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i know i am but so am i...,
2010-05-11 00:20:23
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ROI...,
2010-05-14 11:03:06
hot air:
Browsing the leaked summaries of the Kerry-Lieberman climate bill. It's something of a travesty:
- There's billions in it for idiotic plans to fill reservoirs with CO2 from burning coal. $2 billion a year in R&D into this hopelessly stupid idea, plus tax subsidies for commercial deployment of the hopelessly stupid idea. This is gigantic: the total annual subsidy for wind, solar and geothermal combined - mostly through the New Technology Credit - has never to my knowledge been over a billion.
- Massive tax and loan subsidies for nuclear - but nothing more than a "center of excellence" for breeder research, so we can become dependent on foreign uranium decades down the road. Very funny. Accelerated tax depreciation, tax-exempt bond issues, investment tax credit, zero duty taxes on imported equipment, an "advanced energy project credit", regulatory risk insurance, grants for nuke costs that go uncovered by the tax exemptions, and a whopping $54 billion in loan guarantees.
- It encourages states to encourage offshore drilling with a 37.5 percent take of the royalties. "Mindful of the accident in the Gulf" states can reject the bribe.
This largess isn't matched in "Subtitle D - Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency". The bill "provides findings" and some support for state programs. There's no numbers at all and no mention of the renewable tax credit.
By "[e]stablishes an annual tonnage limit on greenhouse gas emissions from specified activities" I take it to mean certain unspecified activities will be exempt from the carbon credit auctions, presumably because the bill doesn't plan out enough market distortions already.
Little of the proceeds from the carbon auctions will be going to energy consumers to defray higher energy costs. 2.5% of the proceeds go to families making under 250% of the federal poverty line, 12.5% go to "energy refunds to qualified households", whatever is left appears to be set aside with 25% of the remainder (21% of the total) going to deficit reduction.
That means our higher energy bills will be defraying the expense of our higher healthcare bills.
This is a really strange way to react to an externality that's been charging poor people in Bolivia, Peru, pretty much everywhere, astronomic fees for our electricity consumption.
:: posted by buermann @ 2010-05-12 18:43:10 CST |
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