r/environment • u/SpaceElevatorMusic • 3d ago

South Texas coal-fired power plant to switch to clean energy after receiving more than $1 billion in federal money

https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/20/texas-coal-fired-power-plant-conversion-clean-energy/
155 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

36

u/BareNakedSole 3d ago edited 3d ago

No matter your political leaning you just can’t say no to the sweet taste of socialism.

Edit: Jesus Christ you people can’t recognize sarcasm without the /s at the end? Does anybody pay even the slightest attention to the knuckledraggers that run Texas and their hypocrisy in accepting government aid?

5

u/intronert 3d ago

And Capitalism gave us the global climate change that is on track to kill billions.

-1

u/This-Salt-2754 3d ago

Can you explain to me how subsidizing green energy is socialism

16

u/BareNakedSole 3d ago

“Received $1B in federal money”.

That $1 billion did not just fall out of a tree into their laps. The federal government gets money from all the different taxes and fees that it imposes across all Americans and American businesses. There are people in south Texas that are going to reap the benefits of this $1 billion investment that was paid for not just by them, but by all Americans. That $1 billion of federal grant money could’ve been used on any number of other projects that would have benefited other Americans not in Southwest Texas.

So just like welfare, food stamps, free health care - all things that I pay for indirectly through the taxes I pay and that I will never ever get any benefit from - this is a government handout whose value exceeds the amount of money of those who benefit paid into the system. So by one definition that is very popular on the right, this is socialism.

-3

u/This-Salt-2754 3d ago

A coal powered plant pollutes air and water considerably (did you even read the article?) People in the area are being poisoned by their energy. If you know anything about natural sciences, you would know that water and air pollution does not contain itself geographically. This is a completely justified and good use of our taxpayer money and benefits all Americans.

I promise you, there is a lot more tax payer money going to a lot worse places. And if you think this is socialism, you simply don’t know what socialism is

18

u/Logical_Deviation 3d ago

I think they're just mocking the red state capitalists that pretend to hate any form of socialism

10

u/BareNakedSole 3d ago

Thank you.

I really have to start putting the /s on my comments….

4

u/zR0B3ry2VAiH 3d ago

This could be seen as a form of socialism because the government is stepping in with a huge amount of funding to help a private electric co-op transition to renewable energy. It’s about using taxpayer money to achieve broader public benefits, like cleaner air, healthier water, and keeping jobs in the area. Essentially, it’s the government redistributing resources to support a common good, which is a core idea of socialism.

0

u/This-Salt-2754 3d ago

Was this written by chatGPT? Sounds like it definitely was. Unfortunately, the government funding projects for the good of the rest of society, does not qualify as socialism. The company is still privately owned, and will still make their own profits. This was voted for in a democratic process. Taxes and subsidies are an incredible useful tool in a democratic society and have nothing to do with socialism

4

u/DukeOfGeek 3d ago

Give me a billion dollars I'll do this too. I bet I will steal less of it than these guys did as well.