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The Onion Couldn't Have Written a Better Headline ABC News (4/10/12) reports: Former General Services Administration administrator Martha Johnson missed a lavish Las Vegas conference for government employees because she was already committed to meetings in California at  Solyndra, according to testimony in an official government investigation…Solyndra is the now-bankrupt green energy company that the Obama administration had provided with a $535 million loan through the stimulus…The...
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First Energy would argue that they are not intentionally causing a shortage in the capacity markets in order to make a bunch of money from unsuspecting ratepayers.  I like to argue that I am taller and better looking than people think I am Platts Energy (4/8/12) reports: West Virginia regulators ordered FirstEnergy not to begin retiring three coal-fired plants in the state totaling 660 MW until regulators have a chance to review the company's justification for the closings…The Public...
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It’s hypocritical for the same politicians calling for sanctions on China for placing quotas on a its rare earth exports to simultaneously try to block the export of our own natural gas resources MarketWatch  (4/2/12) reports: The Chinese are wrong in the case of rare earth elements and should reverse their practices. President Obama shouldn’t follow in their footsteps with U.S. natural gas, a move which not only runs counter to our own obligations, but which threatens our own economic...
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Solyndra.  Beacon.  First Light.  Q-Cells.  They will be thrown into the exterior darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  For many are called, but few are chosen GWPF The German firm says it has abandoned an attempt to refinance its debts and will file for insolvency on Tuesday…Like other solar panel makers, Q-Cells has been hit by falling prices and last year the firm lost 846m euros ($1.1bn; £702m)…The company started in 2001 with 19 staff and now employs...
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If some is good, more is better Yahoo (3/29/12) reports: An outside group with ties to conservative causes on Thursday launched a $3.6 million ad buy lashing out at President Barack Obama's energy record, blaming him for rising gas prices and his decision to delay the Keystone XL pipeline project…The ads aired in eight states by the American Energy Alliance seek to undercut Obama's message that he has increased oil drilling and pushed to develop renewable energy sources, and came as the...
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The answer is, of course, who cares?  The only reason anyone buys a Prius is so they can demonstrate how much holier they are than everyone else.  And to expose the fact that they don’t what the word “fungible” means Good Magazine (3/27?12) reports: In his book, The Conundrum, New Yorker staff writer David Owen ruffles the feathers of energy-efficiency advocates with his argument that living sustainably often means living, in his words, “pretty much the way I live right now, though...
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Do you think Willard’s folks here in DC, who lobby for crews like Chevron,  API, Encana, and Halliburton should say something to someone about this?  I mean, other than the usual complaints about how rude it is for people to point out that Willard may not be as pro-energy as he (now) says he is? New Yorker (3/25/12) reports: Last week, Mitt Romney, who, it now seems, is going to become the Republican nominee whether anybody likes it or not, called on President Barack Obama to fire three...
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“It’s really about the supply...”  So says David Plouffe.  So say we all National Journal (3/25/12) reports: With gas prices rising and the choir of critics growing louder, Obama senior advisor David Plouffe defended the president’s energy policy and said the administration has not ruled out opening the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve…“What I’ll say is we’re not taking that off, that option, off the table,” he said on CNN’s State of the Union. “There are...
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The gas plan is easy — lease more land, issue more permits, reduce regulations CNN Money (3/22/12) reports: The oil industry recently laid out a set of proposals it believes will instantly lower gasoline prices…The proposals call for more domestic oil production, fewer environmental regulations, and for not raising taxes on the industry. They're basically what the Republican presidential candidates are calling for. Amen Chicago Tribune (3/22/12) reports: When the summer driving season...
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The best part of this is that Congressman Markey is always in favor of people sending their heating oil to Massachusetts (think LIHEAP).  Maybe someone should introduce a bill outlawing the transport of energy across State lines Juneau Empire (3/21/12) reports: U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., told oil giants BP, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil his natural gas export bills now in Congress would block a proposed $40 billion pipeline to export Alaska natural gas to Asia…The bills,...
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