{"id":579661,"date":"2021-07-02T10:05:59","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T14:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=579661"},"modified":"2021-07-02T10:06:01","modified_gmt":"2021-07-02T14:06:01","slug":"watch-aoc-proposes-shuttering-coal-plant-that-provides-20-of-puerto-ricos-electricity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-aoc-proposes-shuttering-coal-plant-that-provides-20-of-puerto-ricos-electricity\/","title":{"rendered":"WATCH: AOC Proposes Shuttering Coal Plant That Provides 20% Of Puerto Rico\u2019s Electricity"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwatch-aoc-proposes-shuttering-coal-plant-that-provides-20-of-puerto-ricos-electricity%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=579661&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez-1.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) suggested shuttering \u201ctomorrow\u201d the coal plant that produces one-fifth of Puerto Rico\u2019s electricity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>During a Thursday hearing for the House Natural Resources Committee, the lawmaker expressed a desire to close down AES Puerto Rico\u2019s coal plant in Guayama, which \u2014 according to Center for Industrial Progress founder Alex Epstein, who testified before the committee \u2014 provides 20% of the power for the \u201celectricity-challenged island.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI tried to convince her that this would be beyond devastating to the people of Puerto Rico,\u201d he said on Twitter.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"12.310344827586\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">At today&#8217;s Congressional hearing, Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AOC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AOC<\/a> advocated shutting down &#8220;tomorrow&#8221; the reliable, resilient coal plant that provides *20%* of electricity-challenged Puerto Rico&#8217;s electricity.<\/p>\n<p>I tried to convince her that this would be beyond devastating to the people of Puerto Rico. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bOF0fm7D5w\">pic.twitter.com\/bOF0fm7D5w<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Alex Epstein (@AlexEpstein) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AlexEpstein\/status\/1410398893930516481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 1, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201cNow I want to debunk\u2026 \u2018chicken little\u2019 arguments on how if we would close the coal plants, it would cause catastrophic effects for the energy supply on the island,\u201d Ocasio-Cortez commented during the hearing. \u201cAES could close tomorrow while keeping the lights on and preventing price increases on the island.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cEnergy is the industry that powers every other industry,\u201d Epstein countered. \u201cThe lower cost and more reliable energy is, the lower cost and more reliable everything is, and vice versa. I just want to stress that Puerto Rico\u2019s energy situation is terrible, and one of the reasons I want to testify today is nobody is talking about that. They\u2019re talking about \u2018How do we maintain the status quo?\u2019 The status quo is terrible in Puerto Rico.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt definitely needs more low cost, reliable energy,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd just as one more comment, it doesn\u2019t seem like anyone here knows the actual effect.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Revealing his disappointment that Ocasio-Cortez would consider shutting down the coal plant, Epstein noted that only 2.5% of Puerto Rico\u2019s energy comes from renewable sources.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThis is so disappointing that we\u2019re talking about this so unseriously,\u201d he noted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Later in the hearing, Epstein added: \u201cI don\u2019t mean to pick on Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, but she tweeted that the infrastructure\u2019s failures in Texas are quite literally what happens when you don\u2019t pursue a Green New Deal. No \u2014 in fact, plenty of places around the world can deal with hot and cold when they have enough reliable, resilient electricity. Texas defunded reliable, resilient electricity, including winterization, to pay tens of billions of dollars for unreliable solar and wind that don\u2019t work when you need them the most.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Epstein noted that Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s energy policies \u201cwould make Puerto Rico into truly a consistently third-world country.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The overwhelming <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eia.gov\/state\/print.php?sid=RQ\"><span>majority<\/span><\/a><span> of energy in Puerto Rico comes from oil, natural gas, and coal; as Epstein mentioned, only a tiny fraction comes from solar, wind, and other green sources.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In his extended <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/energytalkingpoints.com\/alex-epstein-congressional-testimony-for-june-30-2021\/\"><span>testimony<\/span><\/a><span>, Epstein elaborated that while poverty in Puerto Rico is rampant, energy continues to be extraordinarily costly:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"25\">\n<p><i><span>Here are three crucial facts that I almost never hear discussed about Puerto Rico. First, the percentage of Puerto Ricans currently living in poverty is 43%. It\u2019s 10% in the 50 states. Second, the cost of energy in Puerto Rico vs. the states is up to 3 times higher. Third, the per capita income in Puerto Rico is $13,000.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>Honorable members, does it strike you as fair that someone earning $13,000 per year should be paying 3 times what you and I pay for the energy that powers our homes? I don\u2019t think that\u2019s fair. And I\u2019m sure you don\u2019t either. So what\u2019s the solution?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>While we are told that solar and wind can provide low-cost, reliable energy, nothing could be further from the truth. Because solar and wind are unreliable, they don\u2019t replace reliable power plants \u2014 they add to the cost of reliable power plants.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/walsh-i-raised-100k-to-fix-aocs-abuelas-home-the-money-was-rejected-heres-what-that-tells-us\"><span>Abuela<\/span><\/a><span>\u201d \u2014 Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s grandmother \u2014 lives in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-9676791\/AOCs-aunt-says-Trump-NOT-blame-lack-aid-struggling-island.html\"><span>Arecibo<\/span><\/a><span>, a town 40 miles west of San Juan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The power source for Arecibo \u2014 and Abuela\u2019s home \u2014 remains unclear. The Daily Wire reached out to Puerto Rico\u2019s energy commission for further information; this article will be updated with any comments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i><span>member<\/span><\/i><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) suggested shuttering \u201ctomorrow\u201d the coal plant that produces one-fifth of Puerto Rico\u2019s electricity.During a Thursday hearing for the House Natural Resources Committee, the lawmaker expressed a &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2313901,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez-1.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"WATCH: AOC Proposes Shuttering Coal Plant That Provides 20% Of Puerto Rico\u2019s Electricity","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-579661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez-1.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"WATCH: AOC Proposes Shuttering Coal Plant That Provides 20% Of Puerto Rico\u2019s Electricity","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2313901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}