Re: “Which mistake would be worse?,” May 19 letter to the editor.
A letter from a solar industry executive displayed a rare form of candidness that usually isn’t tolerated from other industries. John Bringenberg, vice president of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association’s board of directors, called for a “painful” carbon tax to be implemented on his industry’s many carbon-based competitors with also increased support for “non-carbon renewables” such as solar.
Since most people know a new tax on business will always get passed down to its consumers, Bringenberg isn’t hiding his self-interest very well when he says energy consumers should pay for a tax on solar’s competitors while also paying for increased subsidies for his own business. By doing so, it seems Bringenberg is more interested in having customers serve solar than solar serve its customers.
[First published in the Denver Post.]
Taylor Smith was a policy analyst for The Heartland Institute specializing in energy, climate, and environmental regulation. He is coauthor with James M.
