State Now Claims It Owns the Wind Taxing Renewable Energy Out of ExistenceBy Matt Agorist The state legislature asked the question, Who owns the wind? Without much debate, the Wyoming legislature quickly determined that the state does. Unlike any other resource derived from the use of private property, which the property owner maintains from surface ownership, the state of Wyoming claims wind is different. So, lawmakers decided to tax it. For the last several years, Wyoming has been taxing the power generated by wind turbines at $1 per megawatt. Do not mistake this tax as part of the regular taxes that already apply to businesses like income tax and employment taxes. No, this is an entirely new tax based solely on the assertion by Wyoming officials that they own the wind. Wind is different than anything else. Its not like a mineral, which is something that sits there in the ground until you go after it, says Bob Whitton, chairman of the Renewable Energy Association of Landowners (REAL). Its not like water that can be put in a lake or pond. The wind blows in and blows out and you cant put it in a pond, pipeline, truck or train and send it somewhere. The question is if wind rights should be severable from surface ownership, says UW Law Professor Dennis Stickley, who has worked on the issue along with a group of graduate students that gave their findings at the recent Wind Energy Task Force meeting in Casper, as reported by WYLR. As a general principle, all rights in property are assignable and transferrable and alienable, and you can transfer title, says Stickley. Moreover, anecdotally there are situations already where landowners have severed wind rights. However, thanks to Wyoming officials, these rights no longer apply. This move by the state is not in the interest of the people, nor it is even in the interest of raising funds for the government. In the four years that its been law, the state has only raised $15 million from taxing the wind. This move is purely retaliatory and meant to stifle new businesses who threaten the dinosaur coal and fossil fuel industrys grip on energy production. Just about every legislator weve met with asks us, You tell us how much we can tax you before we put you out of business, said Bill Miller, chief executive of the Power Co. of Wyoming, which is planning the wind farm. I just shake my head and say, Zero. He said the state was at risk of taxing this project out of existence. And this is by design. There is a current tax of $1 per megawatt hour of wind produced in Wyoming. However, other bills could require setting this amount at perhaps as much as $12 per megawatt hour. Of course, the wind industry isnt completely innocent in this debacle either. For years, many of these companies have flourished thanks largely in part to federal and state subsidies. These subsidies created an artificial boom which sent not only wind technology prices through the roof but also solar. However, as we see now, as the government begins turning off the faucet of subsidies, prices go down. One of the reasons Wyoming is levying this tax is because of these very subsidies. However, like Miller said earlier this year, if they wouldnt be forced to pay higher taxes on the wind, they wouldnt even need the federal money. The cessation of the flow of federal money to startup companies isnt stopping the big energy companies from using their influence over government to wage war on their renewable competition. As the Free Thought Project reported earlier this year, while Nevadans were celebrating the holidays under solar-powered lights, the Nevada Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted unanimously to increase a monthly fee on solar customers by 40% while reducing the amount they get paid for excess power sold to the grid.Adding insult to injury, they made the rate changes retroactive, sabotaging consumer investments in solar energy. This single move by government regulators is effectively killing the solar industry in Nevada and has put an end to the surge of people seeking to detach from the grid by harnessing their own energy from the sun. Just as importantly, it serves to protect the profits of Nevadas public utility company, NV Energy. NV Energya regulated monopoly with an authorized rate of returnis unabashed in saying that the surge in renewable energy is cutting into their profits. Last year the company, owned by Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway, got Sen. Patricia Farley to draft the amendment that shifted the states net metering over to the PUC. In their view, solar customers dont pay their fair share to maintain the grid. As the energy monopolies of the 1900s attempt to prop up their soon-to-be obsolete industry, the smart and ethical ones will figure out ways to adapt. However, as is the case the majority of the time, those with access to the state will prop themselves up the only way they know how with government. Matt Agorist is the co-founder of TheFreeThoughtProject.com, where this article first appeared. He is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Follow @MattAgorist Hilarious, if it was not so tragic.. But what then, if you utilize solar or wind power WITHOUT being connected to the grid ? Does the grounds for collecting this tax still apply ? Anyone knows ? If you create a commodity, it is taxed. It doesnt matter if it is physical or intellectual. The federal Govrnment subsidizes the construction of the turbines so heavily that they dont really belong to property owner, constructed with tax dollars. As a general principle, all rights in property are assignable and Dont look now, but the Emperor isnt wearing any clothes. Everyone owns everything from mother Earth. No one owns anything from mother Earth. Both statements are Truths. Reading this article shows me more of the same human arrogance stupidity. Both the the arrogance stupidity come from deception regarding denying the above two Truths. It leaves me shaking my head and sighing. Some people. Stop being an enabler. Stop paying taxes. Tax is theft. Some people need everything explained to them. Well, Wynotme.. In a roundabout way I think you answered my question Dont sell it. If you sell it, you pay the tax. The precondition was that I was not connected to the grid (at all.) Question is, if it will remain untaxed after all, or rather, for how long. The argument could be that by providing x number of KW for yourself, you are robbing big power of their profits What then ? Im in to the same idea as what you mention energy plant individualized to each home. Of course Im aware that solar, nor wind power, or even combined can (unfortunately) never be the sole source for any industrialized nation. But for off-grid living in a rural area, depending on your requirements, is still good enough. The economy of it all left unregarded. If a tax were ever to be applied, it would be applied to the purchase of the equipment (think excise tax on tires.) depending on which party is prevalent in US politics, or state politics, will determine whether a tax is applied. Tax his land, tax his wage, Tax his cow, tax his goat, Tax his chew, tax his smoke, Tax his food, tax his drink, Tax his bills, tax his gas, If he hollers, tax him more, Put these words upon his tomb, And now we have to add wind tax to the list. Had the 18th-century founders (like their 17th-century Christian Colonial predecessors) established government and society on Yahwehs moral law (including his economic and taxing laws), none of this would be possible. For more, see online Chapter 25 Amendment 16: Graduated Income Tax vs. Flat Increase Tax of Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective. Click on my picture, then our website. Go to our Online Books page, click on the top entry, and scroll down to Chapter 25. Then find out how much you REALLY know about the Constitution as compared to the Bible. Take our 10-question Constitution Survey in the right-hand sidebar. You forgot one more. TAX his TAX There are so many reasons to get off the grid, and this article depicts plenty of them. If you keep feeding the beast then you deserve to be leeched. COME ON America stand up for yourselves. Whatever happens to you will become a plague or freedom to the rest of the world. This situation looks as though the State legislatures are governing for the benefit of corporations and against the best interests of the residents of the individual State. The only way to stop this egregious and venal arrangement is to throw out the bums and elect true benefactors who believe in beneficial public policy in the interests of all the people not just the 1%. 