‘Green Inflation’ Is Nothing New. But More Is on the Way

We pay once in higher general prices and again for energy.

Letter to WSJ.

"The “The Coming Green-Energy Inflation” ( Mark Mills, op-ed, April 18) is already here. The hundreds of billions of federal dollars spent on “green” energy has been increasing budget deficits for decades—and thus inflation finance (monetary expansion).

Start with the Energy Department’s civilian energy programs; continue with the tax subsidies for politically correct, economically incorrect renewable energies. The “temporary” Production Tax Credit for wind power, enacted in 1992, has been extended 13 times. The Investment Tax Credit for solar has been extended thrice. Add the $7,500 tax credit that most electric vehicles owners receive, and the picture becomes clear. “Green inflation” needs to enter the lexicon as a double whammy. We pay once in higher general prices and again for energy.

Robert L. Bradley Jr.

Institute for Energy Research

Washington"