Energy reality soon to intrude on Obama’s enviros

The enthusiasm of homeowners in those states for views of transmission towers is limited, to say the least.

Michael Morris, CEO of American Electric Power, recently told an audience in New York that to supply 20% of the nation’s electricity needs with wind by 2030 will require the construction of 19,000 circuit miles of extra-high-voltage transmission.

Unless the Obama team is willing to use the right of eminent domain to over-ride all objections from local environmental groups, in the process antagonizing millions of voters, those transmission lines will never get built. Or built only after a 6-year long permitting process, the current average according to Morris.

So, back to coal and nuclear. I would like to be a fly on the wall when Larry Summers explains these ugly facts of energy-sector life to Ms. Browner and her colleagues.

The Week's Best Late-Night Jokes

"And it was cold. It was so cold in Washington, it felt like Hillary's inauguration. It was so cold, Al Gore led a prayer for global warming. In fact, by the end of the inauguration, everybody's face looked like Nancy Pelosi." --Jay Leno
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"I tell you, it's cold all over the East Coast. And did you see those blizzards all over the place? The whole country was so white the Republicans thought they were back in charge again." --Jay Leno