Talking About Subsidies and Perverse Incentives: A More Insane Contrast Is Hard to Imagine
My email this morning carried more bad news about how governments are “shooting themselves in both feet” by providing huge subsidies for the fossil fuels that are driving us past tipping points to catastrophic climate change (see: Fossil Fuels Receive $500 Billion a Year in Government Subsidies Worldwide).
So, I thought I’d provide two contrasting recent NJ energy stories, to make that global story local.
But first, let me contextualize the subsidy issue by recalling three related prior posts.
First, let us consider these absurdities – the message is pretty clear in the headlines, but reading them and getting in the weeds is worth the effort:
- NJ Pays Over $1.5 Billion To Keep Obsolete Coal Plants Open
- Enter the Twilight Zone of Energy Policy
Second, I want to recall what was one of the most embarrassing performances in legislative testimony that I can remember (maybe this is why the Christie Administration has balked and ignored several requests by Legislature to testify at oversight hearings).
I would imagine few people remember this, but back on June 21, 2011, Christie appointee Ken Sheehan, Chief Counsel at the NJ Board of Public Utilities testified that:
the level of subsidies to solar is too high
I wrote about that at the time here: Christie BPU: $3 Per Year to Support Solar Power “Too High”
So, with that preface, now to the today’s post on recent NJ energy subsidy absurdity:
I bring you Exhibit A and B below, courtesy of the reporting by Tom Johnson at NJ Spotlight:
Exhibit A:
CPV BREAKS GROUND FOR NEW POWER PLANT — THOUGH SUBSIDIES ARE IN DOUBT
But the building of the 700-megawatt facility in Woodbridge again raises questions about a controversial law enacted by the Legislature and signed by Christie to award up to $3 billion in ratepayers’ subsidies, including as much as $1.3 billion to CPV, to ensure that three new power plants are built in the state. Some say the grants were never needed, an argument bolstered by recent trends in the energy sector.
And while the Christie Administration is promoting $3 billion in subsidies to build new fossil plants, the Christie BPU is blocking private investment in solar and new solar capacity, which just prompted a HUGE lawsuit by the solar industry. I bring you:
Exhibit B
BPU GETS SOCKED WITH HALF-BILLION DOLLAR LAWSUIT
The state yesterday was slapped with a half-billion-dollar lawsuit from large solar developers who claim they have lost millions of dollars invested in projects that the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has prevented from being built.
The Christie Administration provides billions in Subsidies to fossil – and erects barriers to solar (and wind too) – let’s not forget this:
Insane.
(ps – and when thinking about these multi-billion dollar subsidy boondoggles, also don’t forget that Christie killed RGGI based on the false claim and right wing lies that the $50 – $60 million/year from the sale of pollution allowances was a major energy cost.)