Local view: Preserve tax credit to save jobs
November 20, 2012 at 6:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
Here in Minnesota, we’re innovators. In Rochester, we’ve got the Mayo Clinic, an international leader in health care and research. In the Twin Cities, we’re home to innovative Fortune 500 companies like 3M and Target. And across the entire state, we’re proving to be national leaders in clean energy. Minnesota is blazing trails for wind-energy development, ranking fifth nationally for installed wind capacity while attracting millions of dollars of investment and creating high-quality jobs.
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Mr.Ahlstrom continues to promote the “gimme, gimme, gimme” routine to line the pockets of people who have been promoting these ill-advised government mandates. One need only look to the tactics used in Goodhue County to try to force the placement of windfarms near populated rural areas. This inefficient method of power generation is an intrusion into people’s lives, negative impact to the environment and wildlife, and all at a premium. Look at your electrical bill–you are already paying a premium for this bad idea. Most people don’t understand that it takes 500 Ton of re-rodded concrete to moor one of these huge 400 ft to blade tip erections. Also consider this, who is in favor of the PTC? It’s the rich….they receive tax credits which are worth up to 50 cents on the dollar to those in the top brackets. Since the tax load doesn’t go away, it requires more lower and middle-class tax dollars to make up for these wealthy give-aways. Wake up, people! Wind energy requires HUGE capital outlays, gas-fired or other back-up spin energy when the wind doesn’t blow (often), and other infrastructure to support it. Stop supporting inefficient energy. Look closer at the facts. Access public records at MN PUC and review Kenyon Wind LLC project or current AWA fiasco in Goodhue, MN. Amazing……
Hot debate. What do you think?
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And Mr MC would rather have regular folk like the Koch Brothers taking in government money. Every single point made here is bunk, you just have to dig a little to show how wild these pitches from MC are. Wind is cheap now and will be even more cost efficient as fossil fuel prices continue to escalate. When was the last time you saw a line item on your energy bill for ‘nuclear waste disposal’? You don’t see it because it comes out of your federal taxes. If MC were really concerned about waste he would be barking up that tree.
The main problem here is the switch to clean energy means different folks are going to prosper. And in the end the conservatives are going to proven that they held up important advancements for our country all for ideology and Rush Limbaughs credibility. They will fight dirty to protect those sacred cows.
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MC, you must believe that it is OK for your tax dollars to guarantee loans for new nuke plants. And it is OK for your tax dollars to pay for the disposal of the waste from those plants. And you feel that even if the waste from coal plants contains hazardous material it is OK that the coal lobby has a special exemption in almost all states that classifies that waste as nonhazardous to escape the more expensive yet safer disposal methods. And of course you see it as OK that Dick Cheney created a special exemption for hydro-fracking from the Clean Water Act to keep any contamination lawsuits at bay. And in your world view it is OK for coal companies to take coal from American soil and sell it overseas so as to keep profits at an acceptable level while reducing our ability to maintain energy independence for ourselves. And who in your world view would ever think that energy companies whose operation sends Americans to the emergency rooms should ever have to actually pay for that drain on the health care system.
Oh, no. We should not give one inch of help to a ‘green’ energy source, that would be socialism or some other fanciful derelict position. These energy sources that do not harm people (don’t even think going down the road of low frequency vibration), these sources who create no hazardous waste, these sources that will become increasingly cheaper as fossil costs escalate, these energy sources that the rest of the world is turning to should never be given an hand to reach economies of scale in THIS country. Nope, not an inch in your world.
Because if they did— the wrong people would prosper and the people on the right would look stupid.
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Wind power is proven! It can work! Now – quit the subsidies and make it cost effective!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is nothing to be gained by installing state of the are facilities that we all know will work when they can’t stand on their own two feet financially. Let’s make electric power using shrimp to run on a treadmill – should be worth $2.5 Billion to get the first site up and runnning!
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