John Prine likely gave Paradise, Kentucky, its greatest fame.
And daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I’m sorry my son, but you’re too late in asking
Mister Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away
Now Paradise has another claim to fame as @RealDonaldTrump weighed in challenging the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) comprehensive research, analysis, and planning made clear that shutting “Unit #3” (a coal-fired power plant) is in ratepayer interest.
Unit 3, which went online in 1970, has deteriorated with age and has had a relatively high rate of unplanned shutdowns.
Keeping it running would require expensive mechanical and environmental upgrades
As Michael Bloomberg accurately put it replying to Trump, “As any business leader knows, the top consideration at @TVAnews is cost. Phasing out that coal plant will save Kentuckians money (not to mention their air & water).”
To provide some context as to Unit #3, it is a 50-year old plant that directly employs 131 people. Every year, its economics are worsening as its inefficiency, repair challenges reducing availability, and changing electricity markets reduce demands for it to produce electrons. In 2017, its capacity factor (what share of the time it was producing electricity) was just 25.47%. And, that lowered demand for generating services occurred even as two other coal-facilities (Units #1 and #2) were fully retired in 2017.
Clearly, within the local economics, this plant has an impact — between those 131 direct jobs and indirect employment (truck drivers delivery coal, some coal miners, restaurants relying on the business). This local economic impact, the only substantive argument for keeping the plant open, is real and should be addressed. This is, however, a “positive” externality just like coal pollution hurting human health and damaging the climate is an externality not included in the financial equation. Smart policy should incorporate externalities. In the case of the ‘positive’ externality, smart policy would incorporate TVA’s sensible decision-making, in the best interest of ratepayers and the region’s economic viability, with investment to provide a just and healthy transition for Paradise as the coal-plant is closed due to basic ‘business leader’ economic decision-making. Regretfully, unlikel Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump has (and his GOP enablers have) never shown substantive (as opposed to false rhetorical interest) in securing the long-term economic and social interests of America’s coal-miners and coal communities as 21st century reality lowers the viability of their resource extraction economies.
As to Trump’s out-of-the-blue engagement to drive TVA decision-making away from that in the interest of its ratepayers and larger community,
Not surprising, Trump’s tweet led to 10,000s of engagements. Many mindless Cult Of Trump, of course, along with fantasy fossil foolish comments (like claiming the future is the fairy-tale “clean coal”). On the other hand, quite a few substantive comments making clear simple reality:
- With every passing day, coal is a less important part of the U.S. (and global) electricity system. In the United States, coal was over 50 percent of the grid a decade ago and 30 percent today. And, as coal-generated electrons evaporated from the grid, the lights keep on and the economy boomed. The average person simply didn’t see the difference, other than reduced electricity bills, from flipping the switch on with cleaner electrons.
- Unit #3 is inefficient, unreliable, and less competitive with every passing day. Its operating costs, per kilowatt hour, are above the price it can sell its electricity. E.g., it is losing money with every electron it produces. It is not a viable entity in a capitalist economy.
There is yet another twist in the equation. Trump has been been a (corrupt) elephant in the china shop, breaking norms while likely breaking laws left, right, and center. In this situation, in addition to bringing Presidential visibility to a relatively small decision-space being executed by a competent planning process, Trump is intervening in what should be a commercial decision-making and putting serious pressure on public servants to skew decision-making. That is norm breaking in action. On top of that, there is a viable question to ask whether this goes past breaking norms to breaking laws. Is this a(nother) situation of corrupt Trumpian “Pay-to-Play”.
The primary provider of coal to Unit #3? Robert Murray’s firm.
Murray was a major contributor to the Trump campaign. An ‘advisor’ who had unique access to and influence over the Trump transition teams into the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency. Acting (and likely soon to be confirmed as) EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeling was a Murray lobbyist. Murray was a six-figure contributor to the Trump Inauguration. Yes, that inauguration committee that is under investigation for whether there was ‘pay to play’ and which remains unclear as to where it put its nearly $100M in contributions. (How much of that money went into Trump’s pockets? How many dollars were payoffs to people around Trump? How many were …??) Did Trump’s “Unit #3 tweet” not just give more fame to Paradise, Kentucky, but also raise a new angle for legal investigation?
UPDATE
Corruption only goes so far as does Donald Trump’s influence. Despite Trump’s aggressive tweet, TVA went forward with decision to retired Unit #3.