The War on Solar Is Real, Unlike the War on Coal

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/28447-the-war-on-solar-is-real-unlike-the-war-on-coal

You’ve most likely heard of the so-called “war on coal,” especially given how eagerly mainstream newspapers have helped conservatives in pushing this bogus meme. But there’s another war going on, one you probably haven’t heard of even though the outcome has major implications for the future of our planet.

That would be the “war on solar,” a concerted effort by vested fossil fuel interests and their political allies to hinder the progress of solar power, and more broadly attack all efforts to convert our society to run on clean, renewable energy sources.

Solar is a fast-growing clean energy industry that now employs 174,000 people, more than the coal industry. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, the U.S. now has more than 20 gigawatts (GW) of installed solar capacity, enough to power four million American homes while contributing more than $15 billion to the American economy.

The aggressors in the war on the solar industry include some familiar names: the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Americans for Tax Reform and the Koch Brothers’ own Americans for Prosperity, organizations that are intent on rolling back policies — including the solar investment tax credit — designed to encourage solar energy development. These front groups for fossil fuel interests are determined to restrict the growth of the clean tech industries in favor of the dirty energy interests they’re beholden to for funding.

As Karl Cates of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis writes, “the war on solar remains starkly underreported, and vastly deserving of much more and better coverage than it’s gotten so far.”

The goal of the war on solar, of course, is to kill a budding industry before it can get its legs. Much of its strategy is in a state-by-state campaign [that] employs two tactics: reducing state-government commitments to the percentage of energy acquired from renewables and repealing “net-metering” laws that fairly compensate homeowners and businesses for the solar energy they produce.

[Sherman A1]

1. K&R!

[MH1]

2. Well, there really is a "war on coal" in the sense of a

war on the terrible effects the current usage of coal has on the environment.

If "clean coal" can become real, and if we can stop killing people who work in the mines, there wouldn't be a war on coal anymore.

But the "war on coal" is no excuse for working against alternative energy sources.

[pscot]

3. There is no such thing as "clean" coal

Coal is a killer; bad for life on Earth.

[MrMickeysMom]

4. The usual suspects...

ALEC, Koch brothers… the behemoths aggressors to wipe out any chance of real progress.

This inspired me to follow some of the other links, and lo - no mention that 50 years ago LBJ announced an official concern of pollutant CO2 levels as brought to his attention by environmental scientists. I think it deserves an OP, in fact!