The Story:
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), an arm of the electricity industry, has published a “reliability assessment” that takes an optimistic view of the reliability of electrical power in the U.S. and Canada. Its report is taken by some as a rebuke to the U.S. Secretary of Energy, who has asserted that there is a crisis, that urgent measures are necessary to preserve the reliability of such power.
Background:
It is on the basis of Secretary Perry’s belief that the grid is in crisis that his Department argues the federal government should make life easier for the coal and uranium industries, both of which supply “baseload” power that can resolve the “crisis.”
The Thing to Know:
Critics of coal and of nuclear power maintain that Perry is promoting a crisis atmosphere precisely to justify subsidizing Earth-destroying energy sources. The NERC’s report won’t end debate, but it will give Perry’s opponents ammunition.
