Eclectablog

He's one of these people who doesn't need much, much less much more... (David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest)

5/9/2008 - It Just Gets Worser and Worser

I think you'd be hard put to find anyone these days that doesn't think we ought to be putting more resources into stimulating the search for viable alternative energy sources in this country. Properly done, in fact, we could be a global leader and could begin a Green Wave of exports, weaning the world (and ourselves) away from fossil fuels.

Well, I think we've found someone: George W. Bush and the Republicans in Congress. I know this is hard to believe but these clueless sunza bitches have actually managed to torpedo two of the most viable sources of clean, renewable, non-greenhouse gas-emitting energy we have going right now: solar energy and wind energy.

From Thomas Friedman at the New York Times:

Are you sitting down?

Few Americans know it, but for almost a year now, Congress has been bickering over whether and how to renew the investment tax credit to stimulate investment in solar energy and the production tax credit to encourage investment in wind energy. The bickering has been so poisonous that when Congress passed the 2007 energy bill last December, it failed to extend any stimulus for wind and solar energy production. Oil and gas kept all their credits, but those for wind and solar have been left to expire this December. I am not making this up. At a time when we should be throwing everything into clean power innovation, we are squabbling over pennies.

These credits are critical because they ensure that if oil prices slip back down again — which often happens — investments in wind and solar would still be profitable. That’s how you launch a new energy technology and help it achieve scale, so it can compete without subsidies.

The Democrats wanted the wind and solar credits to be paid for by taking away tax credits from the oil industry. President Bush said he would veto that. Neither side would back down, and Mr. Bush — showing not one iota of leadership — refused to get all the adults together in a room and work out a compromise. Stalemate. Meanwhile, Germany has a 20-year solar incentive program; Japan 12 years. Ours, at best, run two years.

“It’s a disaster,” says Michael Polsky, founder of Invenergy, one of the biggest wind-power developers in America. “Wind is a very capital-intensive industry, and financial institutions are not ready to take ‘Congressional risk.’ They say if you don’t get the [production tax credit] we will not lend you the money to buy more turbines and build projects.”

Sometimes it's all I can do to keep from sputtering and having my brain go *sizzle* *snap* *zeeeeerp*...

I'm just sayin'...

5/9/2008 - libertine Said...

Well, did you expect him to act any other way?

Bush only has two settings: Dumb and Dumber.

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5/9/2008 - Eclectablog Said...

Yeah, but it's not just him. It's his whole damn party. Arrrgh.

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5/9/2008 - texican Said...

Makes you want to cry, doesn't it? I know I do.

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5/10/2008 - dantesinferno Said...

So...... anybody up for a game of Pin The Political Assassination On The Donkey?

We used to play it in the 60's, lots of fun.

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Name: Mr. E (get it?)
Location:
Ann Arbor-ish, Michigan, USA, Earth
EFx2Blogger since:
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