Green Energy Costs Navajos Jobs and Cash

Markets are efficient.  Bureaucrats are not.

That reality becomes all too painful when left-wing ideologues use government to control our energy.

The Navajo Nation is bracing for a shocking blow to its well-being.  The largest coal-fired electricity plant in the western United States is scheduled to shut down in December.  That will cost the Navajos 900 quality jobs and blow a $58 million plus hole in their budget.

“Are we ready for the shutdown?” asked delegate Nathaniel Brown at a special council meeting, “I don’t think we are. We stand to lose a lot, our children the future generation.”

The Navajo Nation posted a press release last week calling on its people to tighten their belts.  Read it at CFACT.org:

Facing these financial times, we as the Nation’s leaders cannot continue the grandiose spending habits of old. The response to such spending by the people is the 2010 Initiative and it will be used should the need arise. As expressed here we must find a new way to provide services to the people while being mindful of the fiscal trust the people have given us. I trust the Legislative and Judicial Branches will join the Executive Branch in protecting the finances of the Nation and plan for our children’s future while caring for our elders.

After dealing this blow to the Navajo economy and the West’s power grid, global warming campaigners are offering their same-old solution: they’ll make it all better with solar.  Sounds good, and some of the Navajo have bought in.  Wait until the long-term realities of intermittent solar kick in.  The grid will be weaker and unreliable, and the jobs won’t be coming back.  The Navajos are looking to federal funds to keep them going.

Meanwhile CFACT senior policy analyst Bonner Cohen reports at CFACT.org that Texas’ Navarro College said no to a planned solar farm once they did the tough math and realized that the project would have showered funds on the developer, while giving the college next to nothing.  “During the discussion on the company’s request, Board Member Todd McGraw said he had never seen a company ask for tax abatements when its project would create only two full-time jobs.”

Left-wing policies sound good during the sales pitch.  All too often it takes years for the damage to take its toll.  Navarro College figured it out in time.  Will the Navajo?

Global warming policies don’t alter the temperature of the Earth, but they do hurt people and communities, including Native Americans.

RELATED ARTICLE: Coal plant closure to cost Navajos tens of millions and 900 good jobs

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