Opinions
In the history of American business, it's difficult to find an industry that has enjoyed more political favoritism than the wind-energy sector now enjoys.
The wind industry gets subsidies, mandates, and a de facto exemption from prosecution under some of America's oldest wildlife laws. And the wind-energy lobby is doing all it can to make sure that this favoritism is maintained.
Also filed under [
Tax Breaks & Subsidies|
USA]
Solar and wind power advocates are fighting to renew clean energy subsidies, which expires at year's end. They argue that these technologies are worth the investment because they offset fossil fuel dependence and carbon emissions. Indeed, that's the conventional assumption of most energy researchers, government labs, and think tanks. However, there is an emerging problem with that assumption - there's no evidence to back it up.
Also filed under [
Tax Breaks & Subsidies|
USA]
As the scarring of New Hampshire hilltops accelerates, the politicians who promoted this have a lot to answer for. ...Do-gooders trying to force us to switch from coal to wind power have encouraged the industrialization of scenic New Hampshire ridgelines. That industrialization will not stop until these perverse government incentives are removed.
Energy Policy: Wind and sunlight are free, but that doesn't make them cheap. This is a lesson that states such as California will learn as they push hard to cut the fossil-fuel share of electric power.
It's the taxes you can't see that may gouge you the most.
Tax-Blowing boondoggle: Don't give wind energy more credit than it deserves
December 11, 2012 in Forbes Magazine
December 11, 2012 in Forbes Magazine
Even with all that hidden help from generous taxpayers, wind isn’t any bargain for energy customers. ...So long as this industry's survival depends upon those preferential government handouts and regulatory mandates, two things are clear. Wind is certainly not a competitive free market source of energy, or a charity we can continue to afford.
Also filed under [
Tax Breaks & Subsidies|
USA]
If you thought your monthly utility bills were high now, just wait.
According to the nonpartisan Little Hoover Commission's report, "Rewiring California," ratepayers face soaring electrical bills because of the move toward adding more solar and wind energy to the power grid.
The time is overdue that the deception and dishonesty of the government with respect to industrial wind turbines be exposed and that the people of New Hampshire learn the truth about the inadequate regulations that are seriously affecting the rural citizens of this state and their livelihoods.
It is unfortunate for the citizens of Massachusetts generally, and likely devastating to many residents of Florida and Monroe specifically, to witness the ill-conceived commitment of Gov. Deval Patrick and his administration to industrial wind turbines.
Also filed under [
General|
Massachusetts]
The wind production tax credit (PTC) has created an industry that produces overpriced, intermittent power, and it will continue to produce overpriced, intermittent power so as long as there is a PTC to pay for it. Here are the top seven myths associated with the PTC.
Also filed under [
Tax Breaks & Subsidies|
USA]
We have all heard much about the concerns relating to industrial wind turbines on our ridgelines. Our governor wants us to install industrial wind turbines as fast as we can in order to reduce our carbon footprint and thereby slow the rate of climate change.
Is the governor correct? Remove the "install industrial wind turbines" and substitute "do something prudent" and I agree. Is installing industrial wind turbines prudent?
In the winter, the red light reflects off the white snow and can be seen for miles. Salamone has talked to a realtor about selling his property, and the realtor told him his asking price is about $90,000 too high now that the wind turbines have been installed. A neighbor has simply moved away, without even trying to sell his property, because he couldn’t stand living under the turbines.
In the lawsuit, the residents claim that the noise produced by the turbines on the 74-megawatt facility causes headaches and disturbs their sleep. Some of the residents say they have abandoned their homes because of the noise. Others are claiming that the project has hurt their property values. The key paragraph in the suit says that the defendants "failed to adequately assess the effect that the wind turbines would have on neighboring properties including..."
Ronald Reagan once observed that a federal program is the closest thing to eternal life. The latest example of this reality is the production tax credit for wind power, a program scheduled to expire at the end of this year. Despite the Beltway cacophony on the fiscal cliff, sequestration, and entitlement reform, seemingly small policy issues often carry huge implications, with economic effects far greater than the narrow budget impacts might suggest.
Also filed under [
Tax Breaks & Subsidies|
USA]
Businesses such as Siemens and GE get to reap the rewards of success when they make smart decisions. But they should also suffer the consequences of bad decisions. If this is a profitable industry, then they will find a way to survive without massive taxpayer subsidies. If they cannot, then they and taxpayers should not be in the business.
Also filed under [
Tax Breaks & Subsidies|
USA]
The Press Herald's report about our recent economic study of Maine's renewable energy mandate requires many corrections that could have been resolved had reporter Steve Mistler contacted the organizations he writes about. I will address a few.
Also filed under [
Impact on Economy|
Maine]
The Michigan Energy-Michigan Jobs (MEMJ) Proposal 3 - its 25 by 25 gambit - would have forced Michigan taxpayers and ratepayers to produce 25 percent of the Wolverine State's electricity via expensive, unreliable, parasitic wind and solar projects by 2025.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy|
Michigan]
Under the WTO pact, Canadian provinces have wide leeway to demand local content in government procurement contracts. ...But the key here is that a public body does the purchasing. In the green energy case, Japan and the European Union successfully argued that the purchasers to whom Buy Ontario rules apply (the private generators) are not public bodies.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy|
Canada]
Openness and transparency were among the founding principles of the Scottish Parliament - yet Holyrood has been found wanting.
It emerged almost by accident that last month the First Minister misinformed MSPs about the number of jobs created by his renewable energy drive.
Mr Salmond insists it was an accidental slip ...But that clandestine corrections procedure gives as much cause for the concern as the First Minister's somewhat shaky grasp of basic facts and figures.
Inquiries by The Spectator have revealed a scam known as ‘de-rating'. Green businesses are modifying large turbines to make them less productive, because perverse government subsidies reward machines that produce less energy at nearly double the rate of more efficient ones.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy|
UK]
We in New Hampshire will pay the price of having our scenic mountains covered in wind turbines while most of the profits go to an out-of-state developer and its investors.
If you agree that New Hampshire's Lakes Region should be preserved, send a letter to your legislator today. There are already three industrial wind farms in operation now with another three under development in New Hampshire