A Free-Market Energy Blog

Grassroots: NO to the Wind PTC

By -- December 9, 2015

A stand-alone floor vote on the wind production tax credit would have put an end to its nonsense, but Congress prefers instead to coddle this costly giveaway safely in the corpulent folds of other, must-pass extender language.

It’s December. The wind production tax credit (PTC) has been expired for nearly a year, and, no surprise, Big Wind and its friends in Congress are again pressing for another extension.

Our representatives know that the PTC is wildly unpopular. They’ve heard all the arguments, year-after-year: How that 23-year old subsidy has outlived its usefulness and is, in fact, harming taxpayers and our competitive energy markets. A stand-alone floor vote on the PTC would have put an end to its nonsense, but Congress preferred instead to coddle this costly giveaway safely in the corpulent folds of other, must-pass extender language.…

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Anti-Nuclear Group Uses Free Market Arguments against Vogtle Plant

By Jim Clarkson -- December 8, 2015

“In an unregulated market, Georgia Power’s profits would be linked to its performance. It is only through the PSC’s authorization that Georgia Power has posted such large profits for its shareholders at the expense of the Georgia ratepaying public.”

Defenders of consumer choice and free markets rarely pay attention to the technical criticisms of nuclear generation by the often hysterical opponents of nuclear power. Therefore, it is a pleasant surprise to see sensible reasoning used to oppose the spread of this cost-prohibitive, subsidized source of electrical generation.

In Georgia, the utility and its regulators have heard the charges shown below and ignored them, likely because the facts cited cannot be refuted.

Here, in its entirety, is pre-filed testimony by Nuclear Watch South in question-and-answer format. 

DIRECT TESTIMONY AND EXHIBITS OF GLENN CARROLL ON BEHALF OF  NUCLEAR WATCH SOUTH

Part I: INTRODUCTION

Please state your name, profession, and business location.

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Judith Curry’s Climategate ‘Open Letter’ Revisited

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 7, 2015

“What has been noticeably absent so far in the ClimateGate discussion is a public reaffirmation by climate researchers of our basic research values: the rigors of the scientific method (including reproducibility), research integrity and ethics, open minds, and critical thinking. Under no circumstances should we ever sacrifice any of these values; the CRU emails, however, appear to violate them.”

This item at Judith Curry’s website caught my eye. She recounts the “crazy days of Thanksgiving 2009 when I spent all weekend writing my ‘Open Letter'” in the wake of Climategate.

Six years later, in the middle of COP 21, it is time to give voice to Curry’s contribution, which was reproduced by Andrew Revkin at Dot Earth at the time under the title, “A Climate Scientist Who Engages Skeptics” (November 27, 2009).…

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Global Cooling: Do Not Forget (false alarm was tied to coal burning too)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 3, 2015
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Goklany for COP21: The Wonders and Happy Data of Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

By -- December 2, 2015
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Bishops for Mid-Century Decarbonization–Really?

By E. Calvin Beisner -- December 1, 2015
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James Hansen on the Coming Paris Fail (Kyoto II)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- November 30, 2015
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Thanksgiving: A Free Market Holiday

By Richard Ebeling -- November 26, 2015
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The UN’s Coming Paris Folly: Part 2

By Roger Bezdek and Paul Driessen -- November 25, 2015
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The UN’s Coming Paris Folly: Part 1

By Roger Bezdek and Paul Driessen -- November 24, 2015
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