Thu
Dec 29 2022
07:54 am
U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett: Need more coal power
By: bizgrrl

U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett claims there was a power blackout at his property. He has a barn with heaters to keep the pipes from freezing. He said the heaters did not come back on after the blackout.

Now, U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett wants to start using more coal power.

"Burchett said he believes that putting more attention on coal energy may be part of a solution."

“With coal, we can get it out of the ground in this area and it provides jobs and also vital heating and electricity during a crucial time,” he added."

TVA responds:

"On Dec. 23, TVA claims they supplied more power than at any other time in its nearly 90-year history. However, they added that this was the highest winter power peak in TVA history."

TVAs initial request to conserve power.

I believe this weather/power event could have been handled better. I didn't even hear about the possibility of blackouts until I spoke with someone in Nashville who knew someone in West Tennessee who thinks they went under a blackout. Although, they live in the boonies with little services anyway. I think those that encountered a blackout could have been warned ahead of time in order to prepare. It is not always good to have certain equipment shutdown without warning.

Why didn't they use the government public alert system to warn people? They use it enough for weather events and missing people as well as testing.

Having said that, I don't think coal is the answer I would fall back on. I'm sure an organization/company as big as TVA with the many engineers can come up with a solution for the future.

Maybe U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett could try to help those people that were negatively affected from any blackouts instead of preaching for coal.

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trobinson's picture

He is such an ignorant hack.

Submitted by trobinson on Thu, 2022/12/29 - 10:19am.

He is such an ignorant hack. He should read this article but it doesn't fit his MAGA view of the world so it wouldn't matter to him. Coal and Gas are part of the problem!

Because of the extreme conditions, coal and gas plants and pipelines froze up too, taking them out of commission to deliver energy in areas that run mostly on gas.

(link...)

fischbobber's picture

Tim wants dystopia.

Submitted by fischbobber on Thu, 2022/12/29 - 12:14pm.
(in reply to trobinson)

What didn'ty fail? Indeed what saved our nation is our currently vastly underdeveloped solar and windmill infrastructure. Windmills produced (as I understand) a record amount of energy, due to the national and severe nature of this storm and it's wind, and while coal, gas and other energy supplies were freezing up, solar generated at a higher rate of sunshine behind the front itself.

Why didn't he go to the barn and check on his heaters, like a real farmer would have done?

bizgrrl's picture

"Why didn't he go to the barn

Submitted by bizgrrl on Thu, 2022/12/29 - 2:32pm.
(in reply to fischbobber)

"Why didn't he go to the barn and check on his heaters, like a real farmer would have done?"

Heh.

trobinson's picture

"Why didn't he go to the barn

Submitted by trobinson on Fri, 2022/12/30 - 10:50am.
(in reply to fischbobber)

"Why didn't he go to the barn and check on his heaters, like a real farmer would have done?" Indeed. The electric heaters turned off in my barn. I just went out there and turned on the gas heaters.

He's an ineffectual jerk. I can't believe East Tennessee falls for that crap.

fischbobber's picture

He knows the problem, he's just too lazy to fix it.

Submitted by fischbobber on Mon, 2023/01/02 - 11:15am.

Since putting in an elevated solar farm on our fallow industrial parks would have generated 3.51 MWh per acre, and we have hundreds of acres to build on, we could have had a deal with TVA on contributing to local grid needs during times like we've experienced. We'll also need that energy during heat waves and can produce hydrogen and power our county fleet with it when not in use for emergencies. I guess the real question is what should the function of local government be? Do we want our county government dumping our resources at below market value for ammunition warehouses, subjecting East Knox County to the real possibilities of terrorist attacks, or should we use it to advance our infrastructure to serve the citizenry?

I realize the public has rejected my ideas, but that doesn't make them bad ideas. Perhaps we should take another look at my platform, away from the lights, and view it on its merits. Right now, emergency rooms are non-functional and we're having rolling blackouts due almost exclusively to the way Glenn Jacobs has chosen to run this county?

How many people ignored the call to conserve because of the training they got when the collective use of masking was called for?

From the rolling blackouts thread.

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