“The hardships and sufferings to which our nation is to be subjected hereafter will be certainly great. We are keenly aware of the inmost feelings of all of you, our subjects. However, it is according to the dictates of time and fate that we have resolved to pave the way for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is unsufferable.”
Based on flawed energy policies, unsustainable debt the past four years, and high unemployment rates, it was thought President Obama’s re-election intolerable and victory for candidate Romney assured. However, fate ruled otherwise and it is time for “enduring the unendurable”.
President Obama announced his continuing assault on fossil fuel use by the statement in his victory speech in the early hours of November 7:
“We want our children to live in an America that isn’t burdened by debt, that isn’t weakened by inequality, that isn’t threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet.”
This could be interpreted as a continuation of policies to thwart fossil fuel development and aggressively promote their replacement with renewable energy sources of solar, wind, battery-powered cars, ethanol from corn, and other biofuels.
Environmental groups quickly seized on that comment. Within hours the Union of Concerned Scientists e-mailed its members: ” … there is much President Obama can do to adopt science-based solutions that permanently drive down our carbon emissions …”and set up a site to e-mail President Obama their demands for action.
At the same time Interfaith Power & Light e-mailed its members: “It is up to us, as people of faith, to hold him to that promise ….” This was followed by a postscript: “Even with a divided Congress, President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency have advanced regulations to reduce carbon pollution and safeguard the nation’s most vulnerable people.”
Environmental groups have scheduled a demonstration in front of the White House November 18 to press demands for carbon dioxide reductions.
Conservative groups such as Tea Party, Americans for Prosperity, and 912 should not despair over election results. Instead, they should redouble their efforts to steer the United States in directions of economic prosperity and rule by Constitutional Law. This can be done by educating the public about important issues and public advocacy.
One means of promoting economic prosperity is to pressure Congress and state and local governments to continue developing economical fossil fuel energy resources and cease promoting unreliable and uneconomical renewable energy resources through subsidies and mandates for their use. Subsidies are in forms of grants, tax credits, loan guarantees, etc. Mandates are labeled as renewable energy standards, renewable portfolio standards, and feed-in-tariffs.
Renewable energy subsidies are being aggressively promoted by the Obama administration in the form of subsidies for wind energy called the wind production tax credit (PTC). This is a subsidy created in 1992 that pays owners of wind turbines 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour generated for ten years of operation. After several renewals, the PTC is scheduled to stop at the end of 2012 for construction of new wind turbines. The Obama administration is expected to insert renewal of the PTC in bills to prevent the government from “falling over the cliff” being debated starting this November 13.
Taxpayer payouts for the PTC are currently estimated at $26 billion. Renewal of the TPC is estimated to cost $12 billion annually. The United States has currently installed 50,000 megawatts of wind turbines — the most of any nation in the world. This vast array produces 2.3 percent of our electricity — an amount that would be matched by 10 nuclear or large coal-fired power plants. The problem with wind energy is there is no control on wind production — in periods of extreme cold or heat, the wind doesn’t blow and at times in the middle of the night when the wind blows, there is no need for the electricity. Matching fossil fuel plants have to be available when the wind doesn’t blow.
Last summer in Great Britain, during a period of extreme heat their 3400 wind turbines produced 14 megawatts. Their government has decided to stop construction of wind power plants. It is essential members of Congress be contacted immediately to let them know you want them to stop wasting tax dollars and adding to the National Debt by stopping the PTC from being added to any bills considered during this session of Congress. The American Energy Alliance established this convenient website for quick communications.
Go to the website. Where it says “Click ‘here’ to write your Representative”, click on ‘here’ for an easy way to send an e-mail to your House representative. Americans for Prosperity created a website for contacting your senator about voting “no” on any legislation for renewing the PTC. The website is easy to use. The sample letters to be sent to representatives can be customized by adding personal information.
Information is given for contacting Congress about stopping the PTC and save billions in future debt. Send this information to all your contacts and urge them to contact Congress. Save this information about access to Congress for future e-mails about legislation that harms the nation’s economy. Congress will not ignore numerous e-mails.