GOP Luddites reject the future of clean-energy development

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Tea-Publicans are dedicated to turning this country into a third-world banana republic ruled by a corporatocracy of über-rich plutocrats. Many of these plutocrats are tied to the coal, oil and gas industries. They understand that in the era of peak oil they stand to make huge profits from scarcity of supply with an ever-growing demand so long as they can keep viable alternative sources of energy from reaching the marketplace to compete with their outdated 20th century technology. The plan is doomed to failure in a global economy.

Luddites can try to hold back the tide of history, but those countries which aggressively embrace clean-energy development will be the economic winners in this century, and those countries that hold onto the old ways and fail to modernize by embracing new technologies will be the economic losers.

The GOP Luddites just rejected the future of clean-energy development. GOP rejects Obama’s call for ‘Sputnik’ moment on clean-energy development:

House Republican appropriators have rejected President Obama’s call to have a “Sputnik moment” by ramping up spending on clean energy.

On Thursday, the Appropriations Energy and Water panel moved a bill to full committee that slashes renewable energy funding by 27 percent, or $491 million, to $1.3 billion. That is $1.9 billion below what Obama sought in his budget.

Environmentalists and unions were angered by the move, which they said will negatively affect the ability of renewable forms of energy to become competitive in the market.

“This is severely crippling,” said Marchant Wentworth, deputy legislative director for the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Yvette Pena Lopes of the BlueGreen Alliance, which brings together unions and environmentalists, said the cuts could cost a massive number of jobs.

The Alliance recently estimated that the funding in the stimulus bill for clean energy saved or created 1 million jobs. With that funding running out and normal appropriations being cut by 27 percent, the order of magnitude of job losses could be similar, she said.

“This is outrageous at a time of 9 percent unemployment,” she said.

* * *

Overall, the Energy and Water appropriations bill spends $30.6 billion, cutting spending by $1 billion compared to current levels and by $5.9 billion compared to Obama’s budget request.

The largest percent cut comes in renewable energy.

The Energy Department’s science budget, which funds basic research, is also cut by $42 million out of a $4.8 billion budget, or $616 million less than Obama requested.

The bill cuts $97 million in solar energy funding, which would be $291 million below the president’s request.

An industry source said China has poured money into solar energy and the United States is at great risk of losing the race to develop next-generation technologies.

Sources said in addition to thin-film solar research, wind rotor research could be devastated by the cuts.

Brian Kauffman of the Natural Resources Defense Council said that Energy Department retrofitting of existing power plants and research into batteries will be hurt if the cuts are enacted. 

“It says a lot about the priorities of this Congress that they would protect billions of dollars of oil company subsidies while gutting investments in clean energy alternatives. Big Oil wants our kids to be as hooked on expensive oil as we are today, and clean energy investments are the only way to break the addiction,” said Jeremy Symons of the National Wildlife Federation.

Fuel-efficient vehicle technologies are cut by $46 million, and the bill reduces vehicle technology deployment by more than $200 million.

This is all based upon Randian free-market ideology (which does not exist in the real marketplace and never has):

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) told The Hill that renewable energy needs to rely on the marketplace for growth.

“If renewables are to grow, it is because there will be a profit incentive, not because the government spends money,” Rogers said.  “I would welcome a level playing field if such a thing ever existed."

"The government has a long history of aiding established industries like oil and coal,” Marchant Wentworth countered. “Renewable energy does not have the long-term contracts or long-term financing that is available to traditional forms of energy.”

“Twenty-nine states have adopted renewable energy standards because they want to generate jobs,” he said. “The bill flies in the face of the State of the Union, where President Obama called for a turn to green energy to create jobs.”