On Tuesday, May 21, the Anchorage Assembly took up the Anchorage Climate Action Plan. The plan as all anti-development screeds is heavy on micromanaging daily activities, heavy on renewables, and based on the fundamental fraud of the climate wars – the notion that manmade release of CO2 is responsible for global temperature changes. You can find the plan here.
The 106-page document contains every wet dream from the climatistas as they deign to save us from ourselves. The whole mess was partially funded by a grant from UAA, demonstrating that they have more money than brains.
The goal of the plan is to put Anchorage on a path to reduce CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050 and 40% from 2030 from 2008 levels. In order to get from here to there, they plan on completing a greenhouse gas inventory, updated annually to measure progress toward the goals and develop indicators of environmental change and impacts of climate change at the neighborhood level. Yes, the government is here to help. Personally, I’d hang on to my wallet.
While there is more in this than is possible to cover in a post, or perhaps several posts, I will concentrate on a pair of important areas: energy and transportation.
A chart on page 27 breaks down Anchorage electricity sources. It is accurate with 86% natural gas generation, 11% hydro, 1% landfill gas and 1% wind. The next page claims that residents and businesses use 79% of all electricity in Anchorage and that we could save $70 million/year through energy efficiency and upgrades, efficiencies and upgrades that they will force upon us via higher electrical costs.
They get down to business on page 37, where they bemoan the large amount of natural gas used for heating and electrical generation in southcentral Alaska. This makes it hard to adopt their preferred solution, renewables – solar, wind and tidal – because available energy capacity exceeds current demand. Note how a Good Thing (capacity greater than demand) is described as a Bad Thing (no need for renewables here).
In this plan, renewables are an artificial solution to a problem that doesn’t exist, that of excessive CO2 emissions from electrical generation. Natural gas is the very cleanest fossil fuel to burn in any electrical generation regime. Widespread adoption of natural gas generation in the Lower 48 is the reason the US now exceeds all Paris emissions standards.
If the Assembly and Mayor want to go to zero emissions, they can adopt one of three other generation techniques – nuclear (zero emissions), big hydro (Watana Dam) or Coal to Liquids (proposed plant at Tyonek). For a while the Chugach Board considered these options a decade ago, but the Board majority was turned over via a virulent anti-nuclear campaign led by Jim Nordlund and funded by the IBEW and that interest died.
No interest in zero emissions generation outside renewables, which have a demonstrated track record of making electricity more expensive (CIRI’s Fire Island wind generation is charged above existing generation rates), by as much as 17%. Worse, they do not lead to any reduction in CO2 emissions. Renewables also make the grid less stable, require storage and don’t work all that well in the dead of winter when you really need electricity and natural gas to stay warm. But since we are virtue signaling here, why not go for the gold?
Transportation is the next section that starts on page 44. It is bundled with land use as a section. Transportation fuels here in Alaska are responsible for about a third of total energy use. Solution to vehicle emissions by the group? Electric cars, bicycles and walking. They will “create greater connectivity for pedestrian and cyclists”, encouraging “non-motorized transportation options.” Going to be difficult to do that unless you redesign the entire Anchorage Bowl, which is in the plans too.
Funny thing about electrical vehicles; they don’t work all that well in the cold, with battery life currently losing perhaps 40 – 50% on a cold day. This is why electrical vehicles are not all that popular in the northern tier states. Berkowitz and the Assembly want to force their use up here.
While the current document has no enforcement mechanism included yet, you can be assured it will come shortly after the plan is adopted. For what good is a plan unless someone is forcing the citizens of Anchorage to comply?
This plan is yet another reason to turn over the Anchorage Assembly and get ourselves a new mayor. They need to be removed before they do something really stupid.
Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He was a small business owner and Information Technology professional.
