Día de las ElecZIHones Nacionales

I won’t comment here about Mexican politics, but my left-wing interest in Canadian politics is clear.

Unfortunately, even in Canada’s left parties, there is a lot of tempering of the long term interests of workrrs with capitalists’ short term economic interests.

In British Columbia, the minister responsible for climate change was executive director of the Sierra Club B.C. from 2009 to 2013. During his tenure as a cabinet minister, BC continued to advance the development of fossil fuel LNG and to use green hydroelectric power to support the LNG industries.

I did smile though at the following.

(Xóchitl) Galvez has also hinted that that oil-rich Mexico should invest more in renewable energy, saying earlier this year: “We haven’t done it because we are dumbasses.”

Mexico has huge potential for solar electric generation of electricity making it possible to mothball terrible polluters like Petacalco.

Petacalco power station

The Petacalco power complex has had significant negative impacts on human health, marine life, fisheries and agriculture in northwestern Guerrero state.

The Petacalco plant burns an average of 7 million tons of coal per year and has been described as one of the world's worst polluters.

Its annual emissions of carbon dioxide and mercury (over 15 million tons, and 711 tons, respectively) are the highest of any power plant in Mexico. In addition, it ranks second nationally in annual emissions of nitrous oxide (228 tons) and methane (152 tons), third in nitric oxide (over 24,000 tons), and fifth in sulfur dioxide (152 tons per year). Air and water pollution traceable to the plant have created multiple negative impacts for surrounding communities, including depletion of fisheries, loss of mangrove habitat, and high concentrations of coal ash and other particulates that threaten residents' health.

A good starting point for increased use of that electricity would be to start building electric vehicle infrastructure. Imagine if CFE were mandated to put DCFC electric vehicle charging stations at every cuota booth. Imagine if Pemex were mandated to put DCFC charging in every Pemex station.