Christmas comes in June for energy geeks and graph junkies. Every year, the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy releases its Annual Energy Outlook (AEO), a compendium of 30-tear forecasts and analyses of energy sources and uses. The 212 page .pdf file contains tables, bar charts and area graphs galore, enough to provide blog fodder at least until Christmas (the December one). This | Read More »
While everyone is focused on how to deal with the impending government takeover of healthcare, we must continue to battle the forces of big-government in Congress. Yesterday, in another display of venerable bipartisanship, leaders from both parties agreed to roll the $120 billion Democrat highway bill, subsidies to fuel the Big Education bubble, and a 5-year extension of government-run flood insurance into one omnibus bill, | Read More »
While everyone is waiting breathlessly to see whether the Supreme Court will strike down Obama’s egregious power grab in the healthcare sector, a bipartisan group of congressmen and senators are working to grow government in several other sectors of the economy. We must not be complacent. In our battle to shrink the size of the federal government, there have been a number of issues on | Read More »
Shale technology coupled with horizontal drilling has created the biggest oil and natural gas boom in recent years. Fracking could become the most auspicious innovation of the past decade. It has already created thousands of jobs, and has the potential to drive down the cost of energy and reinvigorate our economy. Unfortunately, the more successful the private innovation, the more Obama’s regulatory regime will ensure | Read More »
This week, the House debated and passed the FY13 Energy-Water appropriations bill, which primarily funds the Energy Department and agencies within the Department of Interior. While House leadership claims to support a balanced budget, they are not willing to eliminate the requisite number of programs needed to achieve that goal. As conservatives, we believe that the entire Department of Energy – except for the nuclear | Read More »
Last week, Senator Jim DeMint said the following regarding the stakes between Ted Cruz and David Dewhurst in the Texas Senate race: “A Republican majority is pointless if it isn’t achieved w/ conservatives who will fight to stop the spending and debt.” His comments cannot be more oracular. If we win back control over the Senate, yet keep the same leadership intact, we will be | Read More »
There is perhaps nothing as destructive to the free market as the federal government’s stranglehold over the agriculture sector. There is also nothing as detrimental to the GOP’s ability to draw a bold contrast on free markets, dependency, spending, and crony capitalism, as their willingness to support 5-year farm bills. Current farm policy creates inveterate dependency in some of the most conservative corners of the | Read More »
You might have thought that we vanquished Dick Lugar from the levers of power a few weeks ago. But if nothing is done to stop the impending 5-year Farm Bill, he might harm us with his regressive policies long past his time in Washington. Last month, the Senate Agriculture Committee passed a 5-year farm bill that continues to serve as one of the most potent | Read More »
“I have said at nearly every climate change hearing that for me I don’t dispute the science. Right or wrong, the debate over the modeling and science appears to be over.” Guess who said that? While those comments appear similar to the sentiments expressed by the likes of Al Gore, it was actually Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton who said it during a | Read More »
It’s hard to think of a more liberal Republican that occupies a more consequential position in Congress than Fred Upton. It’s not just the fact that the Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the most powerful House panels, is a big supporter of green energy. It’s not just the fact that this same man was the Thomas Edison of the incandescent light | Read More »
Obama’s for all the sources of energy that come from above the ground. Wind and solar. He just doesn’t like the things that come from below the ground. — Mitt Romney Speaking at Consol Energy’s Research and Development Facility in South Park Township, Pennsylvania the day before that state’s presidential primary, Mitt Romney took on President Obama’s energy policies, blaming them for increasing energy prices: | Read More »
From the diaries. America is addicted to chocolate. Foreign chocolate. A majority of us consume chocolate each day. Although the U.S. produces only 6% of the world’s cocoa, we consume more than 20%. The threat is obvious. It’s time for government to step in and promote alternatives. Any day, President Obama will be barnstorming the country to tell us, “If we really want chocolate security | Read More »
On Friday, the President of the United States accused his Republican opponents of being members of the Flat Earth Society because of their demands that the nation increase drilling. In no small bit of irony, the President who bitterly lamented the rise of ATM’s and internet travel options accused the GOP of wanting to bitterly cling to the past. But what of Barack Obama’s energy | Read More »
Update: All 4 amendments were defeated, meaning we won 2 and lost 2. DeMint’s devolution amendment failed 30-67 with 14 Republicans (including McConnell) voting no; Stabenow’s green energy pork amendment failed 49-49; DeMint’s repeal of all energy subsidies failed 26-72; the Menendez-Burr handouts for natural gas cars failed 51-47. 6 Republicans supported the subsidies, including Tom Coburn! This might seem like a stalemate, but the | Read More »
Democrats have a penchant to misconstrue the parlance related to tax credits and subsidies. They refer to subsidies as tax cuts and tax cuts as subsidies. They would have you believe that oil companies are completely on the dole, while solar and wind companies are heavily taxed entities in desperate need of some “tax breaks” and loans in order to alleviate the burden of producing | Read More »
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