The Problem: Wind farms located in the Great Plains will be a long distance from where the electricity they generate will be used. Wind energy is not a steady source of generation like coal or natural gas. A wind- and solar-based system will of necessity be located farther from population centers, requiring more power substations and more transmission lines. The tab for the upgrade to | Read More »
Charlie Crist may be feeling the heat: Gov. Charlie Crist may cancel summit on climate change Under mounting criticism from fellow Republicans, Crist looks ready to cancel his climate-change summit and is backing away from advocating a “cap-and-trade” energy policy. At his well-publicized climate summit last summer, Crist pushed a number of energy plans to encourage renewable energy development and establish a cap-and-trade market that | Read More »
Petrobras, the Brazilian oil giant, has discovered world-class oil fields, estimated to contain in aggregate some 80 billion barrels of oil, in the deepwater offshore Brazil. Developing the reserve will be expensive, as the deposits are located beneath 2,000m (6,600 ft) of water and 5,000m (16,400 ft) of sediment, including a thick layer of salt. The company plans to spend $29 billion through 2013 to | Read More »
A soon-to-be released study of the health effects of living near wind turbines challenges the popular image of the graceful, benign windmill gently coaxing free megawatts from the passing zephyrs. Dr. Nina Pierpont, a New York pediatrician, has studied subjects who live near windmills in the U.S., the U.K., Italy, Ireland and Canada for the last five years. She concludes that some, but not all, | Read More »
Right now, today, we have an available source of energy that accomplishes the stated policy goals of the Obama Administration, by: Reducing our reliance on imported oil. Creating good-paying, green jobs for Americans. Reducing greenhouse gases and atmospheric pollutants. Providing affordable energy from a totally domestic, proven source in virtually inexhaustable amounts. Of course, nothing’s perfect. This energy source comes with some distinct DISADVANTAGES, being | Read More »
So lobbyists and executives representing the energy industry having private talks with the Vice President represent same kind of evil cabal, while lobbyists and executives representing health care interests have nothing but the good of the people in mind. Right. Health care industry executives on White House guest list President Barack Obama’s administration began holding private meetings with health industry executives at the White House | Read More »
Remember $4.00 gasoline? (Hint: It was just one year ago…) How there was no need to Drill, Baby, Drill because we needed to get Big Oil interested in pursuing alternative fuels? Besides, a new discovery in ANWR or on the 85% of the Outer Continental Shelf that is currently off-limits to exploration would be five, maybe ten years away from commercial production, so what’s the | Read More »
In a column on the Daily Beast, writer Michael Lind provides an interesting analysis of the flawed assumptions behind Barack Obama’s “Green Economy” prescription for the U.S. Just as Candidate Obama envisioned an Iowa planted wall-to-wall in Whole Foods arugula, President Obama dreams of an America full of solar panel technicians, wind turbine mechanics, and CFC bulb-breakage cleanup specialists.
So, if we had started a year ago, we’d be only nine years away, even if you accept the meme. My, time does fly when you’re having fun! July 10, 2009 The President The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Dear Mr. President: This coming Tuesday, Americans will mark the first anniversary of an historic change in our nation’s energy policy, one that came in the | Read More »
With all due respect, it’s not news that Cap and Trade is a tax on energy. Its proponents have never advanced an argument that it proposes to do anything for the environment or global climate. Cap and Trade is insidious because it creates a new entitlement, so once it’s in place it will be next to impossible to kill. If it were just a tax, | Read More »
Energy state Democrats, especially those that try to keep some hint of “moderate” cred, know upon which side their bread is buttered. On energy matters, their vote often follows their state’s economic and employment interest, as opposed to the party line. Mary Landrieu is the lone Democratic senator in a state whose entire House delegation, including Dem Charlie Melancon, voted against the Waxman-Markey bill. Most | Read More »
Buried in the 900-odd pages of legislation promoted by Messrs. Waxman and Markey (official name: The Let’s-Hogtie-the-American-Economy-and-Throw-It-In-the-Ditch Act of 2009) is language that would cede control of local building codes to the Department of Energy if states and municipalities fail to meet draconian goals to cut carbon emissions in the future. (See the Washington Post editorial quoted below.) Let’s do a quick accounting of the | Read More »
Ladies and germs, the votes are in! Let us honor the cynical sell-outs and the self-dealing businessmen with a Green veneer – the ones most likely to profit, and profit in a big way, from the New Green Economy. (Posted as a follow up to a previous diary: The Climate-Industrial Complex, or Green Energy Whores) 10. Rep. Henry Waxman (D – the People’s Republic of | Read More »
I’m in Houston, Texas, on business. Houston is the undisputed nexus of America’s energy industry. For now. Is Prime Directive #1, the New Green Economy, all about permanently blunting the political power of the Red States?
I am RedState’s self-described energy whore. My life and my livelihood are wrapped around the oil and gas industry. With that fact fully disclosed, a reader can consider the possibility that Vladimir’s opinions may be influenced by self-interest. When it comes to energy policy, the industry voice (and that of anyone with an industry connection) is deemed by the current Administration to be tainted and | Read More »
The Constitution authorizes the Congress to coin money and to regulate its value. Hypothetically, if Congress wanted to, it could create an alternative to traditional greenbacks. Such a currency could enable off-balance sheet financing and circumvent the President’s budgeting process. As such, it would be invaluable as a way to get recalcitrant politicians, states and industries to go along with Congress’s bidding, without running into | Read More »
In declaring squatter’s rights, maybe Uncle Hugo has heeded the advice of a certain former Community Organizer. On May 7, Venezuela’s National Assembly passed a law allowing the selective nationalization of oil service firms. On May 8, President Chavez exercised his newly minted authority and nationalized the assets of some 60 foreign-owned oil-service companies. Service companies are not the owners of reserves; Venezuela already stole | Read More »
Remember Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, with the “ask the audience” lifeline? Better yet, have you read The Wisdom of Crowds? A new Rasmussen poll will make you rethink all that wisdom-of-crowds business. Given a choice of three options, just 24% of voters can correctly identify the cap-and-trade proposal as something that deals with environmental issues. A slightly higher number (29%) believe the proposal | Read More »
[promoted from the diaries by bs] All bloviating about “Energy Independence” aside, the White House’s new budget proves that the main goal vis a vis the domestic energy industry is to maximize the extraction of tax dollars. The inevitable result will be the permanent crippling of the industry and the loss of millions of jobs. In the meantime, say goodbye to whatever shot at Energy | Read More »
In a Tuesday afternoon conference call with Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA1), the congressman revealed that just this afternoon, the Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade Tax Bill was pulled from consideration by the Energy Subcommittee. It will be referred to the full Energy and Commerce Committee. This move comes after three weeks of Subcommittee hearings on the bill. According to Rep. Scalise, Chairman Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) met with key | Read More »
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