Mastodawn

Bimo Novanda 14h ago

ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES

There are always signs and portents about all sorts of things, some are distant and vague, some are close and sharp

Here we have a radioactive red blaring klaxon saying "the #USA is a country in decline":

"The #Trump administration announced it will pay nearly $1 billion to French #energy giant #TotalEnergies in exchange for the company abandoning plans to build offshore #windfarms in the Atlantic Ocean and instead pursue #fossilfuel projects in the #US"

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/23/climate/trump-totalenergies-offshore-wind-cancellation

Trump administration will pay a French company $1 billion in taxpayer funds to not build wind farms

The Trump administration announced it will pay nearly $1 billion to French energy giant TotalEnergies in exchange for the company abandoning plans to build offshore wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean and instead pursue fossil fuel projects in the US.

CNN

mike805 15h ago

@benroyce Why do we need the French to build wind farms or drill for oil? We can do all of the above, but we also have plenty of natural gas.

I assume there was something in the deal that says if the contract is cancelled they get compensated?

Contract never should have been signed on EITHER side. The French should have been aware that political winds change.

ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES 15h ago

mike we need off fossil fuels. it funds insane regimes and climate change

that it's french company or not is a red herring. they would do the same with an american company

they are locking you into a dependency you don't need. fossil fuels are a plutocrat scam. if you've been to the gas pump lately you might have noticed a price increase? because of their murderous nonsense in iran

there's no reason for any of that to be part of our lives

except the plutocrats want it to be

mike805 15h ago

@benroyce We have domestic oil and gas in the USA. With fracking, more than we need. Ban exports. The drillers will gripe but they're making bank and will keep drilling.

Get the hell off imported oil, yes.

There is no good reason not to have solar covered parking and rooftops everywhere. Unlike wind, no huge structures required. We will still need combustion fuels, and the USA has plenty.

I am in CA so I know all about gas pumps.

ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES 15h ago

mike do you fucking know what climate change is?

you're worried about solar panels?!

...

EDIT

rest of comment removed:

mike is not worried about solar panels, i blew my top. my bad

mike805 15h ago

@benroyce Above I wrote > There is no good reason not to have solar

Which means there should be solar! We have solar parking at work, and those are always occupied first. If I had a place to charge it, I'd buy a used Tesla and keep my gas car as a spare.

Offshore wind OTOH requires a HELL of a lot of structure for a couple hundred MW.

Repeal the Jones act (which encourages imports) and restrict fossil fuel exports and build solar. I am worried about the USA looking like Cuba does right now.

ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES 15h ago

alright, sorry for going off on you

but we should be deploying wind/ solar/ etc like maniacs right now. stop funding putin. stop climate change. stop abusing people's wallets. etc

and we're not

there's no place for fossil fuels in consumer transportation anymore. no excuse. and that the usa can't do it, simply because we are under the plutocrats' thumbs, keeping us in the past to keep their unnecessary parasitical income, is a grand farce. we're all going to suffer for it

mike805 15h ago

@benroyce > alright, sorry for going off on you

No problem, I did have a double-negative in there and if I had been hating on solar I would have had it coming.

> there's no place for fossil fuels in consumer transportation anymore

Airplanes are going to use combustion fuel for the foreseeable future. Ground transport, ten to twenty years transition time I suspect.

For electricity, LiFePo4 or sodium batteries will solve it over a similar time frame.

Until then, USA should be fuel independent

mike805 15h ago

@benroyce What worries me is 1) Germany. They completely screwed themselves (well, they got screwed by a Communist) by trying to go too fast and not retaining good backup options.

And 2) Cuba. If that's what carbon neutral looks like I'll take global warming.

USA needs to be energy self sufficient, in both electricity and combustion fuel.

War will also be dominated by combustion fuels and Haber process propellants/explosives for the foreseeable future.

@mike805 @benroyce Germany here. We’re not really screwed. Energy prices soared because we were dependent on Putin’s gas and NOT going solar/wind quicker – and that was a political choice by a previous government to slow down the energy transition and extend the gas dependency (Nordstream). Right now renewables are above 60% of the electricity supply.
The Iran crunch is heavily felt at the gas stations, but nowhere else (yet).

mike805 12h ago

@axeln @benroyce Why are all the car makers there in trouble? The news here claims it's because Merkel blew up all the nuclear plants and electricity is wildly expensive.

Yes getting dependent on Russian gas was the previous round of dumb decisions.

ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES 12h ago

@mike805 @axeln

mike, i think it's kind of silly to go off on germany while the usa is busy shooting itself in the head. whatever germany's problems, we make them look like amateur hour in the self-destruction by bad decisions dept right now

@mike805 @benroyce Nope. The carmakers are in trouble because they did not manage to adapt to changing markets (loss of export to china, no cheap EVs,…) Porsche incurred heavy losses this year because of a pivot back to ICEs (facepalm).

The gamble on Russian gas had a political aspect as well: create peace through trade interdependency. In hindsight, this did not work out.

As for prices, feel free to compare https://euenergy.live/country.php?a2=DE

⚡️ Electricity prices in Germany

@axeln @benroyce https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-11-23/germany-is-kaput-why-the-economic-model-no-longer-works-in-the-proud-country-of-automobiles.html#?rel=mas Gernany Is Kaput. Here's a good article on the subject.

Of course the Right blames loss of nuclear and over-investment in underperforming renewables. The Left blames BMW VW and Merc for not going fully electric.

I blame the ugly plastic grille covers they are putting on the front of the electric BMWs and Mercs. 😆

Germany is ‘kaput’: Why the economic model no longer works in the proud country of automobiles

The Volkswagen crisis is just the tip of the iceberg of a larger problem. Europe’s old locomotive has stalled and must overhaul its industrial system, based on cheap Russian energy and exports to China

EL PAÍS English

Daniel Auer 10h ago

@mike805 @axeln @benroyce Perhaps you have to question your news sources. Energy proces in Germany went um in 2022 because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and they are going up again because USA and Israel decided to bomb Iran. Both events are connected to oil and gas, not renewables.

Grassroots Joe 8h ago

I expect it'll take China less than 10 years to effectively eliminate ICE ground transport, maybe as little as 5, especially if The Criminal in the White House continues to boost fossil prices.

I also expect they'll electrify a substantial portion of their short haul air traffic within 10 years. Long haul will take longer, but maybe not much.

Look at the battery range and charging time strides they are making.

We could have done this too except for the #EpsteinClass.

ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES 8h ago

@joeinwynnewood @mike805

china's rolling out sodium batteries while MAGA chuds are coping with their insecurities by buying gargantuan black pickup trucks that get 15 mpg

@benroyce @joeinwynnewood I just wish I could buy a plug-in hybrid Accord. Or just an Accord with no cellular modem. No desire for a huge truck. I have access to a small one if I actually need to move something.

@joeinwynnewood @benroyce It's going to take 20 years in the USA. I have a 2007 car which I got in 2016. Still works fine. I went car shopping in 2025. New Honda gets twice the mileage. I was close. But will it work in 10 or 20 years? It also had a tracking device I cannot fully disable. In the end I gave up and paid to maintain my 2007 Acura.

There were no good plug-in hybrid options and I have no place to charge daily. Lots of people in that position in the USA.

Grassroots Joe 43m ago

US car companies were already repeating the mistakes of the 70s before the orange maniac and his Congressional minions screwed us all over by rolling back subsidies. Now they're solidifying their dinosaur status.

mike805 33m ago

@joeinwynnewood @benroyce I'm sure the USA car companies have taken apart the BYD electric cars and concluded: "we might be able to make this for twice what they are selling it for."

So they just decided to make hay while the sun shines, and sell big emotionally appealing vehicles. That is the only thing they have ever done well. They cannot win on efficiency.

You cannot make something desirable if you do not like that thing. American car designers hate small cars.

six_grandfathers_mountain 11h ago

@benroyce @mike805
RE
mike is not worried about #solarpanels, i blew my top. my bad

Yes, we are in the same folded paper boat and all in danger of the one wave getting us

NOTE
#Fracking is bad, lots of pollution for the locals

NOTE
The goal is to #keepitintheground

NOTE
Many old wells (and wells in general) leak #methane

@six_grandfathers_mountain @benroyce The oil should be preserved for future use as raw material. We are going to need it for plastic, drugs, etc. for centuries after we stop burning it.

In the 19th century it was common (and profitable) to burn hardwood for potash. Now hardwood is precious and potash is mined.

Oil will be like that someday.

There needs to be a methane recovery system for old wells. That is one case where burning it for power is the greener option vs letting it leak.

six_grandfathers_mountain 2h ago

@mike805 @benroyce
RE
We are going to need it for plastic, drugs, etc.

All good points and the world needs fertilizer for growing large amounts of food for people and for the extreme large number of cows and pigs

Speaking of pigs, #stuartstevens of the #LincolnProject says, (45sec point) ...

"an incoherent mind at work..."

The #oilcrises is connected to (some) of he political leaders, elected or selected.

txtx 🇪🇺14h ago

@mike805 @benroyce And on the other hand you'll have people argue that offshore wind is the only solution when a large solar farm is proposed.

Effectively neither is built and you're left with the status quo: more coal oil gas.

josteglitz 🌱💚14h ago

@benroyce do we know the answer?

ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES 12h ago

you mean by the french company? i don't know. i assume this is an announcement of a deal that's already been done

josteglitz 🌱💚12h ago

@benroyce Okay I didn't get that ... 🤐

@benroyce I sure hope there's something in EU or French law which prevents this.

Desert Square Gardener 13h ago

@benroyce How can the Trump administration "pay" for this? I assume with our the money, but isn't there a protocol to follow? Can the Executive Branch do whatever the fuck they want with our money?

ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES 12h ago

congress controls the purse but congress has been neutered by GOP corruption and GOP spinelessness. congress with a GOP majority is effectively a rubber stamp of whatever trump wants

six_grandfathers_mountain 11h ago

@benroyce
RE
The #TrumpAdministration will pay $1 billion to French #energy giant #TotalEnergies in exchange for the company abandoning plans to build offshore #windfarms

Now aint that the shittiest birdbrain thing #Trump did, I bet #MAGA doesn't care, but their grandkids will fell the burn

#Windpower and #Solarpower don't get stuck in the Straits of #Hormuz

⭕SIMILAR article on #arstechnica
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/trumps-latest-anti-wind-effort-pay-companies-to-abandon-offshore-leases/?comments-page=1#comments

US to pay TotalEnergies $1 billion to stop developing offshore wind in US

Payment reimburses the company for two leases, one for a massive 3 GW wind farm.

Ars Technica

Gareth 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿11h ago

@six_grandfathers_mountain @benroyce
This doesn't help the US, but I hope that company takes the money and uses it to build wind farms in France...

Conny Nasch 10h ago

@gareth they will 😁 thanks for the present - Luxembourg, my country, is a neighbour.

Tim Finnerty 11h ago

@six_grandfathers_mountain @benroyce And #TotalEnergies accepted. #boycott

François @Jura 11h ago

@benroyce don’t underestimate a dying narcissistic a$$hole with unlimited powers. He will inflict as much damage he is allowed to before dying.

ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES 11h ago

@FrancoisPrague

that's it

what is #trump doing? why is he doing it?

you have to understand what a malignant narcissist is

a regular narcissist is "me me me!"

a malignant narcissist is "me me me! ...oh you're not listening {insert abuse here} ...now pay attention: me me me!"

trump's goal is to make everything about him

he doesn't care about the level of harm

give him your attention. all of it. anyway possible, no matter how much suffering to get it

that's it. that's all that is happening

Spiritual Annie ☮️6h ago

@benroyce @FrancoisPrague

He does care about the level of harm. He enjoys inflicting terror and pain. He feels he gains power through it. It makes him feel stronger.

That's where the sadism comes in.

ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES 1h ago

@SpiritualAnnie @FrancoisPrague

you are correct. the sadism. he does care

Ilka 🌐10h ago

@benroyce let's hope the French still love their freedom more than money, as they always did. Vive la France.

"German ... RWE, which paid more than $1.2 billion for three leases off the coasts of NY, CA & the Gulf of Mexico, is 1of the companies expecting to be reimbursed.
“If we never get the right to build the plants, I assume we’ll get the money we’ve already paid back." RWE CEO Markus Krebber said"

If you lay down with Felon 47, you wake up scammed. That is how the saying goes, right?

neverbeaten 9h ago

@benroyce
This is what they call a “free market”?

@benroyce An ultimate and utter stupidity…

Stargeezer Smith 1h ago

@benroyce
Remember, you are talking about the champion of the Republicans. The leader, by their actions (and inactions), must be the one they want. I assume they've run out of ethical leader alternatives.

That says something, SCREAMS something about them. But what?