MassHole
I lived in the vicinity of Portland, Maine, for about four years, commuting to Logan Airport in Boston. One month I car-pooled with a woman who actually grew up in Portland, one of the few native Mainers I had encountered. Most of my Maine acquaintances were, like me, from away, or as they call such beasts in Virginia where I now live, come heres.
Taking advantage of her thirty or so years of Maine background knowledge, I was picking her brain for useful nuggets of Maine Vacationland gold. At one point, we were discussing skiing. My skiing experience was mostly confined to the Rockies, but I was curious about nearby opportunities. I asked her about Sunday River, a Maine ski area near the New Hampshire border.
She replied that the skiing was good but cautoned that a lot of MassHoles skied there. That was the first time I had heard the term, and it just so perfectly captured the essence of the Massachusetts tourists or second home owners who ascend upon Maine on weekends in the summer, touching down at high speed in their Mercedes, BMWs, Volvos or other luxury automobile models, that I had to laugh.
Of course, these were not ordinary Massachusettsans. The stereotype, however, was shared by most Mainers, native or resident aliens. The shirt was stuffed, the slacks were tailored, the airs were confident, often appearing put on and hinting at arrogance. They had made it and wanted everyone to know that. They also drove like they owned the roads, perhaps thinking they were owed as much because of the exorbitant amounts of income they paid to the state that is also known as Taxachusetts. After all, one of their motives for having a second home in Maine was to lighten up on their tax burden.
Words somewhat fail me in trying to come up with the precise description of this type. It would perhaps be best to use analogy. For if you have paid any attention to the happenings at COP28, there is a quintessential example of the MassHole species in attendance. That would be our president’s envoy to the environmentalists’ version of BurningMan, none other than the Ketchup heir twice removed, Climate Czar, John F’ing Kerry. The one who is affectionately called by me, Jean Le Kerré.
The latter sobriquet captures that je ne sais quoi about the man who exudes something of a Francophone aura. In any event, he has played perfectly to type at the gathering of hyper-elites among world leaders, celebrity activists and assorted hangers-on, especially comely female aides and high-end hookers. Kerry is second only to divinity school dropout, Albert Gore, Jr., in preaching fire and brimstone, cataclysmic, end-of-world prophecies to the credulous choir as to the hell on earth that awaits us unless we decarbonize by a date that remains ephemeral in its fluidity.
When Tucker Speaks, the Wise Listen
To drill down to the essence of the man, to frack him, so to speak, I should be relying on professionals, and so I will. Tucker Carlson’s recent non-hagiographical mini-bio of the metrosexual Kerry is a classic of wordsmanship. If you haven’t seen or read Tucker’s take and you rely on the New York Times, Washington Post, NPR or The Atlantic for your misinformation, you probably have not seen or heard his essay. You may even think that Kerry’s appearance at COP28 was a resounding success. Let Tucker set you straight.
Some highlights:
(Tucker) There may be no one in the country who cares less about the future of the United States than climate czar, John Kerry, who turns 80 next week. Kerry turned up at a conference in the Middle East the other day and announced that in his advanced age, he’s become a militant on the subject of coal-fired electricity plants. Watch this:
(Kerry clip) There shouldn’t be any more coal plants permitted anywhere in the world. That’s how you can do something for health. And the reality is that we’re not doing it. So, you know, the measure here is really sounding the alarm bell.
I find myself getting more and more militant (which he was not in his military days, ed.) because I do not understand how adults who are in a position of responsibility can be avoiding responsibility of taking away those things that are killing people on a daily basis.
This is how the COPPERS view themselves—as frustrated parents keeping dangerous toys away from their recalcitrant children. Stop playing with that dangerous carbon dioxide, Tyrone, and go play outside in the decarbonized world for which your mother and I have sacrificed everything so that you children can breathe. John Kerry as Dr. Spock.
Past Performance Hints at Uncertain Future Predictions
You have sea ice that is melting at a rate that the Arctic Ocean now is increasingly exposed….In five years (2014) scientists project we will have the first ice-free Arctic summer.
Tucker points out that Kerry is an “emissary of the fabled United States government.” He ran for president, served in the Senate…”What are people saying about what John Kerry just said?” Tucker asks.
Well, in case you’re wondering about the Biden administration’s prestige and influence around the world, you should know that absolutely nobody cares what John Kerry thinks or even listens to him.
Leaders in every adult country on the planet understand that what he’s saying is nonsense, if not totally insane, because these are people with economies they need to tend to and people they need to feed. They don’t have time for self-harm.
China, for example, burns more coal each year than the rest of the world combined, and that will not change. In fact, it’s accelerating. This year the Chinese have generated 14% more electricity from coal than they did last year.
Same thing in India. Eighty percent of all of that country’s electricity now comes from coal. That’s up from 73% just last year. Now, it’s not a small thing because those two countries make up a third of the world’s entire population.
Phase Out Coal? India Says After You.
Ironically, one of the main reasons that Third and Second World countries are increasingly relying on coal is that Western countries that are over-reliant on natural gas, which is needed to back up their too rapid transition to renewables, a.k.a. unreliables, have driven up the price of NatGas to the point that poor countries can no longer afford the cleaner burning alternative to coal. Even Germany has returned to coal (dirty-burning lignite, no less) after closing all of its nuclear plants and having its natural gas supply interrupted by the cut-off of Russian gas.
Thus, coal production stood at record levels in 2022 (as did oil production) and is on pace to set another record this year. The history and future of coal use in India was discussed by Shreya Jai, assistant editor at India’s Business Standard, based in Delhi. She was interviewed on Robert Bryce’s Power Hungry podcast (Mar 15, 2022). What she had to say about coal in particular is very interesting, given John Kerry’s very clear, very adamant instructions to the world that it must cease and desist from coal burning immediately if not sooner.
First, some quick facts from Robert Bryce on India’s electricity situation. He points out that per capita electricity consumption in India is about 800 kilowatt hours per capita per year. It’s about a quarter of the global average which is about 3,100 kilowatt hours. As for the macro challenges of meeting the rising demand for electricity in India, Shreya Jai says, “India is a coal dependent country. Close to 75 percent of our electricity demand is met by coal and that seems to be the backbone of our whole power grid.”
India, she says, has set some impressive targets for increases in wind and solar production, but the grid infrastructure is built around coal and will need significant upgrading. All households in India are now connected to the grid, but households in some remote areas still receive less than twelve hours of electricity per day. It took 70 years for 100% of Indian houselholds to get wired. Coal made that possible. So imagine what it would mean for people there if the government were to listen to John Kerry and close coal-fired plants immediately. It is obviously not possible without fomenting revolution.
There is no official target for phasing down coal as of yet (note: phasing down, not phasing out). There have been government projections about when coal demand in the country would start going down and that starts at 2040 to 2045 onwards….
We can safely say that for another two decades coal is not going anywhere in this country. Coal is here to stay, and yes, we have planned on it. We do have a net zero plan, but you and me both know that it’s a long term plan. We have given the target year of 2070.
Kerry’s attacks on coal are just his usual inane bluster. The real danger, according to energy writer, David Blackmon, is what is going on now behind the scenes in the Biden White House—efforts to do away with natural gas fired power plants. From Blackmon’s article in the Telegraph:
The problem for Kerry in admitting to this reality (that coal use is increasing despite his efforts to stem the tide) that he and the Biden government are also now enacting regulations and executive orders designed to hamper and ultimately eliminate natural gas power plants in addition to coal. They hope that they can force the mass adoption and usage of renewables in the same way they have been attempting (and failing) to force mass adoption of electric vehicles.
The danger of this plan is now becoming manifest in increasing reliability issues across the nation’s various regional power grids. Grid managers in Texas, where more than a third of US natural gas is produced, recently published a report detailing a rising potential for emergency measures including rolling blackouts this winter due to a dangerous shortage of dispatchable thermal (fossil fuels) capacity….
As a practical matter, this commitment by Mr. Kerry, at least as currently stated, will have little impact on America’s coal sector. But the Biden policies of killing coal generation and simultaneously working to halt the building of new natural gas generation capacity represent almost a death sentence for electric reliability in the United States. Congressional Republicans must take note and work to ensure this does not happen.
Kerry had not much to say at COP28 on the subject of methane emissions and the need to reduce the size of cow herds. This was one case, however, where his actions spoke louder than his usual empty words. The much noticed moment may have been the highlight of his otherwise unremarkable COP28 performance. It certainly made world headlines. I wonder if any of his fellow passengers are reconsidering flying home with him in the possibly not so friendly confines of his private jet.