Wohlust: Expensive offshore wind projects ‘never worthy’

I am writing this only to make sure you noticed a Wall Street Journal editorial Sept. 21 that discussed a letter sent to the president and signed by six governors from northeast states.

Surprisingly, the Delaware governor was not one. All were asking for additional federal tax breaks and grant funds from the federal government for their ill-advised offshore power projects. They blame inflation, COVID-19, supply chain problems and maybe sunspots for these projects all becoming economically unfeasible.

The fact is, they never were worthy, as they were based on unrealistic estimates and never considered the effect of interest rate increases. Like most politicians, they take no responsibility for bad decisions. Governments deciding how to allocate capital usually leads to boondoggles, and the U.S. has a terrible track record.

Now, they want taxpayers everywhere to subsidize their projects.

Never will they admit they made mistakes in backing these schemes. And, after all that money gets wasted, in the end, the net effect on climate change and sea level rise will be zero. There are so many more promising opportunities to make real progress.

In the end, the capital markets can best direct investments.

I think The Wall Street Journal editorial is worth reading.

Ron Wohlust

Dagsboro

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