Governor McDonnell’s energy conference is underway in Richmond and its theme is that Virginia must pursue an “all of the above” strategy if it intends to become both the “energy capitol of the East Coast” and control its own energy destiny. What do those grand designs mean for Virginia taxpayers? Look out for your wallets.
The Governor has long-favored an all of the above approach to energy, primarily because he sees it as a key source of job creation. But as Max Borders wrote on Washington Examiner’s Opinion Zone back in June, “all of the above” is little more than rent-seeking from the right:
The idea is that we need to do, well, everything — whether it’s cost-effective or not. That is, we need the government to prop up nuclear, wind, solar, turkey poop and fossil fuels. What does that mean? If it’s not cost-effective then subsidize it. If it is cost-effective then tax it. When in doubt regulate it. So goes the unfortunate ‘rationale’ of many of today’s rightwing pols and pundits — who can’t understand, much less articulate, what a free-market energy policy might actually look like.
And as if to put a face on this woeful misunderstanding, McDonnell’s energy conference key note address will be delivered by T. Boone Pickens. Wait…isn’t he one of the good guys? Not really. As the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Chris Horner told us on Freedom & Prosperity Radio, Pickens thought former Vice-president Al “Earth in the Balance” Gore would have made a great energy czar for President Obama. But even more, Pickens is a world-class rent-seeker who is pushing wind power mandates because – you guessed it – he’s putting his money into building wind farms and the gas-powered electricity plants that have to kick-in when the wind isn’t blowing. If energy companies, and by extension consumers, are forced to purchase supposedly clean alternatives like wind, Mr. Pickens stands to make (another) fortune.
The real issue this conference should address is when someone will end the war against the energy sources we already have, and know that work. In Virginia this means coal. To his credit, the Governor isn’t in the anti-coal crowd, nor is he a supporter of the cap and trade bill that Democratic Rep. Rick Boucher (from coal country in the state’s 9th district) fought so hard to get through the House of Representatives.
But “all of the above” is hardly the wise and sensible response to the green crusade against carbon fuels. As Max Borders reminds us:
“All of the Above” is often the answer kids will choose when they forget to study for an exam.
In Governor McDonnell’s case, there’s still time left to hit the books.
