If offshore wind energy were the way of the future, government would not have to subsidize it at all, let alone to the tune of $1.7 billion.

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, D, justifies the subsidy he will soon provide to offshore wind based on the industry’s enormous upfront costs. He routinely fails to mention that investors routinely swallow large upfront costs to get a piece of industries that promise future profits. In the case of offshore wind, because the industry is not so promising, investors would never back it without O’Malley’s massive pre-emptive government bailout.