Probably Uncalled For...  

This past Sunday was beyond a blustery day in southern Indiana. It was chilly, by May standards, with wind gusts up to forty miles per hour. Little did I know, as I had called off work to watch the Cubs come from behind to get the sweep of the Diamondbacks, and wish my mom a happy Mother's Day, that a fortune and a half whisked past my apartment with an occasional howl.

As reported in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, some highly outrageous numbers have come to light thanks to the United States Energy Information Administration. The independent federal agency (like we are supposed to believe such a thing actually exists anymore, if ever) reports that corporate welfare to energy concerns racked up $16.6 billion of taxpayer money. I seriously doubt this surprises anyone, but that amount is twice that from just eight years ago. Hmmm. What was it that happened eight years ago. Oh, yeah...we got f**ked.

Not that it isn't purely outrageous for energy corporations are receiving subsidies or loan guarantees in the first place (tax breaks being the necessary evil they are), but when you see the numbers the EIA came up with:

per kilowatt subsidies
"clean coal" - $29.81
solar energy - $24.34
wind power - $23.37
nuclear power - $1.59
hydroelectric - $0.67
normal coal - $0.44
natural gas - $0.25

What? No, seriously, what the damn? Solar power's getting over twenty-four bucks a kilowatt hour, and normal coal's only getting forty-four cents? I call bulls**t. How many people you hear of getting killed producing solar power? No wonder there is no money in mining safety.

$23.37 per kilowatt hour for wind. Wind? Wind. You may now facepalm yourself. Whoever talked our government into cutting that deal deserves a Nobel or something. I figured after bottled water, it wasn't going to be long before some enterprising sorts figured a way to wrangle a buck (or twenty-three) from freakin' air.

Naturally, the Wall Street Journal's piece went on to mention the wind and solar concerns screaming because their subsidies aren't enough. Guess we can't hear all their pi**ing and whining over all the windmills. Wind and solar power together account for less than one percent of all electricity generated in this country, yet combined they receive nearly fifty bucks a kilowatt hour for all their...ahem, effort? Forget all that mess about walking the way the wind blows...who the hell can afford that?