Subject: Wind Energy Weekly #5 2/2

From: [email-masked] (Howard Smith)
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 93 13:32:00 -0700

(Continued from previous message)

policy," saying "It may be appropriate to subsidize emerging energy
resources, but mature resources should stand the test of the
market.

     "When this test is applied to subsidies in 1989, the pattern
appears to be almost completely backward.  In other words, the
mature, conventional energy sources received almost 90 percent of
all subsidies."

     In addition, the Alliance said, "This pattern . . . also
represents poor environmental policy because it encourages the use
of polluting and environmentally risky energy sources.  Fifty-eight
percent of all subsidies . . . directly promotes the use of fossil
fuels--over 18 times more than . . . efficiency and 23 times more
than . . . emerging renewable technologies.

     "Given the growing concern in this country about global
warming, acid rain and other fossil-fuel-related pollution
problems, this imbalance is unwarranted."

     Looking at subsidies by end use, the Alliance found that those
devoted to electricity added up to about 11 percent of the cost of
all electricity consumed in the U.S. during the year, or about 0.73
cents/kWh.  In the case of nuclear fission, however, total
subsidies amounted to about 2.0 cents/kWh, or "more than four times
the amount of subsidy [on a per-kWh basis] of any other source."

     Subsidies to the nuclear industry, the Alliance said, extend
throughout the industry's "life cycle," from exploration support,
which is carried out by the U.S. Geological Survey, to post-
operational closure of nuclear power plants, with regulators
allowing utilities to set aside amounts for plant decommissioning
that are too small.

     Along the way, taxpayers pick up the tab for a variety of
items such as research on new reactor designs, insurance against
nuclear accidents through the Price-Anderson Act, and long-term
power contracts from the federal Tennessee Valley Authority that
omit risk-sharing with industry.

     For copies of "Federal Energy Subsidies: Energy,
Environmental, and Fiscal Impacts," contact the Alliance to Save
Energy, 1725 K Street, NW, Suite 509, Washington, DC 20006-1401,
phone (202) 857-0666, fax (202) 331-9588.