LETTER: Subsidies are your gift to Tesla & green drivers

I am sure you are aware that Montana taxpayers are subsidizing the manufacturers, dealers and drivers of electric cars in many ways. You are most likely aware that electric car and battery manufacturers have received billions of dollars in government subsidies. So you and I, the taxpayer, have helped the manufacturers of these vehicles keep their prices lower.

Every electric-car owner has been given a gift up front from you and me. Many who protest loudly about subsidies to corporations sing the praises of the huge subsidies going to these “green” corporations. Can you spell hypocrite? The billionaire CEOs of these “green” corporations lobby very aggressively to keep the public’s “green” going into their pockets. For instance, the CEO of Nissan Motors, an electric-car manufacturer, makes $8 million per year.

You probably also are aware, it takes a significant amount of money to build and maintain the many highways, roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure that car owners use. You and I pay nearly 50 cents in taxes per gallon of fuel we use in our non-electric cars and trucks. The vast majority of that fuel tax goes to design, build and maintain transportation infrastructure. Of course, electric-car owners pay nothing.

Tesla alone has seven electric-car Supercharging stations in Montana. Because Tesla is heavily subsidized by our taxes, they offer the recharging at these stations free for the life of their electric cars. You and I are paying for the “fuel” for these vehicles as well. We, the taxpayers, just keep on giving.

Many studies have been done comparing so called “green” car operation with fossil-fuel-burning vehicles. These studies point out how “not green” these vehicles are, but the government gift givers do not seem to care.

The author of the book “Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism,” Ozzie Zehner concludes that the aggregate environmental damage from an electric car — after accounting for all the costs associated with its manufacture, use and ultimate disposal — is greater than that of a gasoline car, even if the gasoline comes from the often demonized oil sands of Canada. He also believes that “investing in electric vehicle development, which is really simply subsidizing our addiction to car culture, might not be the wisest use of a nation’s limited resources, particularly if the immediate benefits are marginal.”

The Union of Concerned Scientists has found that manufacturing of electric vehicles generates more carbon emissions than building a conventional car, mostly because of its battery.

David Abraham, the author of the book “The Elements of Power,” states that consumers and investors should understand what it takes to make the materials that enable their green choices: “We can’t look at mining rare metals as an over-there thing and at Tesla as an over-here thing. They're intricately linked.”

You are asked not to deposit your used lithium flashlight batteries in your garbage because of landfill contamination and other related issues. Imagine trying to dispose of a battery weighing a half a ton coming from your electric car.

I expect our government to take more of our hard-earned money and subsidize the electric-car battery recyclers, so we can continue our gift giving to this “green” industry.

I am not opposed to efforts to clean up the environment, but it has to be an honest effort to get my support. At this time in history, I think electric cars are more of a problem than a solution, and the government is not being honest about their impact

So the next time you are refueling your Ram diesel and notice the Tesla being recharged at an adjacent Supercharger, wander over and ask the electric-car owner to buy you a cup of coffee. After all, you are paying for his coffee and a lot more. He owes it to you.

Griffin is a resident of Kalispell