News

If only these guys had positions of authority, and resources they could use to address these issues, and . . . oh wait . ..National Journal (3/7/12) reports: Leaders of some of the world’s biggest oil and natural gas companies are issuing a plea to their industry to do a better job managing what they call the “shale gale”—vast resources of shale natural gas recently discovered throughout the United States and in other countries…“Let’s be honest, as an industry, we have not always done our best to engage in the public debates about these issues,” Peter Voser, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, said on Wednesday at a speech during a major energy conference here. “This has resulted in some misconceptions taking root, especially about the impact of hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking.’ ”…Fracking is a controversial process where large amounts of water, chemicals, and sand are pumped into a well at high pressures to fracture rock and allow natural gas to escape. Environmental groups and residents who live near natural gas wells are concerned about potential water contamination.

So, it turns out that we don’t need to give Boone Pickens a bunch of our money.  Nor do we need to give Aubrey McClendon a bunch of our money.  Which is good, because those dudes are billionaires, and here at the Pipeline we are barely thousandaires.  It is also good because McClendon insists on bankrolling attacks ($100 million to the Lung Association, $25 million to the Sierra Club) on those who have concerns about EPA Yahoo (3/7/12) reports: More natural gas-powered vehicles will hit the market soon, as rising gasoline prices, booming natural gas production and proposed tax credits make them a more attractive option. But they’re a long way from being a common sight in U.S. driveways…Starting in July, Chrysler will sell a Ram 2500 Heavy Duty pickup that runs on compressed natural gas (CNG). The truck has both gasoline and natural gas storage tanks, and the engine shifts automatically between the two, without the driver needing to push a switch. The truck can run for 255 miles on natural gas and the range is extended to 367 miles using gasoline.

Actually, Mr. President, the fuel of the future is here and it’s oil Fox News (3/7/12) reports: President Barack Obama on Wednesday dismissed oil as “the fuel of the past” as he made an unapologetic election-year pitch for his alternative energy industry policies and sniped at Republicans over painfully high gasoline prices…”They get out on the campaign trail—and you and I both know there are no quick fixes to this problem—but listening to them, you’d think there were,” he said at a Daimler Truck manufacturing plant in the battleground state of North Carolina…Obama said that because the United States accounts for 20 percent of the world’s consumption of oil but has only 2 percent of its petroleum reserves, “we’re not going to be able to just drill our way out of the problem of high gas prices. Anybody who tells you otherwise either doesn’t know what they’re talking about or they aren’t telling you the truth.”

Speaking of which, does President Obama own stock in oil companies? Why else would he artificially make oil more expensive? Bloomberg (3/7/12) reports: U.S. House Republicans sought to link rising gasoline prices with President Barack Obama’s restrictions on offshore drilling and denial of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, an argument rejected by Democrats…The Obama administration lacks the power to stem the increase, Democratic lawmakers said, and an energy analyst said U.S. consumers should get accustomed to price swings at the pump driven by consumers outside the U.S…Prices will “gyrate wildly” as demand increases in Asia and other emerging economies, Robert McNally, president of the Rapidan Group LLC, a Bethesda, Maryland-based energy research firm, said…“There is no silver bullet for a short-term solution,” he said, echoing words used by Obama in a Feb. 23 speech.

I wonder how this talking point is going to be graphed onto President Obama’s speeches on the economy Reuters (3/7/12) reports: A booming U.S. oil and gas sector was responsible for generating some 9 percent of all new jobs last year, with three indirect jobs for every one directly involved in the industry, a study released on Wednesday found…The World Economic Forum report, which highlighted the role that the energy industry can play in reviving the global economy, comes during a presidential election year as candidates argue about high U.S. unemployment and energy policy.

First step in becoming a 21^st century millionaire, start a renewable energy company. Second step, make a donation to President Obama. Last step, collect your millions CNN (3/7/12) reports: The federal government spent $24 billion on energy subsidies in 2011, with the vast majority going to renewable energy sources, according to a government report…Renewable energy and energy efficiency accounted for $16 billion of the federal support, according to the Congressional Budget Office, while the fossil-fuel industry received $2.5 billion in tax breaks. This is a stark change from a decade ago. The CBO noted that until 2008, most energy subsidies went to the fossil-fuel industry. The idea at the time was to encourage more domestic oil production, especially when the price of oil was low…CBO said the $24 billion total is a small fraction of the hundreds of billions the government’s various annual subsidies, which take the form of both grants and tax breaks.

Well, this is the sort of thing one has to expect when one climbs into bed with “businessmen” who take money from the federal government.  If they have no respect for taxpayers, why would they have any respect for desert ecosystems? Los Angeles Times (2/6/12) reports: Reporting from Ivanpah Valley, Calif.— Construction cranes rise like storks 40 stories above the Mojave Desert. In their midst, the “power tower” emerges, wrapped in scaffolding and looking like a multistage rocket…Clustered nearby are hangar-sized assembly buildings, looming berms of sand and a chain mail of fencing that will enclose more than 3,500 acres of public land. Moorings for 173,500 mirrors — each the size of a garage door — are spiked into the desert floor. Before the end of the year, they will become six square miles of gleaming reflectors, sweeping from Interstate 15 to the Clark Mountains along California’s eastern border…BrightSource Energy’s Ivanpah solar power project will soon be a humming city with 24-hour lighting, a wastewater processing facility and a gas-fired power plant. To make room, BrightSource has mowed down a swath of desert plants, displaced dozens of animal species and relocated scores of imperiled desert tortoises, a move that some experts say could kill up to a third of them.

Surprise:  New York Times expresses concern about citizens getting involved in local government New York Times (2/6/12) reports: Across the country, activists with ties to the Tea Party are railing against all sorts of local and state efforts to control sprawl and conserve energy. They brand government action for things like expanding public transportation routes and preserving open space as part of a United Nations-led conspiracy to deny property rights and herd citizens toward cities.

I wonder what John Rockefeller would think about his people trying to raise the cost of energy in North America.  The lesson is clear folks:  spend all your money; leave none of it for your idiot children and grandchildren Heritage Blog (2/6/12) reports: Details of a large non-profit’s plans to combat the Keystone XL pipeline have surfaced, and offer some insight into the strategies and tactics of groups looking to combat the use of fossil fuels…Canadian news channel Sun News uncovered of a PowerPoint presentation from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund detailing its work with other groups to derail the Keystone XL pipeline and other similar projects it deemed parts of “a globally significant threat.”…The presentation, written in 2008, describes the allocation of $7 million to environmental non-profits for tactics that include the use of the legislative and legal systems to delay or derail energy production in the United States and Canada, and to “raise the costs” of energy in both nations.

Too bad some European countries have banned hydraulic fracturing. Who knew that producing natural gas domestically might be more reliable than the Russians? Fuel Fix (2/6/12) reports: The European Union is bracing for another potential energy crisis in the dead of winter as Russian gas supplies to some member states have suddenly dwindled by up to 30 percent…The European Commission put its gas coordination committee on alert Friday, but insisted the situation had not yet reached an emergency level as nations have pledged to help each other if needed and storage facilities have been upgraded…Commission spokeswoman Marlene Holzner said Russia was going through an extremely cold spell and needed more gas to keep its citizens warm…She said that Russia’s gas contracts “allow for certain flexibility in case they also need the gas. And that is the situation that Russia is facing at the moment.” The severe winter in Russia has seen temperatures drop to minus 35 C (minus 30 F).

You say you want a revolution…Tory MPs write a very stern letter saying they are against wind subsidies Telegraph (2/6/12) reports: A total of 101 Tory MPs have written to the Prime Minister demanding that the £400 million-a-year subsidies paid to the “inefficient” onshore wind turbine industry are “dramatically cut”…The backbenchers, joined by some MPs from other parties, have also called on Mr Cameron to tighten up planning laws so local people have a better chance of stopping new farms being developed and protecting the countryside…The demands will be a headache for Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary, who joined the Cabinet on Friday when Chris Huhne resigned after being charged with perverting the course of justice.

Keep in mind, CSAPR was the “solid” rule.  What do you figure the courts are going to do with the utility MACT, the boiler MACT, and the GHG rules?  It is pretty much the beginning of the end for EPA’s run of lawlessness The Hill (1/2/12) reports: A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the Environmental Protection Agency must delay implementation of pending regulations aimed at limiting harmful power plant pollution that crosses state lines…The ruling prevents EPA from implementing the cross-state air pollution rule — which would put new limits on sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from power plant smokestacks in 27 Eastern states — on Jan. 1, as scheduled…EPA said the power plant emissions travel across state lines, threatening the health of thousands of people.

What do strippers and the Arizona housing market have in common? North Dakota U.S.A Today (1/3/12) reports: “It boils down to the weather and taking advantage of the market,” says real estate agent Rocky Parra of HomeSmart Realty in Gilbert, Ariz., a Phoenix suburb…He and wife Beverly, a native of Minot, N.D., have sold eight homes to North Dakotans in recent months. Parra is heading to North Dakota this month to meet with possible buyers…”A lot of people have struck it rich,” he says. “Oil companies are coming in and buying businesses and land. They’re selling up there at the peak and buying down here at the bottom.”…Some want second homes. Others move outright…Blaine Bjella, 41, still owns three auto body and truck accessories businesses in his native Williston, N.D., the hub of the state’s oil bonanza, which has pushed the state’s unemployment rate to the lowest level in the nation (3.4%).

This guy completely gets it.  Oil and gas are important.  And peak oil is ridiculous Foreign Policy (1/2/12) reports: Bad year for petro-tyrants: Did today’s trouble for petrocrats truly originate with Muhamad al-Bouazizi, the Tunisian fruit-and-vegetable seller whose self-imolation a year ago preceded the Arab Spring? I don’t think so. Before Tunisia and Egypt, before the crumbling of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet collapse, before the rise of Benazir Bhutto, and before even the fall of Chun Doo-Hwan and the birth of South Korean democracy — there was Corazon Aquino’s People Power revolution in the Philippines. At this moment 26 years ago, yellow-clad Aquino supporters with their ubiquitous “L” signs, made with outstretched thumb and forefinger (in photo above, re-enacted earlier this year in a Manila celebration), seemed quaintly outmatched by then-dictator Ferdinand Marcos as they prepared for a snap presidential election. Yet, just two weeks after a fraudulent count gave Marcos the victory, a pair of military men defected, setting off the massive crowds of EDSA, Marcos’ ignominious flight out of the country aboard a U.S. aircraft, and his exile in Hawaii. The remarkable string of democratic breakouts in the quarter-century since — regardless of their imperfection in action — began on EDSA, with the Laban hand signs, and Freddie Aguilar’s haunting renditions of “Bayan Ko.”

So, in addition to being wrong, and hanging around with Ms. Delassandro (that’s Nancy Pelosi), he is a bit of a chicken CBS (1/2/12) reports: Newt Gingrich says he has killed a chapter on climate change in a post-election book of essays about the environment. But the intended author of the chapter, who supports the scientific consensus that humans contribute to climate change, says that’s news to her…Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech, confirmed in an email interview that she had been asked to write a chapter on climate change for the speaker’s book. She said was approached by former Palm Beach Zoo CEO Terry Maple, Gingrich’s co-editor, at an annual meeting of Republicans for Environmental Protection. Asked to confirm her chapter was dropped, she replied, “I had not heard that.”

Call it Bad Karma — Fisker issues a recall on their luxury electric car vehicles out of fear they might catch fire Business Green (1/2/12) reports: Fisker Automotive says it has fixed “a majority” of its 2012 Karma plug-in hybrid sports cars, just two weeks after the company that makes its battery packs identified a potential fire hazard…All 239 of the models manufactured to date were recalled when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration warned improperly installed hose clamps in the car’s battery pack could cause coolant to leak and result in electrical shorts… While Fisker insists no incidents have been reported by customers or retailers, a company statement issued yesterday said many cars are back in service after having brand new battery packs fitted or repairs carried out to the hose clamp assembly…Remaining customers have been contacted for appointments to fix the $103,000 cars, it added.