STRENGTHENING THE GRID: Rick Perry Wants to Subsidize Coal and Nuclear.

Late last week the energy secretary asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to consider paying “resilient” power producers more for the electricity they supply to the grid. In a letter written to FERC, Secretary Perry highlighted the “undervaluation of grid reliability and resiliency benefits provided by traditional baseload resources, such as coal and nuclear,” a problem he would see fixed by a potential market intervention by FERC.

This policy recommendation is the result of a study Secretary Perry ordered earlier this year, which aimed to take account of what the recent rise in intermittent renewable power suppliers had done—and what it was going to do—to America’s overall grid stability. That intermittency is a real issue: renewables like solar and wind can only provide power when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing, and that up-and-down supply makes it difficult to match supply with demand. Perry’s request of FERC could, in that context, be read as an attempt to shore up U.S. energy security by making sure baseload power providers are compensated for the stable electricity they contribute.

It’s true, too, that even as renewables are seeing growth, some of those reliable baseload power providers are struggling. We’re not building any new nuclear power plants because the business case for doing so simply isn’t there, and dozens of old plants face decommissioning in the coming decades. There’s no doubt that the nuclear industry would jump at the opportunity to secure higher rates for the stable power it supplies.

We should be building lots of nice, clean nukes anyway, because they’re greenhouse-friendly. You do care about climate change as much as Rick Perry does, don’t you?