By Senator Tom Brewer
The new President will take office in just a few weeks. He has stated that he will do away with the renewable energy subsidy called the production income tax credit. Back in the early part of the twenty-first century, wind and solar were heralded as the cool new way to save the planet. Several big renewable projects were built in Nebraska. Several local units of government have become fondly accustomed to the tax revenue generated by the local renewable energy project. What happens to that tax revenue when the federal subsidy is no longer paid?
Warren Buffet said in 2014 that you would “not see another on built” if the subsidy ever ended. He owns more renewable energy projects than most. I think he is right. In 2022, President Biden passed the “Inflation Reduction Act” (IRA). $369 billion was allocated for “energy security and climate change.” This is the same fund that was allocated $7 billion dollars to build 500,000 EV charging stations around the country. To date only seven have been built. This is the same pot of money that pay for the renewable subsidy. While this number may sound impressive, the true cost is far higher. These subsidies are open-ended. By 2030, this subsidy will have paid out over a trillion dollars.
Given the pronouncements made by President-elect Trump, and the public statements of his transition team members, Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy, a change in the status quo is coming. This is why wind and solar companies are threatening Nebraska counties with lawsuits. They see the writing on the wall. The renewable gravy train is about to end and they want to get their project locked-in before the federal government announces a deadline. I would offer a personal note to any county commissioner that may be reading this: every single wind or solar company is an out of state company. They are only here to harvest this corrupt federal subsidy. They have no interest in your small rural community besides that. Choose wisely who you give a conditional use permit to.
I am glad to see the end of this climate madness on the horizon. It has plagued my part of the State my entire time in elected office. I strongly encourage our public power board members to consider adjusting the strategic goals of NPPD, OPPD and LES. Requiring Nebraska’s generation of electricity to be carbon neutral by 2050 is a badly informed goal. I urge them to focus instead on delivering safe, reliable, and affordable electricity (which is what the law says they are supposed to focus on in the first place – not planet Earth).
I don’t want anyone to think I hate the planet. I believe human beings have a sacred obligation to do everything we need to do to maintain our modern way of life in the cleanest possible way. We need to pass-on the planet to the next generation better than we found it. I remember the crying native American actor on television in the 1970s doing public service announcements talking about not littering. I think we should focus our efforts on reducing human pollution because we all need to drink the water and breathe the air and eat the food that comes from the ground.