THIS IS HOW REPUBLICANS INTEND TO KEEP YOU DEPENDENT ON FOSSIL FUELS

Just in case you are still holding on to the delusion that the Republican Party at every level is not in the pockets of the Koch Brothers, Big Oil and ALEC, consider that, last night, Governor Mary Fallin actually signed a bill recently passed by the Oklahoma House of Representatives that allows electric companies---monopolies, by the way---to levy a charge/penalty on Oklahoma citizens who generate their own electricity through solar panels.

You read that right.

Oklahomans attempting to cut their energy costs, increase energy efficiency and do their part to protect the environment from the damage done by the production and use of fossil fuels will have to pay a yet-to-be-determined surcharge for being economically and environmentally responsible.

The reasoning behind the Koch Brothers-backed bill that was written for Oklahoma lawmakers by ALEC (the corporate-backed bill-mill for GOP/Tea Party/Conservative legislators) is, of course, bogus.  

The bill's sponsors noted that, apart from the charge/penalty, solar panel owners would have free use of the infrastructure---the grid---that belongs to the electric companies.  ALEC went so far as to create a pejorative label for solar panel owners:  "Free Riders."  

EXCURSUS:  Ironic, given that fossil fuel producers and monopolistic energy providers have long enjoyed the "free ride" given them by the states!  I mean, seriously, does anyone actually think that Duke Power hasn't been given a "free ride" in North Carolina by the Utilities Commission, environmental regulators, and, most egregiously, by the present governor?   

What they failed to note, however, is that the only reason solar panel owners use this infrastructure is to deliver their excess, unused solar energy to the grid so that the utility companies can then sell it to their customers.  In other words, use of the grid by solar panel owners doesn't cost utility companies a cent.  Indeed, they profit from it.

The real reason for penalizing Oklahomans who are trying to do what state governments across the country ought to be doing is, of course, to discourage other Oklahomans from doing the same thing.  Which begs the question of why a state government would want to discourage its citizens from becoming more energy-efficient and more responsible per the environment.

Simple.

(1)  An industry study completed in 2013 set alarms off in the corporate offices of energy companies/fossil fuel producers/energy monopolies when it referenced independent solar energy producers as being "the largest near-term threat" to their current business model.

(2)  Big Oil/Big Coal/Energy Monopolies, led by the Koch Brothers and ALEC, began a well-financed lobbying campaign that is targeting GOP/Tea Party governors and legislators in Republican-governed states in an attempt to encourage public policy/legislation---developed and written for them, of course, by ALEC---that would inhibit the development and implementation of solar energy sources.

(3)  And, Republican legislators and governors, up to their ears in money from Big Oil/Big Coal/Energy Monopolies/Conservative SuperPACS, are obediently passing and signing the suggested legislation---sometimes almost secretively, as was the case in Oklahoma (where the bill was, without public notice and without fanfare, quietly attached to another, unrelated bill).

But that's the long answer.

The short answer is that, having sold out their constituents by both literally and figuratively selling themselves out to Big Oil/Big Coal/Energy Monopolies, governors and legislators in predominantly Republican states---Georgia, Missouri, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona and Idaho are the most prominent battlegrounds at the moment---are just doing what Big Oil/Big Coal/Energy Monopolies tell them to do.

And we thought our governors and state legislators sought public office in order to advance the best interests of citizens.  Heck, we thought they worked, well, for us.

What were we thinking?

EXCURSUS:  Governor Fallin unsurprisingly received ALEC's Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award for 2013. According to ALEC, she was a deserving recipient because of her "record of advancing the fundamental Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism and individual liberty..."  Had this description of Governor Fallin's "record" been written sarcastically, I could have appreciated it.  But it was meant to be taken literally, even though utilizing legislative action to penalize constituents for being energy-efficient and environmentally-responsible doesn't smack of "Jeffersonian...free markets" or "limited government" or "federalism."  And it sure doesn't enhance "individual liberty."