The politicians and activists proclaim their value and the news media echoes those claims, but that doesn’t mean legal mandates for “renewable energy” are anything other than a scam to take money from Rhode Islanders and give it to special interests.  (Same old same old in Rhode Island, I know.).  And so, we get headlines like, “Rhode Island sets ambitious target for 100% renewable energy.”

We can debate whether forcing people to hand their money off to one’s political allies is “ambitious,” but what they’re selling is not what you’re getting.  Note the key phrase, which I’ve bolded, italicized, and underlined in the following:

The renewable energy legislation was championed in the state Senate by Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, a North Providence Democrat.

It states that all of the energy provided to Rhode Island by 2033 would come from renewable energy, either directly from renewable energy resources or through offsets in the regional market.

An offset is when a distributor or organization buys credits from an energy producer certifying that they’ve produced “renewable energy.”  That is, the non-renewable energy that the distributor or organization is using is “offset” by paying extra for the renewable energy that somebody else is using.  One hundred percent of their energy could be produced by burning the dirtiest fuel they could find in an open bonfire, but if they give money to special interests that produce energy by a politically preferred process, they can be certified as clean and moral.

It’s a scam.  You pay, and they take a bow (and by means direct and indirect, collect a portion of your money).

One might think that in the era of information technology the paying public would be able to see right through the con, but the additional risk of exposure only means that the con artists have to cut in those who could expose them, including as a payoff to go after and discredit those who attempt to do so anyway.

Featured image by Nicholas Doherty on Unsplash.