Electric grid operators warn of potential summer blackouts
Coal plant closures must ‘completely’ stop as nationwide summer blackouts loom, energy advocate says
States closing 'too many' coal, nuclear plants amid summer electricity blackouts
FOX Business' Jeff Flock speaks to Power the Future executive director Daniel Turner on the energy sector's concern that not enough new generation plants are being built to replace old ones.
While some major cities are already seeing their lights go off due to electricity use overload, grid operators and energy advocates gave a warning to states closing their coal-fired power plants even quicker than they can build new ones.
"Any plans to remove nuclear plants or coal power plants or natural gas plants that are slated to be closed, that has to be completely suspended," Power the Future executive director Daniel Turner told FOX Business’ Jeff Flock Tuesday.
Eighty coal-fired power plants are slated to close across 14 states in the next six years, Flock mentioned in his report, which poses a threat as some blackouts have already begun and coal and nuclear power still source 41% of the country’s electricity, according to the Energy Information Administration.
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"Many coal plants and nuclear plants can come back online," Turner pointed out. "They've maybe been turned off and decommissioned, but they haven't been torn down."
With the nationwide closure of coal and nuclear power plants, energy experts and advocates are warning Americans will face higher electric bills and possible summer blackouts. (AP Newsroom)
Joe Petrowski, former CEO of Cumberland Farms Gulf Oil Group, claimed the plant closures resulting from a green energy push will cause the "next big crisis" for Americans on "Mornings with Maria" Tuesday.
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Joe Petrowski, former CEO of Cumberland Farms Gulf Oil Group, argues that West Texas Intermediate crude futures will trade over $150 a barrel by the end of the summer and the national average for gas will be over $6.
"It's going to make what’s happening in liquid fuels look like a speed bump in the shopping parking lot compared to what will happen in electricity," Petrowski further cautioned on the issue.
"We’re shutting down coal plants, which I’m for," he continued. "We’re decommissioning nuclear because people just don’t want nuclear in their backyard, even though the French get 85 to 90% and natural gas is now $7, going to 10. So we are going to have a huge spike in electric prices."
As the Biden administration pushes for clean and renewable energy, the rest of the world still runs on coal, with 37% of global electricity being fueled by the natural resource.