The President's Daily Brief - August 11th, 2022. Special Brief: Hawaii, a Case Study of Our Upcoming Energy Crisis.

Episode Date: August 11, 2022

It’s August 11th. You’re listening to the President’s Daily Brief. Your morning intel starts now. ------ Welcome to this Special Edition of the President’s Daily Brief.  And it’s very special indeed, because America is about to undergo an energy revolution. There is a $380B climate change bill that is set to pass the House of Representatives tomorrow following its previous passage in the Senate. After tomorrow’s vote, it heads to the desk of Joe Biden who will sign it. That means, soon enough, states in this country will be changing the way we power our lives — our cars, our homes, our businesses — everything. So how will this energy revolution work? And will it work? Well, we have a test case this morning that we’re going to talk about: the state of Hawaii. They’ve been at it for seven years now. And if Hawaii is any indication, we are gonna see a real green energy mess.  That cautionary tale is the focus of today’s Special Edition of the PDB — it’s a deep dive into what went wrong, why, and lessons that you can learn for your state. And, as always, I’ve got one more thing before I let you go. A comment from a listener named Ryan // he emailed and suggested I’m a lazy conservative and wrong to say that the NY Times and Washington Post are Democrat newspapers. So I’ll give you the data and history on these two newspapers, and then you can decide who’s right. ------ Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief. Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's August 11th. You're listening to the President's Daily Brief. I'm your host and former CIA Officer Brian Dean Wright. Your morning intel starts now. Welcome to this special edition of the President's Daily Brief, and it is very special indeed, because America is about to undergo an energy revolution. There is a $380 billion climate change bill that is set to pass the House of Representatives tomorrow following its previous passage in the Senate. So after tomorrow's it heads to the desk of Joe Biden who will sign it. And that means soon enough, states in this country will be changing the way that we power our lives. For instance, our cars, our homes, our businesses, everything.

So how will this energy revolution work? And will it work? Well, we have a test case this morning that we are going to talk about. It's the state of Hawaii. Now, they've been at it for seven years now, and if Hawaii is any indication, we are going to see a real green energy mess. So that cautionary tale is the focus of today's PDB. It's a deep dive into what went wrong, why,

and lessons that you can learn for your state. And as always, I've got one more thing before I let you go, a comment from a listener named Ryan. So he emailed and he suggested that, unfortunately, I am a lazy conservative and wrong to say that the New York Times and Washington Post are Democrat newspaper. So I'll give you the data and the history on these two newspapers, and then you can decide who's right. But first, let's get started with today's special brief.

In Washington, D.C. tomorrow, the Inflation Reduction Act is set to get a vote in the House of Representatives, and by all indications, it will pass without issue. Meanwhile, Joe Biden will likely sign it shortly thereafter, probably early next week. Now, as I've shared with you before, the name of the bill is inaccurate. So to recap, this bill is really the remnants of Biden's build-back better plan, plus the new Green Deal. In other words, this is a climate change bill, renamed and trimmed down from the trillions of dollars in spending to merely hundreds of billions.

Regardless, it's a game changer, whether you like it or not. So there are billions in tax credits to install solar panels, wind turbines, battery production, the electric vehicles, you name it. it is in there. Now, to be fair, there are some provisions in support of traditional forms of energy, especially helpful for big oil companies, but make no mistake, this bill is about fostering what proponents call a green energy revolution. It is, as environmentalists are now saying, a down payment on the new climate change era, with many more bills like this one to come. So it's fair than to ask, how is this revolution going to go and will it work? So this morning,

we're going to talk about that test case of Hawaii and how they have managed their green revolution. On the surface, it should be a perfect laboratory for Joe Biden and his party. It's a state run from top to bottom by fellow Democrats who believe passionately about climate change and ditching fossil fuels. And at a distance, it would seem that the revolution is going pretty well. A week back, there were celebratory headlines on CNN and New York Times that Hawaii was taking its last shipment of coal. It was the end of the line for Hawaii's last remaining coal plant located on the island of Oahu. Hawaii's governor declared at the moment a huge step forward in Hawaii's transition to clean energy. And he went on to say that in its time, coal was an important

resource for Hawaii, but no longer. And he said he was grateful to all the workers who had been running the plant for so long, workers who are now unemployed. Now that coal plant, supplied reliable power to tens of thousands of homes in Oahu, or about 10% of the island's needs. Now, to be specific about this, it supplied about 180 megawatts of power. And I want you to remember that number, 180 megawatts, because it'll become very important in a couple of minutes. All right, so a week after those celebratory headlines and statements from the governor about No More Cole, there was this headline from a local newspaper. Hey, Oahu, your electric bill is about to go up.

Now, the article went on to explain that electricity prices are going to go up at least 7% when the coal plant shuts down. But why? Well, Hawaii is replacing that dirty coal, as it were, with oil. And that's weird for lots of reasons. First, because oil is a fossil fuel, obviously, and the Green Revolution is supposed to be getting rid of all of that. But there's another reason why it's pretty weird.

oil has become very expensive, largely because of the unpredictable war in Ukraine. Now, at current prices, the cost for Oahu's oil electricity will be about 30 cents per kilowatt hour compared to 6 cents for coal. That's according to the local utility Hawaiian electric. So what's going on here? How can it be that Hawaii's governor is celebrating this big push for green energy when really he and his state are just adopting oil, which, as it turns out, is a fossil fuel and five times more expensive to boot.

You know, what happened to all the solar and wind energy? Well, to understand this bizarre situation, you have to go back to 2015. That's when the governor of Hawaii signed a bill for state utilities to generate 100% of their electricity from renewable energy, all within 30 years. Now, that led to an initial boom in planning for big green energy projects. So if we look at the numbers here, they drew up plans. for nine big solar farms, and they've built one. Meanwhile, they purchased some very big industrial batteries to store that solar energy, but not as many as they ultimately needed. Those batteries,

once again, are very important because even in Hawaii, sometimes the sun doesn't shine, like at night. So the energy has to come from somewhere in those dark hours, and that means some very big batteries to make up for it. Now, stepping back, if you knew that your solar projects were way behind on development. You had nine on the drawing board, but only one built. Well, the prudent thing would be to hold off on shutting down your traditional energy plants like coal until that solar was up and running. But a couple years ago, the state government decided, nah, let's just do it.

Shut her down. So that's what they did. The governor and legislature drafted a law that demanded that the last coal plant be shut down by September of 2022, no matter what. Well, you can probably guess where this is headed. About a year ago, the Public Utilities Commission started waving a flag. They told the governor, the legislature, and the utility company that the numbers weren't adding up. So remember that figure that I mentioned earlier, the 180 megawatts from the coal plant? Well, if you look at the one solar project that was built, that was 49 megawatts, right?

Far short of the 180 that it was supposed to replace. Plus, the Public Utilities Commission found that all the other solar projects in the planning stages, well, depending on what gets built and when, you might never get to that 180 megawatts. Well, the governor and legislature and Hawaiian Electric ignored or otherwise dismissed those concerns from the Public Utilities Commission. So, now here we are. The coal plant will be shut down per law as of September 1st, but there's not enough solar energy to replace it, or battery capacity for that matter. And that means that Hawaii was forced to buy

very expensive oil from abroad to prevent blackouts. So I want to emphasize something before we take a quick break. It wasn't just the Public Utility Commission that raised concerns. So investigative journalists have asked Hawaiian Electric to confirm that all those solar projects being considered will in fact add up to the 180 megawatts that the coal plant used to provide. Plus, they asked, what's the deadline for all that capacity? Well, Hawaiian Electric refused to confirm anything. The only thing that they have said is that lots of solar capacity is coming someday, but that current delays have pushed things back. The delays, by the way, were supply chain factors and, quote, other issues, end quote. So, folks, those are the facts this morning out of

Hawaii on their seven-year journey to a green energy revolution. And we When we come back, I'm going to offer up my counsel to you if we were in the White House. Plus, three steps that you can take to avoid becoming Hawaii. We'll be right back. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th, and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th.

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These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Welcome back to this special edition of the PDB. We're talking this morning about the Inflation Reduction Act, which is really about climate change. That bill is full of $370 billion worth of incentives to switch to renewable energy, and no doubt that states will rush to do so. But if they follow the example of Hawaii, we could be in a nationwide mess. and that's because Hawaii had seven years of planning and execution to move its energy production

over to renewables. And let's recap what it got them. Well, they shut down their coal plant because it was too dirty and then they replaced it instead with oil, which I guess isn't dirty. Meanwhile, they're planning to replace the coal and oil with solar energy, but only one of the nine projects has been built. Now, hopefully the rest will too, but nobody will say that that is for certain. And meanwhile, the people of Hawaii will pay more for their electricity, which isn't even green and was already some of the most expensive in the country. But not to worry, says the Democrat governor, it's all a huge step forward for Hawaii's transition to clean energy. Oh, dear. So, ladies and gentlemen, as the House of Representatives prepares to vote for the big climate change bill tomorrow,

and we see the inevitable rush of states embracing the green energy revolution, here is my counsel to you. Don't be Hawaii. I mean, it's really that simple. Hawaii is showing the nation exactly what not to do. The Democrat governor and Democrat supermajority and the legislature are caught up in what I have previously described you as the great madness. They knew that they didn't have enough solar power or battery packs to replace their coal plant.

but they shut it down anyway. And then they knew that they would have to replace coal with oil, which is a fossil fuel, contrary to their own goals, but they did it anyway. And they knew that the people and businesses of Hawaii would suffer from even higher electricity prices because they were doing this, but they did it anyway. And the peak of this madness is that the Democrat governor still calls this moment, quote, a huge step forward in Hawaii's transition to clean energy, end quote. It's also laughably absurd.

It's so illogical that you're almost waiting for someone to tell you that it's a big joke, but it's not. It's real. Look, I don't mean to dump on Hawaii this morning. It's an incredibly beautiful state. But this example to me is a canary in the coal mine. I think we're going to see a lot more of this, a lot more. And that's because there are billions of dollars and incentives on the table after this latest bill passes.

And that bait is just too sweet to pass up. And just to be clear, I earnestly don't have a problem with folks who want to switch to solar or wind. The problem is that you are replacing reliable energy with something that's not reliable. You are basing the entirety of your future economy, the health and the well-being of your people, on technology that may or may not work. I mean, wouldn't it have been more prudent for Hawaii to first build out the renewable capacity, kick the tires on it for a while, and then switch over once you know that the whole thing works? I mean, that would at least be logical, even if a person doesn't believe in climate change.

And on that note, actually, if you're going to switch to renewables, let's be honest that it's not going to do a darn thing about your climate goals. And that's because China pumps more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than the U.S., Canada, and Europe combined. And they're increasing their emissions, not decreasing. So all of these renewable projects get offset immediately. There is no gain. look, if you agree that this is madness, that our leaders are abandoning logic and facts and reason,

well, I've got three steps that you can take right now to prevent your state from becoming Hawaii. First, understand who provides your electricity, your local utility. Ask them how they produce your electricity as of today and their plans for the future. Look on their websites, give them a call, ask them about price increases or decreases related to their future plans. You have every right to know these answers, or if they don't have them. Now, with that information in hand, here's the second step. Look into your state's Public Utilities Commission.

Figure out who is on it and how they got on it. Is it an appointed position, or can you run for it, like running for office? But either way, consider getting involved. If nothing else, go to meetings and document them. Ask very specific questions about. how or if they plan to change the state's energy mix. For instance, are they going to dump 180 megawatts of coal? And if so, what is the plan to replace it and what's the timeline? And based on all of that, you will be armed with what is to come in your state or your utility

district. And if that knowledge leaves you uneasy, consider step number three. Run for state representative or state senator. Seriously. Because as we saw in Hawaii, they are the people that determine this from what's allowed to operate to the permitting process for new energy projects. And if running for office isn't your cup of tea, find someone that you support who is running for local or state office and help them. Because I'll tell you what, my friends, if you don't get on this stuff now at the local and state level, you are going to get Hawaii. And I am not talking about the tan. By the way, if you're in Hawaii, email me and let me know what you're seeing. I may even come out and do a podcast or two on this. So my email, as always, is

PDB at thefirsttv.com. And with that, one more thing before I'd let you go. A listener named Ryan emailed and said, well, sadly, I am a lazy conservative who is wrong to suggest that the New York Times and Washington Post are Democrat newspapers. So we are going to talk about that and see if you agree. We'll be right back. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond,

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A comment this morning from Ryan S. He emailed after the brief that I gave you on the FBI. Specifically my suggestion that when former FBI director James Comey leaked to the New York Times or when he writes for the Washington Post, it demonstrates their bias, their support for Democrats and against Republicans. So here's what Ryan wrote. Multiple mentions today of Democrat newspapers. Come on. Seriously, I really, really thought you were better than this, Brian. This kind of lazy, conservative talk just erodes your credibility. I know you're a conservative on a conservative network, but please do much better, or else you're going to start losing people. Love the show otherwise. Well, look, Ryan, I sincerely appreciate you writing in. I really appreciate it. I could hear your anger and your disappointment as I read it and, frankly, a little bit of snark too, but that's all right. So let me present my case to you and to everybody else, and then you all can decide. So let's start this broadly. Do you think that the media in general in this country is biased? Now, as you think about your answer, consider this from 15 years ago. An analysis by MSNBC.com found that 87% of journalist donors who made contributions from 2004 to 2008 gave to Democrats. Again, 87% to Democrats.

So moving forward in time, the Media Research Center found that from 2008 to 2016, 94% of donors affiliated with the Big Five news outlets contributed to Democrats. Again, 94% to Democrats. During the 2016 election cycle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the Center for Public Integrity found that 96% of campaign donations by roughly 480 media employees went to Clinton. Again, 96% to a Democrat. Meanwhile, we've seen the same trend not only in legacy media, you know, newspapers and TVs and such, but also in social media too. The former CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey said in a congressional hearing a couple years ago that, quote, he fully admits

that Twitter employees share a left-leaning bias, end quote. So data backs him up for sure on that one. according to the Federal Elections Commission, 99% of Twitter employees donated to Democrats. That is a North Korea number right there. All right. So now that we've established clear data showing a media bias in this country many years long and that it's largely in favor of Democrats, let's dive into the New York Times and Washington Post specifically

because they are arguably the nation's most important newspapers. So let's start with the New York Times. If you look at the editorial side of things, the New York Times hasn't endorsed a Republican for president since Dwight Eisenhower in 1956. That would suggest a degree of bias. And that's almost certainly true. Consider this. The recent New York Times opinion editor, Barry Weiss, quit the Times because the paper wasn't allowing conservative voices to be heard. And when she did publish something, an opinion piece from Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican, back during the BLM riots of 2020,

there was an outrage by Times employees. Here's a tweet from one of their straight news reporters. Quote, running this Tom Cotton op-ed puts black New York Times staff in danger, end quote. Now, Ryan, if you are still not convinced, I want to tell you about a hidden camera interview of someone named Des Shue, who at the time was curating the front page of the New York Times.com. Now, in that interview, this person said of the newspaper, quote, it is widely, widely understood to be a left-leaning organization. She went on to say, quote,

our main stories are supposed to be objective, but it's very difficult in this day and age to do that. The business model in this time is built on what readers want, and a lot of them are liberal, end quote. Now, the same is true of the Washington Post. The Post has endorsed Democrat presidential candidates for at least nine presidential elections and has never endorsed a Republican for president.

And why is that, do you think? Well, just like the New York Times, the Washington Post gives their readers what they want. That's because, according to a 2014 Pew Research Center survey, the majority of the Washington Post's audience, 61% identified as a Democrat or a leftist, just 7% were conservative. And if that's not convincing,

consider their own review of their coverage of the 2016 presidential election. The Post admitted far more positive stories of Hillary Clinton and far more negative of Donald Trump. So all in all, that's why I said that the New York Times and Washington Post are liberal or Democrat media outlets. I think that their data show that, their story selection process show that, their opinion writers show that, and who they endorse for president also show that. But as always, I will let you all decide if Ryan is right on this one, me and that ladies and gentlemen concludes your morning brief as always we close out the show reminding each other of why we are here talking about our country and our world it's the

creed of every good spy and every smart American it's from John chapter 8 verse 32 and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free good day