Congress is poised to pass a transformative climate change fighting bill. Friday's vote would be the first major climate package in the U.S. and would include close to $375 billion in spending. Most of the bill is aimed at infusions of cash, subsidies and tax breaks to make green energy eventually so cheap it's nearly irresistible. It would slice U.S. carbon emissions by about 40%. This compromise bill comes 34 years after Congress was warned that climate change was a serious threat. Since then there have been 308 weather disasters that each cost $1 billion. On Long Island, Reid Garton, who runs a solar installation company called NY State Solar, says business is booming. Reid is also a He's gone from employing 30 people in 2017 to over 200 today. He says the new bill's continuation of the green energy tax credits will help further grow a green economy.
I was saddened — but not surprised — to read the Jan. 1, 2023, Midlands Voices piece by Mike Johanns. It appears that the former governor of Nebraska, U.S. senator and Secretary of Agriculture has lost touch with his Nebraska roots. Like so many former politicians, he is now a lobbyist. The goodwill he earned from Nebraskans is now being put to use in service of big wind and big solar.
Johanns works at the Center for Infrastructure and Economic Development; a lobbying outfit for solar and wind. The solar and wind industries are where the big money is right now. With the passage of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, $380 billion in federal tax credits are available to the right people. Federal tax credits reduce a person’s federal tax liability dollar-for-dollar. But the worst of it is that we all pay for a rich person’s reduction of his tax bill with this special legislation. Considering that the U.S. debt is $31 trillion, it is the height of irresponsibility to spend billions more on Keynesian ditch digging and filling schemes.
People are also reading…
Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad works with Mike Johanns. Branstad’s last political job was as U.S. Ambassador to China. China has invested $50 billion in solar. It dominates the solar supply chain with 80% of the world’s solar panel production.
According to the Washington Post, much of the solar mining happens in the Xinjang Uyghur region of China. Companies there are accused of using slave labor. To correct that problem, President Biden signed a law requiring importers to prove that forced labor wasn’t used to produce goods. Given the administration’s record unholding the law on our southern border, it is doubtful that the law will be rigorously enforced. Moreover, the president just granted a two-year tariff exemption on solar goods imported from Vietnam and other countries.
On the Center’s webpage, it lists its mission as being to help local communities “stay centered on their core community identities.” If Johanns was still in touch with Nebraska, he would know that after the Saunders County Board approved OPPD’s solar project near Yutan that one of the supervisors was recalled from office. A recall election is rare in Nebraska and it only proved how much the people in Saunders County strongly objected to the solar project.
As evidenced by the Saunders County recall election, many Nebraskans do not want industrial solar developments. And they have very good reasons not to. In the first place, property values in the area of the development decline. While a few lucky farm owners get above-market rents, their neighbors suffer.
But more importantly, many Nebraskans intuitively know that wind and solar are unreliable and expensive. We saw forced blackouts in December in Tennessee and the Carolinas because the grid already has too much wind and solar. A winter blackout is a deadly thing and this net zero carbon foolishness is the proximate cause.
The left constantly claim that solar and wind are “cost-effective.” That’s demonstrably false. The Minnesota-based Center for the American Experiment has calculated the true cost of net zero carbon for Minnesota and Wisconsin. Electric power rates will triple if the net zero carbon buildout continues in those states. Germany already has electric rates three times as much of the U.S. average and that takes into account that the German government spends 7% of GDP subsidizing electricity.
There is hope to stop this craziness. In 2023, the Cass County Board of Supervisors will be voting on NextEra’s 3,000-acre and 320-MW solar project. The supervisors are in touch with the voters as they are their friends and neighbors. The supervisors haven’t received any campaign contributions from big wind, big solar, Wall Street or the Chinese. Food production is what we do in Nebraska. I’m confident that Nebraska will remain the Cornhusker State and not become the Chinese solar panel state.
OWH Midland Voices December 2022
Former Nebraska senators write in support of continuing the nonpartisan legislature.
Jan tenBensel writes, "Already the No. 2 producer of ethanol in the country, Nebraska has been preparing for the carbon revolution that is to come."
To extremists, targeting the U.S. power grid offers a lot of return. In most cases, acts that cause widespread harm and disruption can act as a megaphone to extremists’ cause and demands.
James P. Eckman, Ph.D., writes, "What if the angels, the virgin birth, the Incarnation were true? What difference would it make?"
Frank Adkisson writes that while Medicare Advantage has challenges, it is more cost-effective than original Medicare with supplement add-ons.
Rachel Bonar writes, "The good life in Nebraska — as well as in other parts of the U.S. — is not permanent for Afghan evacuees who came to this country under humanitarian parole."
Joanne Li writes, "Attending a university is not and should not be equivalent to joining an exclusive club."
Jay Jackson writes, "Can we use the 1914 Christmas truce as inspiration to take a break from the hyperpartisanship and political rancor that consumes us?"
Dave Lutton lost his daughter due to the actions of a drunk driver. Now, he's asking for help to protect others.
Dave Stuart writes, 50 years ago this month, a very significant event in the history of aerial bombing by bombers from the Strategic Air Command took place.
Donald R. Frey, M.D., writes, "Through clever (and expensive) marketing, nearly half of all Medicare recipients have signed up for Advantage plans. That doesn’t change the fact that these plans are bleeding the trust fund dry."
Susan M. Stein, Ph.D. writes about her friendship and communication with two Ukrainian women who are experiencing war firsthand.
Tom Rubin writes, "Days before the Omaha City Council streetcar construction bond public hearing, we’re still waiting for the long-promised financial plan."
David E. Corbin writes, "Omaha can greatly reduce the amount of organic waste that goes into our county-owned landfill."
Rebecca S. Fahrlander writes, "Virtue signaling is a way to get “likes” and attention on social media and feel virtuous without having to actually do anything."
David D. Begley writes, "OPPD is not a private company. The right thing to do is to end OPPD’s pursuit of solar and wind energy."
Marty Irby writes, "Animal fighting is animal abuse — plain and simple. The illegal gambling adds to lawlessness ... It’s not only inhumane and unconscionable but, it’s a health and human safety threat."
