LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]



Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Gramm: windmills an eyesore, energy tax credits a waste 

Credit:  By Jim Snyder | Political Capital | Jan. 11, 2013 | bloomberg.com ~~

Phil Gramm, a former U.S. Republican senator from Texas who now advises hedge funds, may have a new role: chief wind-energy antagonist.

Gramm, a fiscal conservative who sought to cut federal spending during his career in Congress, says a tax credit for wind projects is a particularly egregious example of a wasteful federal subsidy. Wind is an unreliable and expensive form of power, and government support distorts the market, taking away capital from more worthy sources of energy like natural gas, he says.

Gramm, who left Congress in 2002, laid out many of these complaints in a Dec. 25 editorial that ran in the Wall Street Journal.

In an interview at his Washington office, Gramm added a fourth count to his list of complaints – wind turbines are an eyesore.

The 1920s-vintage windmill he uses on his Texas home west of San Antonio to draw water is “purdy,” he said, exaggerating his Southern drawl for affect. Modern wind turbines that reach more than 100 meters in the air are not, he said.

“I don’t understand people who love the environment and nature not being offended at how ugly” modern wind turbines are, Gramm said.

Gramm, who said he wasn’t the sort to be inspired to write a couplet by a majestic outdoor scene, said he nevertheless considered a collection of blades spinning – or not spinning – atop vistas in West Texas and other areas to be a form of “sight pollution.”

Gramm, a senior scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based group that promotes free enterprise, is reaching out to reporters to discuss why wind’s tax credit should come to an end. He says he’s motivated by a dislike of government subsidies and that none of his clients produce natural gas, the production of which he says can help revive the economy.

Gramm does work as an adviser to Exelon Corp. The Chicago-based utility opposed extension of a wind production tax credit that was set to expire last year, and was booted out of the American Wind Energy Association as a consequence.

Congress approved a one-year extension of the 2.2 cent per kilowatt hour credit in the budget deal that avoided tax hikes and automatic spending cuts.

The American Wind Energy Association is now looking for a six-year phase-out. The time will give companies the chance to further reduce costs to better compete with fossil fuels, the group argues.

The industry is worth supporting because wind energy doesn’t pollute and has created tens of thousands of jobs, the group argues.

Gramm calls wind was a “hot house industry” that couldn’t stand on its own.

Source:  By Jim Snyder | Political Capital | Jan. 11, 2013 | bloomberg.com

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon