Washington Governor Jay Inslee Mandates an All-electric State

Published February 7, 2023

Washington State Governor Jay Inslee, like California’s Governor Newsom, is mandating his state toward an all-electric state.  In doing so, Inslee is demonstrating his visionary limitations, as he cannot see the ugly side of his wind, solar, and EV mandated world.

 For the vast acreage required for wind and solar, it’s pathetic destruction of pristine landscapes!

  1. Further, after decades of working around the world,  wind turbines and solar panels continue to have a live expectancy of about 20 years. To-date there is yet to be discovered a financially viable means of recycling those renewables.  As a result, today’s old wind turbines and solar panels are being dumped into toxic waste dumps.
  2. Today, estimates are that by 2050, with current plans, the quantity of worn-out solar panels, much of its non-recyclable, will constitute double the tonnage of all today’s global plastic waste, along with over 3 million tons per year of unrecyclable materials from worn-out wind turbine blades.

Inslee could enhance his energy literacy by viewing a short 1-minute video produced by Epoch Times TV about renewables that only generate electricity, but manufacture nothing for society. The video has already been viewed by more than 800,000 on social media at https://www.youtube.com/shorts/stf2YrznkZU   

Wind turbine blades are made of a tough but pliable mix of resin and fiberglass—similar to what spaceship parts are made from. Decommissioned blades are difficult and expensive to transport. They can be anywhere from 100 to 300 feet long and must be cut up on-site before getting trucked away on specialized equipment to a landfill that may not have the capacity for the blades. Landfills that do have the capacity may not have equipment large enough to crush them.

Solar panels are mostly made of glass, which has low value as a recycled material, but they also have small amounts of silicon, silver, and copper as well as heavy metals (cadmium, lead, etc.) that some governments classify as hazardous waste. Hazardous waste can only be transported at designated times and via select routes. Because solar panels are delicate and bulky, specialized labor is required to detach and remove them to avoid their shattering and polluting local areas.

Before committing to an all-electric State, Washington has the opportunity to seek decommissioning, restoration, and recycling down to the last dandelion of every wind turbine, solar panel, and EV battery, just like we have for a decommissioned mine, oil, or nuclear sites in America.

Inslee fails to comprehend “the nameplate farce” associated with his “green” renewables:

  1. The  problem with renewables is that they don’t work most of the time!
  2. There should be financial penalties for wind and solar power plants inability to deliver at least 90% of their permitted nameplate ratings on an ANNUAL basis, like their backup competitors of coal, natural gas, and nuclear power plants that provide continuous uninterruptable electricity.
  3. Subsidies and tax credits for wind and solar power plants are based on “nameplate ratings”, thus they should be penalized when they cannot deliver what they have been permitted for.
  4. Practically every windmill or solar panel requires a backup from coal, natural gas, pumped storage hydro, or nuclear, thus understanding electricity generation’s true cost is paramount to choosing and prioritizing our future electricity generating systems.
  5. The percentage of actual electricity generated by renewable sources compared to the nameplate capacity, is about 24 percent.

As a result of the intermittency of wind and solar generated electricity, Inslee is mandating that homes, businesses, hospitals, and the military run on occasional electricity!

Washington, like California, is also phasing out the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035. WA like CA has yet to answer the question: Where are the buyers, outside the elite profile of existing EV owners?

  • The current EV ownership profiles of the oligarchic elite that are highly educated, highly compensated, multi-car families, with low mileage requirements for the families second car, are dramatically different from most vehicle owners that are single-car owners, not highly educated, nor highly compensated. Mandating a change to EV ownership and forced austerity may face a rebellion from those that need transportation.
  • The primary owners of EV’s are the highly educated, most with college degrees, and financially well off with average income of $150,000, and not representative of the majority that are middle to low income folks, or those on fixed incomes.
  • The EV owners represent multi-car families, the limited usage of the EV’s of about 5,000 miles per year is a reflection that the EV is a second vehicle, for those that can afford a second vehicle, and not the family workhorse vehicle.

Through his continuous support of subsidies and tax credits to go “green”, Washington Governor Inslee is providing financial incentives to the developing countries mining for those exotic minerals and metals to support the “green” movement to continue environmental degradation to their local landscapes, and impose humanity atrocities to citizens with yellow, brown, and black skinned workers being exploited for the green movement!

Inslee lacks some energy literacy which may be the reasons he avoids conversations about the ugly side of his “green” mandates. Before anyone in Washington decides to procure wind turbines, solar panels, or an EV, they should read the Pulitzer Prize nominated book “Clean Energy Exploitations”,  and decide for themselves if they wish to financially support the environmental degradation and humanity atrocities among folks with yellow, brown, and black skin occurring in developing countries, so that the wealthy countries can go green.

First published at CFACT.