Marlo Lewis, Jr., a fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, tries to argue that renewable energy technologies can’t have much market demand if their lobbyists are seeking federal and state subsidies: “If those technologies are ‘mature’ and ‘poised for wider adoption’ — wind turbines, after all, have been around for centuries — then why is government intervention needed to ensure their ‘utilization’? ” Gee, Marlo, I don’t know — couldn’t have anything to do with the massive subsidies fossil fuel energy sources receive, could it? Or the ability of oil and gas companies to externalize costs related to pollution and health risks of their products? How about those “boondoggles?”
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