worlds’ population depends on insulation, wires, computers, and fertilizers that “renewables” cannot provide.
    Published September 1, 2025, in America Out Loud NEWS
    https://www.americaoutloud.news/failures-of-the-renewables-transition-era-are-insults-to-taxpayers/
  15. Inside Climate News on Maryland Matters of Why Electric Costs are Escalating: https://marylandmatters.org/2025/09/01/why-prices-are-soaring-in-the-countrys-largest-grid-region-explained-in-5-charts/
  16. GRIDWATCH Australia
    Thank you Rafe Champion! “AT 6.30 PM eastern time THE  WIND WAS CONTRIBUTING 13%  OF DEMAND IN THE EAST 
    AND  2.5% IN THE WEST OH DEAR!!”  
     https://www.nem-watch.info/widgets/RenewEconomy/
  17. TEXAS Grid status
    https://www.gridstatus.io/live/ercot
  18. BRITAIN Grid status:
    https://grid.iamkate.com/    
  19.  PJM Interconnection, Dashboard:  https://www.pjm.com
  20. Mid-America Independent System Operator, Dashboard MISO:  https://www.misoenergy.org
  21. Ed Ireland on TX wind and solar: https://substack.com/@edireland
  22. Interview with Dave Walsh on Bannon War Room, Rumble, Sept 5, 2025: https://rumble.com/v6yif84-walsh-91-of-new-capacity-power-being-built-this-year-is-solar-and-a-little-.html?e9s=src_v1_ucp_a
  23. Tom Shepstone Sub-Stack on Massachusetts high electric rates: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/political-reality-descends-upon-massachusetts?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  24. Tom Shepstone on POSIGEN Failure in PA, Sept. 8, 2025: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/posigen-provides-yet-another-example?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  25. Electric Power Fantasies Collide in the West, CFACT, Aug. 12, 2025: https://papundits.wordpress.com/2025/08/12/electric-power-fantasies-collide-out-west/
  26. WUWT on Power in the West by David Wojick: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/08/12/electric-power-fantasies-collide-out-west/
  27. Dr. Samule Furfari on Energy Additions, Not a Transition, Fossil Fuels are the Bedrock of Progress, July 2025: https://co2coalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025-07-Energy-Addition-Not-Transition-Fossil-Fuels-Remain-the-Bedrock-of-Progress.pdf
  28. The Very Real Costs of the War on Coal, Real Clear Energy, July 2025: https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2025/07/31/the_very_real_human_impact_of_coal_closures_1125990.html
  29. EIA Solar most of new capacity 2025, Aug. 20, 2025: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=65964&utm_medium=email
  30. Dick Storm presentation to the Coal Institute, July 2025: http://www.thecoalinstitute.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Dick%20Storm%20Presentation%20July%202025.pdf
  31. ” The full Santee-Cooper IRP is here: https://www.santeecooper.com/About/Integrated-Resource-Plan/Reports-and-Materials/Santee-Cooper-2024-IRP-Update.pdf
  32. EIA Electricity Prices, March 2025: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_a  
    https://electricityplans.com/average-electricity-bill-usage-rate-by-state/#top-10-states-for-cheapest-electricity-bills
  33. EIA Wholesale Electricity Rates, 2024: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=64284
  34. Electric Choice.com March 2025, Electric Rates in U.S.: https://www.electricchoice.com/electricity-prices-by-state/
  35. Coal Power, It is the End Result that Matters!:  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/03/28/coal-power-it-is-the-end-result-that-counts/
  36. Volatility of natural gas prices: Natural Gas Consumption 2024 by EIA, March 31, 2025: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=64845&utm_medium=email
  37. Natural Gas Prices tabulation 2019-2024 by EIA : https://www.eia.gov/naturalgas/monthly/pdf/table_03.pdf
  38. On the high cost of wind, solar and Battery Electricity Storage Systems: Frazer Institute, “Hot Air, Cold Truths, Bjorn Lomberg, March 2025: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/hot-air-and-cold-truths-bjorn-lomborg
  39. Delaware County Insider, Wind and Solar are Expensive, Bjorn Lomberg, May 24,  2024: https://delawarevalleyjournal.com/lomborg-the-true-cost-of-wind-and-solar-energy/  
  40. Yahoo Finance and National Post, March 2025, Bjorn Lomberg, Wind and Solar are Expensive: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/bjorn-lomborg-solar-wind-power-100008520.html
  41. Alabama Attorney General is amongst 22 states in appeal to return to coal for power generation revival of the Grid: https://gulfcoastmedia.com/stories/alabama-attorney-general-calls-for-reviving-americas-energy-grid-with-coal,257548?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0XeLob6rYc5WaBBtSyuB7vHctTdzVhTJxJZ96bExtALJBFoqUPAJPKaY0_aem_8TNpNEKQSIdjNrJTJeBF8Q#//
  42. Life Powered article on the Unreliability of Wind & Solar in Texas, March 29, 2025: https://lifepowered.org/reliability-standards-to-reduce-the-cost-of-wind-and-solar-volatility-in-texas/
  43. Highest cost Electricity by Country: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/cost-of-electricity-by-country https://www.electricrate.com/data-center/electricity-prices-by-country/ https://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/20-countries-with-highest-cost-of-electricity-1176033/
  44. Santee-Cooper 2023 Facts: https://www.santeecooper.com/About/Investors/easset_upload_file52601_79834_e.pdf
  45. SC Bill to update Energy Policy. Hard to read the gobbledygook….but here it is: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess126_2025-2026/bills/3309.html
  46. City of Lakeland McIntosh Unit #3 Destruction due to political choices and poor maintenance before declaring it unreliable: https://www.powermag.com/watch-implosion-topple-florida-coal-fired-plant/
  47. Thomas J. Shepstone on solar and wind still being built after Congress passed One Big Beautiful Bill, Sept. 2025: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/are-the-days-of-solar-stupidity-coming?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  48. Washington Free Beacon report on CCP funding of Climate Extremists in the U.S. Dec. 19, 2024: https://freebeacon.com/energy/ex-ccp-officials-steered-millions-to-us-based-green-groups-universities-for-climate-initiatives/
  49. Firebreak on NGO’s and Regulations, Part 1: https://www.thefirebreak.org/p/introducing-a-new-stakeholder-class?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
  50. Firebreak on APE’s and NGO’s and How to Regulate, Part 2: https://open.substack.com/pub/thefirebreak/p/how-to-regulate-apes-part-2?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
  51. Capital Research Center, Influence Watch report on Green Capital grants from government 2024  : https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/coalition-for-green-capital-cgc/
  52. Firebreak Substack on EU Billions…NGO’s, May 27, 2025: https://www.thefirebreak.org/p/billions-to-ngos-from-dark-channels?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  53. Firebreak, June 19, 2025 on Green Billionaire Funds to NGO’s supporting “Climate Change Propaganda”: https://www.thefirebreak.org/p/mouthpiece-for-green-billionaires?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  54. Thomas J. Shepstone, Jr on Bill McKibben & 350.0rg. , the Rockefeller Foundation and NRDC wrongly demonizing coal plants. Sept. 2025: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/robert-bryce-takes-down-bill-mckibben?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
  55. Thomas J. Shepstone article 9 years ago in 2014 on the Rockefeller and 350.org coordination of opposition to natural gas Hydraulic Fracturing: https://naturalgasnow.org/rockefeller-front-group-350-org-attacks-cove-point/
#Energyreality, BlueGreenAlliance, China, Coal Power, economic prosperity and energy

SWAMP People and Organizations Against Making America Great, Foreign & Domestic

2 Comments

About three decades ago I became curious of those people and organizations that seemed to work in earnest against the best interests of the U.S.A. My interest began with EPA “Violations of New Source Review” How did they affect me? It was directly. Myself and our team were consulting and providing performance improving modifications (“modifications” was a dirty word with the EPA when NSR is considered) with numerous electric Utilities to improve capacity, fuel flexibility, heat-Rate (efficiency improvement) and to reduce emissions. What reward did we get for improving efficiency, reducing the cost of power generation and reducing emissions? The plant owners were fined and in some cases the plants were prematurely retired and shut down. As for my company, we just lost some business and moved on to the next opportunity. But….I remember at the time…wondering why the EPA rules that already seemed anti-American became even more restrictive and seemed to be headed toward outlawing coal for power generation? Ultimately EPA Rules leading to the “Self-Sabotaging” of our reliable power generation. That was a time when about 50% of America’s electricity was generated from coal fuel and the U.S. enjoyed amongst the lowest cost electricity in the world, the Grid was reliable and affordable. Then the Obama Administration boldly did move to literally demonize and outlaw new coal power generation plants with the “EPA Endangerment Finding” in 2010.

A reminder, Obama and his EPA created the EV Mandate in 2012. Then the escalated “War on Coal”.

Fast-forward to 2025 and now facts are coming out that perhaps the “Self-Sabotaging” of our electric grid was not driven by policies to clean the air and water. Perhaps a more sinister motivation? Here are twenty references that implicate certain U.S. politicians and China’s influence. The EPA Rules went beyond clean air and water and in my opinion, were anti-American.

Background of Propaganda

The SWAMP is comprised of many nefarious actors, both foreign and domestic. Some are as innocent looking as TIME Magazine and Dan Rather on CBS News. Thank you Chris Martz, Tony Heller, James Woods, Krudkrew147, and John Stossel for these reminders of the greatest scientific hoax in history. The misinformation on science, demonization of coal and hydrocarbon fuels has literally crippled the industrial production of western civilization and helped to transfer manufacturing and the wealth it provides to China. Here are some of the domestic sources of the mischievous Climate propaganda.

Then there are three more examples I saw on “X” :

Tony Heller post on X of U.S. Temperatures since 1895, this year is lowest avg. temp since 1895: https://x.com/JunkScience/status/1952071289738612810

John Stossel on Junk Science Scares on X : https://x.com/JohnStossel/status/1952126581146824848

James Woods on “X”, An instructive title: “Climate Change, The All Purpose Scam”: https://x.com/RealJamesWoods/status/1952088800026317097

Posted on “X” by Krudkrew147 Captures the true facts in one meme. Was it a hoax or successful Propaganda by the CCP?

History of Energy Foundation China, according to Influence Watch

The enemies of common sense energy policies are not only foreigners. Note the American NGO’s listed in Influence Watch. To me, this is troubling, to see respected NGOs and American businesses that are aiding and abetting the CCP.

The Energy Foundation was founded in 1991 when three foundations – the MacArthur Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Pew Charitable Trusts – recruited recent Stanford University graduates Hal Harvey, Tom Strand, and Eric Heitz to start an environmental initiative. Energy Foundation China was launched in 1999 with support from the Hewlett and Packard foundations.  In 1999, the Packard Foundation helped to establish Energy Foundation China, with offices in Beijing.  In 2020, Energy Foundation China separated from the Energy Foundation, whilst retaining the legacy EIN number. 

Like others knowledgeable in power generation, I thought, these are actions to deliberately weaken America. They could not be done better by our country’s mortal enemies if they were in charge of the EPA themselves. So, that is where I am coming from. The purpose of this article is to review the history of Applied Political Science 1990-2023 enemies within the U.S. Some are foreign and some are domestic.

Here are previous articles that I wrote on Influencers of U.S. Environmental Policies that literally caused the Self Sabotaging of our power generation infrastructure.

Conclusion

The past fifteen years of anti conventional energy policies will be difficult to overcome. I applaud President Trump and his outstanding Cabinet members for their efforts to correct past anti-American environmental and energy polices. However, I fear that we have gone a bit past the tipping point of NOT building enough new generation capacity to replace that which has been shut down and in most cases, destroyed. The about 125,000 MW of coal power generation shut down since 2010 cannot be replaced by new coal or nuclear plants of similar capacity by 2030 due to supply-chain limitations. Obama, Pelosi, Biden and the Democrats have weakened our electric power generation infrastructure. Why do they seem to have a stronger allegiance to China than to the U.S.A.?

My hope and prayer is that the American people will wake up and force the Democrat politicians to begin to support Pro-American energy and environmental policies. Based on what I have observed over the past 15 years, this will be difficult for many NGOs, wealthy individuals, politicians and Bureaucrats to support restoring American Industrial productivity, as we had before Obama’s Presidency. Rebuilding the supply-chain of talent, manufacturing capacity and the “American Can Do” attitude will be hard unless the half of our country stuck on resisting Trump wakes up and supports America First.

Respectfully and very truly yours,

Dick Storm, August 7, 2025

83 References for further background (updated August. 8, 2025)

  1. China AI powered by coal plants: https://open.substack.com/pub/stephenheins/p/headline-china-vs-us-ai-supremacy?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
  2. Chinese Companies listed on U.S. Stock Exchanges: As of March 7, 2025, there were 286 Chinese companies listed on these U.S. exchanges with a total market capitalization of $1.1 trillion. That valuation increased by $250 billion from the start of 2024, when this table tracked just 265 Chinese companies listed on U.S. exchanges with a total market capitalization of $848 billion.
    Since January 2024, 48 Chinese companies have listed on the three U.S. exchanges, raising $2.1 billion in combined initial public offerings (IPOs). https://www.uscc.gov/research/chinese-companies-listed-major-us-stock-exchanges  
  3. Influence Watch Report on Energy Foundation China:    https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/energy-foundation-china/
  4. State Armor Report on Energy Foundation China, (very comprehensive, lots of references) https://statearmor.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/State-Armor-Who-is-Energy-Foundation-China-Report.pdf
  5. This report reveals much of what is wrong with the EPA. 114th Congress Report on Obama Carbon Policies and Influence of Green Groups: http://www.scientificintegrityinstitute.org/USSEWP080415.pdf
  6. Washington Examiner: Gina McCarthy CEO of NRDC: https://eelegal.org/washington-examiner-gina-mccarthy-and-nrdc-together-again/
  7. Ken Braun’s article on Jennifer Graham background at Capital Research Center, “Green Watch”: https://capitalresearch.org/article/bonkers-about-batteries-the-unauthorized-biography-of-jennifer-granholm/
  8. Dept. of Interior Sec’y Deb Harland on Utah Land which has energy reserves: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/15/deb-haaland-national-monument-protections-joe-biden-trump
  9. E & E News June 6, 2023. How Green New Dealers became Washington Power Players: https://www.eenews.net/articles/how-green-new-dealers-became-washington-power-players/
  10. Profile of the Department of the Interior, compiled by Robert Stilson of CRC: https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/biden-administration-department-of-the-interior/
  11. Capital Research Center (CRC) on Profile of Biden’s head of the Department of Energy: https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/biden-administration-department-of-energy/
  12. CRC on the Biden head of EPA: https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/biden-administration-independent-agencies/#environmental-protection-agency
  13. CRC on the Biden WH Council on Environmental Quality: https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/biden-administration-executive-office-of-the-president/#council-on-environmental-quality
  14. CRC on the Biden WH Office of Domestic Climate Policy: https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/biden-administration-executive-office-of-the-president/#office-of-domestic-climate-policy
  15. CRC on the Biden Office of Science and Technology Policy: https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/biden-administration-executive-office-of-the-president/#office-of-science-and-technology-policy
  16. CRC on environmental group connections in this blog post from June 2021: https://capitalresearch.org/article/nonprofits-in-the-biden-administration-special-interest-and-advocacy-groups/
  17. Science Matters on the Roots of Environmentalism, Jan 2023: https://rclutz.com/2023/01/06/from-nature-conservation-to-climate-calamity/#like-28807
  18. C. Paul Smith “Closing Argument on the Climate Change Hoax”:  https://www.cpaulsmith.com/palmyra-bookstore/the-climate-change-hoax-argument/
  19. The UK and European experiences with “Green Energy” should be a clear warning to the U.S.A., The Telegraph, June 11, 2023: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/britain-s-green-energy-disaster-should-be-an-awful-warning-to-americans/ar-AA1compu?OCID=ansmsnnews11
  20. How the Greens Went Mainstream, Foreign Policy, April 2021: https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/04/23/how-the-greens-went-mainstream/
  21. Russian Funding of Anti-Fossil Fuels Groups in U.S. March 2022, The Hill: https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/596304-investigate-russias-covert-funding-of-us-anti-fossil-fuel-groups/
  22. Washinton Free Beacon article on EPA Requests DOJ to Investigate Dark Money to Environmental Activist Groups, October 2020:  https://freebeacon.com/national-security/epa-requests-doj-investigate-foreign-funding-of-environmental-groups/
  23. Dark Money accepted by Democrats from BlueGreen Alliance admission, Washington free Beacon May 24, 2023: https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/senate-finance-committee-dems-said-theyd-fight-dark-money-they-just-fawned-over-a-liberal-dark-money-operative/
  24. “So-Called” Democracy Alliance Investment Report, 2014: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1202744/da-portfolio2012-2014-042714.pdf
  25. Swiss Billionaire Bankrolls Biden Agenda through Arabella Advisors, Reported in Washington Free Beacon, April 4, 2023: https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/swiss-billionaire-bankrolls-biden-agenda-with-63-million-in-dark-money/
  26. Meet the Group behind Banning Gas Stoves, Rocky Mountain Institute Creates anti Gas Stove Campaign, partially funded by China, as reported in Washington free Beacon, January 16, 2023: https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/meet-the-green-energy-group-behind-the-study-thats-driving-calls-to-ban-gas-stoves/
  27. Stacey Abrams working with Group, Rewiring America, to Ban Gas Stoves. Group has ties with Chinese Funding, Washington Free Beacon, March 16, 2023: https://freebeacon.com/democrats/election-denier-stacey-abrams-is-now-working-to-eliminate-gas-stoves/
  28. Obama’s Man in China is now China’s Man in Washington, Max Baucus is talking head for China, Washington Free Beacon, May 21, 2020: https://freebeacon.com/national-security/obamas-man-in-china-now-beijings-man-in-washington/
  29. Numerous articles on Environmental Activists around the world, The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/us/topics/environmental-activism-3496
  30. BBC Report on 50 years of Activism, How the Biggest Environmental Movement Began April 2020: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200420-earth-day-2020-how-an-environmental-movement-was-born
  31. Meet the Activists, Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/meet-the-activists
  32. House Lawmakers Step Up Action on Green Groups Working with Foreign Countries, June, 2018, Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-environment-congress-idUSKBN1JG204
  33. Washington Examiner, June 2018: Russian Groups Gave Millions to Green Groups to Fight Fracking in U.S.: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/russian-funded-environmental-group-gave-millions-to-anti-fracking-groups  
  34. GAO Report on Foreign Influence of U.S. Research, Oct. 2021: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-105434
  35. FBI Investigating Foreign Influence of Jan. 6, 2020 Capital Riot, NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/fbi-probing-if-foreign-governments-groups-funded-extremists-who-helped-n1254525
  36. Capital Research Report on Combatting Foreign Influence of American Institutions, Robert Stilson, October 2020 : https://capitalresearch.org/article/combating-foreign-government-influence-in-american-institutions/  
  37. Report of Uranium One Deal sale to Russia and Russian Influence of the Obama’s and Clintons, Fox News 2018 : https://docs.house.gov/meetings/II/II06/20190625/109694/HHRG-116-II06-20190625-SD004.pdf
  38. The Hill, Wikileaks Releases Alleged John Podesta emails on Russian Business dealings of Clintons and Obama, Oct. 10, 2016: https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/299904-wikileaks-releases-alleged-podesta-emails/
  39. Politico, What you Need to Know About Hillary Clinton and Uranium One Deal, Nov. 14, 2017:https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/14/hillary-clinton-uranium-one-deal-russia-explainer-244895
  40. Oil Price.com report on Russia Owning some U.S. Nuclear Fuel as a result of the Uranium One Deal, May 6, 2015: https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Does-Russia-Really-Own-20-Of-The-US-Uranium-Reserves.html
  41. John Podesta was involved in a major deal with Russians in 2011-2019, Breitbart News, April 4, 2019: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/04/03/collusion-russians-gave-35-million-to-company-with-john-podesta-on-board/  
  42. John Podesta’s brother Tony received payments as a Lobbyist for Russia on Uranium One Deal and was not registered as a Foreign Agent,  Daily Caller, Nov. 2017  :  https://dailycaller.com/2017/11/05/tony-podesta-lobbied-for-russias-uranium-one-and-did-not-file-as-a-foreign-agent/
  43. Forbes, Oct. 25, 2017; “Why Was Justice Dept. Silent on Criminal Activity of Nuclear Agency During Obama’s Administration”: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2017/10/25/why-was-obamas-justice-department-silent-on-criminal-activity-by-russias-nuclear-agency/?sh=38d0c3fabe17  
  44. American Thinker, October 2017 article, So what was John Podesta’s now-collapsed Russian green energy scheme really all about?https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/10/so_what_was_john_podestas_nowcollapsed_russian_green_energy_scheme_really_all_about.html
  45. John Podesta And Podesta Group Under Investigation By FBI And DOJ Technocracy News, August 2016: https://www.technocracy.news/john-podesta-and-podesta-group-under-investigation-by-fbi-and-doj/
  46. Climate Depot, March 6, 2022, Investigate Russia’s covert funding of US anti-fossil fuel groups:https://www.climatedepot.com/2022/03/06/investigate-russias-covert-funding-of-us-anti-fossil-fuel-groups/
  47. The Hill, March 1, 2022, Russia Investigation on Involvement with U.S. Anti-Fossil Fuels Groups: https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/596304-investigate-russias-covert-funding-of-us-anti-fossil-fuel-groups/  
  48. BIV.com, Canadian Environmental Groups Received $1.3 Billion in Foreign Funding : https://biv.com/article/2021/10/canadian-environmental-groups-got-13-billion-foreign-funding-inquiry
  49. Natural Resources Defense Council Receives 100 Million from Jeff Bezos, Nov. 2020: https://www.nrdc.org/press-releases/nrdc-receives-100-million-bezos-earth-fund-accelerate-climate-action
  50. Big Green Radicals Funding, NRDC : https://biggreenradicals.com/group/natural-resources-defense-council/
  51. Washington Free Beacon report on Foreign Funding through Bermuda of Environmental Extremist Groups, August 2013 : https://freebeacon.com/national-security/liberal-foundation-distributed-money-from-bermuda-to-liberal-nonprofits/
  52. Washington Examiner, Leftists Activists Demand Democrats Keep Nuclear and Carbon Capture Out of Green Energy Bill, May 12, 2021: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/activists-demand-renewable-energy-standard
  53. Here are 36 Organizations Helping to Solve the Climate Crisis (and weaken the U.S.A.) FoodTank.com, 2020 : https://foodtank.com/news/2020/10/36-organizations-helping-solve-the-climate-crisis/
  54. Russia Funding Activist Groups in U.S. Center for Security Policy, March 2019 : https://centerforsecuritypolicy.org/moscow-secretly-funded-us-anti-fracking-groups-is-it-now-attacking-us-energy-companies/
  55. Robert Bryce, No Uranium for Nuclear, June 9, 2023: https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/no-u
  56. Tom Steyer in Philanthropy News, 2014, Donates 50 million to NextGen Climate Action in Florida for Climate Change: https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/hedge-fund-billionaire-to-step-up-climate-change-advocacy-efforts
  57. Sheldon Whitehouse’s new book where he will claim the opposition party does what he and his party have done very effectively, for decades: “The Scheme, where He accuses Republicans of using Dark Money”, when in fact, the Democrats do it much more: https://thenewpress.com/books/scheme
  58. Ron Clutz Blog “Science Matters” June 12, 2023 on the Climate Blame Game & “Energy Absurdities” in Canada: https://rclutz.com/2023/06/12/absurd-climate-blame-game/#like-31517
  59. Dick Storm Blog post, “The War on Carbon, How it Came to Be”: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/10/16/the-war-on-carbon-how-it-came-to-be/
  60. West Virginia Shelly Moore Capito Opinion in WVA “Intelligencer” Newspaper, July 2022 on Joe Goffman as nominee to EPA position: https://www.theintelligencer.net/opinion/local-columns/2022/07/joe-goffman-the-wrong-choice-to-help-lead-epa/
  61. Pentagon to Electrify the Military, Nov. 2021, Military.com: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/11/09/electric-military-vehicles-are-part-of-biden-climate-agenda-pentagon-says.html
  62. Environment America.org, Why Environmentalists Back Ed Markey: https://environmentamerica.org/articles/supporting-ed-markey/
  63. The Guardian on Bill Gates views on Climate, Feb. 2021: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/13/bill-gates-on-the-climate-crisis-i-cant-deny-being-a-rich-guy-with-an-opinion
  64. John Kerry Targets Agriculture at WEF Speech, May 2023, Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/john-kerry-targets-agriculture-part-climate-crusade
  65. WEF Calls for Limiting Private Car Use, June 2022:  https://www.internationalfreepress.com/2023/06/wef-document-calls-for-limiting-private.html
  66. WEF on Population Degrowth, June 2022: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/06/what-is-degrowth-economics-climate-change/
  67. WEF Calls to reduce vehicles by eliminating ownership, Climate Depot, Aug. 2022: https://www.climatedepot.com/2022/08/01/world-economic-forum-calls-to-reduce-private-vehicles-by-eliminating-ownership/
  68. Greta Thunberg Time Line, April 2021, Independent, UK: https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/greta-thunberg-bbc-documentary-timeline-b1830225.html
  69. Sierra Club and Abortion Alignment, On the Issues, : https://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Sierra_Club_Abortion.htm
  70. U.N., Planned Parenthood and Sierra Club Alignment Sept. 2015:  https://unfoundation.org/media/un-foundation-planned-parenthood-federation-of-america-sierra-club-announce-winners-of-first-ever-why-we-care-youth-emerging-leaders-for-reproductive-rights-contest/
  71. Sierra Club & NRDC Environmental Groups Urge Support for Affordable Care Act and Reproductive Rights, March 2017: https://content.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2017/03/environmental-groups-urge-support-affordable-care-act-and-planned-parenthood
  72. Sierra Club & Planned Parenthood Join Conferences to Explain Sex and the Environment. Nov. 2007, Catholic News Agency,: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/11091/sierra-club-joins-planned-parenthood-to-offer-conferences-on-sex-and-the-environment
  73. Lecture by Michael Rectenwald at Hillsdale College on “What is the Great Reset”, The Great Reset movement toward World Totalitarianism: https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/what-is-the-great-reset/
  74. Daily Skeptic, Feb. 23, 2023, by 30 year Reuter’s veteran Journalist “I Thought CO2 Was Causing Global Warming, I was Wrong”: https://dailysceptic.org/2023/02/23/when-i-covered-climate-change-for-reuters-i-thought-co2-was-to-blame-for-rising-temperatures-i-was-wrong/
  75. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, 60 years later, Fails Test of Time, WUWT: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/05/17/carsons-silent-spring-fails-test-of-time-new-york-times-verdict-in-2007/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=carsons-silent-spring-fails-test-of-time-new-york-times-verdict-in-2007
  76. John Kerry, Ties to Radical Environmental Groups, but kept secret, Oct. 2022, Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republicans-probe-john-kerrys-ties-eco-groups-efforts-shield-oversight
  77. China Weaponization of Lawfare in the U.S.: https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/ccp-weaponizes-us-courts-to-silence-critics-harm-american-interests-congress-hears-5891196
  78. New York Post on John Podesta Giving $375Million  to Climate Groups at end of Biden Term, Aug. 2025: https://nypost.com/2025/03/05/business/john-podesta-375m-epa-slush-fund-gave-billions-to-newly-formed-charities/
  79. Climate Dispatch, Aug. 2025 on Climate Groups Funded by U.S. :  https://climatechangedispatch.com/john-podestas-epa-slush-fund-gave-billions-to-newly-formed-climate-groups/
  80. Thomas Shepstone on Environmental Extremists impact on NY Energy Policy: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/Environmental+Extremists/FMfcgzQbgcKkRXwtbDSGjHQRZHFspQKm
  81. CO2 Coalition Technical Papers Page: https://co2coalition.org/publication_category/white-papers-other-publications/
  82. Roy Spencer website and comments on DOE Report, July 2025: https://www.drroyspencer.com/2025/07/the-doe-scientific-report-underpinning-the-epas-decision-to-reconsider-the-2009-endangerment-finding-on-co2/
  83. Dept. of Energy Critical review of GHG Rules, July 2025: https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2025-07/DOE_Critical_Review_of_Impacts_of_GHG_Emissions_on_the_US_Climate.pdf
    https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2025-07/DOE_Critical_Review_of_Impacts_of_GHG_Emissions_on_the_US_Climate_July_2025.pdf
  84. How Governor Phil Murphy Caused New Jersey Electric Rates to Increase, WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/how-phil-murphy-caused-new-jersey-electricity-prices-to-soar-18c9e6ce?st=zmJNEE&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
  85. Renewables competing with Fossil Fuels, WUWT: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/07/13/the-conversation-renewable-energy-still-cannot-compete-with-oil-and-gas/
  86. President Trump News on $92 Billion Investments in PA for new Energy and AI Expansion: https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/07/president-trump-solidifies-u-s-position-as-leader-in-ai/
  87. The Coal Institute, July 14, 2025 Presentation by Dick Storm on the Importance of Coal: http://thecoalinstitute.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Dick%20Storm%20Presentation%20July%202025.pdf
  88. The Coal Institute, July 15th meeting, Chris Moran’s PJM Presentation: http://thecoalinstitute.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Chris%20Moran%20Presentation%20July%202025.pdf
  89. Wish Bakshi on LinkedIn, PJM Path Forward: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wishbakshi_pjm-65-million-people-worlds-data-center-activity-7351242456325107713-y29V?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAI4KQUBYW-cbQRlA1kgj9X3llGi7u6KNnQ
  90. Mark Lewis on LinkedIn on new 3600 MW Gas Plant at site of Bruce Mansfield Coal Power Station: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7351562473512108033-VHZo?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAI4KQUBYW-cbQRlA1kgj9X3llGi7u6KNnQ
  91. G-E Vernova expansion to western PA, by Thomas Shepstone Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/the-power-plant-supply-chain-just?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false