re: #129 Obdicut

Luckily, most alternative energy projects need large open spaces.

Which wide open space used has a big impact though. Closer to population centers the better in terms of transmission loses. Why put it in CO when you have desert between LA and Las Vegas? The best locations are those closet to large population centers.

Would it swap, Indiana Jones style, every prison job for a new one? No. I’m not sure what bearing that has.

Then you miss the entire point. No one is going to support job cuts, especially if it means destroying entire communities. Not with the economy the way it is, and with elections coming down to single states.

But yes, some communities that are uniquely tied to a specific, government-funded entity will be hurt whenever that entity is reduced or changed. That doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea to go ahead and do it.

Getting more people to live in population centers and not spread out all over the damn place would actually help us achieve a lot more energy efficiency, too. I love small towns, but ones that rely on single employers tend to be kinda weird.

So we’ve gone from “lets cut the fat” to a government program of encouraged population movement through withdrawal of services? We tried that.