Dear Editor:

Another thank you goes to Kevin Killough for his column in the March 15 Tribune. It was titled “Rural communities should be wary of the renewable energy movement.”

While we are not against renewable energy, as we will need it one day, we are against the way it is being pursued. The “at any cost mindset” that Kevin writes about is simply another way of saying “shove it down their throats until they give up.”

All of our renewable energy right now is so highly subsidized by our government that we know it could not exist otherwise.

No one talks about the cost of disposal of wind generator parts or batteries for electric cars. We have a graveyard for wind generator blades near Casper. France has a disposal area for electric cars because it costs so much to replace the batteries. As Kevin says, places in Europe are finding it hard to live with the renewable energy they have.

Anyone who tries to convince you that it will be cheaper for the U.S. to completely get rid of fossil fuels and nuclear energy is trying to pull the wool over your eyes. Not only will you pay high prices at the fueling station because of the cost to make that electricity, you will probably also pay an energy tax, like we do on our gas, plus you will pay for it in your income taxes. It wouldn’t surprise me if the government created a new withholding called the Electric Consumption Tax. You would have to have a statement each year of your electric consumption so they can tax you accordingly.

If you love the scenery around you, it would all disappear under the wind generators and solar panels. And, as Kevin says, these things will never go up anywhere near affluent communities. Not only would they not like having the eyesores blocking their views, they probably don’t want to see all the dead birds and land creatures that will accumulate around them. Al Gore did not want wind generators in his backyard but he pushed for them. He’s been pretty quiet for a while. Perhaps he had to account for his own energy use so he shut up.

We can’t wait to see all the charging station parking lots go up and the anger when many of them are hung with “out of order” signs. 

Do you think John Kerry would fly around in an electric airplane? We certainly wouldn’t.

The bottom line is that for the foreseeable future we will need fossil fuels — even the wind generators need fossil fuels to get them going. However, the climate change community will never recognize or tell you that because it does not fit their narrative. It is just too bad that these same people don’t feel some consequences of their own decisions like the rest of us do.

Sincerely,

Linda and Bob Graff

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