News Sheet

Green Ghost Towns: Taxpayer Cash, Zero Kilowatts

Written by Scott K. James

Ghost factories powered by taxpayer subsidies and empty promises. Green grift at its finest—no actual demand, just government cash and execs cashing out.

Well, folks, the article from the Loveland Reporter-Herald paints quite the dystopian picture—and no, it’s not a Stephen King novel. It’s the all-too-real saga of ‘ghost factories’—massive green energy facilities built with your taxpayer money that now sit dark, silent, and emptier than Biden’s cognitive battery.

The Bullet Point Brief

  • Companies slurped up billions in government subsidies like pigs at a trough—then flopped harder than a Tesla in January.
  • These so-called green startups had one business plan: survive long enough to collect that sweet government cheddar.
  • There is zero actual market demand—just bureaucrats waving around bags of your tax dollars like Oprah giving away free toasters.
  • Meanwhile, CEOs are padding their portfolios offshore while Americans get slapped with higher utility bills and blackout warnings.
  • Weld County could power this country if DC would stop tripping over its own red tape.

My Bottom Line

You ever seen those abandoned amusement parks where everything’s rusting and sad? That’s what these ghost factories feel like—except the clowns are still running this circus in DC. They promised us a clean-energy future; instead we got solar panel graveyards-turned-super-fund-sites and executives driving Teslas bought with your grandkids’ tax burden. This isn’t innovation—it’s legalized theft wrapped in recycled buzzwords.

Meanwhile here in Weld County, we’ve got natural gas that burns cleaner than half the headlines coming out of Washington. We’ve got oil ready to go—and unlike these zombie windmill compounds, our energy industry actually serves people. Nuclear? Geothermal? Bring it on—we know how to run stuff that works when it matters. But the only thing standing in our way is an alphabet soup of regulation cooked up by eco-zealots who couldn’t keep their own lights on during a power outage.

Wanna fix America’s energy problem? Drill here. Build here. Invest here. Just get Uncle Sam to pack up his rulebook and let Weld do what Weld does best: keep America running while everyone else chases fairy dust dreams funded by unicorn-rated bonds.

About the author

Scott K. James

A 4th generation Northern Colorado native, Scott K. James is a veteran broadcaster, professional communicator, and principled leader. Widely recognized for his thoughtful, common-sense approach to addressing issues that affect families, businesses, and communities, Scott, his wife, Julie, and son, Jack, call Johnstown, Colorado, home. A former mayor of Johnstown, James is a staunch defender of the Constitution and the rule of law, the free market, and the power of the individual. Scott has delighted in a lifetime of public service and continues that service as a Weld County Commissioner representing District 2.