Earlier in November we posted this:

Now this is some hope and change:  “President Obama’s top advisers recommended cutting off funding for a federal loan-guarantee program meant to spur the construction of wind and solar farms and other alternative energy projects, saying taxpayer dollars might be better spent elsewhere.”

Oh, but then there’s the politics of it all:  “But the advisers, including Mr. Obama’s outgoing National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers, energy policy czar Carol Browner and Ron Klain, chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden, warned Mr. Obama that pulling money from the program would risk antagonizing powerful allies in Congress, and would “signal the failure of a Recovery Act program that has been featured prominently by the administration,” according to an Oct. 25 memorandum viewed by The Wall Street Journal.”

These people act as though it’s their money they’re tossing around.  Let’s demand the new congress shut down the free flow of money we don’t have into poor performing contraptions we don’t need.

• U.S. Weighs Funding for Renewable Energy Projects – Wall Street Journal

Of course, the sausage factory that is the US Congress ignored all logic and tossed several billion at this scam to keep it limping along for another year.  In our Breaking Wind post yesterday we linked to our friends at Wind Concerns Ontario for the full Wall Street Journal editorial – The Wind Subsidy Bubble (Green pork should be a GOP budget target.), which again questions the logic of this spending.

Writing on the topic, Dallas Adams of Keyser, West Virginia offers this bulls-eye:

Dear Editor,

Hidden in the tax bill passed by Congress last week is grant program that pays cash to the wind industry to cover 30% of the cost of installing a wind farm.

This is on top of state and federal tax breaks, doubly accelerated depreciation, and above market pricing that already amount to 60% of capital costs. These figures come from a memo to President Obama, generated by the OMB and the Treasury. So, how much do the developers have to pay?  You guessed it, around 10%.  This means that the public is building these wind farms for the investors and in return we get our electricity bills increased.

The presidential briefing above uses a proposed $1.9 billion project in Oregon as an example.  When all is said and done, taxpayers will have given the project $1.2 billion and will own nothing.

It is pretty obvious to me that the public should take another look at industrial wind.  Why would we want to put this much of our money in something that will raise our electricity bills?

Dallas Adams

Keyser, WV

Quick, clear, and right to the heart of the matter!  Well done … and thank you, Mr. Adams!

Now, will someone please answer his question?