FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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Arizona Rejects Tom Steyer’s Energy Destruction Proposition

Nov. 7, 2018 (EIRNS)—Arizona voters have rejected a proposal to require electricity utilities to rely on renewable resources for 50% of their power by 2030. San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer backed the measure, but it was opposed by major electricity provider Arizona Public Service and its owner, a national power conglomerate, Pinnacle West Capital Corporation. The Arizona Chamber of Commerce, Gov. Doug Ducey, the Navajo Nation, and the Arizona Farm Bureau joined the utility in opposition.

Steyer has been a vocal financial backer of Democratic candidates during this campaign and has, according to online magazine Slate, opposed negotiating with Republicans on issues like infrastructure. Instead, he asked,

“What can they do to punish people? What can they actively do so that there is a punishment, some cost, for lying to Congress, for breaking the law, for breaking your word to the Constitution? That’s the question. And that’s what impeachment is.”

Ironically, he was referring to punishing Trump and his allies rather than Democrats in Congress, Robert Mueller, or his co-conspirators.

The utility argued that it could not maintain a stable energy supply with 50% unreliable and intermittent sources like wind and solar, and that the price would increase by $1,000 per year per customer. Arizona’s Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, the largest in the nation, provides “clean,” but not “renewable” energy, that, the utility argued, already puts Arizona above the 50% clean energy level. Arizona’s voters apparently agreed.