Canada #71

How Many More Ridiculous Green Energy Projects Will Fail?

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com Wednesday, Feb 12, 2025

The answer is all of them, in due time. Here are the latest spectacular failures.

Birds Fry Every Two Minutes

It took 10 years, and hundreds-of-thousands of dead birds, before the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California would meet its fate.

The Wall Street Journal explains in ‘A Prolific Executioner of Wildlife’

An Obama-era monument to green delusions finally faces extinction.

Longtime readers may recall a 2014 Journal editorial about California’s “bird-fryer” solar plant, a taxpayer-backed venture that was hell on local animals. Turns out it was also hell on electricity ratepayers. But as with so many politically favored green ventures, waiting for official acknowledgment of failure can feel like an eternity.

Now finally here in 2025 it seems the reckoning has begun. The Las Vegas Review-Journal notes in an editorial that “a major California utility — Pacific Gas & Electric — announced that it will no longer buy power from the Ivanpah solar plant off Interstate 15 near the Nevada-California border. As a result, two of the plant’s three towers will shut down next year — and the third will probably follow.”

The plant might have functioned merely as the world’s most expensive backyard bug zapper. But it was just too lethal. The Review-Journal’s Emerson Drewes reported last month:

Federal wildlife officials said Ivanpah might act as a “mega-trap” for wildlife, with the bright light of the plant attracting insects, which in turn attract insect-eating birds that fly to their deaths in the intensely focused light rays.

So many birds have been victims of the plant’s concentrated sun rays that workers referred to them as “streamers,” for the smoke plume that comes from birds that ignite in midair. When federal wildlife investigators visited the plant around 10 years ago, they reported an average of one “streamer” every two minutes.

Performance has proven so poor that PG&E has exercised its right to terminate the contract, about which negotiations have been completed; there is no doubt that towers 1 and 3 will cease operations within roughly a year. And it appears to be the case that Edison too wants out: “the utility is in ‘ongoing discussions’ with the project’s owners and the federal government over ending the utility’s contract.”

New Jersey Reaps the Wind, Again

It’s not just solar. Also note that Shell just backed out of a wind-energy project despite huge subsidies.

Another offshore wind development stalled this week off the Jersey shore, making it the latest of three such projects to fail despite generous terms from the state. Energy giant Shell wrote off its 50% stake in Atlantic Shores, choosing to take a $1 billion impairment instead of complete the 2,800 megawatt wind farm. New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities canceled its request for a wind-energy provider, leaving the unfinished project with no prospective customer.

Ratepayers can rejoice. Atlantic Shores would have charged about three times the market price for the power it generated, according to a review by Whitestrand Consulting. That would have raised electricity rates by 11% for residents and 13% to 15% for businesses, forcing them to overpay by $48 billion over the wind farm’s lifetime.

Gov. Murphy has treated renewable energy as a sacred cause no matter the costs since 2018. That includes a bill he signed to let Ørsted pocket federal credits it had promised to pass on to customers, though he clawed money back when the projects died.

Mr. Murphy says he approves of the utility bureau’s decision not to seek a new wind provider, but he still hasn’t given up his green dreams, calling offshore wind a “once-in-a-generation opportunity.” A once-in-a-generation failure is more accurate.

A Mountain of Unrecyclable Waste

The Institute for Energy Research notes Broken Windmill Blade Closes Nantucket Beaches

This story is from July 2024, but it contains pertinent details.

A massive wind turbine blade shattered offshore Massachusetts causing extensive debris, which shut down beaches on Nantucket Island and caused serious concern to fishermen, who worried that the debris could damage their boats. The failure of the massive blade and the resulting debris caused the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to suspend operations at Vineyard Wind until it could be determined whether the “blade failure” impacts other turbine blades on the development of the offshore wind farm. Power production has been suspended and installation of new wind turbine construction is on hold. And as more green energy trash washes ashore the local town is considering litigation. The facility’s massive wind turbines began sending electricity to the grid this past winter.

A GE Vernova turbine blade failed at the U.K.’s massive Dogger Bank offshore wind installation this spring, and another broke several blades in Germany last fall, which brought the number of broken GE blades at the Alfstedt-Ebersdorf wind farm in Lower Saxony to three. The first blade had broken off the previous year at one of the wind farm’s eight GE 5.3-158 turbines.

On June 28, America Electric Power (AEP) filed suit against GE Vernova in New York court over quality and warranty concerns, claiming widespread issues with the turbines it has deployed at three wind projects in Oklahoma. It is alleging that “within only two to three years of commercial operation, the GE wind turbine generators have exhibited numerous material defects on major components and experienced several complete failures, at least one turbine blade liberation event, and other deficiencies.”

GE Vernova is not the only wind turbine maker facing losses. Last year, Germany’s Siemens Energy, announced it would take a loss on its wind business due to quality problems with its wind turbines. Siemens Energy announced that quality problems at its wind turbine unit would take years to fix, wiping over a third off its market value and dealing a blow to one of the world’s biggest suppliers of wind turbines.

Massive Wind Graveyards

Wind turbine blades are made from fiberglass, or fiber reinforced plastic, and cannot be recycled. The Biden-Harris administration has not indicated what or who it expects to deal with the mountain of waste that will result when thousands of turbine blades reach the end of their useful lives in 20 to 25 years, or in many cases less. In fact, wind blades are piling up in Texas and Iowa without proper disposal. Massive wind graveyards, for example, have popped up on the outskirts of Sweetwater, Texas. The pile of wind blades covers more than thirty acres, in stacks rising as high as basketball backboards.

More:

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/how-many-more-ridiculous-green-energy-projects-will-fail

Canada #71

VA Secretary Doug Collins has ‘Full Authority’ to Recognize the Once-Mandated COVID-19 Shot as a Toxic Exposure Risk Activity

by J.M. Phelps Feb. 11, 2025

A combat veteran and federal whistleblower continues to advocate for veterans harmed by former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s tyrannical enforcement of the 2021 COVID-19 shot mandate.

In a recent article for The Gateway Pundit, Sonny Fleeman highlighted how a VA Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) note, which he described as “fraudulent,” effectively excludes vaccines and medications from being considered under the Toxic Exposure Risk Activity (TERA) provision of the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act. The PACT Act provides compensation for veterans exposed to toxic substances like burn pits and hazardous chemicals.*

Considering the number of adverse side effects he revealed through VA claims, Fleeman is greatly concerned about the VA’s decision to knowingly downplay what the data confirms as it relates to the COVID-19 shot in service members and veterans.

As a result of his efforts to expose the truth, several people have contacted the author of Fleeman’s previous article to inquire whether the VA Secretary has the authority to change the TERA standard operating procedure to allow the harm caused by the once-mandated COVID-19 shot to be included under the PACT Act without congressional action.

The Gateway Pundit reached out to Fleeman to find the answer. Emphasizing that the views and opinions expressed in this article are solely his own and do not reflect the official policies, positions, or views of the VA, the United States Government, or any organization or employer, current or former, with which he is or has been affiliated, the combat vet whistleblower simply replied, “yes.”

He explained, “The VA Secretary does have the legal authority to recognize COVID-19 vaccines as a toxic exposure risk activity, TERA, through a policy change—without the need for congressional approval.”

“Under 38 U.S.C. § 1710(e)(4)(C),” Fleeman pointed out that “a toxic exposure risk activity is defined as either an event recorded in an exposure tracking system or any exposure that the Secretary determines qualifies as ‘reasonably prudent’ to protect veterans’ health.” For Fleeman, “It is reasonably prudent for the VA Secretary to remove this policy because the COVID-19 injections were a mandated exposure, making them an occupational risk by definition.”

“Since this law gives the Secretary full discretion,” he argued, “they could designate COVID-19 vaccines as a toxic exposure risk if they determine it is necessary for veteran health protection.”

The VA already concedes TERA for environmental and chemical exposures based on potential health risks, not just proven harm. Given the documented toxic mechanisms of lipid nanoparticles, spike protein, and DNA contamination, Fleeman said, it is both rational and necessary to recognize these injections under TERA. “Denying this designation is an arbitrary policy choice, not a scientific or legal one,” he asserted.

“At a minimum, veterans who were required to take these shots deserve the same opportunity for medical review and benefits consideration as those exposed to other toxic substances.” The exclusion of vaccines and medications from being considered toxic exposures is nothing more than “fraudulent,” Fleeman argued.

“It’s a procedural directive, not statutory law, meaning the Secretary has the authority to modify or remove it at any time,” Fleeman shared. “If the standard operating procedure were revised,” he said, “vaccine administration could then be examined under 38 CFR § 3.303(a), which requires that exposure claims align with the places, types, and circumstances of a veteran’s service.”

A simple revision would require the VA to recognize COVID-19 injections as a toxic exposure risk activity under the existing framework, forcing claims processors to consider them as a potential cause of service-connected disabilities—even in cases where they were not explicitly claimed, he explained.

“Thus,” according to Fleeman, “the only barrier preventing COVID-19 pseudo vaccines from being classified as a toxic exposure risk activity is the VA’s own policy, which the Secretary has full authority to change,” he said.

The question remains: Will VA Secretary Doug Collins acknowledge the need to recognize COVID-19 injections as a toxic exposure risk activity?

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/02/va-secretary-doug-collins-has-full-authority-recognize/

Canada #71

Only 10 Of 195 Countries Meet UN Deadline To Submit Emissions-Reduction Plans

Authored by Steven Kovac via The Epoch Times Wednesday, Feb 12, 2025

A Feb. 10 deadline for the 195 signatories of the Paris (climate) Agreement to publish and submit their emissions-reduction plans to the U.N. has come and gone with just 10 nations complying.

The reason so many countries have not published their reports on time remains unclear.

When the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015, member countries agreed to work toward the goal of keeping the global temperature from exceeding 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial era levels.

The optimum target is 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to the agreement.

To hold the signatories accountable, the deal requires each country to list its efforts, measure its results, report on its progress, and talk about further action every five years.

The reports are called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). They include the pledges each nation has made toward meeting the COP’s (Conference of Parties to the Paris Agreement) objectives for 2035.

The current NDCs are scheduled to be considered at a COP meeting in November.

A Change of Direction

Consistent with President Donald Trump’s campaign promise, his new administration began the process of extricating the U.S. from the Paris Agreement altogether, as it did during his first term.

President Joe Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement in 2021.

The United States was one of the 10 compliant nations because its NDC was submitted by the Biden administration.

The nine other nations were the United Kingdom, Saint Lucia, Ecuador, Andorra, Uruguay, Switzerland, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates, and Brazil.

Two major industrialized nations, China and India, did not submit an NDC by the deadline.

China is the biggest CO2 emitter, the United States second, and India third.

How the Big Economic Powers Rate

In September 2024, the Climate Action Tracker (CAT), an ongoing, independent analysis of how countries are responding to climate change, gave China and India an overall rating of “Highly Insufficient.”

CAT rated the response of the United States to climate change as “Insufficient.”

President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office on Feb. 10. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

The CAT analysis said the United States made progress under the Biden administration but will still be “far from meeting its domestic climate target—let alone aligning its emissions with a 1.5 degrees Celsius trajectory.”

International Cooperation

In 2023, under Biden’s leadership, the United States formally adopted the COP policy of pursuing net-zero carbon emissions in the energy and transportation sectors by 2050.

The Biden administration declared its intention to decarbonize transportation by relying primarily on electric-powered vehicles—a plan critics call an electric car mandate.

The 2050 American timeline “is not compatible with the Paris Agreement,” the CAT analysis said.

According to a September 2024 report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the goal of carbon neutrality, as declared by the COP, necessitates a transitioning away from fossil fuels in a “just, orderly, and equitable manner” with “accelerating action in this critical decade.”

Achieving the COP’s optimum target by the turn of the century, the IEA states, would “require a holistic package of complementary actions and alignment with a 1.5 degrees Celsius pathway to realize all of them comprehensively.”

The IEA report emphasized “the importance of continued multilateral cooperation in driving implementation” of the COP goals.

How the exit of the United States from the Paris Agreement will impact the situation is not yet known.

Experts say leaving the agreement may take as long as a year.

The Trump Approach

Transitioning away from fossil fuels runs contrary to the promises candidate Trump made on the campaign trail to increase American fossil fuel production in order to bring down gasoline prices, which he said would in turn reduce inflation.

The IEA states that another essential leg is the tripling of renewable capacity by accelerating the deployment of low-emissions technologies over the next five years.

That objective also runs contrary to Trump administration policies that have deemphasized renewable energy sources such as windmills and solar farms.

Trump also eliminated the so-called EV mandate.

According to CAT, the United States is the world’s largest crude oil producer, achieving record production in 2023. The country is also the world’s largest fossil gas producer and exporter of liquified natural gas (LNG).

In early 2024, the Biden administration placed a temporary moratorium on pending LNG export terminals.

Trump lifted the moratorium on Jan. 20, the first day of his second term.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/only-10-195-countries-meet-un-deadline-submit-emissions-reduction-plans

"Experts say leaving the agreement may take as long as a year." WHUT?

>>22571553

Blame the Romans

In Scottish Gaelic "Manufacturing" is "Saothrachadh"

>>22571955

Druid iirc