It is the height of bizarre policy formulation to edit out wind as renewable energy, but that’s what a State Senator in Nebraska has chosen as a means to oppose wind energy development.
With the prospect of Facebook putting a massive wind energy development in Nebraska to support its data center, Tom Brewer R-District 43 deploys a bureaucratically lazy solution when the policy issues are far more nuanced.
Rather than actually address the regulatory and environmental issues and the externalities of energy development, especially in a rural state, Brewer has chosen a pencil-pusher’s solution in arguing against developments not affecting his district.
Nebraska State Senator Tom Brewer (R) has proposed a new bill that would restrict wind power development in the state and end the designation of wind power as “renewable.”
One provision in Brewer’s bill would redefine the term “renewable energy generation facility” by striking out the word “wind” from the list of designated facilities: