Most people think of the Sierra Club as simply a group that is dedicated to conservation.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The 122-year-old organization that was founded by Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir has the reputation for being a non-partisan group that only wants to help the environment.
In fact, the Sierra Club is a left wing organization that has a political action committee that gives exclusively to Democrats.
Now, the Sierra Club is making war on fiscal sanity.
The Sierra Club is making war on Republicans who do not support renewal of the Wind Power Production Tax Credit. The PTC, as it is called in Washington, is a subsidy for wind energy. It goes to people like Warren Buffett who has done quite well without government handouts.
The PTC has been eliminated from the Tax Bill sent from the House Ways and Means Committee to the full House of Representatives. In the Senate, Sen. Sen. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican, has introduced a bill to eliminate the PTC.
The Sierra Club has gone into full liberal outrage that this inefficient, uneconomical method of energy production is being denied special, pork barrel status.
The Sierra Club is launching ads against a number of Republicans because they support fiscal sanity. The ads specifically mention Rep. Tim Walberg, Michigan Republican, because he refuses to support a renewal of the PTC.
In a statement to Politico, Dave Hamilton, the “director for clean energy” with the Sierra Club war on coal project said, “The Wind Production Tax credit is arguably one of the best bets we’ve made on clean, domestic energy. It encourages huge investments, creates good American jobs, helps our country become more energy independent, and cuts air and water pollution. But many in Congress are failing to act, leaving thousands of American workers and communities across the country blowing in the wind.”
He’s kidding, right?
Most of the components for the wind turbines are made in China. The wind power industry in America could not survive without government subsidies. That is why the Sierra Club statement does not cite statistics or for that matter, facts.
Environmentalists in California refer to those wind turbines as “Condor Cuisinarts,” for the devastating effect they have on endangered birds. The carnage they bring on birds that are on the endangered species list is so great; wind farms have to get special permits to allow the bird kills.
The Sierra Club is amazingly silent on this issue.
The sad fact is the Sierra Club is not an environmental organization anymore. It is simply an arm of the liberal Democrat political complex. It does not matter to the Sierra Club that wind power would probably immediately die without government subsidies. It does not matter to the Sierra Club that wind power simply means Americans pay more for their power.
For the Sierra Club, it is about being a part of the Democrat establishment. For them it is about power and it is about getting billions of tax dollars to flow to their favorite crony friends.
The other Republicans standing up to the Sierra Club are: Doug Collins of Georgia; Todd Rokita of Indiana; Larry Bucshon of Indiana; Thomas Massie of Kentucky; Dan Benishek of Michigan; John Kline of Minnesota; Steve Daines of Montana; Stevan Pearce of New Mexico; Patrick McHenry of North Carolina; Robert Pittenger of North Carolina; Joseph Heck of Nevada; Jim Jordan of Ohio; Michael Turner of Ohio; Greg Walden of Oregon; Patrick Meehan of Pennsylvania; Randy Neugebauer of Texas; Scott Rigell of Virginia; Robert Hurt of Virginia; Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington; and Reid Ribble of Wisconsin.
The people in their districts should thank them for standing up for fiscal sanity and opposing this incredible waste of taxpayer money.
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