There used to be a time when every politician became a fan of wind and bio-fuel as alternative energy sources. That time was called “before the Iowa presidential caucuses.” Iowa, you see, will never have oil. But it does have biomass and a lot of space where nobody wants to live where you can put a wind farm. Republicans and Democrats who wanted to be competitive in Iowa had to at least pay lip service to alternative fuel suggestions.

The New Republic says that those days are now over:

In the early 1990s, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley was the lawmaker who authored the original legislation creating the wind production tax credit, the federal policy that’s been key to making wind competitive. President George H.W. Bush signed the tax credit into law in 1992, and George W. Bush renewed it…

Today, though, GOP support for wind investment is scarce. Nearly all of the Republican candidates for president have come out against the wind production tax credit. At a summit in Iowa in March, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said he wanted to phase out federal benefits for wind energy and renewable fuels like ethanol—another popular issue in Iowa. “Ultimately, whether it’s ethanol or any other alternative fuel, renewable or otherwise,” Bush said, “the markets are ultimately going to have to decide this.

Wow, I didn’t know Jeb was for the legalization of drugs, but I’m glad he trusts “the market” to decide how easy it should be for me to get access to coke that I can snort off of a woman’s breasts — breasts that I’ve also been able to purchase through the free and unfettered market.

Or is there some difference here I’m not quite getting?

Originally Published on Breaking Energy, July 20 2015.  

Wind Turbines photo courtesy of Shutterstock.