Carney on Pickens’s wind venture

In his latest Washington Examiner column, former CEI Brookes Fellow Tim Carney takes on T. Boone Pickens’s call for policies promoting wind and other “renewable” energy sources.

Would a major newspaper editorialize with surprise that “even Kraft Foods says we need to eat more macaroni and cheese”? Would guests on The McLaughlin Group get away with saying that “even Budweiser is lobbying for more beer consumption”?

Then why do talking heads and journalists exclaim with surprise that “even T. Boone Pickens,” is lobbying for greater U.S. reliance on wind power? Don’t they know he owns the largest wind farm in the world?

As Tim notes, it may be that “for the environment” may have become as much of a trump as the now-insufferable mantra “for the children.”

Because Pickens has announced his gambit in the name of the environment, the media has dropped the skepticism it usually applies to the claims of businessmen trying to make a buck. Because his plan involves government—meaning you and I pay the costs—that skepticism ought to be even greater.

Well said. Full column here.