One cannot turn around without facing another story about the woes of our energy predicament. Phasing in a federal tax shift from income to non-renewable energy will solve these problems. Here are three articles from the last three days.
1) LIPA chief kills wind farm project (
http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzwind0824,0,7647935.story) - Newsday
Increasing non-renewable energy via a tax shift would make projects like this more economically viable. Regardless of some good intentions (see quote), we live in a capitalistic society so it boils down to dollars and cents -->
"LIPA chief executive Richard Kessel, while acknowledging cost issues with the project and agreeing with Law's assessment, Thursday challenged opponents to come up with something better. 'If you can find a renewable energy project that's viable, that can be sited and is cheaper than this, then I think LIPA should do it,' he said. 'But if not, than I think LIPA needs to come back to this project and do it.'"
From the consulting firms study -
"the 'overall lack of a well-defined national energy policy to support these kinds of projects.'" This is our main problem - poor leadership from our elected representatives to address these serious problems.
2) Soybean price jump fueled by biodiesel - USA Today
Soybean prices have increased
55% in the last 12 months - from $5.42 per bushel to $8.42 per bushel. It's
communism.
"Growth took off after Congress granted a production subsidy that took effect in 2005." Since when does Congress know better than the market which technologies are the most promising? What about dealing with unintended consequences?
"The alternative-fuel revolution is driving prices of another energy-producing crop to near-record levels. ....the percentage of soybean oil production being turned into fuel is expected to be 12% for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, up from 8% last year and 2% the year before that."
3) Coal plants' cleanup may create side-effect - Associated Press and The Ledger
A federal tax shift from income to non-renewable energy sources (such as coal) would mean that more energy would come from renewable sources and we'd have fewer serious problems like this -
"As the nation's coal-fired power plants work to create cleaner skies, they'll likely fill up landfills with millions more tons of potentially harmful ash."
"Coal ash naturally contains arsenic and mercury, and if the elements leach into groundwater they can contaminate drinking supplies. The EPA says ash disposed of in landfills could pose significant risks when mismanaged, and there are gaps in state regulation."
"But the EPA is pushing power companies to cut emissions of the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which add to smog and acid rain and contribute to thousands of premature deaths, asthma and other respiratory ailments. A large portion of those emissions come from coal plants, the EPA says."
