To lay blame for our current energy issues on Greenpeace is, I believe, misleading at best.
Current shortages on natural gas are the result of free market economic factors. Quite simply, natural gas was until recently plentiful and cheap, making investment in exploration and drilling an unprofitable venture. The recent spike in natural gas prices have occurred because of a spike in demand coupled with lack of exploration and a deliberate supply manipulation by some energy companies.
Oil is, if anything, plentiful; OPEC has recently acted to reduce supply to prop up the falling price of oil.
Electricity shortages have arisen because of blatant supply manipulation by energy producers, coupled with bad 'deregulation' legislation which is as much the fault of Republicans in CA as Democrats.
Power plants are being built in CA, but existing power plants have mysteriously required more than the normal amount of maintenance. Others have gone offline because of PG&E and Edison's financial problems.
To blame the current energy problems on Greenpeace etc is wrong, I believe. It is a combination of economic errors, poor legislation, short sighted energy policies, unexpected economic growth, stupid moves by PG&E and Edison, and blatant manipulation by power companies. Greenpeace and the 'radical left' had very little to do with it. |
