LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Reid overstates success of renewables

Allen Hawkes, Las Vegas

Saturday, Sept. 6, 2008 | 2:06 a.m.

Sen. Harry Reid’s upbeat commentary in Sunday’s Las Vegas Sun about the future of the “New West” is severely undercut by his reference to the “booming clean energy industry.”

All citizens naturally prefer a pristine environment to pollution, but there will always be some necessary compromise to provide for the needs of mankind and ensure reasonable comfort.

The government and private industry have tried hard to invent, develop and improve sources of clean energy. Their efforts have been particularly intense since our nation’s first energy crisis in the 1970s. More than three decades, billions in tax-funded subsidies and incentives for clean energy have created a rich industry, but it is clearly not “booming.”

None of the clean energy potential touted by environmental extremists comes close to being able to replace existing energy sources before 2040, about the time federal entitlement programs are projected to bankrupt the nation anyway. Were it free of unreasonable political interference, the nuclear power industry would surely boom, but Sen. Reid has provided little encouragement to that clean energy source.

As long as 51 percent of the voters believe a politician can satisfy human needs more effectively than a free market, Harry Reid will be OK, but his definition of a booming industry will leave our children cold, in the dark and broke.

Discussion: 3 comments so far…

By jfnance32

9/6/08 at 2:36 a.m.

Suggest removal

Solar and wind are expensive energy generating systems.

The brand new Solar One plant generates power at 2.4x times the current market price for energy.

Do Democrats want to double our utility bills?
By Future2012

9/6/08 at 8:24 a.m.

Suggest removal

Apparently Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi did not “hear” the whole solution from the Clean Energy Summit.

It included Clean Coal, Nuclear power, and “drilling”. Even Barak Obama and T. Boone Pickens have these as part of the “all of the above energy security package” they would support.

So far we still are not serious about funding energy security. Note:
- The economy is $13 trillion per year
- The federal budget is $3 trillion per year
- The petro dollars going out of the country are $700 billion per year

And yet Congress is arguing about funding just $15 billion of renewable price supports per year (Obama’s $150 billion over ten years).

But, first Harry and Nancy, are playing a game of making winners and losers. Harry and Nancy have to treat hard to get oil support as enriching big oil, while the rest of us want to stop the impact of sending $700 billion down the drain.

Do it All, Do it now, Do it Domestic.
By Future2012

9/6/08 at 8:24 a.m.

Suggest removal

Apparently Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi did not “hear” the whole solution from the Clean Energy Summit.

It included Clean Coal, Nuclear power, and “drilling”. Even Barak Obama and T. Boone Pickens have these as part of the “all of the above energy security package” they would support.

So far we still are not serious about funding energy security. Note:
- The economy is $13 trillion per year
- The federal budget is $3 trillion per year
- The petro dollars going out of the country are $700 billion per year

And yet Congress is arguing about funding just $15 billion of renewable price supports per year (Obama’s $150 billion over ten years).

But, first Harry and Nancy, are playing a game of making winners and losers. Harry and Nancy have to treat hard to get oil support as enriching big oil, while the rest of us want to stop the impact of sending $700 billion down the drain.

Do it All, Do it now, Do it Domestic.