Republican dogma for decades has been that man-made global warming is a myth and that an emphasis on renewable energy will damage our economy. It appears, however, that a split is developing within the Grand Old Party and that some Republicans now favor renewable energy over fossil fuels.
Barry Goldwater Jr has been in the forefront of conservative Republicans pushing for the use of solar energy against advocates for the utilities. Utilities want to charge people who place solar panels on their roofs a fee of as much as $100 monthly for them to attach to the electrical grid. Goldwater and other opponents of this effort have labeled these fees as a “solar tax” and do not want to see them instituted.
The utilities claim that solar users subsidized by the government do not pay adequate amounts to maintain the electrical grid and that other users will have higher electrical bills if this is not rectified. ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, which promotes pro-business legislation around the nation by Republicans, has been in the forefront of the battle against renewable energy mandates like solar power and has been successful in several states. This group favors having solar uses pay high fees if they want to connect to the grid.
It is not only Mr. Goldwater who is battling the utilities for those who use solar energy. Groups have formed in Hawaii, California, Colorado, Arizona, and Georgia with conservative backing that favor solar energy. In fact, in Georgia, Tea Partiers melded with the Sierra Club to form a “Green Tea Coalition” to work together on this issue in spite of disagreement over other environmental problems, Obamacare, and various social issues.
Goldwater and other “solar conservatives” note that Republicans really were the original environmentalists who wanted to preserve the land, particularly in the West. The “solar conservatives” believe that utilities have an outmoded business plan and are regulated monopolies Image704090xwhose rates are fixed by government bureaucrats rather than by the free market. Some “solar conservatives” and Tea Partiers assert that domestically produced energy is important from the standpoint of national security. Every dollar that goes to locally produced energy is a dollar kept from those countries who patronize anti-American forces and ideals.
While “solar conservatives” admit that solar energy is subsidized by the government, they note that fossil fuel companies also receive huge government subsidies and have been getting government largesse for decades.
The movement towards solar energy is spreading with the Green Tea Coalition also working with groups in South Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Texas, and Ohio. They see themselves as working to promote free market energy. And it’s easy to understand how individuals who have their own energy sources want to feel independent of the big government regulated utilities.
“Solar conservatives” and other Republicans who favor renewable energy believe the national leadership of the party is behind the curve on this issue given their support for the utilities.
It is obvious that some fees are required for solar users who want to use the utilities as a backup source of energy and want to sell some of their excess energy back to the utilities. The question is what fees are fair to support the power grid and not burden apartment dwellers and other non-solar users with the maintenance costs of the grid and higher utility bills. Conservatives and liberals have to come together to figure that out.
Resurrecting Democracy
www.robertlevinebooks.com
Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020