BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee is one of the latest local businesses to use money from the federal “stimulus” to install solar panels on one of its buildings — and who can fault the company for accepting “free money” from Washington to do that?
BlueCross has put the big solar power system atop the Gateway Building on West M.L. King Boulevard.
The company will pay about $210,000 for the project, but taxpayers will pay even more: An additional $243,000 for the project is coming from the “stimulus” through the Tennessee Solar Institute, and hundreds of thousands more dollars will be provided through federal and state tax credits and other government aid.
Again, we do not fault well-respected and economically important BlueCross for making use of money that the government provided to help the company reduce its energy costs.
But the government assistance distorts the free market by underwriting the cost of the solar panels and requiring taxpayers to help fund the operations of a private business.