A Rose By Any Other Name Response to 'Solar Battle Lines'

摘要

The authors are entitled to argue that rooftop solar panels offer such an unalloyed public benefit relative to other energy sources that a huge subsidy over and above the one Congress has already provided is warranted. They did not attempt to make that case. What is not appropriate is distracting decision-makers and the public with contrived arguments that hide the existence of the subsidy and regressive cost shift, packaged with gratuitous bashing of utilities that have raised a serious issue in open regulatory proceedings. The vitriol aimed at the utility industry on this subject is not about the merits. It is part of a strategy to exploit the public's natural inclination to favor solar energy in order to make utilities (and regulators who may agree with them) pay an exorbitant political price for seeking to have an important energy policy issue decided on the merits in a public forum.