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In the Pipeline: 7/24/13

July 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment

We don’t understand this. Who wouldn’t want to be rolling down the street, smoking indo, sipping on gin and juice, in a Leaf? The National Legal and Policy Center (7/23/13) reports: “Reports have trickled out lately that, all of a sudden, demand is so great for the all-electric Leaf that Nissan’s production just can’t keep up. ‘We’re going to be short on inventory all through the summer,’ said Erik Gottfried, director of electric vehicle sales for Nissan, to Automotive News. ‘It will be late fall before we can produce enough to satisfy everybody.’ Then the appropriate question from taxpayers should be, ‘What did we pay $1.4 billion for you to do in Smyrna, Tennessee then?!?’ That’s how much stimulus-backed money went to the Japan-based automaker to design a factory outside Nashville to crank out up to 150,000 Leafs and 200,000 Leaf batteries per year. The plant began production late in 2012, and according to the Department of Energy, was to create 1,300 permanent ‘green’ jobs, remove 11,000 gasoline-powered cars from the road annually, and lead to 51,000 tons of carbon dioxide ‘avoided’ per year.”

Storing spent nuclear fuel in a fractured well – it is going to be immense fun to watch the reaction from the enviro industry to this little number. The US Geological Survey (7/23/13) reports: “Shale and other clay-rich rock formations might offer permanent disposal solutions for spent nuclear fuel, according to a new paper by the U.S. Geological Survey. There is currently about 70,000 metric tons of this spent fuel in temporary storage across the United States.While no specific sites have been evaluated for storage potential in the United States, USGS scientists have looked at several research efforts, including projects that are underway in France, Belgium and Switzerland to confirm that shale formations in those countries are favorable for hosting nuclear waste repositories. Deciding how to safely dispose of spent nuclear fuel and other high-level nuclear waste is a very important issue that is not going to go away,’ said Chris Neuzil, the article’s author. ‘Although shales and similar rocks have not been considered for hosting nuclear waste in the United States, recent research points to them as a very promising option.’ Shale formations are attractive for nuclear waste storage for several reasons. First and foremost, they have extremely low permeability, meaning groundwater cannot easily flow through them. Most shale formations and similar rocks containing abundant clay are millions to tens of billions of times less permeable than aquifers that are used to supply water.”

After jacking up electricity bills for all those people, we’re not surprised he needs some PR help. E&E News (7/23/13) reports: “Clean energy advocates have hired a Washington, D.C.-based public relations firm to advocate for President Obama’s pick to head the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and thwart increasing attacks from Colorado’s coal industry and free market groups. Green Tech Action Fund, a San Francisco group that describes itself as a nonpartisan grant-making organization, has hired VennSquared Communications to advocate for Ron Binz as the next chairman of FERC. If confirmed by the Senate, Binz would have a five-year term and replace Jon Wellinghoff at the helm of the commission, which regulates the electric grid, gas pipelines, liquefied natural gas export terminals and hydroelectric projects. Sarah Elliott, senior vice president of VennSquared, said in a statement that the action fund believes Binz’s regulatory approach when he chaired the Colorado Public Utilities Commission from 2007 to 2011 was ‘sound’ and that the group supports his nomination. Binz was not aware that the group had hired the firm and was not involved in selecting VennSquared, she added. ‘Our support includes helping to make sure accurate information about Ron and his record are in the media as the Senate considers this important nomination,’ Elliott said.”

Fraud, extreme expense, job loss, higher food prices, engine damage, artificially propping up industry, and negligible if not negative environmental impacts? What more could you want from a government policy? The Daily Caller (7/23/13) reports: “Industries as wide-ranging as oil refiners, biofuel manufacturers, chain restaurants and chicken farmers sparred over the future of the federal ethanol mandate Tuesday. The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) mandates that 13.8 billion gallons of ethanol be blended into gasoline this year, and 14.4 billion gallons in 2014. Refiners, however, are reaching the limit of what they can safely blend into the fuel supply, which is putting pressure on the petroleum industry.’The RFS isn’t just a relic of America’s bygone era of energy scarcity, it is a grave economic threat,’ said Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, in his congressional testimony.”

You just can’t hit on this enough. Forbes (7/23/13) reports: “In Gasland, Director Josh Fox ’s first fake documentary about hydraulic fracturing, or ‘Fracking’, the false claim was made that the oil and gas industry is somehow exempt from the Clean Air Act and other major federal environmental laws. Mr. Fox continues to make this false claim – often referring to it as the Halliburton Loophole – despite it having been completely and thoroughly debunked, even at liberal blog sites like The Daily Kos, which recently had this to say on the subject: ‘First, here is the actual truth of the matter … Dick Cheney didn’t do any harm to the Federal Clean Air Act because there is no ‘Halliburton Loophole’ statutory law amendment of the Clean Air Act contained in the Energy Policy Act of 2005,”

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In the Pipeline: 7/23/13

July 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment

She’s ready. Are you? The Daily Caller (7/22/13) reports: “In an address to staff, the newly confirmed Environmental Protection Agency chief stated that regulators had the ‘responsibility’ to take on global warming, per the president’s call to action. ‘We have a clear responsibility to act now on climate change,’ said EPA administrator Gina McCarthy. ‘That’s what President Obama has called on us and the American people, so that we protect future generations…This agency has the courage to act,’ McCarthy added. We can make it happen, but we need all hands on deck.’”


When bureaucrats are your biggest ally, you should likely reexamine your position. The Washington Examiner (7/19/13) reports: “Drama is high these days for ethanol makers, whose fate is on the line in Washington – fitting for an industry dependent on government. The oil industry has launched an assault on the ethanol mandate that drives demand for the plant-based fuel. The Senate recently confirmed an industry friend to head the Environmental Protection Agency. And the EPA is finalizing a controversial rule to allow higher blends of ethanol in gasoline. Ethanol is a fuel made from fermenting and distilling plant matter – mostly corn in the U.S. From the industry’s earliest days, government has subsidized the fuel. The most important benefit for the industry today is the Renewable Fuel Standard. The 2005 Republican-passed energy bill created the RFS, known as the ‘ethanol mandate,’ and the 2007 Democrat-passed energy bill expanded it. Under the law, oil refiners must purchase a set quantity of ethanol every year.”

Marginal improvements, but anything is better than being totally gutted. The Wyoming Business Report (7/22/13) reports: “A proposed national hydraulic fracturing rule could cost about $345 million annually to implement, according to a new economic analysis commissioned by the Independent Petroleum Association of America and Western Energy Alliance. This may be relatively good news for producers, though, since this cost estimate comes after the rule was revised from its original May 2012 proposal.”

Ignore the man behind the curtain, the science is settled. MG4W (7/19/13) reports: “Expert witnesses called by Sen. Barbara Boxer to testify during Senate Environment and Public Works hearings yesterday contradicted a key assertion made by President Barack Obama on climate change. Speaking at a Democratic fundraiser less than a month before directing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to impose costly new restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions, Obama said, ‘we also know that the climate is warming faster than anybody anticipated five or 10 years ago…I don’t have much patience for people who deny climate change,’ Obama added. However, climate scientists including United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) lead author Hans von Storch report temperatures have remained essentially flat for the past 10 years, and indeed for the past 15 years. Storch told Der Spiegel that 98 percent of IPCC climate models cannot replicate the prolonged pause in global warming, and IPCC may need to revise its computer models to correct their apparent warming bias.”

Beware, this is a no fly zone. Birdwatch (7/21/13) reports: “New research from the United States indicates that bird deaths from wind farm collisions may have been underestimated by up to 30 per cent. After the sad death of the White-throated Needletail on Harris, Outer Hebrides, on 26 June when it hit the shaft of a wind turbine on the island, some birders were vocal in their disapproval of the prominent energy generators, proclaiming them to be killers of bird in large numbers. While some of these claims were somewhat exaggerated, it turns out that they may indeed be more dangerous than thought previously.”

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In the Pipeline: 7/22/13

July 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Do you think the fractivists will drop it? Something tells us they have other motivations. The Associated Press (7/19/13) reports: “A landmark federal study on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, shows no evidence that chemicals from the natural gas drilling process moved up to contaminate drinking water aquifers at a western Pennsylvania drilling site, the Department of Energy told The Associated Press. After a year of monitoring, the researchers found that the chemical-laced fluids used to free gas trapped deep below the surface stayed thousands of feet below the shallower areas that supply drinking water, geologist Richard Hammack said.”

Bud Weinstein is the man. The House Small Business Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy and Trade (7/19/13) reports: “Yesterday, the House Small Business Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy and Trade held a hearing to examine how small businesses would be affected by the President’s Climate Action Plan. The witnesses overwhelmingly agreed that the plan is an unnecessary attack on American energy and jobs. Dr. Bernard Weinstein, Professor, Southern Methodist University: The fact that America is rich, the fact that we’re abundant in energy, the fact that we have cheap energy is somehow a bad thing, and in fact, the availability of abundant and cheap energy is the basis for our international competitiveness. So why do we constantly talk about policies that are going to drive up the cost of energy.”

They can’t let the facts get in their way, otherwise we’d have nobody to beat up. The Associated Press (7/22/13) reports: “In the debate over natural gas drilling, the companies are often the ones accused of twisting the facts. But scientists say opponents sometimes mislead the public, too. Critics of fracking often raise alarms about groundwater pollution, air pollution, and cancer risks, and there are still many uncertainties. But some of the claims have little — or nothing— to back them. For example, reports that breast cancer rates rose in a region with heavy gas drilling are false, researchers told The Associated Press. Fears that natural radioactivity in drilling waste could contaminate drinking water aren’t being confirmed by monitoring, either.”
 
What happens when you can’t flip the switch and get the power you need? Reuters (7/19/13) reports: “New York State’s power grid operator said power usage on Friday broke a record set in 2006 as consumers cranked up their air conditioners to escape sweltering six day-long heat wave. The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) forecast consumer demand use peaked at 33,955 megawatts on Friday, up from 33,450 MW on Thursday, breaking the state’s all-time record of 33,939 MW set in 2006. One megawatt powers about 1,000 homes. NYISO said it was possible that demand could continue to rise and the record peak load could change later on Friday.”

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In the Pipeline: 7/19/2013

July 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment

When Bill Nordhaus thinks a tax scheme is pointless, it is pointless. If we were Hill staff, this would go into our everyday talking points.Fox News (7/18/13) reports: “As President Obama last month launched a sweeping new national program to combat ‘climate change,’ including tens of billions of dollars in likely new subsidies for solar and wind power and bio-energy, a separate, groundbreaking study by the National Research Council has warned that those kinds of subsidies are virtually useless at quelling greenhouse gases. The study, which looks at the subsidies and other incentives embedded in U.S. federal tax law after the past several years of climate change initiatives, concludes that they have done little or nothing so far to cut U.S. contributions to global carbon emissions, and are unlikely to do much more before 2035, the project’s research horizon.”

We just saw this piece from across the pond, and you should too. The Telegraph (6/28/13) reports: “You’d think Greens would be delighted by the shale gas bounty under our feet. Here is a plentiful energy supply which does not emit soot (as coal does), nor jam estuaries (as tidal turbines do), nor starve Africans (as biofuels do), nor slaughter rare birds (as wind farms do). It does not require public subsidies (as both nuclear and renewables do). On the contrary, it will generate a healthy stream of tax revenue for the Exchequer. It will diminish our reliance on nasty regimes, from Tehran to Moscow – precisely the sorts of regimes that Greens march against. Oh, and it will reduce our carbon emissions, by displacing coal in electricity generators.”

Tom Pyle: very nearly always right. Politico (7/18/13) reports: “White House energy adviser Heather Zichal said Thursday that President Barack Obama has ‘raised the bar’ on taking into account the Keystone XL oil pipeline’s effects on climate change. But she declined to put the ultimate responsibility for the final decision on the controversial pipeline project on the president’s shoulders. ‘Again, the process is being run directly by the State Department, and I think the president certainly did raise the bar and make it clear that climate impacts should be part of that analysis. Beyond that, I would direct you to the State Department,’ Zichal said during POLITICO Pro’s Future of Energy Breakfast Briefing.”

There’s definitely been an increase in the hot air spewed around the subject. The Daily Caller (7/18/13) reports: “In a Senate hearing Thursday, environmental scientist Roger Pielke of the University of Colorado said it’s ‘incorrect’ to claim that global warming is spurring more extreme weather disasters. ‘It is misleading and just plain incorrect to claim that disasters associated with hurricanes, tornadoes, floods or droughts have increased on climate timescales either in the United States or globally,’ Pielke said in his testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. ‘It is further incorrect to associate the increasing costs of disasters with the emission of greenhouse gases…Hurricanes have not increased in the U.S. in frequency, intensity or normalized damage since at least 1900,’ Pielke added. ‘The same holds for tropical cyclones globally since at least 1970.’”

Honestly, there aren’t that many instances where this dude can seek rents. Once he finishes making his money on Keystone, he might hang around for one or two things, then he will be gone. Politico (7/19/13) reports: “Tom Steyer, the San Francisco billionaire and former hedge fund manager, burst onto the national political scene this year, launching an aggressive campaign to raise the profile of environmental issues at the ballot box. And he is already looking ahead toward the 2014 election cycle to broaden the strategy he employed in the Massachusetts Senate race. Democrats and Republicans alike have their eyes on Steyer, who is emerging as an influential player in the world of money and politics.”

Put in his place.

 

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In the Pipeline: 7/18/13

July 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Fighting the good fight. AEA (7/18/13) reports: “The American Energy Alliance launched two sets of radio advertisements today educating Americans on the harms of a carbon tax. The ads, which will run in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York, ask listeners to contact Representatives Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.), Bill Enyart (D-Ill.), Chris Smith (R-N.J.), and Bill Owens (D-N.Y.) urging them to say no to a carbon tax.”

He’s also created an intern endowment. Politico (7/18/13) reports: “Bill Clinton had his day at the Environmental Protection Agency. The agency’s headquarters was officially renamed the William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building on Wednesday, and the former president and his EPA chief used the occasion to tout past successes and claim some credit for laying the groundwork for President Barack Obama’s push to bypass Congress to implement his climate change agenda. ‘When I left office, there were 43 million more Americans breathing air that met federal standards,’ Clinton said. ‘Who can say a government should walk away from that?’”

The resistance is growing. The Daily Caller (7/17/13) reports: “A new video charges the “war on coal” is hurting jobs in Alabama. ‘Liberal environmentalists, especially from the northeast [United States], have made the Alabama Public Service Commission ground zero in their fight to raise energy costs in the southeast,’ said Paul Reynolds, chairman of the Alabama Free Market Alliance in a video by Yellowhammer TV. President Barack Obama recently announced that he would direct the Environmental Protection Agency to cap carbon dioxide emissions from new and existing power plants, which critics argue will hurt the coal industry.”

It’s been 1,763 days and it’s still not approved. The Globe and Mail (7/17/13) reports: “Despite renewed rallying efforts from environmentalists intended to stir broad opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline and extensive media coverage of several serious spills involving Alberta oil sands crude, Americans still solidly back the controversial project to funnel Canadian crude to Texas refineries, according to a new poll…Public support is up slightly since January while opposition to TransCanada’s $5.3-billion pipeline from Alberta to sprawling refineries on the Gulf Coast remains stuck below one-quarter, at 24 per cent. While Republicans were more strongly in favour, the poll found a solid majority – 56 percent – of Democrats also backed Keystone XL, suggesting that even among his base, Mr. Obama faces no serious threat if he gives the project a green light. The president is expected to decide sometime later this year. Opponents had vowed to create a new groundswell of opposition over the summer, with funding from billionaire turned climate-change activist Tom Steyer. But so far, despite scattered and persistent demonstrations dogging the president and a single large – but below expectations – rally in Washington, there’s no evidence of a swing in public opinion away from broad backing of the project.”

Even former Sierra Club head lawyer, David Bookbinder, admits that Obama’s CO2 power plant regs won’t “leave an exceptional environmental legacy.” We can’t figure out why Bookbinder thinks this has anything do with the environment. Is he really that naive?Politico (7/16/13) reports: “One of the centerpieces of Barack Obama’s recently announced Climate Action Plan is setting carbon-dioxide emission standards for existing power plants, a move the president said would ‘put an end to the limitless dumping of carbon pollution.’ Obama’s political opponents, meanwhile, have labeled the move the opening salvo of a ‘war on coal’ that threatens to destroy jobs and cripple the U.S. economy. But some important facts are getting lost amid the predictable posturing. In fact, such standards would be neither the end of the world nor leave an exceptional environmental legacy.”

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AEA LAUNCHES ANTI-CARBON TAX RADIO ADS

July 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON — The American Energy Alliance launched two sets of radio advertisements today educating Americans on the harms of a carbon tax. The ads, which will run in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York, ask listeners to contact Representatives Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.), Bill Enyart (D-Ill.), Chris Smith (R-N.J.), and Bill Owens (D-N.Y.) urging them to say no to a carbon tax.

To listen to the ads running in Arizona, click here and here.

To listen to the ads running in Florida, click here and here.

To listen to the ads running in Illinois, click here and here.

To listen to the ads running in New Jersey, click here and here.

To listen to the ads running in New York, click here and here.

To read the fact sheet on AEA’s “Only in Washington” ad, click here.

To read the fact sheet on AEA’s “True” ad, click here.

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In the Pipeline: 7/17/13

July 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment

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.”

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In the Pipeline: 7/16/13

July 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Actions have consequences, who will you stand with? The Hill (7/16/13) reports: “A conservative energy group is rolling out a multi-pronged push ahead of the August congressional recess that aims to put the carbon tax in its deathbed. ‘We’re hoping to put the final nail in the coffin on the carbon tax. The proposal should be dead on arrival by the time lawmakers come back from August recess,’ Benjamin Cole, a spokesman with the Institute for Energy Research and its advocacy arm, the American Energy Alliance, told The Hill in an interview detailing the plan. The effort includes a new poll of American opinion on a carbon tax and an advertising campaign centered on five House members, among other elements.As early as Thursday, AEA will launch a two-week radio advertising campaign that targets five House lawmakers — four Democrats and one Republican.”

Unrest in the land of Snow White. Der Speigel (7/12/13) reports: “The German village of Husarenhof, just north of Stuttgart, nestles picturesquely between orchards and vineyards. Peter Hitzker’s house stands on a sharp bend in the road. ‘Sometimes I get up in the morning and find a couple of totaled cars in the front yard,’ he says. ‘But I guess nowhere’s perfect.’ Still, he finds the wind turbine behind his garden fence harder to cope with. The tower is 180 meters (590 feet) high, and the whirr of the blades and grinding of the actuators are clearly audible. ‘When I leave my local bar in Heilbronn, 15 kilometers from here, I find my way home by heading for the turbine,’ he quips. But he can’t think of anything else positive to say about the turbine. ‘It’s dreadful,’ he says. ‘And it’s split the village. It’s war here.’”

The sun has set on the British Empire. Slate (7/14/13) reports: “In late June, the British Geological Survey announced the world’s largest shale-gas field. The Bowland Shale, which lies beneath Lancashire and Yorkshire, contains 50 percent more gas than the combined reserves of two of the largest fields in the United States, the Barnett Shale and the Marcellus Shale. The United Kingdom has been reluctant to join the fracking revolution. Yet tapping the Bowland Shale could reignite the U.K. economy and deliver huge cuts in CO2 emissions. At the same time, Parliament has approved stringent new measures to reduce carbon emissions by 2020, with the biggest CO2 cuts by far to come from an increase of more than 800 percent in offshore wind power over the next seven years. But offshore wind power is so expensive that it will receive at least three times the traded cost of regular electricity in subsidies—more than even solar power, which was never at an advantage in the U.K. For minimal CO2 reduction, the U.K. economy will pay dearly.”

Don’t they know corn is for hungry cars, not hungry people? Slate(7/12/14) reports: “In late June, the Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s program to raise the maximum ethanol content of gasoline from 10 to 15 percent, thus clearing the way for more ethanol production. The Senate’s version of the Farm Bill, meanwhile, includes more than $1 billion of support for the ethanol industry. While these developments at the federal level are bullish for ethanol, many states are calling bull. The fact that most ethanol is made from corn means that an increase in the ethanol content of gas could create, or exacerbate, a variety of problems, like higher food prices and elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Ethanol production has also been linked to the spread of a dangerous form of E. coli. But while federal support for ethanol appears to be as unstoppable as it is misguided, some individual states have shown the kind of backbone that could lead us toward a smarter energy policy. In June, Florida repealed its Renewable Fuel Standard, which mandated that gasoline contain 10 percent ethanol. And in May, Maine lawmakers approved a bill banning ethanol in gas, and asked the federal government to do the same.”

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In the Pipeline: 7/15/13

July 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Turns out it’s easier for the Gulf to come back from an act of God than His Majesty’s energy policies. IER (7/15/13) reports: “The Institute for Energy Research compared the impacts of hurricane activity and the Obama Administration’s oil policies on production in the offshore Gulf of Mexico to see which has the larger and more lasting impact. Although the shorter-term impacts of both are similar in size, Obama’s policies seem to have a more lasting effect. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that offshore oil production in the Gulf of Mexico will not reach its peak 2010 production level at least through 2014, the farthest year out in the agency’s Short-Term Energy Outlook.”


The Aussies loved their carbon tax so much, they’re dropping it a year sooner than planned. Al Jazeera (7/14/13) reports: “Australia will scrap its carbon tax and bring forward an emissions trading scheme a year earlier than planned, Treasurer Chris Bowen said, a policy shift certain to be a focal point in the forthcoming election. Under current plans, Australia would move from the current fixed price on carbon – essentially a tax assessed on larger companies entitling them to produce carbon emissions – to a floating price in July 2015. Bowen on Sunday confirmed media reports that the fixed $21.9 per tonne carbon tax would be dumped in favour of a floating price of between $5.5 and $9.1 per tonne from July 1, 2014, to ease cost of living pressure for families and help support the non-mining sectors of the economy.”

Are they sure? Because I am pretty sure everyone keeps telling me that wind and solar and unicorns are the paths to riches. The Energy Information Agency (7/12/13) reports: “In 2012, North Dakota reported the highest annual increase in real per capita GDP of any state in the country for the second consecutive year. In 2012, real per capita GDP in North Dakota increased by nearly 11% from the previous year, according to statistics released June 6, 2013 by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). This is considerably higher than the national growth rate of less than 2% and is more than three times as large as the growth rate in Texas (3.27%), the state with the next highest annual growth.”

Let’s recap. Climate change? Risk #32 (but ahead of “space weather”, so that’s a plus). Excessive taxation? Risk #1. Think about that on Thursday when Ma’am Boxer tries to sell you a carbon tax.Lloyds Risk Index 2013 reports(PDF): “This is the third biennial Risk Index, commissioned by Lloyd’s to assess corporate risk priorities and attitudes among business leaders across the world. The findings are based on a global survey of 588 C-suite and board level executives conducted by Ipsos MORI for Lloyd’s during April and May 2013.”

This can’t be good news for the bad guys. C3 Headlines (7/8/13) reports: “Of the major economic/diplomatic/military powers listed in this chart, only the U.S. embraced new fossil fuel technologies and non-Kyoto strategies to reduce emissions. Over the last 5 years, fracking has not only helped America to lead the world towards a smaller carbon impact, it has massively shifted the U.S. to an improved level of energy security while vastly reducing the petro-dollar funding of Islamist terrorists – a ‘win-win-win’ outcome that liberal Democrats worked extremely hard to prevent and, by god, they still do.”

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In the Pipeline: 7/12/13

July 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Like, first they came for the loggers, and I was like, who cares? Then they came for coal miners, and I was like, right on dude. Wait, wait, you seriously want to take away my bonfire? Help, somebody help!Fox News (7/11/13) reports: A tradition dating back to the 1940s — bonfire pits on the beaches of southern California — is being targeted by state officials who say the popular pastime is no longer acceptable because of global warming and negative health consequences. ‘One fire pit burning one night, a few hours, a couple bundles of wood, emits as much as one average diesel truck on the road today driving over 500 miles,’ said Dr. Philip Fine, of the Southern California Air Quality Management District (AQMD)…The proposal drew fire from beachgoers, who often show up early in the morning to reserve a spot. ‘I would be super bummed if they banned bonfires on the beach because it’s such a California thing,’ said Los Angeles resident Liz Corona. ‘It’s such a fun, social thing to do with friends. And, um, I feel like it’s not really doing any harm, so why would they ban them?’”

Of course there won’t be any Administration witnesses. Who could possibly defend this record? The Hill (7/11/13)reports: “The Senate Environment Committee’s top Democrat is rejecting GOP calls to force Obama administration officials to defend the new White House climate plan at a hearing next week. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Thursdaythat next week’s hearing will focus on climate science testimony from outside experts, but that federal officials would appear in the future.”

This whole thing is bizarre. The San Francisco Chronicle (7/11/13) reports: “Georgia Power must purchase more solar power for its energy system under a plan approved Thursday by state utility regulators, a move sought by solar developers and renewable energy proponents but denounced by a commissioner who argued it could raise costs. Public Service Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald’s plan calls for the Southern Co.subsidiary to add 525 megawatts of solar energy to its electrical grid, a plan backed by a group of solar developers and organizers of the Atlanta Tea Party Patriots.”

We believe this is what His Majesty calls the “new tone.” Right Wisconsin(7/11/13) reports:“Protesters who attacked the test drilling site for a potential Northern Wisconsin mine have posted video of their assault on line. In the video, masked attackers are seen physically assaulting a female Gogebic Taconite employee and stealing private property. The June 11 attack prompted GTac to hire armed security guards. Not only were the attackers violent, they clearly did not fear the police’s ability to respond. They threatened an escalation of hostilities.”

Our interns are scouting out locations for the AEA protest climb/skydive/fly-by. The Telegraph (7/11/13) reports: “A group of six Greenpeace activists have begun scaling Britain’s tallest building in protest at drilling in the Arctic. The women, who evaded security guards at the 72-storey Shard in central London early this morning, said their action was intended to put Shell and other oil companies in the spotlight. Greenpeace said the protesters were “artists and activists”, adding: “If the six women reach the top – 310m above the pavement (1,017ft) – they will attempt to hang a huge work of art that captures the beauty of the Arctic.”

Steve walks warily down the street… Oregon Live (7/10/13) reports: “SoloPower has defaulted on a $10 million loan, state officials confirmed late Wednesday, the same day that executives at the struggling solar panel maker announced they were near a deal to restructure debt and reorganize in Portland. Chief executive Robert Campbell said major creditors have agreed to terms that focus on rebuilding the organization in Portland, where the company originally planned to build a $340 million factory and employ hundreds.”

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