UPDATED! $2.2B Obama Ivanpah Project Shutting Down, Leaving Behind 173K Thermal Collectors; The purple-haired DeLauro update!

Christina Aguayo . . . "So - the $2.2 billion Obama-era green energy investment meant to benefit the environment depended on natural gas because of cloud cover, killed tens of thousands of birds, displaced hundreds of desert tortoises causing risk of higher mortality, destroyed rare plant species and sacred Indigenous sites, and had ecological costs that outweighed its benefits.

"Plus the site's altered ecosystem may never fully recover.

"This marks the latest in a long list of Obama DOE funded large scale solar plants that went belly up.

"According to Solar Insure, 16 large solar companies have gone under since 2023, with over 100 solar companies filing for bankruptcy in the year 2023 alone."

Comment from a reader: "The plants are shutting down, but the infrastructure in place will be reused for solar panels. However i will agree the plant is a failure. The plant’s design basically uses mirrors to heat molten salt. That molten salt is then used to heat water. However at night, the mirrors cant direct enough radiation to keep the motel salt, molten, so the molten salt cools and hardens. Meaning the plant needs natural gas to keep it running at night or it hardens and no longer works. The plant is being sold to pg&e and edison (everyone hates these two)."

By the way, "Turtoys" should have been "Tortoise". TD

UPDATE: Finally, An Administration That’s Changing The Climate Narrative – Issues & Insights . . . "In a town where hot air, witless politicians, and ruinous policies outweigh sensibility, Zeldin gives hope. Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that “Zeldin has fundamentally shifted both the EPA’s mission and the words he uses to describe it.”

"Rather than harping on terms such as “global warming,” “energy efficiency,” “pollution,” “toxics,” and “public health,” Zeldin instead uses “energy dominance,” “American energy,” “economic growth,” “red tape,” and “cost of living,” the Times complained. The narrative swing is apparently part of Zeldin’s effort to oversee “a systematic unraveling of climate change protections.”

"To the Times and the rest of the true believers, the climate grifters, the gullible and useful idiots, and the revolutionaries on the left, this is a tragedy.