Letter to the Editor: Don’t lose faith or passion regarding clean energy even though the transition will be slow
Silverthorne
Don’t lose faith or passion. We may one day be able to meet a good portion our future energy needs from nonfossil supplies while reducing our carbon dioxide emissions. It will not be tomorrow or 2050 as some predict. It will be long after most of us have left this earth. The current problem with this is our energy demand is still outpacing our supply. And don’t forget, our plants, trees, vegetables, etc. need carbon dioxide to grow.
Fact: The cost isn’t just what one pays at the retail level for gas or power. It includes the taxes we all pay to subsidize the power. The U.S. Department of Energy found that for every dollar of government subsidy per British thermal unit of energy produced from fossil fuels, wind and solar get at least $10. Does that sound like a money saver?
Fortunately, a U.S. Supreme Court majority just struck down the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan (West Virginia v. EPA), stopping a rule that would have effectively required coal- and gas-fired generators to subsidize renewable energy. The Supreme Court determined the Environmental Protection Agency overstepped authority which is specifically the responsibility of Congress. The Constitution does not authorize agencies rights that should be done by the people’s representatives.
The President Joe Biden policy is to starve the energy producers of long-term funding. It takes almost four years from land leasing to actual crude oil and gas production, and return on that investment is not guaranteed. Don’t handicap one energy source by adding onerous restrictions on them to attain expensive, selfish and unreasonable goals. We need all the fossil fuel and green energy sources to meet our growing energy requirements well into the future. We do not need to be handicapping one in favor of the other.

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