A Free-Market Energy Blog

PTC Teeters, AWEA Whines, Romney Leads

By -- August 8, 2012

“[Romney] will allow the wind credit to expire, end the stimulus boondoggles and create a level playing field on which all sources of energy can compete on their merits.”

– Romney campaign spokesman, “Wind Energy Tax Credit Splits Obama, Romney,” Des Moines Register, July 30, 2012.

The extension of the 20-year old Production Tax Credit (PTC) for windpower and other qualifying renewable energy is a wedge issue in the national political campaign. And with growing state-level pushback against government subsidies for qualifying renewables, it is time to ‘put-up-or-shut-up’ for on-grid wind and solar technologies.

And it was VERY good news that the Romney campaign issued a statement two days ago officially opposing an extension of the wind PTC. The other side wants him to walk it back, but few tangibles epitomize the fluff and failure of government-knows-best than taxpayer investments in wind power and solar power

AWEA: In Panic Mode

Meanwhile, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has pumped millions of dollars into a lobbying campaign to secure the PTC’s extension.…

Continue Reading

Energy Freedom Bus Tour: Hitting the Open Road for Consumers, Taxpayers, and Common Sense

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 7, 2012

“We will take the vision for affordable energy, common sense regulation, and safe technology to the American people; then return to Washington D.C. to deliver the message — it’s time to free the American people from costly, unnecessary regulations and bureaucracy. It’s time for Washington to untie the hands of American energy producers and manufacturers, and free these job creators to put our country back to work again.”

Freedom rings! The anti-energy eco-planners used to monopolize the not-for-profit energy dialogue. There was yours truly running the Institute for Energy Research (IER) out of my house, and Jerry Taylor of the Cato Institute carrying the free-market energy torch in Washington, D.C. And then that feisty bunch at the Competitive Enterprise Institute–Marlo Lewis and Chris Horner, et al.–came on the scene.

But now our side has caught up.…

Continue Reading

Energy Consumers vs. Regulators: Who Knows Best? (Mercatus study stands up to critics)

By -- August 6, 2012

“Perhaps the main failure of rationality is that of the regulators themselves.”

-Ted Gayer and W. Kip Viscusi, authors, Overriding Consumer Preferences with Energy Regulations

In a working paper for the Mercatus Center titled Overriding Consumer Preferences with Energy Regulations, economists Ted Gayer and W. Kip Viscusi examine several energy use regulations and the accompanying Benefit-Cost Analyses (BCAs). They find the regulations would not pass a BCA (provide net benefits) without two assumptions: first, that individuals make systematic and financially significant mistakes in their energy consumption choices, and second, that government policies can correct these mistakes.

The regulations cited in the paper include mileage requirements for vehicles and energy efficiency standards for household appliances and light bulbs. The BCA numbers are telling – the authors show, for example, that the vast majority (about 85 percent) of the estimated benefits of the mileage requirements proposed in 2011 accrue to the individual user, mostly in the form of avoided fuel costs.…

Continue Reading

Milton Friedman's 100th: Exploring His Wisdom for the Ages (Part III: Political Capitalism)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 3, 2012
Continue Reading

Milton Friedman's 100th: Exploring His Wisdom for the Ages (Part II: Energy)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 2, 2012
Continue Reading

Local Wind Subsidies: New York State's Money-Road to Nowhere

By Mary Kay Barton -- August 1, 2012
Continue Reading

Milton Friedman's 100th: Exploring His Wisdom for the Ages (Part I: Worldview)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 31, 2012
Continue Reading

PTC as Wildlife Terminator (environmental reasons to clean out tax code)

By -- July 30, 2012
Continue Reading

Debate: Bill McKibben vs. Alex Epstein on Fossil Fuels

By --
Continue Reading

2Q-2012 Activity Report: MasterResource

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 27, 2012
Continue Reading