Threats

Last summer I testified before a Senate subcommittee on the numerous problems with the estimates issued by the Administration’s Working Group on the Social Cost of Carbon. The Working Group’s estimates of the “social cost of carbon” were artificially inflated because of several modeling decisions that it made, including the very significant omission of a 7 percent discount rate as OMB (the regulatory overseers within the White House) requires (as I explain here ). In the current...
Continue Reading...

What is Petroleum Coke?

Generally, people think of oil refineries as producing gasoline and diesel fuel, but refineries produce much more than just those two fuels. One important product produced by refineries is something called petroleum coke, or “petcoke.” Petcoke is used as a fuel and as a source of carbon for industrial processes.

How is Petcoke Produced?

Petcoke is produced after crude oil undergoes two processes. First, the oil is distilled into various products, separating out...
Continue Reading...

By their very nature, government policies that artificially encourage the use of “biofuels” (such as ethanol) distort resource allocation and make consumers poorer than they otherwise would be. Of course, fans of the free market have been leveling such a criticism against biofuel mandates and subsidies from the beginning. Yet over the last few years, even many left-leaning groups have realized the harm of these programs. In particular, biofuels divert agricultural products and lands out...
Continue Reading...

While the State Department’s latest report on the environmental impact of the Keystone XL pipeline released late last week is favorable to its construction, President Obama is still not so sure[i] and there are several steps to be undertaken before a decision will be made. First, is a comment period lasting 30 days  on the report’s findings from the public and a 90-day period for comments from other government agencies. That puts the next milestone into May, at the earliest, when...
Continue Reading...

When it comes to green energy subsidies, the Obama administration has a habit of throwing good money after bad. The latest example comes from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which recently announced an additional $50 million in funding for electric vehicle technology as part of President Obama’s quixotic pledge to “become the first country to have 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.” The latest infusion of taxpayer funds is part of DOE’s “ Electric Vehicle...
Continue Reading...

Last month, the Obama administration published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that will effectively ban new coal-fired power plants. This greenhouse gas emission mandate on new power plants represents the centerpiece of the Obama administration’s plan to bankrupt the coal industry—and with it one of America’s most affordable, abundant, reliable energy sources. A bipartisan coalition in Congress, however, is fighting back. The Electricity Security and Affordability Act (H.R....
Continue Reading...

Yesterday, the Institute for Energy Research (IER) submitted a public comment on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Program for 2014. IER commends EPA for proposing to reduce the total renewable fuel mandate for this year, but explains that EPA does not go far enough. Furthermore, EPA has once again proposed an unrealistic cellulosic biofuel mandate. As IER explains:

EPA’s reduction from 16.55 billion gallons to 15.21 billion gallons as the...

Continue Reading...

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced it will “reconsider” last year’s unrealistic cellulosic biofuel mandate in light of the industry’s inability to meet production targets. In a letter to the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy admitted that expected production at a crucial cellulosic facility did not match reality:

We believe that KiOR's August 8, 2013, announcement of reduced anticipated production in 2013, which...

Continue Reading...

Two more biodiesel companies have been accused of fraud less than two weeks before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will likely soon finalize regulations mandating how much biodiesel must be blended into gasoline this year. According to the Associated Press, the two companies are accused of generating fake ethanol credits, known as Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), and selling them for $37 million:

Federal prosecutors say a 63-year-old Las Vegas man and a 64-year-old...

Continue Reading...

Reality is starting to set in for President Obama’s plans to radically alter the energy economy. On Sunday, 60 Minutes, which had previously been a cheerleader for subsidized “green” energy, ran a piece titled “The Cleantech Crash.” Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal ran a story which shows that trucks and SUVs are driving increases in auto sales, not green cars as Obama envisioned. President Obama’s highly-subsidized green energy economy is just not happening. Since 2009, the...
Continue Reading...