Schumer wants a federal agency to make red states pay for powerlines benefitting blue states

To show their devotion to the Global Warming scam, Democrats want to shut down gas-fired and coal-fired generating plants.

They're not quite ready to try to pass a LAW to do this nationwide, so for now they'll settle for closing plants in their blue states.  But a few of their advisors realize that ordering those plants closed will leave their states without enough precious electricity.

Their solution is to build more transmission lines from states where electricity is produced by reliable gas, coal, nuclear and hydro.  But such lines are hugely expensive, and in the past the cost of such lines has been apportioned by which state benefits--meaning almost all the costs would fall on Democrat states.  

Ooohhh, can't have that!  Democrat pols don't want their voters to have to pay that huge cost.  So the Democrat who runs the U.S. senate--New Yorker Chuckie Schumer--is directing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to stick red states with the bill.

Last week Schumer sent a letter demanding that FERC expedite a “transmission planning and cost allocation rule” to deliver more “clean power to Americans.”

Wait...he wants to close gas and coal plants, but now that he wants to pull power generated mainly by gas and coal, suddenly it becomes  "clean power"?  WOW, that's a switch, eh?  Nah, he knows the truth--that 68% of our electricity comes from natural gas and coal, but wants to sound like a good greenie-wokie.

Schumer claims disagreements among states on permitting new transmission lines and allocating their costs is stalling renewable projects.  Maybe, but New York is totally, totally free to install all the windmills you want, and you can order the state to quickly give the needed permits since you're a powerful senator.  No cost allocation problem.

Oh wait...you don't want that.  You wanna stick other states with your bills, you son of a bitch.

States in a regional transmission organization negotiate how to divide the costs, which hasn’t been controversial before now.  It's only a "problem" now because Schumer and other Dems want to ditch the existing way of allocating costs so red states pay more.

Real engineers know that wind and solar are both intermittent, so a state that is highly dependent on those sources must be able to buy power from neighboring states.  That requires building long transmission lines to connect powerplants in other states to states that depend on solar and wind for their electricity.

A Princeton University study in 2020 estimated that a transmission system to achieve net-zero carbon emissions would cost $2.4 trillion by 2050.  High-voltage transmission lines would have to increase 60% by 2030 and triple through 2050.

States without renewable mandates such as Arkansas, West Virginia and Tennessee don’t want or need heavily subsidized green energy from other states, and don’t want to pay for new transmission lines whose sole purpose is to help other states meet the "renewable mandates" they've imposed.

No matter. Mr. Schumer writes that FERC should order states that “act as free riders” to pay for transmission upgrades.  This is a total inversion of reality, since he's forcing other states to pay for benefits to his state.

Schumer also wants FERC to assert its  authority to issue permits when states won’t. If you think this would be politically impossible you haven't been paying attention to current events.

Of course it's possible senate Democrats from states that would be taxed to benefit other states might balk at supporting a law to do what Schumer demands, so Schumer is ordering FERC to pass a *rule* doing what he demands.  That way Dem senators from closely divided states won't have to vote on a law and risk losing their seat.  Much easier.

Schumer's "solution" is...wait for it...for FERC to impose a $2.4 Trillion tax to fund the left’s green-dream energy grid, which Democrats are unlikenly to be able to get through Congress.

That's just what this country needs: $2.4 Trillion in new taxes to solve a problem created solely by Democrats trying to be "woke."