Tag Archives: kasich

Hating On Obamacare Not Really a Great Strategy for GOP Governors

by GiseleDRTxuhaxi Posted on August 25, 2014

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

Does opposing Obamacare hurt you or help you if you’re a Republican governor? To find out, Sam Wang took a look at nine Republican governors who were first elected in 2010 and are now running for reelection. The chart on the right tells the story. Governors who have resisted Medicaid expansion—a key part of Obamacare, and the one that most directly affects individual states—are generally doing poorly. Those who accepted Medicaid expansion are polling pretty well. However, Wang notes that Obamacare probably isn’t entirely responsible for this divide:

Think of the Medicaid expansion as a “proxy variable,” one that is predictive of stands on many other issues. For example, even as Pennsylvania voters have trended toward the Democrats, Corbett got behind several radical redistricting schemes, cut education funding deeply, and compared gay marriage to incest. In Maine, LePage has called legislators idiots and state workers corrupt, told the N.A.A.C.P. to “kiss his butt,” and held multiple meetings with “sovereign citizens” who advocate secession. In short, if you’re too hard-core or offensive, some of your constituents can get turned off.

The Republicans Susana Martinez, of New Mexico, John Kasich, of Ohio, and Rick Snyder, of Michigan, look as strong as they did when they were first elected. All three accepted the Affordable Care Act and its Medicaid expansion….This stance by Martinez, Kasich, and Snyder has been predictive of their support of other issues with that have drawn support from both parties. Martinez and Kasich, for example, have pursued education-reform policies that have gained a lot of traction among both Democrats and Republicans. To the extent that governors hold on to their offices in close races, it may be because they have focussed on issues that are important to the voters in their states rather than the core views of their party.

In other words, refusing the Medicaid expansion is the mark of a true-believing wingnut, and that’s not such a great place to be right now. Conversely, accepting the Medicaid expansion is the mark of a pragmatic conservative, and those folks have remained relatively popular.

Source – 

Hating On Obamacare Not Really a Great Strategy for GOP Governors

Posted in Citizen, FF, GE, LG, ONA, PUR, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Hating On Obamacare Not Really a Great Strategy for GOP Governors

This is how little it costs for states to go renewable

by FidelY93vuggr Posted on June 5, 2014

This is how little it costs for states to go renewable

By

Shutterstock

States can boost renewable energy capacity at bargain-basement prices, a new study finds.

Federal researchers examined the 29 states where renewable portfolio standards (RPS’s) have been in place for more than five years. They concluded that these standards, which require utilities to generate a certain percentage of power from clean sources, led to the development of 46,000 megawatts of renewable capacity up until 2012 — and that they raised electricity rates by an average of less than 2 percent.

NRELClick to embiggen.

(If you’re wondering why California’s green line extends above and below the zero-cost line, it’s because the researchers used two different methodologies — one suggested that the state’s ambitious standard resulted in net costs, while the other suggested that it actually resulted in net savings.)

The researchers, scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, also examined other studies that have attempted to quantify the economic impacts of RPS policies: “A number of the studies examined economic development benefits annually or over the lifespan of the renewable energy projects, with benefits on the order of $1-$6 billion, or $22-30/MWh of renewable generation.” RPS’s can also help make electricity prices more stable, the researchers note.

And, as there’s more to life than electricity prices and economic development, it’s worth noting that RPS’s also contribute to water savings, cleaner air, and a more stable climate.

Nonetheless, renewable energy standards have been targeted by right-wing groups like American Legislative Exchange Council, which are pushing state legislatures to repeal them. The RPS foes are poised to score their first victory in Ohio. As Grist’s Eve Andrews wrote last week, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) is expected to sign a bill that would freeze the state’s renewable-energy and energy-efficiency standards.

It’s not just enviros and climate hawks who are bemoaning that development. Honda, Whirlpool, and 49 other businesses operating in Ohio sent a letter to Kasich on Wednesday objecting to the move. “Freezing the standards for two years creates a start-stop effect that will confuse the marketplace, disrupt investment and reduce energy savings for customers during this period,” they wrote. “We expect the result will be higher electric bills and less investment.”


Source
A Survey of State-Level Cost and Benefit Estimates of Renewable Portfolio Standards, NREL
51 businesses, 21 organizations in letter to Kasich: S.B. 310 will be harmful to Ohioans’ electric bills, burgeoning renewable industries, Columbus Business First

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Business & Technology

,

Climate & Energy

Source: 

This is how little it costs for states to go renewable

Posted in ALPHA, Anchor, FF, G & F, GE, green energy, LAI, LG, ONA, solar, Uncategorized, Whirlpool | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on This is how little it costs for states to go renewable