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US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

arstechnica.com

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Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#531

Post by insane_dreamer »

3form wrote: post #527
SamDc73 wrote: post #218

Yes, turbine blades can introduce radar clutter and affect certain military systems; but this has been know since the 1990s and has been engineered around for decades. China, the UK, Germany, and Denmark operate gigawatts of offshore wind in close proximity to military-grade and NATO air-defense radar without much issue...

There could be new developments in the problem. For example, small scale drones using these areas as entry points. Not to say that's that, but I think it's not impossible that something new is being taken under consideration.

Under other circumstances I might be inclined to give the benefit of the doubt. But when's the last time we saw any action from this admin that wasn't clearly self-dealing or ideologically motivated instead of science-based?

Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#532

Post by softwaredoug »

trymas wrote: post #492
softwaredoug wrote: post #330

The real takeaway is when a big project can be paused entirely due to one presidents very specific / frivolous whims - we won’t be able to do big projects in the current order. We need a shift in the constitutional order where the whims of one person isnt fused with the bureaucracy

> We need a shift in the constitutional order where the whims of one person isnt fused with the bureaucracy Correct me if I'm wrong, though there are already protections there. It's just president, senate, congress, SCOTUS all agree on this. IMHO - most effective constitutional change would be to get rid of first past the post election system, electoral colleges, gerrymandering, etc. I think USA's two party system ma…

The US has had worse structural power imbalances in the past. It’s gotten over them (after a generation or more) by

- coalition shifts - every election, new groups going and out of each party

- demographic shifts - shrinking / growing / moving around of different groups

- external shock - war / depression / ?? changes incentives of governance (see Civil War, Great Depression)

- hegemons dilemma - the in power party over time goes through in fighting, over confidence, etc (see Republicans becoming corrupt in The Gilded Age)

Alternate constitutional order can mean a lot besides amendments - or even using Federal power. It can be about organizing economic power to reject illegitimacy. It can mean organizing the Democratic Party differently as more of a shadow set of social institutions that support people. It can mean leveraging state power, and building coalitions of blue states. Or other creative approaches to power.

Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#533

Post by softwaredoug »

duxup wrote: post #518
softwaredoug wrote: post #330

The real takeaway is when a big project can be paused entirely due to one presidents very specific / frivolous whims - we won’t be able to do big projects in the current order. We need a shift in the constitutional order where the whims of one person isnt fused with the bureaucracy

The laws exist, SCOTUS majority just doesn’t want to enforce them because their guy is in power.

Maybe but I think it’s more about they think in terms of unitary executive. So if there’s any discretion given the agencies - I don’t know in this case - SCOTUS lets the president decide.

In many ways this is more how a parliamentary democracy exists that a republic.

Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#534

Post by herewulf »

tim333 wrote: post #517
Kye wrote: post #513

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are wind turbines remotely similar? I would have thought something mounted high up on an always-moving top would have to be smaller, lighter, and sturdier than something that sits on the ground in a controlled environment. I'm not sure the two are in competition for production.

I think it's more a shortage of electricity generation in general.

I asked Gemini if this was true and my city blacked out.

Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#535

Post by duxup »

softwaredoug wrote: post #533
duxup wrote: post #518

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The laws exist, SCOTUS majority just doesn’t want to enforce them because their guy is in power.

Maybe but I think it’s more about they think in terms of unitary executive. So if there’s any discretion given the agencies - I don’t know in this case - SCOTUS lets the president decide. In many ways this is more how a parliamentary democracy exists that a republic.

POTUS power has already extended well beyond even congress.

Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#536

Post by vablings »

Forgeties79 wrote: post #383
vablings wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We have seen what Boeing has become when it's effectively unregulated. I think this is vastly overstated by the media. Boeing is still heavily regulated and has a pretty good safety record compared 20 or 30 years prior. The biggest disaster of recent times (MCAS) was because of the tight regulations around type certification and trying to avoid costs to carriers > Some things need to be regulated, esp. if mistakes…

> and trying to avoid costs to carriers Isn’t that just code for trying to violate regulations without getting caught?

Yes but no. They wanted as many pilots to fly the new aircraft as possible without having to get them re-type certified which is pretty expensive. The issue is that pilots were completely unaware of the MCAS and when it malfunctioned there was not correct training in place because the system was "a hidden abstraction"

Clearly the system worked as intended because nobody had to be re-certified to fly the aircraft but being completely unaware of an additional control layer is dangerous and should have been known about by pilots, but Boeing kept it hidden.

Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#537

Post by vablings »

rbanffy wrote: post #530
UltraSane wrote: post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A fully paid off nuclear reactor is extremely profitable because of little fuel cost.

Operating a commercial reactor and keeping it up to regulations isn’t exactly cheap. It requires people, periodic inspections, maintenance, and lots of paperwork to prove you are not cutting corners.

When the cost of people is more than the cost of equipment, upkeep and maintenance that is arguably exactly when overregulation becomes burdensome

Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#538

Post by Retric »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #501
Retric wrote: post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I mean, if you’re going to dispute my point without providing any evidence Pure Americium-241 is extremely radioactive 0.0000045 grams of the stuff puts off useful amounts of radiation for smoke detectors, it’s half life is also 432 years. As an alpha emitter it’s not that bad to stand next to but internally it doesn’t take much to be lethal.

Awesome. So how does one go about diverting this from nuclear waste storage to the diet of average citizens, as an act of terrorism? Also, I don’t know how to gauge “useful amounts of radiation for smoke detectors”. α-particles can be stopped by a sheet of paper.

> diverting this from nuclear waste storage

This is a manufactured product not waste from a nuclear reactor. We use it because it’s an alpha emitter, there’s harder to shield material with similar half lives they are just less useful. I bring this up because longer half lives don’t mean safety. If you’re looking for a weapon, salted nukes are the stuff of nightmares if they use something with a month long half life or several hundred years.

> I don’t know how to gauge

And that’s the issue here, you need to do some more research before making such statements.

Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#539

Post by sleight42 »

PleasureBot wrote: post #524
softwaredoug wrote: post #330

The real takeaway is when a big project can be paused entirely due to one presidents very specific / frivolous whims - we won’t be able to do big projects in the current order. We need a shift in the constitutional order where the whims of one person isnt fused with the bureaucracy

Half of the USA, or at least half of its voting population, now supports the idea that the role of government is simply to be an extension of the personality of the Chief Executive. Essentially, whatever Trump feels is the policy of the government and therefor is the law.

I guess you're being downvoted because either: 1) Too many conservative tech bros here or 2) independent voters may not be aligned with this crap yet many voted for him anyway.

Probably both.

Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#540

Post by jeffbee »

michelsedgh wrote: post #351
jeffbee wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're thinking of an actually quite small solar-thermal plant, which is bankrupt because solar-thermal is a dumb idea.

If its a dumb idea, why waste billions of dollars on it? Do you know how much pollution that shutted down plant is? It was HugE I've gone past it. So much waste for a "dumb idea"

This is what's wrong with Americans in one succinct example. "Look at all the pollution from this field of mirrors" he thinks while driving on the freeway to Las Vegas.
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