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From the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan comes this week's best opinion article on wind power. Columnist Paul Hanley pulls no punches as he takes on a series of anti-wind arguments and exposes their inaccuracy. Don't miss this one.
...(The Manhattan Institute's Robert Bryce authored another anti-wind opinion article in The Wall Street Journal yesterday. Entitled "A Wind Power Boonedoggle," it criticizes billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens for his effort to promote the use of wind and natural gas to reduce America's dependence on imported oil. The Manhattan Institute receives funding from Exxon Mobil and from Koch Industries, a very large privately-owned oil and gas company. AWEA Manager of Transmission Policy Michael Goggin comments on Mr. Bryce's article below.)
First, for the record, here is what
On December 20, the Wall Street Journal ran a misleading and logically convoluted editorial attacking wind energy. The most salient points worthy of correction:
Energy subsidies:
- The editorial omits mention of the fact that our government's permanent subsidies for fossil fuel generation greatly outweigh the small, short-lived incentives provided for wind energy. Wind energy is being forced to compete against fossil fuels that have received hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies so far, and that still receive subsidies outpacing the incentives awarded to renewables. Between 1950 and 2003, oil and gas garnered 60 percent of an estimated total of $725 billion in federal assistance, with coal taking 13 percent, hydroelectric 11 percent, and ...
In his latest [misguided] attack on renewable energy, Robert Bryce of the Manhattan Institute incorrectly characterizes the 1603 tax credit program extension as a Congressional bailout. Bryce conveniently forgets to mention that our government's permanent subsidies for fossil fuel generation greatly outweigh the small, short-lived incentives provided for wind energy. Wind energy is being forced to compete against fossil fuels that have received hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies so far, and the subsidies for fossil fuels continue to outpace the incentives awarded to renewables. These subsidies create an unfair playing field that is strongly slanted against wind energy, when rational policies would instead encourage renewable development to account for the major negative public ...
"The Journal normally opposes protectionism, free riding and costly renewable energy, but your editorial on electric transmission ("The Great Transmission Heist," Nov. 8 ) endorses all three." So says Lew Hay, Chairman and CEO of NextEra Energy, the nation's largest operator of wind farms, in a recent letter to the Wall Street Journal. The real heist, as Hay points out, occurs when utilities, in a classic anti-competitive move, block transmission lines that could carry clean, inexpensive wind power from wind-rich areas of the central U.S. to population ...
I'm happy to report today that the broad tax package now pending in Congress includes a one-year extension of the Section 1603 provision for renewable energy tax credits, which otherwise will expire December 31.
Readers can find detailed coverage in North American Windpower and BrighterEnergy, among many other outlets and publications. As AWEA CEO Denise Bode points out, while it's been a great achievement to get the credits included in the package, several steps and more work remain before the extension becomes a ...
Mindy S. Lubber, the president of environmental nonprofit Ceres, refers to AWEA CEO Denise Bode as being "like a salmon swimming up a dam-laden river" in a column for today's Huffington Post.
It's an unusual image, but an apt one from Ms. Lubber's perspective at the international climate talks in Cancun, Mexico, where it is becoming clear to observers that the United States is being overtaken by other countries in the global race for new clean-energy industries and manufacturing jobs.
Says Ms. Lubber, "Bode is America's leading wind energy advocate and all the conversations she's hearing in Cancun are about exciting wind projects across the ...
How so? Simple: the use of wind energy in the United States to generate electricity currently reduces the amount of natural gas that must be burned to produce electricity by roughly 656 billion cubic feet (Bcf) each year. The average household using natural gas for heat uses 93,000 cubic feet (93 Mcf) each year. 656 billion divided by 93,000 = just over 7 million. This means that the use of wind-generated electricity saves enough gas to heat 7 million households, or about one of every eight homes that uses natural gas for heating.
Didn't know the wind could keep you warm? Now you do.
(Thanks to Liz Salerno, AWEA Senior Director of Industry Data & Analysis/Chief Economist, for the numbers.)
" ... [I]t appears that an important piece was left out of the framework tax deal: two relatively small clean energy tax provisions that have created tens of thousands of jobs and will improve U.S. economic competitiveness while reducing pollution."
That's Daniel J. Weiss at the Center for American Progress, writing about the omission of renewable energy ("Section 1603") and manufacturing ("Section 48c") tax credits from the pending agreement between the White House and Congressional Republicans. We couldn't agree more. Adds Weiss, "This compromise package ought to include the two expiring renewable ...
December 7, 2010
The Honorable Harry Reid, 522 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Mitch McConnell, 361A Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, 235 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable John Boehner, 1011 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
Dear Senator Reid, Madam Speaker, Senator McConnell, and Representative Boehner:
On behalf of the renewable energy industries in the U.S., we are writing in follow-up to our November 2nd letter to emphasize the urgency of extending the deadline for the renewable energy convertible tax credit provided under Section 1603 of H.R. 1. The start of construction deadline for this program ...
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