Florida’s Republican-dominated legislature passed legislation this month that will impose new obstacles on coal and natural gas power plants, grease the wheels for expensive wind and solar power plants, create new Solyndra-style subsidies for wind and solar power, and hand over millions of taxpayer dollars to ethanol producers. The legislation passed through the Florida House and Florida Senate nearly unanimously. The Florida House is 68 percent Republican and the Florida Senate is 70 percent Republican.
Prominent GOP leaders are promising that this legislation is merely a “baby step” and that they will impose even greater restrictions, subsidies, and market interventions in future sessions.
In my weekly Forbes.com column I explain how this legislation will harm the economy for decades to come. I also encourage Florida legislators to make a wager of their own if they are so eager to wager other people’s money on expensive wind and solar power. You can read about it here at Forbe.com: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2012/03/21/the-florida-gop-loves-solyndra-and-expensive-energy/
