Unable to compete on price, efficiency and reliability, those who are pushing the "Green Energy" agenda are turning again to their only effective means of "leveling the playing field" with fossil fuels--government legislation. The latest effort comes from the Oshkosh Sustainability Board, which is asking the Common Council to approve a measure that would bar the city from holding any investments in companies that make their money through the production or sale of oil, coal and natural gas.
The city doesn't actually own stocks in any companies like that--but it does hold corporate bonds (loans) with at least Exxon Mobil. These are very safe investments in Blue Chip companies that provide the city with better returns on reserve funds than having them sit in a bank getting less than one-percent. But for those on the Sustainability Board, those investments are like blood money--allowing these corporations to wreak havoc on the planet by drilling exploration wells, building pipelines, and performing much-needed upgrades to aging refineries--all of which will continue to make fossil fuels affordable for the masses.
The divestiture request (should it be approved) will almost certainly be followed by a similar resolution demanding that the City take that money it used to hold in oil bonds and instead invest it in "Green Companies" that will be "helping the planet heal". Companies like Evergreen Solar, SpectraWatt, Beacon Power, Ener1, Abound Solar, A123 Systems, Willard and Kesley Solar Group, Raser Technologies, Energy Conversion Devices, Mountain Plaza Inc, Olsen's Mills Acquisitions Company, Range Fuels, Thompson River Power, Stirling Energy Systems, Azure Dynamics, Nordic Windpower, Satcon, and Konarka Technologies Inc.
Never heard of those companies? Well, I wouldn't expect you to--they all went bankrupt. And combined with everyone's favorite--Solyndra--took more than $1.6-BILLION in Federal Stimulus funding down the drain with them. Now as a taxpayer here in Oshkosh you should ask yourself, "Do I want my tax dollars going to companies like that--or to good old Exxon and BP--who won't be going anywhere for a while?"
In the end, this is nothing but a "feel good" measure anyway. It's not like losing the potential investment of Oshkosh is going to prevent the Big Oil companies from selling their bonds and funding their future operations. Private investors (including the union pension funds providing the retirement income for a number of Sustainability Board Members) will be more than happy to snap up the notes--knowing they are a sure thing. That is, until the Environmentalists pass laws to take away that freedom as well.
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Olsens Mill Acquisition company did not file bankruptcy and all USDA loans were paid off in full when the company was sold to ADM. You should not just reprint information you get off the internet without knowing what you are talking about.
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