As Winter Storm Bears Down on East Coast, Trump’s Energy Department Stupidly Issues Emergency Order To Use Diesel Generators
WASHINGTON — The Department of Energy late yesterday asked the nation’s grid operators to rely upon thousands of backup diesel generators at data centers and commercial properties like WalMarts should winter storm Fern cause blackouts across the south and eastern United States. The generators could be used at “data centers and other major facilities” according to a tweet posted by the department. In response, Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, issued the following statement:
“The absurd announcement that the Trump Administration is using emergency authority to force thousands of polluting diesel generators designed as backup power for data centers, Wal-Marts and other commercial and industrial properties is yet another one of the stupid and inane proposals out of this increasingly unhinged administration.
“As the order recognizes, most of these units are not grid connected, and so have no utility or coordination abilities to address a system emergency. Unmentioned in the order is the massive harm to public health stemming from long-duration operations of these polluting units. This ill-conceived nonsense is evidence that Trump’s incoherent energy policies are driving America’s energy unaffordability crisis.”
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