Democratic Public Service Commissioner John Vincent is attempting to provide a wake up call to his fellow Democratic party officeholders on wind energy.
In an op-ed in The Montana Standard, Vincent basically tells statewide leaders to get real about wind energy potential and costs.
You can click here for the full article; here’s an excerpt:
As a long-time supporter of renewable energy, I’m compelled to take issue with the position of our state’s top elected officials that wind energy virtually guarantees a panacea of win/win opportunities for Montana.
There are no guarantees that wind power will be “low cost” for Montana’s ratepayers.
When it comes to jobs and the economic benefits of wind development in Montana, generalities are too often used to make the case; Wind development “will create good paying jobs,” “spur economic development” and “result in millions of dollars of investment.”
Reality isn’t so kind.
Vincent’s column will no doubt have repercussions across the political spectrum, especially considering Sen. Jon Tester’s (D-MT) effort to defend his green power mandate in Montana which is already driving up electricity rates in the state.
Meanwhile, Fox News has this on the whole “green jobs” argument advocated in the federal stimulus bill:
The Obama Administration channeled $90 billion of the $870 billion dollar stimulus package towards the new green economy.
The hope was that a national move from fossil energy to green energy would not only be good, long term, for the environment, but that the transition could also be a jobs’ driver, which would help resuscitate the overall economy.
But two years into Obama’s administration, the White House has reported it’s helped create 224,500 green jobs, far short of the 5 million it had openly predicted.