Baltimore Sun to the Poor: Go Screw

You just have to love the mental giants who write for the Baltimore Sun editorial board.

Now, they are up in arms over Governor O’Malley diverting RGGI funds from cockamamie carbon reduction schemes—that won’t work—to energy rate relief for the poor.

The governor has asked the General Assembly to approve a diversion of up to 50 percent of RGGI revenue – an estimated $70 million more than what is scheduled to be set aside – for energy assistance to the poor over the next two years. While electricity rate relief is permitted under the 10-state agreement, it would seem to defeat the purpose of diminishing Maryland’s carbon footprint and addressing climate change.

As I’ve argued ad nauseum, even if global warming were the apocalyptic crisis (it isn’t) the Sun editorial board and the other chicken littles make it out to be, carbon reduction will have no meaningful effect on global temperatures.

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So instead of supporting real tangible benefits for the poor, the Sun would rather divert funds to meaningless climate change schemes, that are all cost and no benefit

Forget the editorial board’s tired and discredited climate alarmism for a moment they go on to contradict their own paper’s reporting

Allowing a diversion of 50 percent of auction proceeds is too much. Better for the same money to be used to assist those same low-income households with energy audits, weatherization, insulation and other conservation projects that would save families in the long term.

Except that it hasn’t, as Sun reporter Liz F. Kay reported on Tuesday:

The utilities’ explanations do not satisfy customers such as Gauhar, who said she has new appliances, replaced her windows and doors and installed energy-efficient lights. Still, her bills more than doubled, to $240 in January and $222 in February.

Demand side management schemes like conservation do not work, especially when your Public Service Commission allows utilities to decouple their profits from how much energy they sell to consumers. Consumers are still subject to rate increases, meaning that even though they conserve, they still pay more to use less energy. Keep this in mind now that Constellation plans another rate increase.

If you think your energy bill is outrageous this winter, just wait until next winter if the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act passes. This bill specifically targets energy producers for a regulatory tax, the cost of which will—natch—be passed on to consumers in the form of rate increases.