An Ill Wind

Today's Syracuse Post Standard is exactly why being conservative and for alternative energy can drive me nuts. Frank Congel, in a piece for the paper, argues why wind is bad and nuclear is good. Why some arguments are lacking, (low power output, a blight on upstate vacation homes) I am disturbed by the financial ones. Wind energy is being subsudized in NY with property tax breaks and a surcharge on energy used by consumers. Hold on here! I thought wind was being paid for by the dupes who are buying green energy, not those of us who are trying to keep their green. Now nuclear is subsudized too, and I'm not ready to go out and build a plant on the base.

I am, however, a little concerned that NY is creating a magnet for companies to come in for a 25% return on an investment made unwillingly by citizens who pay the highest energy prices in the nation. Local govenment has continually dropped the ball on energy policy. First, Julian screws up on municipal power, paving the way for NYRI to come in. Then, NY tries for more and more "alternatives" to actually delivering needed power to the locations that demand it. The state might as well give a price break for any household that uses less than 3000 kWh per family member anually.