Oklahoma residents who produce their own energy through solar panels or small wind turbines on their property will now be charged an additional fee, the result of a new bill passed by the state legislature and expected to be signed into law by Gov. Mary Fallin (R).
On Monday, S.B. 1456 passed the state House 83-5 after no debate. The measure creates a new class of customers: those who install distributed power generation systems like solar panels or small wind turbines on their property and sell the excess energy back to the grid. While those with systems already installed won’t be affected, the new class of customers will now be charged a monthly fee — a shift that happened quickly and caught many in the state off guard.
Continue reading: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/04/16/3427392/oklahoma-fee-solar-wind/
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Commentary by The Secular Jurist: So, self-described anti-tax Republicans have imposed a new tax on people in order to protect the profits of large utility companies who refuse to compete in the clean energy market. How ironic!
You’d almost think it’s all about the price of oil and gas and big fossil fuel. But that can’t be, not out yonder in god’s country, with all those freedom-loving libertarian constitutional scholars. But as long as they can keep their guns, they don’t seem to mind much else, apparently.
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… even their own hypocrisy on taxes.
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So republicans are using tax policy to change good behavior (renewable energy use) to bad behavior (dependence on monopoly utilities who burn fossil fuel and harm the environment).
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Yep, they’re all for new taxes if it helps their corporate benefactors.
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Once again we see who’s paying the campaign bills, this time at the start level. It’s no longer about ideology, it’s about the money. Period.
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Is there a difference?
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