Letter - Solar energy has more benefits

To the editor:

Thanks to Editor Edenloff and the Echo Press for your May 16 story "Bonding bill includes bright news for solar energy future."

Your article points out that solar energy development carries significant benefits for all of us – jobs for the jobless and reduced utility bills for public buildings and thus for us taxpayers. You might also have listed investment opportunities, healthier air, cleaner water, and less haze over the Boundary Waters.

The legislation provides for all public building projects financed by bonding to use 5 percent of the project costs for solar photovoltaic and solar thermal systems. More solar equals less coal. That's good for the thousands of asthma sufferers. That's good for jobs since analysis shows that solar and wind create four to seven jobs per each million invested, while oil, coal and natural gas provide less than one job per million of invested capital. All in all, a smart move since over time these projects pay for themselves. This kind of government policy costs nothing and is good for everybody.

But not all government help is useful. Time was when tax forgiveness for the oil companies made sense; markets were uncertain and a growing country needed to ensure that oil attracted investment capital. That time is now past and 70 percent of Americans support eliminating subsidies and the unfair advantage they grant oil over solar and wind.

It is important for the public to know that repeated attempts to eliminate the subsidies have been beaten back and sadly, a recent attempt to eliminate the subsidies was defeated by the representatives of oil in the House. Sad day for the taxpayers.

Jeanne Johnson,

Minnesota 7th Congressional District

Citizens Climate Lobby

Alexandria, MN

Tags: opinion, letters