Posted on 03/05/2011 7:04:44 AM PST by Son House
According to Steve Hargreaves, a senior writer for CNNMoneyline.com, renewable energy subsidies including industry tax credits and direct grants cost the U.S. government (U.S. taxpayers) about $11 billion last year.
Stephen Power reported in a Wall Street Journal article that the newspaper had obtained an internal Oct. 25 memorandum circulated among top advisors which recognized that while funding for a renewable energy federal loan guarantee program could find better uses, pulling the money out would antagonize powerful allies in Congress and “signal the failure of a Recovery Act program that has been featured prominently by the administration”.
The advisors, including outgoing National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers, energy policy czar Carol Browner, and V.P. Joe Biden’s Chief of Staff Ron Klain, specifically questioned the logic behind subsidizing a big wind farm in Oregon that Energy Secretary Steven Chu had praised as “part of the administration’s commitment to doubling our renewable energy generation by 2012. They believed that the project, sponsored by Caithness Energy LLC and General Electric, “would likely move without the loan guarantee”, adding that the corporate backers “would have little skin in the game (equity about 10%)”, while the government would provide “a significant subsidy (65+%)”.
The senior advisor’s memo suggested that the president “consider working with Congress to reprogram” the remaining funds into a separate federal program that allows renewable energy developers to convert tax credits they are eligible for into cash grants. Yet they caution that “failing to make progress on renewables” could upset Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who are strong federal loan guarantee champions. They observed that Senator Bingaman “views [the program] as ‘his program’ [and] would “strongly oppose” taking money from it.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.forbes.com ...
It’s all just pure graft. The money is flowing into Dem contributors and, no doubt, back into the personal pockets of some of the Dems themselves.
“It’s all just pure graft. The money is flowing into Dem contributors and, no doubt, back into the personal pockets of some of the Dems themselves.”
Absolutely. Check to see which Dem spouses and children are on the Boards of these companies, etc.
As long as Jeffrey Immelt of GE gets another “stimulus,” his buddy BO is sure to get a big campaign contribution next year. There is so much corruption in this administration, it makes U.S. Grant look like Abe Lincoln.
“If you want real green energy, build nuclear power plants.”
We should build lots of them.
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