April 18, 2024
Thursday Open Comments
Economic suicide by electric bill.
Some states, like some countries, seem to want to plug in the toaster, press down the lever, and jump into a bath full of water with it.
Minnesota appears to be such a state. Their ideological commitment to “green” energy is having the effect of forcing dirty manufacturing to shut up shop and lay off the workforce as they try to find someplace to move with less burdensome electric rates—or folding altogether:
Northern Foundry was the definition of an energy-intensive business. The firm used electric induction furnaces to melt ductile iron into parts used for the automotive, heavy truck, industrial, and recreational industries. When operating at full capacity, the facility consumed six megawatts (MW) of power, equivalent to the average consumption of 5,660 Minnesota homes.
In an average year, this facility would likely use more than 30,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity every year, and as rates have risen, the rising prices increased Northern Foundry’s costs by an estimated $1.2 million, or about 27 percent of the company’s payroll. Ultimately, they saw the writing on the wall and closed up shop for good.
Some policies produced by government are too stupid to make for good fiction.
But the energy industry, singled out for imposed reform by carbon-dioxide obsessives, is having a grand time joining forces with policy makers to increase their profits as they assist the state’s economic suicide.
The saddest part about this entire situation is that it was entirely foreseeable and occurred largely because of the poor policy decisions made in the state. As a result, 91 families didn’t need to learn that they’ll soon be out of a job.
Hopefully, the loss of the Northern Foundry can serve as a warning sign to policymakers so they understand that enacting the same policies as Europe and expecting different results is a recipe for green deindustrialization.
That sounds optimistic, but I am far less so. The anti-carbon mania is too deeply ingrained in the minds of western movers and shakers to be derailed by much of anything.
Today’s special animal friend is the Cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus. Our tour has moved along to Chobe National Park in Botswana. The oldest national park in Botswana, it is also the most biologically diverse. It is famous for a lion population that eats elephants. We’re going to try to avoid them while concentrating on the cheetah. But first, an overview of the park:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY8joJlz1pU
There are four subspecies of cheetahs. Here in southern Africa, we have A. jubatus jubatus, the “nominate subspecies,” of which there are over 4,000 individuals in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia. Northeast and Northwest African cheetahs number in the hundreds, while a population of fewer than 50 Asiatic cheetahs lives in Iran.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq9-Nh7FzEU
The world’s fastest land animal – up to 65 mph for short distances – cheetahs are built like a greyhound, with long, thin legs, a small head, and a large chest. Their spines are unusually flexible, and their hip and shoulder joints extend further than most quadrupeds’. A large male can be about three feet high at the shoulder and weigh up to 150 lbs. (A leopard is a similar size, though differently proportioned, while lions are two to three times heavier.) Cheetahs’ claws retract only a little, unlike other cats’. This helps with traction when they accelerate and then stop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGhTCPzMHvY
Cheetahs are active during the day when they share habitat with other large, feline predators. If they are the only big cat around, they are more likely to hunt at night, especially when there is bright moonlight. They usually eat smaller ungulates such as Dorcas gazelles, impala, and duiker, rarely pursuing prey weighing over 90 lbs. The cheetah bites a prey animal’s throat, holding on for up to 5 minutes to strangle the animal. Their hunting success is pretty good, over 40% for the smallest prey animals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlj4Jw8omIc
Cheetah society includes groups of male siblings called coalitions. These bros will stake out a territory as a group, defend it from other males, and sometimes hunt cooperatively. The coalitions do not have to be biological relatives. Orphaned males raised in captivity can be paired with a non-relative and released; the two will maintain the attachment for life.
Females are solitary except when living with their young cubs or, occasionally, an adult daughter. Their home ranges often overlap the territories of several groups of males. Female fertility seems to be correlated with exposure to males and their scent markings, and it is more common when prey and water are abundant. A female will mate with several males during estrus. Gestation is about three months, and up to 8, but usually 3 or 4, cubs are born.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfZ7Ekn56sU
Cheetahs are rated as Vulnerable by IUCN. They are legally protected throughout their range. They are threatened by habitat loss, illegal hunting, and declining prey populations.
A thing about deindustrialization is that it means there are fewer products being made. When fewer products are available for people to spend their (imaginary, debt supported) money on, you have inflation.
In other Green news, the proposed Piedmont Lithium mine in Gaston County, which the Envirothon teams visited earlier this year and it was very cool, has received approval from the state's mining regulators. I think that means they just need approval from the Gaston County Commission to actually do something, mine-wise. Unfortunately for them, the price of lithium has fallen.