You can’tsqueeze blood out of a turnip or energy from woodchips, but you can squeezemoney out of a taxpayer WashingtonExaminer (2/6/11) reports: To turn wood chipsinto ethanol fuel, George W. Bush's Department of Energy in February 2007announced a $76 million grant to Range Fuels for a cutting-edge refinery. A fewmonths later, the refinery opened in the piney woods of Treutlen County, Ga.,as the taxpayers of Georgia piled on another $6 million. In 2008, the ethanolplant was the first...

Permitorium: Shell is the latest casualty fromthe war on affordable and reliable energy; EPA and DOE carry out Obama'smyopic  energy views while the consumer suffers high energy prices New York Times (2/3/11) reports: Shell CEO Peter Voser in anearnings call with reporters said the company would need to spend as much as$150 million without knowing whether it would receive needed permits from U.S.EPA and the Interior Department..."Despite our investment in acreage andtechnology and our work...

Themarket has spoken: wind installations were down 50% in 2010. The reason? AWEAsays uncertainty about long-term federal support of wind industry. AWEA(1/24/11) reports: New wind powered generating capacity installed in 2010 inthe US was roughly half that installed in 2009, but there is a fairly robustpipeline of new capacity currently under construction, the American Wind EnergyAssociation said Monday… AWEA attributed the falloffto uncertainty about long term federal policies in support...

Republicans appear to be growing some backbone, which as you mightexpect, bothers the Murkowski crew. Politico . Withthe backing of GOP caucus leaders, aides for House Energy and Commerce ChairmanFred Upton (R-Mich.) and Senate Environment and Public Works Committee rankingmember Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) are seeking unwavering support from a host ofindustries for an all-out push to block federal and state climate rules. Sen.Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) – who last year offered a Senate...

One last, excellent wordabout the Frances Beinecke Commission before it fades into obscurity.Washington Examiner. It wasn'thard to predict the sort of recommendations to expect from the seven-memberNational Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drillingwhen President Obama appointed Natural Resources Defense Council PresidentFrances Beinecke, Union of Concerned Scientists board member Fran Ulmer andfive other Democratic donors to the panel. All seven oppose offshore...

A gripping storyfeaturing the world’s oldest profession (AWEA, natch), some amateurrent-seeking (NEI), and one stand-up performance by Dan Whitten at ANGA.E&E News . Thewind industry's largest trade group a few months ago rejected the idea of a"clean power" mandate on utilities that included nuclear, some coaland natural gas as options. But American Wind Energy has a new opinion today.We’re open to talking about anything at this point," said Rob Gramlich,AWEA's senior vice president of...

Meet the new year, same as the old year: Obama Administrationcontinues assault on domestic energy production while gas is expected to hit $4a gallon.  Wall Street Journal (1/3/11)reports: More than two months after the Obama administration lifted its ban ondrilling in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico, oil companies are still waiting forapproval to drill the first new oil well there. Experts now expect the wait tocontinue until the second half of 2011, and perhaps into 2012...The slowdownalso...

Deniers: Interior Dept. Continuesto Deny Existence of “Permitorium” on Offshore Energy – But Thanks toThis Piece in Today’s Chron, That Lie Is About to Die. Houston Chronicle (12/28) reports, “When federal officialslifted the ban on deep-water drilling in early October, Houston-based ATP Oil& Gas was ready to roll. The small production company was finishing up workon a well that tied into its Telemark production hub about 100 miles south ofthe mouth of the Mississippi River. It had filed a...

Must Read:WSJ Outs Rent-Seeking, Wall Street Fat Cats Looking to Make Enron-Like Profits.Wall Street Journal (12/23) reports, “Strange things happen atthe nexus of progressive ideology and private profits. Like Peter Orszagdecamping the White House budget office for Citigroup, a bank that wouldn'texist without taxpayer crutches. Then there are the utility CEOs cheering onthe Obama Administration's plans to wipe out large portions of U.S. electricpower capacity. The Environmental Protection...

Embarrassed over BeingExposed for Shoddy Work on Boiler MACTs, EPA Takes Out Frustration on Economywith New Rules Targeting Refiners. Politico (12/21) reports, “The Obama administration is expected to rollout a major greenhouse gas policy for power plants and refineries as soon asWednesday, signaling it won’t back off its push to fight climate change in theface of mounting opposition on Capitol Hill. Under the schedule agreed to byEPA, states and environmental groups, the agency will issue a...