While most of the U.S. economy endures a slow recovery process, the energy sector continues to flourish. Job opportunities in oil and natural gas increased by 40 percent from 2007 to 2012, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.[i] Compare this to just 1 percent growth for total private-sector employment over the same period.  The key to this job growth has been the boom of domestic energy production on state and private lands. In 2012, the U.S. recorded the largest oil...
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One of the many problems with the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is that it requires refiners to blend increasing amounts of ethanol into motor fuel, even though ethanol can damage engines. Gasoline blended with even as little as 10 percent ethanol can accelerate engine failure in boats, motorcycles, lawnmowers, and other small engines. Musa Agil has firsthand knowledge of this problem. Agil, who operates two independent gas stations in Wilmington, North Carolina, started selling...
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All future measurements should be in fruit-based units.

Forbes  (8/10/13) reports: “There’s much screaming and shouting from the usual suspects about the new radiation leak discovered at Fukushima, the stricken nuclear power plants in Japan. What they’re not telling you is that the radiation leakage is around the same as 76 million bananas. A fact which should help to put it all into some perspective. Here’s Greenpeace: Environmental group Greenpeace said Tepco had ‘anxiously hid...
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently increased the amount of ethanol refiners must blend into gasoline under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), despite repeated warnings  that the U.S. cannot handle higher ethanol concentrations. While the RFS requires blending increased amounts of ethanol into gasoline, most cars are certified to run on gasoline that contains no more than 10 percent ethanol (E10). Breaching this “blend wall” would force refiners to decrease production...
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One of the most absurd aspects of the federal government’s energy policy is the Renewable Fuel Standard’s mandate for cellulosic ethanol volume. As we have explained on these pages, ethanol mandates drive up the price of food for no reason. We also wrote, “EPA is incredibly forcing refiners to pay a fine for not hitting cellulosic ethanol targets that even the EIA projects will be impossible, and even though in 2011 there was no evidence that any  cellulosic ethanol was available...
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Congress should take this as a teachable moment and mandate that the plant generate all its electricity from wind or solar and that Congress will rely on no other powerplants.  I suspect the Republic would be a lot safer if staffers and Members had to get by on a few hours of electricity a day.

The New York Times  (8/8/13) reports: “As part of the climate change agenda he unveiled this year, President Obama made a commitment to significantly reduce the federal government’s dependence...
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I bet you did not know that Commissioner Binz is the hand-picked successor of the current FERC chairman, who himself is hostile to coal, natural gas, and anything, really, that works.

Complete Colorado  (8/7/13) reports: “As Ron Binz campaigns to be confirmed as the head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, much of the emphasis has been on his position as an activist for what he considers to be low or no carbon energy sources, predominantly Big Wind. (Forget the fact that wind...
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Do you think the protesters drove there?

Reuters  (8/4/13) reports: “Police arrested more than 200 demonstrators for trespassing at Chevron Corp in the California city of Richmond on Saturday to mark the one-year anniversary of a massive refinery fire and to protest a proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The arrests came as a throng of sunflower-carrying picketers chanted, 'Hey hey, ho ho, fossil fuels have got to go,' as people of all ages walked onto Chevron's property to draw...
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These suckers are floating around London’s sewers and they’re spun up about fracking? I'm not a betting man, but I'm willing to wager that burning "fatbergs" is much dirtier and less efficient than hydrocarbons.

Newsy  (8/5/13) reports: “Workers at a water company in London have made a historic and disgusting find — a so-called ‘fatberg.’ It’s a combination of fat poured down drains along with flushed wet wipes. The two coupled together to create a massive clump of waste. The...
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WASHINGTON -- American Energy Alliance President Thomas Pyle released a statement today following the passage of H.R. 367, the Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2013 (REINS Act). This bill includes Rep. Steve Scalise's (R-La.) amendment which would require any tax or fee on carbon dioxide to be approved by Congress. Pyle's statement follows:
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