Re: Energy Policy

REPLY to John: Yes of course such scams always seem to be generated when there
is an opportunity to so. Human greed knows no bounds. Many of us, of course,
tend to blame the legislative program for such abuses, instead of blaming those
who perpetrate them and thus abuse the publicly intended outcome and paralyze
public trust. I don't think that there has ever been a government program that
has not been abused in some way by some one. But of course, there are hardly
any private programs that have not been abused either - whether that be
corporate swindling (it would be interesting to compute the public cost of
swindles by unregulated "private" corporate activity over the past 20 years)
or fraudulent behavior involving charitable organizations. Given the
uncontrolled greed that seems to grip our species, such actions should not
surprise.
But I don't think we should use such behaviors to justify inaction by our
elected governments. Instead we should make sure that such well-intended
programs are supported by well-managed enforcement and regulatory initiatives.

ken piers

>>> John W Burgeson <jwburgeson@juno.com> 12/13/2003 3:18:42 PM >>>
>>I've also heard repeated rumors that they would not be a profitable
source of electricity without the special incentives government offers,
and that people invest in them primarily to take the tax write-offs. >>

That reminds me of the TIME article, 10/13/03, pages 61-68 plus the ad on
page 79.

The title -- THE GREAT ENERGY SCAM.

Here is an industrial process that results in $1 billion a year in
profits for such corporations as DTE in Detroit, Progress Energy in
Raleigh, Ginger Hill Synfuels near Pittsburgh, Mariott International, and
many others.

Don't try to get a plant tour; the TIME people were uniformly turned
away.

All of there corporation own and run synfuel plants. Sounds good? All of
these plants take coal and turn it into -- coal. All of these plants
exist and have their being because turning coal into coal generates tax
credits. The plants "consist of little more than a collection of conveyor
belts, nozzles, mixing vats, a few small buildings and sometimes
equipment to convert the coal into pellets... ." (page 63).

What does the process do? In terms of energy performance, the coal that
goes in = the pellets that come out. The pellets are somewhat more
expensive, but because of the tax credits, they can be sold more cheaply.
But the business model for the plants is unlike rational business models.
No profits, just tax credits.

There are dozens of these "spray and pray" plants in operation now. There
is no requirement that any of them demonstrate that the plant output is
better in any way, cleaner burning for example, to qualify for the tax
credit. Last year 50 million tons were produced. But not so much as one
extra BTU of energy.

What exotic chemical is used in the spraying process? Diesel fuel,
pine-tar resin, etc. The result -- still coal.

Because of this scam, Mariott was able to pay income tax at less than 7%
in 2002. Pretty good deal for them.

Read the article. We get all the government we pay for.

Burgy

www.burgy.50megs.com/change.htm (How we changed the whole world)

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Received on Mon Dec 15 10:47:00 2003