Wind incentives: leveling the playing field

Robert Bradley, of the misleadingly named and petro-funded Institute for Energy Research, has a new opinion article on Forbes.com attacking federal incentives for wind power. As always, Mr. Bradley is selective with his facts–here is a comment I posted with a few that he missed (and some added resource links).

Mr. Bradley has been attacking renewable energy sources for more than a decade.  This time, he uses as ammunition [a recent] EIA [Energy Information Administration] report that was initially withheld for quality concerns, then issued with a long string of qualifiers because it leaves out decades of fossil fuel advantages.

Fossil fuels have been subsidized for more than 90 years through permanent measures in the tax code. American taxpayers have paid well over $500 billion to fossil-fuel industries over the years, and they are still paying.

Fossil fuels also receive billions of dollars of hidden subsidies each year in the form of health and environmental costs that are not reflected in fossil-fuel market prices or the price of electricity and gasoline produced from them. According to a National Academy of Sciences study released in 2008, fossil fuels annually cost Americans $120 billion in health damages alone.

More reading:

Bradley, IER continue long crusade against clean energy, July 29, 2011
AWEA statement: EIA studies on energy incentives distort value of spending on wind energy, July 26, 2011
1st IEA Clean Energy Progress Report: Continued fossil fuel dominance poses political, environmental risks, April 8, 2011
Thoughts on renewable energy and energy subsidies, February 4, 2011
Fact check: Bryce omits mention of fossil fuel subsidies, December 14, 2010
Tax Foundation off base on wind, solar subsidies, December 6, 2010
IEA: Shift fossil subsidies to renewable energy, November 22, 2010