In the Pipeline: 10/5/12

This fight is far from over. And if you haven’t signed your name on the bus, it’s pretty much the cool thing to do these days. 

As the Greeks sing during Mass:  Wisdom!  Let us be attentive! Reuters(10/4/12) reports: “Mitt Romney’s support of the coal industry during his debate with President Obama sent coal company stocks higher on Thursday, analysts said… “It’s amazing what 15 words about coal in a presidential debate can do for the stocks,” said Michael Dudas of Sterne Agee.”

The wind PTC was just another false bill of “hope”, sold to the American people with no warranty or refunds attached. IER (10/5/12) reports: “The American Wind Energy Association would like us to believe that the PTC is the only factor affecting wind markets today and that it is needed to save jobs that are very costly to the taxpayer. However, a closer look at the industry finds that the wind manufacturing sector is over supplied, that many utility companies have exceeded their RPS targets for the next few years, and that wind is facing a great deal of competition from inexpensive natural gas generation.   Due to the over-supply in turbines, manufacturers are already laying off workers irrespective of the PTC’s future.”

Tell you what, you get rid of government purchases of ridiculously expensive “cars”, ethanol mandates, electricity mandates, production and investment tax credits, for wind and solar, and automobile mandates, then come back and visit us about the 4 billion dollars oil and gas companies get back from the 47 billion in taxes they pay every year. National Legal and Policy Center (10/2/12) reports: “Even if a consumer needs an electrical converter, the 240V dedicated charging stations cost, at most, around $2,000 (and guess what? consumers get tax credits for these, too). What did the embassy spend the extra $100K on? And this is where it actually starts to get ridiculous. The State Department also recently threw a big party (photos of two Chevy Volts at the event here) to celebrate the “greening” of the American Embassy in Vienna. There’s actually a “League of Green Embassies” website.”

I vaguely remember something about good for the goose, good for the gander.  But maybe not. The Hill (10/4/12) reports: “Oil and natural gas producers said they’re keeping an open mind Thursday after Mitt Romney opened the door to repealing billions of dollars in industry tax breaks as part of a wider overhaul that would lower corporate rates… But the industry hardly rushed to support the idea.”

Really, no “golden age”?  This guy’s living in the Stone Age. TomDispatch.com (10/4/12) reports: “While output from unconventional oil operations in the U.S. and Canada is likely to show some growth in the years ahead, there is no ‘golden age’ on the horizon, only various kinds of potentially disastrous scenarios. Those like Mitt Romney who claim that the United States can achieve energy ‘independence’ by 2020 or any other near-term date are only fooling themselves, and perhaps some elements of the American public.”

You probably want to click the link on “the tax code” in the New York Times answer to a reader (at 10:28pm).  It links to the White House press release on, among other things, tax credits related to clean energy manufacturing.  If we were more cynical, we would suspect this is pretty much prima facie evidence of coordination between the media and the Obama campaign. NYTimes (10/3/12) reports: “It is true. The tax code currently does allow companies to deduct certain expenses when they move operations overseas. As part of its plan to aid the manufacturing sector and promote job growth, the Obama administration has proposed ending this deduction, and giving tax credits to companies moving jobs back to the United States.”

Again, we leave it to you to make judgments about those not on this list, but here are the brave warriors who are publically opposed to a carbon tax:

Tom Pyle, American Energy Alliance / Institute for Energy Research
Myron Ebell, Freedom Action
Phil Kerpen, American Committment
Fred Smith, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Andrew Quinlan, Center for Freedom and Prosperity
Tim Phillips, Americans for Prosperity
Joe Bast, Heartland Institute
David Ridenour, National Center for Public Policy Research
Michael Needham, Heritage Action for America