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GUEST COLUMNIST

Clean energy advances, policy retreats

Hal HogstromOPINION

Exciting things have been happening in the field of renewable energy generation. Photovoltaic solar cells have become so cheap that most of the cost of setting up P.V. arrays is now devoted to labor and the structure that supports the cells. And engineers have determined the optimal length for the blades of wind turbines so that their generating capacity is becoming competitive with cheap, coal-powered generation.

These remarkable advances have not escaped the notice of those persons who enable us to befoul the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. Two of them, the immensely wealthy Koch brothers, have ordered their troops into action. One of their richly endowed cohorts is an agency called The American Legislative Exchange Council. Its job is to concoct laws aimed at reversing progress and then peddling those laws to state and local governments. Politicians are well aware of the generous rewards in campaign contributions that flow from the Koch fountain to cooperative office-holders.

Therefore, these reactionary deceits are given respectful attention in places like Raleigh where much of what has happened since the takeover by the hard-right has involved the enactment of regressive schemes originally devised by the Kochs’ ALEC.

Currently, ALEC is focusing its endeavors on repealing any laws that had been enacted anywhere in the country which were designed to promote the use of clean power. These repeal efforts are all touted as desperate attempts to save and create jobs. Yet the industry prides itself on its ability to produce more product with less labor. One discouraging example is the extraction of coal by mountaintop removal, a process that has devastating environmental effects but which uses far less labor than conventional mining.

How pleased the Kochs must be to have found the means to augment their already massive wealth while simultaneously perverting the nation’s laws.

Hogstrom lives in Asheville.