Renewable Energy Lies

Stop being dumb about energy, America!
The average person doesn't think twice when they flip the light switch.  The lights come on.  It's magic!  No, it's not, but the energy corporations have made you believe it is over the years.

Now the energy corporations have made you believe something else that's just not true.  All but the most flat-earth cretin believes in global warming, right?  It's politically correct to be environmentally conscious, and to "do your part" to save the earth.  The corporations have trained you to want...  CLEAN ENERGY NOW!

Under the guise of CLEAN ENERGY NOW! the energy corporations have made you a soldier in their CLEAN ENERGY NOW! army.  You've become so good at marching to the beat of their drum, that you'll support just about any energy project they propose, as long as they tell you it will bring you CLEAN ENERGY NOW!  They've even brainwashed you to serve their purposes in their campaign against "dirty" energy.  Fossil fuels are "bad" and CLEAN ENERGY NOW! is "good"!

Well, guess what?  You've been used.  Isn't it high time that you educate yourself about democratic energy and wean yourself off the media mind control of the energy corporations?  What if you had the power to produce energy for your own use?  But let's be realistic... unless you want to live with the capital costs and inconvenience of running your own power plant, you're still going to be somewhat dependent upon the common infrastructure system that the energy corporations have built.  What happens when the wind stops blowing, or the sun goes down?  The light switch magic stops, and you're once again dependent on the energy corporations.  We've yet to develop a cost-effective, reliable, renewable, democratic energy system.  That doesn't mean we can't be smart about energy though.  Indeed, it's imperative that you to be smart about your energy future.

Think having your CLEAN ENERGY NOW! provided by energy corporations is a responsible and thoughtful way to be smart about your energy future?  It's not.  There are better ways to get to a cleaner, more democratic energy future than simply moving from one corporate trough to another.

If we believe that coal, oil, and gas are bad sources of energy and work toward eliminating the corporations that cling to them, what shall replace them?  Do we want to replace them gradually with local, democratic sources of energy?  Or do we want to spend billions building new centralized energy sources for our CLEAN ENERGY NOW! corporate overlords?  The environmental community has become so goal-oriented and dependent on grant money (and where does grant money come from?  energy corporations, of course!) that it wants CLEAN ENERGY NOW! at any price.  The wants of the environmental community do not align with democratic energy, or your pocketbook.  Going all in on CLEAN ENERGY NOW! supplied by energy corporations is going to be wildly expensive, and at the end of the day, it does nothing to revolutionize the way we produce and use energy.

After fighting the traditional energy corporations for years, the environmental community has suddenly found itself in bed with a bunch of new energy corporations, CLEAN ENERGY NOW! corporations.  And these new corporations stand to make a bundle if you continue to demand CLEAN ENERGY NOW! in any form.  Many of the new energy corporations are owned by foreign interests.  They're not interested in cleaning up your air, they're interested in making money building centralized renewable energy generation and transmission for a society practically shrieking for CLEAN ENERGY NOW!

One such company is Clean Line Energy Partners.  Riding the CLEAN ENERGY NOW! wave, this company wants to build more than 2,000 miles of new energy infrastructure across the country.  In order to get there, Clean Line has been trying to keep you stupid by repeating the worst renewable energy lies.  The more times a lie is repeated, the more it's believed.  It's time you learned the truth.

• The best wind energy resources are located in the middle of the country.
  

No, they're not.  Clean Line is using the wrong map, one that conveniently omits offshore wind potential.  Here's a comprehensive map that shows true U.S. wind energy potential.  Notice that the strongest winds are located just offshore on both coasts and in the Great Lakes, conveniently near the biggest population centers.  We don't need 2,000 miles of new transmission to harvest these wind resources.

• Population centers are demanding clean energy from the Midwest.
  

No, they're not.  While Clean Line has been pushing its projects for six years, not one eastern utility has signed an agreement to purchase Midwest wind power via a "Clean Line."  In fact, other areas of the country are busy developing their own renewable energy resources that can provide jobs and economic development at home.

• Exporting wind energy brings jobs and tax revenue to Midwestern states.
  

But at what cost?  Wind power is highly subsidized, both federally and at the state level.  Wind farms may pay little in the way of taxes in your state or locality, because the state is so focused on jobs and economic development that it may make a deal to abate tax responsibility for a number of years, hand out additional state tax credits, or some other economic development scheme where the wind farm doesn't pay.  The federal production tax credit allows big tax credits - $4B per year, according to some recent press.  Who do you think pays that $4B of taxes that wind generators don't?  You do.  When electricity is sold across state borders, it becomes interstate commerce and cannot be taxed.  Exporting energy causes your local energy prices to go up through the simple principle of supply/demand.  Once you open new pipelines to ship energy to higher priced markets, that's where locally produced energy will go first.  If you want some, you're going to have to pay the same export price.  For every penny new transmission lowers east coast energy bills, it raises yours by the same amount.  New transmission levelizes energy prices between source and use.  New transmission lines lower the taxable value of real estate, meaning less local property tax revenue. Still think new transmission is a good deal for your community?  Why?

• Clean Line will build its transmission lines in "fallow" or empty spaces not currently generating income.
  

No, it won't.  Clean Line is proposing to build its transmission lines across some of our best farmland.  Farmland is already economically useful terrain.  New transmission takes prime farmland out of production and increases the cost of farming around it.  Lower yields and higher costs lead to lost agricultural jobs and revenue, and harms local economies.  Clean Line is proposing its transmission lines to cross farms that have been in production for centuries.  People live and work on these farms that have been handed down through many generations.  Much of a farmer's wealth is wrapped up in his land, so it's not a stretch to compare Clean Line's eminent domain taking of farmland to dipping their hand into your retirement fund.  How much of your retirement would you donate to CLEAN ENERGY NOW!?  The highest and best use of this land is farming. 

• Transmission right-of-way payments are a highly sought-after source of income for farmers, so supporting transmission helps struggling farmers.
  

No, they're not.  Paying "market value" for a strip of land through a larger parcel devalues the entire parcel, not just the strip of land.  Nobody wants their land devalued... nobody.  The payments offered by CLEP are insulting.  Farmers have overwhelmingly rejected CLEP's offers.  That is proof in itself.  Clean Line's projects hurt struggling farmers, the same way having your retirement account cleaned out to provide energy and economic development to other states would hurt you.

• Transmission is like a highway or a railroad.
  

No, it's not.  There are already plenty of transmission "highways" in use, developed through a coordinated planning process and paid for by all electric ratepayers.  If these highways are old or inefficient, then they should be upgraded by their owners.  Building a new "railroad" next to an existing one is wasteful.  Building a new "railroad" and not allowing the communities bypassed to use it is unfair.  Building new "railroads" to places that nobody wants to travel, and then hoping that some customers develop, is a folly.

• State denial of a transmission permit can be appealed to the federal government.
  

No, it can't.  States have full authority to site and permit transmission within their borders.  There is no federal override.  However, an untested section of the 2005 Energy Policy Act allows the federal government to "participate" in a privately-funded transmission project sited within the set geographic reach of two federal power marketers.  When the federal government participates, it may be able to use federal eminent domain to take land for the project from unwilling sellers.  That's it.  Bundy Ranch on steroids.  There is no federal transmission permitting process.  Clean Line wants the federal government to strong arm land acquisition, and then it plans to build its projects without permits of any kind.

• Clean Line is privately funded so ratepayers won't have to pay for it.
  

All transmission is privately funded!  There is no pot of "public" money used for other transmission projects.  It's all private capital!  All transmission projects are paid for by ratepayers (users).  Other transmission projects are regulated and their profits are set by regulators.  Clean Line will be unregulated  -- its profits are set by market forces.  Clean Line will charge users whatever rates it can get away with.  The sky's the limit on Clean Line's profit, no wonder it's attracted big, foreign investors who believe the incredible riskiness of Clean Line is overcome by huge returns.  While regulated transmission projects must submit their costs to public scrutiny, Clean Line can roll whatever costs it wants into the rates it charges for service.  Every penny Clean Line spends on lobbying and influence, public relations and front groups, pulled pork and bouncy houses, will end up in the rates it charges.  And who pays those rates?  Whoever buys the energy transmitted over the line, possibly you!

We have been conditioned to believe that we must demand CLEAN ENERGY NOW! without taking the time to examine why or how, thinking a fairy tale image of a couple of wind turbines gently turning in a field of golden grain.  We've been taught that this fantasy is a "good" way to control our energy future.

It's not.  It's simply a way to transfer corporate energy control from one group of owners (fossil fuel companies) to another (clean energy companies).  It enables them to collect billions keeping you captive and stupid about energy.  Renewable energy isn't necessarily sustainable energy.  Sustainable energy does no harm to others.  Clean Line's plans are unsustainable and economically harmful.  Take ownership of your energy future and seek out local, sustainable solutions.  Break the energy corporate chains, America!