In the Pipeline: 7/17/13

Hickenlooper may reconsider his “green” policies after all. Greentech Media (7/2/13) reports: “It’s no secret that it takes a lot of energy to grow blueberry kush, purple sour diesel, voodoo or any of the dozens of other potent strains of marijuana available in North America. In the U.S. alone, indoor cannabis growing uses about $5 billion in power annually, mostly to power the irrigation system and powerful lights beneath which the plants grow. Many indoor pot growers are not paying their electric bills in full, likely because they are outlaws in the eyes of the Canadian or U.S. federal governments. Many marijuana growers mask their operations by stealing some or all of the power needed to sustain the grow lights. But that could be changing, not only because of states like Washington and Colorado legalizing pot, but also because of advanced meters that can give utilities new insight into who might be stealing power to grow weed.”

Tread lightly. The Institute for Energy Research (7/16/13) reports: “A survey released today by the Institute for Energy Research indicates that a strong majority of registered American voters oppose a carbon tax, while barely more than one-third of voters favor it. Among those surveyed, half are less likely to vote for a Member of Congress if he/she supports a carbon tax. Any effort to focus on issues other than the economy will be seen as a distraction or diversion, according to survey respondents. ‘National leaders who support a carbon tax do so at their own peril,’ IER President Thomas Pyle said of the poll results. ‘Americans don’t buy the argument that a carbon tax will be used to help the environment or that businesses will just swallow the costs. Common sense and experience leads the public to conclude that a carbon tax will only lead to more spending, more deficits and more harm to the U.S. economy.’”

Paper kindly tells Jewell her North Face Ascent cargo mountain pants are on fire. Alaska Journal of Commerce (7/11/13) reports: “Can the Obama Administration tell the truth about anything? Barely into the second term, it has long been clear that the only time you don’t have to decide whether this administration is being dishonest or incompetent is when it is being incompetently dishonest. Such is the case with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell’s June 28 letter to Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell rebuffing his pledge of $50 million in state funding for 3-D seismic exploration of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. ‘This Administration remains opposed to drilling in the Refuge and I support that position,’ Jewell wrote. ‘We, nevertheless, have reviewed your offer and conclude that any new ‘exploratory activity,’ which would include seismic work by the statutory definition, is prohibited by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) and would require Congressional authorization.’ Not to put too fine a point on it, but that’s a straight-up lie.”

World Bank to world poor: drop dead. The World Bank (7/16/13) reports: “Nearly one-fifth of today’s global population – 1.2 billion people – lives without access to electricity. Their businesses can’t operate after dusk, their schools lack power for technology, their children struggle to study by candlelight. The lack of power limits their opportunities, keeping communities in poverty. Two-fifths of the population – 2.8 billion people – still relies on solid fuel such as wood, charcoal, dung, and coal for cooking and heating, resulting in three and a half million deaths every year from the effects of indoor air pollution. Delivering reliable energy services for economic development and providing access to electricity and modern household energy services to these billions living without it is essential to reducing poverty and building shared prosperity. That is why expanding access to energy, along with accelerating energy efficiency and renewable energy, is at the core of the World Bank Group’s future work in the energy sector, as described in a new Energy Sector Directions Paper discussed by the Bank Group’s Executive Board on July 16.”

This same fraud used to spend his time talking about the moral implications of climate change. Does that sound familiar? The New York Times (7/16/13) reports: “Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia announced a plan Tuesday to replace a deeply unpopular tax on carbon emissions with a market-based trading system a full year ahead of schedule. The decision to scrap the politically toxic tax, which narrowly passed into law with the support of the minority Greens Party, is the most significant policy change unveiled by Mr. Rudd since he regained the leadership of the nation from Julia Gillard in a party coup last month. The announcement comes as a raft of new polls show his Labor Party running neck and neck with the opposition for elections scheduled for Sept. 14. ‘The government has decided to terminate the carbon tax, to help cost-of-living pressures for families and to reduce costs for small business,’ Mr. Rudd said at a news conference.”