Energize your defenses
May 9, 2012
Even if you didn’t know one other thing about Tom Barrett, his talk of creating jobs by spending your money to stimulate renewable energy projects is enough to fill in all the blanks.
Green energy has been giving off a bad odor, thanks to the string of spectacular bankruptcies that have cost taxpayers billions. Worse yet, these overgrown science-fair projects are a contemptible scam built on the back of another contemptible scam.
Many have been lulled into overlooking the environmental costs; the slaughter of birds and bats, the obscene defacement of rural landscapes; the destruction of wildlife habitat, because it’s claimed the planet needs saving from greenhouse emissions.
That’s nonsense.
Despite a frantic building boom aimed at capturing massive subsidies, renewables meet a trifling two-or-so percent of energy needs and good luck guessing which day or hour they’ll be working. And because no one can guess, fossil-fueled generation runs all the time, even if unused, to backstop fickle renewables on a moment’s notice. You pay for redundant generation and emissions continue regardless.
The Barrett jobs program consists of windmills that contribute nothing useful and trains nobody will ride. We know maybe three people who can afford to live in a state where ideology dictates the cost and availability of energy. Of course those people can also afford to leave.
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