Clean Energy Businesses Advocates Make the Case for More Green Energy Handouts

Special interest groups for the wind and solar industry, in addition to companies like Mortenson Construction, have begun pounding the table this election cycle by holding a news conference yesterday urging the next governor of Minnesota to adapt several policies that will “take advantage of the economic development potential provided by advanced energy technologies and services.”

Of course, what this really means is they want more subsidies and more renewable energy mandates that give wind and solar companies a monopoly on your checkbook.

It’s not surprising these groups would attempt to sell renewable energy as a creator of jobs, but in reality renewable energy is an economic loser because it raises the cost of electricity on Minnesota businesses and families.  As it becomes more expensive for businesses to pay their electric bill, they have less money to pay workers. As families have a harder time keeping their lights on, it means they have less money to spend on luxuries like going out to dinner or a family vacation.

The graph below shows Minnesota’s electricity prices have increased 26 percent faster than the national average since 2007, when Minnesota’s renewable energy mandate was signed into law.

Now, let’s look at the price of electricity in California, which has even more aggressive government mandates for renewable energy. Does this situation look familiar? The skyrocketing costs in California follows the same trend as increasing costs in Minnesota. While other parts of the country have enjoyed relatively flat electricity prices, renewable-heavy states like California and Minnesota have had to pay more to keep the electricity running at hospitals, schools, and homes.

Also, did you know nearly 40 percent of the jobs created by forcing people to buy renewable electricity are temporary construction jobs? The graph below shows the breakdown of renewable energy jobs, and if renewable energy activists are going to protest the Line 3 pipeline project because the jobs are not permanent, they are ignoring the glaring hypocrisy in their support of renewable energy for the sake of jobs.

Mortenson Construction rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars building wind projects on the backs of federal tax payers and anyone who buys electricity. It’s no wonder they are pushing for more mandates to inflate their revenues.

This is crony capitalism at its worst.