GOLDEN CRESCENT AND 1000 ISLAND NEWS

  Rahm Emanuel conflates “taxpayers” with “ratepayers” as he laments the federal government’s reductions of energy tax credits in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (“ Big Electric Bill? Thank Trump ,”   op-ed, Sept. 18). There’s plenty to debate about these incentives, but no one in or around government should pretend they’re free. The U.S. Treasury last year estimated  the two biggest energy-related credits, used primarily to subsidize wind and solar projects, would cost taxpayers $425 billion over the next decade. Congress slashed future taxpayer costs by phasing out these credits. The ratepayer cost and profile of future electricity generation will now change.  Instead of putting more charges on the national credit card , more of the cost of electricity generation will show up on monthly bills. This will prompt discussion about the state and federal policies that, years before the big, beautiful bill, caused electricity rates to begin climbing. Here’s hoping it ...

  This week’s conversation is with Barbara Kates-Garnick, a professor of practice at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, who before academia served as undersecretary of energy for the state of Massachusetts. I reached out to Kates-Garnick after I reported on the circumstances surrounding a major solar project cancellation in the Western Massachusetts  town of Shutesbury , which I believe was indicative of the weakening hand developers have in conflicts with activists on the ground. I sought to best understand how folks enmeshed in the state’s decarbonization goals felt about what was happening to local renewables development in light of the de facto repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean electricity tax credit. Of course, like anyone in Massachusetts, Kates-Garnick was blunt about the situation: it’s quite bad. The following conversation was lightly edited for clarity. So to start, how do you feel about the state’s odds of meeting  its climate goals ? My ...

  How to end the "100% renewable" fraud An FTC rule called the "Green Guides" lets Apple, Google, Meta and hundreds of other companies claim be “100% renewable” while using mostly fossil fuel electricity. ALEX EPSTEIN  Sept 21   How is this possible? Because an FTC rule called the “Green Guides” lets them buy so-called “credits” to count others’ solar and wind use as their own. ·            No significant US company is close to being “100% renewable,”   since all such companies rely on the mostly fossil fuel electricity grid. But in 2012,  the Obama FTC rewrote a guidance document called the “Green Guides”  to let companies falsely claim to be “100% renewable” anyway . ·            The FTC has published the “Green Guides” since 1992 to specify what constitutes deceptive environmental marketing claims under The FTC Act. In particular the Green Guides specify when it is ...

  Rahm Emanuel’s op-ed “ Big Electric Bill? Thank Trump ” (Sept. 18) demonstrates an ignorance of basic economics. Mr. Emanuel claims that subsidies paid to green-energy providers reduce the cost of electricity.   The opposite is true .   The billions of dollars paid out to green-energy providers—almost $70 billion for wind and solar alone between 2020 and 2023—don’t come down from on-high. Taxpayers foot the bill. The Trump administration’s opposition to offshore wind subsidies, which Mr. Emanuel attributes to the president’s “pique,” is the most egregious example. The long-term contracts for the electricity output of these facilities are at prices up to four times as high as average electricity wholesale prices.  Mr. Emanuel doesn’t explain how forcing ratepayers to pay far-above-market prices, as well as the additional ancillary costs required to compensate for the inherent variability of wind and solar power, reduces electric bills. Economists know that subsidies...

  Madison, N.Y. – Seven wind turbines that were heralded 25 years ago as harbingers of New York state’s green energy future were demolished Wednesday in Madison County. The turbines, which were more than 200 feet tall, were blown up one after another. It took about 30 seconds for blasts to knock them down. The 11.5-megawatt wind farm, Madison Wind Power, has  reached the end of its useful life , owner EDP Global said. Madison Wind Power was  the first commercial wind farm built in New York , attracting national attention. U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson was among the VIPs who showed up for the groundbreaking in April 2000. It’s small potatoes today. The wind industry has grown since then, as has the size of wind farms. New York now has about 2,600 megawatts of wind power capacity – 225 times the output of Madison – with more on the way.   [or perhaps not] The turbines installed at Madison Wind stood 220 feet high at the hub, with a rotor diameter of 217 feet. E...

  September 15, 2025 Green activists  and their political allies are working overtime to try to blame rising electricity bills on President Trump — his One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), his tighter scrutiny of wind and solar, and even emergency reliability orders.  The data tell a different story: prices climbed sharply before the OBBBA could plausibly matter, demand is rising fast, the “renewables are cheap” sales pitch is still history, and the system-wide costs land on ratepayers. The price record — before OBBBA Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has recently rallied Democrats  around electricity prices, calling them one of the Republicans’ “weakest points.”  Democratic lawmakers are flooding town halls and social media with claims that Republican hostility toward renewables is driving up utility bills,   and  Democratic-aligned groups are spending millions on advertising to make the same point . But the reality is   that electricity rates ...

  Remember net zero? Europe’s politicians wish you’d forget,   as the Continent rushes en masse for the climate-policy exits   this autumn. “Net zero” referred to the ambition to achieve zero carbon-dioxide emissions on a net basis by midcentury for purposes of averting climate change. Europe used to love this stuff, even though it was perhaps the most preposterous policy idea anyone has ever had.  Undeterred by the costs, industrial carnage, scientific uncertainties and sheer futility of attempting such a thing when China and India refuse, Europe went all in on its war on carbon. But now voters are demanding an armistice if not an outright surrender.  A growing body of opinion polling and mounting anecdotal political evidence augur the collapse of this project—and sooner rather than later. Some 39% of Britons either believe concerns about climate change have been exaggerated or don’t know, according to a  startling opinion poll  released this week by ...

  ALBANY — Gas stoves will be virtually extinct in all new buildings constructed in New York beginning in January, marking another milestone in the state’s clean energy goal but also igniting a debate between home builders and those demanding swift action to meet fossil fuel reduction mandates.   The first-of-their kind regulations will require the use of all-electric appliances in new single-family and low-rise construction starting next year. In 2029, all new buildings in the state are scheduled to be subject to the rules, with some limited exceptions.    Many builders in New York have derided the move, arguing it will reduce consumer choice and drive up the cost of living, worsening the state’s already crippling housing crisis.   “It comes at a bad time when the state is in dire need of more housing production,” said Michael Fazio, executive director of the New York State Builders Association. “In our view, (the rules) unquestionably will ...