News

Once again, America leads in the next energy revolution, but will our government get out of the way? Wall Street Journal (12/5/11) reports: Big Oil is redrawing the energy map…For decades, its main stomping grounds were in the developing world—exotic locales like the Persian Gulf and the desert sands of North Africa, the Niger Delta and the Caspian Sea. But in recent years, that geographical focus has undergone a radical change. Western energy giants are increasingly hunting for supplies in rich, developed countries—a shift that could have profound implications for the industry, global politics and consumers.Driving the change is the boom in unconventionals—the tough kinds of hydrocarbons like shale gas and oil sands that were once considered too difficult and expensive to extract and are now being exploited on an unprecedented scale from Australia to Canada.

I wish we had been saying this.  Oh wait, we have been.  Well, then I wish that some of our friends (Members of Congress?  Campaigns?) would start to talk about it Market Watch (12/4/11) reports: After all, shale is an abundant source of natural gas and it’s one that’s expected to last long term. Stir in its low price and relatively low emissions with calls to reduce the nation’s dependence on pricey foreign oil and the energy market’s got plenty of reasons to like natural gas…It’s “hard to argue against natural gas as a clean, abundant, and domestic energy supply,” said Dan Pratt, director of equity research at IHS Herold. “It should be a growing component of our energy supply going forward…“However, the speed of development will depend on many things, including economic, political, and environmental issues,” he said.

No need to add to this headline–Newt in ’07 “I strong support carbon caps.” Washington Times (12/5/11) reports: Two years before policital unpopularity forced Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to abandon cap-and-trade legislation regulate carbon emissions, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., praised the idea of “mandatory carbon caps” combined with tax incentives, and said that then-President Bush should have led the charge to implement such a policy…”I think if you have mandatory carbon caps combined with a trading system, much like we did with sulfur, and if you have a tax-incentive program for investing in the solutions, that there’s a package there that’s very, very good,” Gingrich said during a PBS interview on February 15, 2007. “And frankly, it’s something I would strongly support.”…Gingrich also said that Bush should have kept his campaign promise to implement carbon caps. “If [Bush] had instituted a regime that combined three things I just said — mandatory caps, a trading system inside the caps, as we have with clean air, and a tax incentive to be able to invest in the new technology and to be able to produce the new technology — I think we would be much better off than we are in the current situation,” Gingrich suggested.

We completely agree.  The President should make a decision on Keystone before the 2012 election Huffington Post (12/4/11) reports: Everyone who helped slow down TransCanada’s “Keystone XL” tar sands juggernaut — rural farmers and ranchers, Native Nations, organized labor, elders, faith leaders, youth, environmentalists and others who protested at the White House this summer and fall — should be proud of what we have accomplished. By bravely standing together and uniting our voices against Big Oil, we forced President Obama to react to our demands. His decision to delay a decision on the pipeline until after the 2012 election is a testament to the power of the people…But let’s not kid ourselves: opponents of Keystone XL have “won” nothing, save more time to organize. Now is not the time for victory celebrations, but for redoubling our efforts to beat back this lethal energy scheme. When you have your opponent staggered and against the ropes, you don’t back off and let them recover their strength. You keep on coming until you’ve landed the knock out punch.

Mark Ruffalo embraces his position in the 1% so he can push for additional regulation to keep the 99% down… New York Times (12/4/11) reports: STROLLING by restaurants and antiques stores on a quiet Main Street the day after Thanksgiving, Mark Ruffalo waved hello to a girl in the back of a passing S.U.V. and greeted friends on the sidewalk who were eager to introduce visiting relatives…Mr. Ruffalo, the actor known for indie hits like “The Kids Are All Right” and “You Can Count on Me,” has lived in this sleepy Catskills burg on the Delaware River for three years now, settled into a routine focused on raising three children with his wife, the actress Sunrise Coigney, on a former dairy farm with a 2,500-square-foot house, a barn and a pond.

The Chicago Three Step: You take three steps forward and two steps back, which makes you look reasonable, but still gets you closer to what you want Wall Street Journal (12/5/11) reports: The Obama administration revised one of its most hotly contested environmental rules and proposed a more-lenient measure to reduce toxic emissions from certain industrial facilities…The new proposal won cautious praise from several industry groups, though one said it was still too burdensome…It was the latest example of the fine line President Barack Obama has walked on environmental policy, where he is often attacked by Republicans on the campaign trail. The administration has become sensitive to costly rules that could damp economic growth…Earlier this year, Mr. Obama ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to drop a separate proposal that would have curbed smog-forming emissions. That angered environmentalists, but they were pleased last month when the administration delayed approval of a pipeline that would carry Canadian oil through environmentally sensitive parts of Nebraska.

She might be able to make due with off shore wind energy, but I don’t live in a hovel and I enjoy my big screen TV Richmond Times (11/30/11) reports: About 50 environmental activists called on the State Corporation Commission Wednesday to require Dominion Virginia Power to invest more in renewable energy…”There’s enough offshore wind energy in Virginia to provide all of our energy needs,” Sierra Club organizer Patrick Stelmach said…Enough sunlight falls on downtown Richmond that “we’d be able to power almost every single business,” said James Huff, the CEO of abakus solar USA, a wholesale solar-energy components business in Richmond…Chanting “What do we want? Clean energy,” the group unfurled a 300-foot-long petition outside Dominion Virginia Power’s main office in downtown Richmond…”I feel very strongly we’ve got to deploy renewable energy resources and move off coal,” said Susan Stillman, a retired technology saleswoman from Vienna. “Energy absolutely is an issue when it comes to climate change.”

Continuing the theme — President Obama assures consumers that his new air quality rules  (which will shut down 28 gigawatts of power) will create no disruption in electricity New York Times (12/1/11) reports: The Obama administration said Thursday that a series of new air pollution rules for power plants would not cause power shortages, although the expert panel designated by the government to ensure electricity reliability warns that compliance with these rules could strain generating capacity… The Environmental Protection Agency, under fire from the utility industry and from Republicans in Congress for what they call excessive regulation, has sent signals that it will be flexible in applying the new rules and may grant extensions or exemptions to make sure the lights stay on.

Shaky? Shaky? For the love of God he said that killing ESA reform was his greatest accomplishment as Speaker. Darren needs to get better sources Politico (12/1/11) reports: The differences between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney on energy and environmental policy seem to be more about style than substance…Romney is widely seen as the more cautious of the two GOP presidential front-runners, someone more likely to start a White House term by proposing new economic and tax ideas and shying away from antagonistic battles with environmentalists and Democrats.

SolarCity is praised for finding private capital and for not going bankrupt…these are the times in which we live Los Angeles Times (12/2/11) reports: SolarCity, the San Mateo-based company that is one of the country’s largest residential solar energy system providers, is proving that you don’t need a federal loan guarantee to find financing for major projects…SolarCity Corp. had seen its hopes for a U.S. loan guarantee evaporate in the political fallout from the widely publicized Solyndra LLC bankruptcy. But the company said this week it was able to obtain financing from Bank of America Merrill Lynch…The Bank of America financing will allow SolarCity to move ahead on its five-year, $1-billion “SolarStrong” rooftop project for military housing. As part of the project, SolarCity plans to partner with privatized military housing developers to install, own and operate rooftop installations and provide solar electricity for Armed Forces families at lower costs than traditional utility power.

Really? This character is being hailed as in innovator on the climate debate because he threw a Frisbee in the crowd? Reuters (12/2/11) reports: When Pablo Suarez began teaching farmers, fishermen and emergency volunteers about rising sea levels and extreme weather patterns using scientists and a powerpoint presentation, people were falling asleep in their chairs…Eventually he decided on a very different approach…”I had to convey the idea of a storm, of an extreme weather event, and I had a Frisbee and I just threw it into the audience,” Suarez, a Red Cross associate director of programs, told Reuters on the sidelines of a global climate summit…”And the audience woke up, they saw that there was danger.”

President Obama’s new electric car will cost $96,000 this holiday season (batteries not included) Greenwire (11/30/11) reports: A123 Systems has cut 35 percent of the workers at two Michigan plants that make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles following a reduction in orders from prime customer Fisker Automotive…The company, which received a $249 million grant from the Department of Energy to produce batteries in Michigan, has been touted by the Obama administration as evidence of its success in using federal funding to create jobs. Until this round of layoffs, the company employed about 1,000 workers in Michigan…A123 cut about 225 full-time workers on temporary contracts in early November and laid off another 125 staff members last week, company officials said yesterday…”This is an unfortunate blip in what has been a strong record in hiring people,” said Jason Forcier, who heads A123’s automotive business…The company expects Fisker’s orders to pick up again in the second quarter of 2012, A123 spokesman Dan Borgasano said…”We expect that this will be a temporary reduction in workforce that will last six months or less,” he said…Fisker, which builds the $96,000 luxury plug-in Karma, has received $529 million in DOE loans. But delays in rolling out the company’s hybrid have led to questions over the automaker’s fortunes (Greenwire, Oct. 21)…A123’s stock has fallen 76 percent since the start of the year.

“Our customers’ peace of mind is too important to us for there to be any concern or worry.”  You think maybe they would have thought of that before they started to pimp an expensive, unreliable, environmentally-damaging, dangerous product…like the Volt New York Times (11/30/11) reports: General Motors said on Monday that it would offer free loaner cars to Volt owners worried about the safety of their vehicles, a move that underscored the fragile reputation of automobiles powered primarily by batteries and the growing consternation set off by the federal action. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Friday opened a formal defect investigation into the Volt after two batteries caught fire as part of testing by regulators…“Our customers’ peace of mind is too important to us for there to be any concern or worry,” Mark L. Reuss, head of G.M.’s North American division, said in announcing the offer of loaner cars. “This technology should inspire confidence and pride, not raise any concern or doubt.”

Do these guys know who runs FERC nowadays? The Hill (11/30/11) reports: Republicans on both sides of Capitol Hill are taking steps this week to impose a political price on the White House for delaying a final decision on the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline until after the 2012 election…Senate GOP leadership on Wednesday promoted new legislation that would force a much faster decision on TransCanada Corp.’s proposed $7 billion Alberta-to-Texas pipeline…They argue the bill (which E2 covered here and here) will help create jobs quickly, and alleged the recent administration delay was a political decision to appease green groups.

Yikes.  When even the crazies refuse to associate themselves with this mess, you know it must be bad Washington Post (11/30/11) reports: A broad coalition of civic leaders, elected officials and labor, environmental and social activists launched a new campaign Wednesday aimed at persuading U.S. politicians that they should curb greenhouse gas emissions for moral and ethical reasons…The Climate Ethics Campaign–which kicked off with a Capitol Hill press conference headlining Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)–comes as negotiators are struggling to make progress at United Nations climate talks in Durban, South Africa.

Turns out there was a little ‘dust’ up with the EPA in Congress yesterday Politico (12/1/11) reports: The House Energy and Commerce Committee operated on the Clean Air Act on Wednesday, passing legislation that would cut into the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate particulate matter in numerous situations…“We don’t trust EPA. We know they’ll come back. We know they’ll go after dust. … That’s why we have this bill,” Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) said.

It is tough to imagine EPA would do this.  But then again wrecking the relationship with Canada to satisfy some enviro crazies and Senator Johanns over Keystone seemed unlikely Bismarck News (11/27/11) reports: With millions, if not billions, of dollars hanging over the ledge, the boom in the oil patch would go into a free-fall if drilling suddenly stopped…Thousands of workers unemployed overnight, housing starts abandoned, businesses shuttered and bustling oil towns from Williston to Belfield emptying out instead of filling up are all part of a future few would prefer — even if they despair of the changes to land and lifestyle wrought by the upswing of oil…Even with oil near $100 a barrel and 200 rigs drilling in North Dakota last week, the specter of some sort of free-fall caused by a federal push to regulate hydraulic fracture treatment weighs heavily on Lynn Helms. He’s the director of the Department of Mineral Resources, the one man most in charge of this seemingly unstoppable surge centered on the Bakken.

Liam misses mention of the reduced demand being due to chronic unemployment running at  ~17% Wall Street Journal (11/28/11) reports: In 1973, Richard Nixon, in the teeth of the Arab oil embargo, pledged that the U.S. would achieve energy independence within seven years. Like his presidency, that didn’t quite work out. Net imports provided 35% of U.S. oil in 1973. Seven years later, they supplied 37%, and by 2005, 60%…Now, that trend is reversing fast. In the 12 months ended in August, net imports met just 46% of oil demand. Similarly, net imports of natural gas climbed from 4% of consumption in 1973 to a peak of more than 16% in 2007, but were back under 9% in the year ended in August.

Thank goodness the feds are investigating this.  I mean, the Chevy Volt is their car, right? Sign On San Diego (11/26/11) reports: Federal officials say they are investigating the safety of lithium-ion battery in General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet Volt after a second battery fire following crash-testing of the electric car…The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Friday that three Volt battery packs were crash-tested last week. In one instance, the battery caught fire afterward, and in another the battery emitted smoke and sparks…Last May, a fire erupted in the battery of a Chevy Volt that had been damaged during a government crash test three weeks earlier. Last week’s tests were an attempt to replicate the May fire.

This all seems pretty sketchy.  A jobs boom?  Wouldn’t the Obama crew want to encourage such a thing? Wall Street Journal (11/28/11) reports: So President Obama was right all along. Domestic energy production really is a path to prosperity and new job creation. His mistake was predicting that those new jobs would be “green,” when the real employment boom is taking place in oil and gas…The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported recently that the U.S. jobless rate remains a dreadful 9%. But look more closely at the data and you can see which industries are bucking the jobless trend. One is oil and gas production, which now employs some 440,000 workers, an 80% increase, or 200,000 more jobs, since 2003. Oil and gas jobs account for more than one in five of all net new private jobs in that period…The ironies here are richer than the shale deposits in North Dakota’s Bakken formation. While Washington has tried to force-feed renewable energy with tens of billions in special subsidies, oil and gas production has boomed thanks to private investment. And while renewable technology breakthroughs never seem to arrive, horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have revolutionized oil and gas extraction—with no Energy Department loan guarantees needed.

This was probably painful for Andy to write.  But, despite our differences, he is a good journalist.  Oh, by the way, the referenced study provides a little bit more confirmation that the hype has been way overblown New York Times (11/26/11) reports: Recalling the perils of single-study syndrome, it’s still important to note a new study that appears to go a long way toward narrowing the extent of possible warming projected well into this century from the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Eric Berger of the Houston Chronicle describes the research, published today in Science. The work, led by researchers at Oregon State University, had surfaced earlier but has now survived peer review…Berger provides useful context from Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University, who noted that most people publishing on this question have long seen very low odds of runaway or extreme warming:

“The energy debate has changed from scarcity to abundance . . .”  Where have I heard that before?  Oh right, we’ve been saying it for years.  Keep this story in mind over the next few years, because the environmentalists really object to liquids coming out of the shale.  When the Utica comes on line, and the Bakken is going full-out, then the attacks will being in earnest Financial Post (11/21/11) reports: While the green movement naively harbours hopes it will be able to shut down unconventional oil and gas development, in Saudi Arabia they are already contemplating a time when North American fossil fuel will replace their oil…Looking past the din of protesters, state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco is resigned to the fact that its influence will wane because of the massive unconventional fossil-fuel development underway in North America. As such, Saudi Arabia has no plans to raise its production output to 15 million barrels per day from 12 million, said Khalid Al-Falih, the powerful chief executive of Aramco.

Two things.  First, this dude has got 50 billion dollars lying around; maybe he should invest in whatever (instead of “the United States” by which we assume he means “taxpayers”).  Second, I would rather we invest in making sure that Windows actually works (does anyone use Windows anymore?) CNET News (11/21/11) reports: Even though it’s supposed to be a time of federal fiscal austerity, Bill Gates says it’s time to double down on energy research…The software industry icon and philanthropist on Friday published an editorial in Science calling for a massive boost in federal energy research and development from about $5 billion a year now to $16 billion…”In a time of economic crisis, asking policymakers in Washington, D.C., to spend more money might not be the most popular position. But it’s essential to protect America’s national interests and ensure that the United States plays a leading role in the fast-growing global clean energy industry,” Gates wrote, noting that federally funded research in energy has dropped by more than 75 percent in the last three decades.

“California had a gun to their head.”  Isn’t that a pretty good description of how this whole crew operates? Los Angeles Times (11/21/11) reports: Reporting from Washington — On an August morning in 2008, a handful of executives from the country’s top car companies, several environmentalists and two of California’s most powerful pollution regulators met in a windowless conference room in a hotel next to Los Angeles International Airport…For 30 years, the car companies had been locked in battle with California and environmentalists over increasing vehicle fuel efficiency and cutting air pollution.

The gravy train is set to leave at the end of December and it’s powered by coal Bloomberg (11/22/11) reports: U.S. renewable energy developers will need to find new sources of funding after incentives backed by federal stimulus programs wind down, according to a report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance…Renewable energy companies have received more than $65 billion in tax credits, grants and loans offered through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the research company said today in a statement…“Nearly all of those stimulus funds have now been deployed,” BNEF said. “Unless the private sector steps into the breach with substantial new investment, project development will slow.”…One important incentive that’s set to end Dec. 31 is the U.S. Treasury Department’s 1603 cash grant program, which repays developers for 30 percent of projects’ costs.

When you can’t win…delay The Hill (11/22/11) reports: The Environmental Protection Agency will not meet a mid-December deadline to propose first-time standards for greenhouse gas emissions from oil refineries…Draft rules had been slated to surface in the middle of next month under a settlement with environmentalists and other parties, but EPA says it needs more time…“EPA expects to need more time to complete work on greenhouse gas pollution standards for oil refineries, and is working with the litigants to develop a new schedule to replace the current date of mid-December for a rule proposal,” the agency said in a statement Monday.

Let’s see, Doug Foy.  Gina McCarthy.  John Holdren.  Boyden Gray.  Jim Connaughton.  What do all these people have in common?  That’s easy; they all want to destroy the American industrial economy.  They were all appointed by or consulted with Governor Romney on energy and environmental issues.  They are all Obama Administration appointees (not really, only Gina and John; Jim and Boyden just seem like Obama appointees) Hot Air (10/15/11) reports: Conservatives know well that Mitt Romney has so far refused to back away from his contention that anthropogenic global warming is real, and yet the former Massachusetts governor continues to lead the Republican race for the presidential nomination.  In seven debates, none  of Romney’s competitors have challenged him on this position.  This week, however, the blog Moonbattery found a very interesting memo from Romney’s office in 2005 announcing tough new regulations on emissions — and noting a partnership with a familiar conservative bête noire in this administration.

Of course, one important difference is that Governor Perry never made out on a white couch with Nancy Pelosi.  And he has yet been dopey enough to hire Ed Rollins to do anything Politico (10/15/11) reports: Expanding oil and gas exploration, repealing environmental regulations and restructuring the Environmental Protection Agency are some of the cornerstones of Rick Perry’s energy plan…Also Newt Gingrich’s… The Texas governor’s energy platform, unveiled in a speech Friday morning, is stirring up calls of copycat from the Republican presidential field…A key part of Perry’s 41-page plan deals with dramatically transforming the EPA into an agency that largely serves as a referee between states. Perry’s EPA wouldn’t issue any technology standards or emissions limits, and it would operate with 40 percent of its current budget.

We bore you with this all the time, but the irreducible minimum is that we have all the oil and gas resources we need.  North Dakota (today) and Ohio (tomorrow) and someplace else the day after that is about to prove our point Business Week (10/14/11) reports: North Dakota will likely leapfrog California and may even overtake Alaska in the next year — far outpacing earlier industry predictions — to become one of the nation’s three biggest oil-producing states, a government regulator said…Government and industry officials had predicted that North Dakota likely would hit the No. 2 spot within the decade but the explosion of drilling activity has accelerated the timeline.

Two things about this.  First, take a look at the date stamp of the story.  That’s right, the Administration was so proud of this that they took it out with the trash on Friday evening.  Second, the House Rs pretty much hit the bulls-eye.  There is clearly something there that the President and his crew would rather we not see Politico (10/14/11) reports: President Barack Obama won’t be sharing his BlackBerry messages with House investigators seeking communications about Solyndra, the White House told Hill Republicans on Friday…White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler told House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders that they should still be happy with the trove of Solyndra-related documents they’re getting from federal agencies including DOE, the Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget.

We’ve also had cars that ran on water.  But my guess is that those pimping for the Chevy Volt and the Leaf and other golf carts won’t talk much about that Daily Caller (10/14/11) reports: Meet the Roberts electric car. Built in 1896, it gets a solid 40 miles to the charge — exactly the mileage Chevrolet advertises for the Volt, the highly touted $31,645 electric car General Motors CEO Dan Akerson called “not a step forward, but a leap forward.”…The executives at Chevrolet can rest easy for now. Since the Roberts was constructed in an age before Henry Ford’s mass production, the 115-year-old electric car is one of a kind.

We hate it when we are right because that means we lost money — Solyndra’s little brother is able to join the ash heap of failed government dreams New York Times (10/15/11) reports: Three weeks before Solyndra, the solar-panel manufacturer, based in Fremont, declared bankruptcy, the United States Department of Energy issued a $197 million loan guarantee to another Bay Area solar company that uses the same innovative, but risky, technology…Like Solyndra, which failed despite a $535 million federal loan guarantee, SoloPower, based in San Jose, is a politically connected firm that produces thin film panels built with copper, indium, gallium and selenium (or CIGS) instead of silicon, the basis of most photovoltaic panels.

This is a little complicated.  Let me make it easy.  When you have a commodity defined by stochasticity, and then you mandate its use, things tend to go bad pretty quickly for the remainder of system.  Or, mandating unreliable energy, like wind, is usually not a good idea Bloomberg (10/3/11) reports: The 15 mile-per-hour winds that buffeted northern Germany on July 24 caused the nation’s 21,600 windmills to generate so much power that utilities such as EON AG and RWE AG (RWE) had to pay consumers to take it off the grid…Rather than an anomaly, the event marked the 31st hour this year when power companies lost money on their electricity in the intraday market because of a torrent of supply from wind and solar parks. The phenomenon was unheard of five years ago…With Europe’s wind and solar farms set to triple by 2020, utilities investing in new coal and gas-fired power stations no longer face stable returns. As more renewables come on line, a gas plant owned by RWE or EON that may cost $1 billion to build will be stopped more often from running at full capacity. It may only pay for itself on days like Jan. 31, when clouds and still weather pushed an hour of power on the same-day market above 162 ($220) euros a megawatt-hour after dusk, in peak demand time.

Math is hard — AEA President Tom Pyle adds up the Obama jobs plan and it doesn’t look good for the middle class. I guess it’s easier to have a war with just two sides: ultra rich and hopelessly poor Fox News (10/3/11) reports: President Obama conjured up his favorite boogeyman recently: the oil and gas industry. He reached for it when he released his job creation and deficit reduction package…Despite the fact that the oil and gas industry pays over $86 million a day in income taxes, royalties, bonuses and rents to the federal government, the president claimed that U.S. energy producers have not paid “their fair share.” …The president is proposing an additional $41 billion in new taxes on energy producers. This will result in higher energy prices, more oil imports, and in the end, few jobs in America. No wonder why the economy continues to be mired in an economic funk.

Winning the Future — China cashes in on Western subsidies for solar panel demand and President Obama gets a lesson on the long con. Wall Street Journal (10/4/11) reports: Solar-panel company stocks have plunged to multiyear lows as slowing demand and a glut of panels from Asia have squeezed margins, creating a cloud that could hang over the industry for some time…Shares of U.S. solar-panel giant First Solar Inc. (FSLR) have been trading at four-year lows, while shares of Chinese rival Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (STP) have reached all-time lows since the company went public in 2005. The Standard & Poor’s Global Clean Energy Index, which includes First Solar, Iberdrola S.A. (IBE.MC) and other renewable energy companies, was down 41% year-to-date as of Monday. That compares to the broader S&P 500 index, which was down 11.3% during the same period.

You know you’re in trouble with the Huffington Post calls BS on green jobs Huffington Post (10/4/11) reports: A $500 million Labor Department program designed to train workers for green jobs has come up far short of its goals, with only 10 percent of participants finding work so far, the agency’s assistant inspector general has found…The report said the low rate makes it unlikely the program will meet the goal of placing nearly 80,000 workers in careers in energy efficiency or renewable energy by 2013…”Grantees have expressed concerns that jobs have not materialized and that job placements have been fewer than expected for this point in the grant program,” said the report from Assistant Inspector General Elliott Lewis.

Brave New World — Turns out Obama realizes he needs oil to run his utopia Wall Street Journal (10/4/11) reports: The Obama administration said Monday it was moving forward with oil-drilling leases off the coast of Alaska issued by the Bush administration in 2008, a victory for oil companies in the battle over Arctic Ocean drilling…The Interior Department said it would uphold nearly 500 leases issued in the Chukchi Sea after several environmental groups challenged the sale of the leases in court… The department’s decision came in response to the lawsuit filed by environmental groups, and those groups still had the option of challenging the department’s determination…Among the companies securing leases in what is known as Lease Sale 193 was Royal Dutch Shell PLC, the energy giant already at the center of another high-profile fight to secure permits to drill in the Arctic.

Last week GAO noted that 42% of the temperature stations run by NOAA don’t actually meet NOAA’s own standards.  This week, they are suggesting that NOAA do something about it.  How much would you like to bet that NOAA’s response is going to be less than prompt and thorough?E&E News (10/3/11) reports: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration should develop a policy to track and address weather stations that are sited in ways that could distort the data they collect, the Government Accountability Office said last week…The GAO report examined NOAA’s Historical Climatology Network, which consists of 1,218 weather stations across the United States that record daily minimum and maximum temperatures and precipitation totals. The agency uses those data to monitor the climate, including long-term temperature trends…The GAO report found that last year, 42 percent of the network’s active stations were sited in ways that did not meet one or more of NOAA’s standards for station locations.

Obama doesn’t regret betting on Solyndra–after all, it wasn’t his money he was playing roulette with CNET (10/3/11) reports: President Obama said today he does not regret the loan-guarantee Solyndra received, while recently revealed e-mails show early doubts within the White House about the now-famous solar company…In an interview with ABC News and Yahoo News, Obama said the policy of providing loan guarantees to clean-energy technology companies is sound despite the failure of Solyndra, which filed for bankruptcy at the end of August. The company received a $535 million loan guarantee and about $1 billion in private capital…Obama said loan guarantee program is important to developing clean-energy technologies and demonstrating that that U.S. can be an exporter of manufactured goods, rather than only an importer.

“The high value for destroying these gases creates perverse incentives in developing countries to manufacture more of them bringing into question the environmental gains,” Smith said in a statement.”  Are you sure?  Because we only have about 10 years worth of data that says that this whole program is a sham Reuters (10/3/11) reports: New Zealand is looking to exclude the use of U.N. offsets from industrial gas projects in its emissions trading scheme from as soon as 2012, as these offsets threaten to distort the market, the government said on Friday…Climate change minister Nick Smith said he wanted to maintain the integrity of the emissions trading scheme, which is why the government is considering banning offsets from the potent greenhouse gas hydrofluorocarbon-23 (HFC-23) and nitrous oxide credits…”The high value for destroying these gases creates perverse incentives in developing countries to manufacture more of them bringing into question the environmental gains,” Smith said in a statement.

The North Dakota Experiment — we can become the Saudi Arabia of the 21^st century with the right energy policies Wall Street Journal (10/1/11) reports: Harold Hamm, the Oklahoma-based founder and CEO of Continental Resources, the 14th-largest oil company in America, is a man who thinks big. He came to Washington last month to spread a needed message of economic optimism: With the right set of national energy policies, the United States could be “completely energy independent by the end of the decade. We can be the Saudi Arabia of oil and natural gas in the 21st century.”…”President Obama is riding the wrong horse on energy,” he adds. We can’t come anywhere near the scale of energy production to achieve energy independence by pouring tax dollars into “green energy” sources like wind and solar, he argues. It has to come from oil and gas…You’d expect an oilman to make the “drill, baby, drill” pitch. But since 2005 America truly has been in the midst of a revolution in oil and natural gas, which is the nation’s fastest-growing manufacturing sector. No one is more responsible for that resurgence than Mr. Hamm. He was the original discoverer of the gigantic and prolific Bakken oil fields of Montana and North Dakota that have already helped move the U.S. into third place among world oil producers.

We knew the NYT hated poor people, but Canadians? Editorial Board tells Canada to go to hell New York Times (10/2/11) reports: Unless good sense intervenes, it looks increasingly likely that the State Department will approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry a coarse, acidic crude oil from northern Alberta in Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas. That would be a mistake…In August, the State Department, which has authority because the pipeline crosses an international boundary, released its final environmental impact statement on the project. It found that the Keystone XL would have “no significant impact” on land and water resources along its route. We, and many others, are skeptical.

Uh-Oh  New York Times (10/2/11) reports: In a remote desert spot in northern Nevada, there is a geothermal plant run by a politically connected clean energy start-up that has relied heavily on an Obama administration loan guarantee and is now facing financial turmoil…The company is Nevada Geothermal Power, which like Solyndra, the now-famous California solar company, is struggling with debt after encountering problems at its only operating plant…After a series of technical missteps that are draining Nevada Geothermal’s cash reserves, its own auditor concluded in a filing released last week that there was “significant doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

Having humiliated Mike Bromwich on the question of delayed permitting in the Gulf of Mexico, Dan Yergin decides now is a good time to tell some more truths The Inquirer (10/1/11) reports: With all the excitement over renewable energy, it might be reasonable to assume that fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas will go the way of the steam engine in the next 20 years…Not so fast, says Daniel Yergin, author and one of the most influential voices in the world of energy…”There is always the possibility that something big will happen very quickly, but probably not,” Yergin said in an interview this week before delivering a lecture at the Free Library of Philadelphia…”On a worldwide basis, about 80 percent of energy today is oil, gas, and coal. You say, What’s it going to be in 2030? Most studies say somewhere about 75 percent of the bigger pot.”

The usual Hollywood suspects want to shut down Pebble Mine. It’s too bad they don’t realize they need to copper to build their EV’s and wind turbines Huffington Post (9/30/11) reports: The battle over a copper and gold mine near one of the world’s premier salmon fisheries is headed to the ballot in a vote next week that has turned a normally sleepy local election into a national environmental debate…Voters in southwest Alaska’s Lake and Peninsula Borough are deciding whether to ban large-scale resource extraction activity, including mining, that would destroy or degrade salmon habitat. The measure is aimed squarely at Pebble Mine, the massive gold-and-copper prospect near the headwaters of Bristol Bay…The debate surrounding Pebble has attracted the attention of chefs, Robert Redford and big-name jewelers who have vowed not to sell any gold coming from the project.

We missed this on Friday.  But it is important.  Do you think the threats to the electrical grid are going to increase or decrease when we start installing smart meters everywhere?  That’s right; they are going to increase dramatically.  Maybe FERC will notice before something really bad happens Associated Press (9/30/11) reports: U.S. utilities and industries face a rising number of cyber break-ins by attackers using more sophisticated methods, a senior Homeland Security Department official said during the government’s first media tour of secretive defense labs intended to protect the nation’s power grid, water systems and other vulnerable infrastructure…Acting DHS Deputy Undersecretary Greg Schaffer told reporters Thursday that the world’s utilities and industries increasingly are becoming vulnerable as they wire their industrial machinery to the Internet…”We are connecting equipment that has never been connected before to these global networks,” Schaffer said. Disgruntled employees, hackers and perhaps foreign governments “are knocking on the doors of these systems, and there have been intrusions.”…According to the DHS, Control System Security Program cyber experts based at the Idaho National Laboratory responded to 116 requests for assistance in 2010, and 342 so far this year.

Blinded by the light — Obama Administration rushed the Solyndra loan to boost solar energy production for political points and it worked, but it turns out those are our political points… New York Times (9/23/11) reports: President Obama’s visit to the Solyndra solar panel factory in California last year was choreographed down to the last detail — the 20-by-30-foot American flags, the corporate banners hung just so, the special lighting, even coffee and doughnuts for the Secret Service detail… “It’s here that companies like Solyndra are leading the way toward a brighter and more prosperous future,” the president declared in May 2010 to the assembled workers and executives. The start-up business had received a $535 million federal loan guarantee, offered in part to reassert American dominance in solar technology while generating thousands of jobs.

So Long Solyndra — IER released a new video that tells the story of how Solyndra recevied $535 million. Spoiler Alert: it doesn’t have a happy ending 

To watch the video, click the image or here.

Does this author really think that oil, natural gas and coal energy production was started by federal government subsidies? If so, we are in worse trouble than I thought New York Times (9/23/11) reports:  The analysis is by Nancy Pfund, a managing partner of DBL Investors of San Francisco, which backs renewable energy ventures, and Ben Healey, an environmentalist who is earning a joint master’s degree in business administration and engineering management at Yale. It traces oil and gas subsidies beginning in 1918, biofuel subsidies since 1980 and renewable electricity subsidies since 1994. All of those are tracked through the end of 2009, meaning that the study does not capture all of the aid to renewable energy in the stimulus bill. It tracks nuclear energy from 1947 to 1999.

You know, we are not going to take sides in this thing.  But this looks bad for Romney.  Really bad.  Although in all fairness, I’m not sure it looks worse than having Jim Connaughton and Boyden Gray hanging around, shooting pool at Romney headquarters National Journal (9/22/11) reports: President Obama can thank Republican Mitt Romney for more than the Massachusetts health care law that helped shape Obama’s national health care plan…One of Romney’s former top state environmental officials during his tenure as Massachusetts governor now oversees air quality at Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency, playing a key role in the march of environmental regulations to fight climate change and slash pollution from coal-fired power plants that is regularly blasted by Republicans seeking Obama’s job. Sometimes, even Romney himself…House GOP leaders, powerful industry groups like the Chamber of Commerce, tea party groups like Americans for Prosperity, and Romney’s chief rival, GOP front-runner Rick Perry, have essentially declared war on EPA air rules, slamming them as “job-killing regulations” that will tank the economy.

See, when you depend on the federal government, bad things tend to happen Reuters (9/23/11) reports: First Solar Inc (FSLR.O) said it would not meet a deadline to receive a federal loan guarantee for a huge solar power plant it is building in California, sending its shares to their lowest level in more than four years…The announcement cast a spotlight again on the Obama administration’s support of renewable energy, which have come under fire by Republicans since the collapse of solar company Solyndra after it won more than $500 million in backing from the Department of Energy.

We hate to be slaves to the narrative, but again, energy development means more economic growth, more jobs, more tax revenues (pay attention you big government weenies!), and a better life Investors (9/22/11) reports: In announcing yet another overhaul of New York’s economic development bureaucracy, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo recently observed that, “we must do all we can to keep businesses and jobs in our state, and today’s launch demonstrates that New York is once again open for business.”…If only it were that simple. In fact, New York’s famously unfriendly tax and regulatory climate has been pushing businesses and jobs out of the state for decades…In a new survey of business leaders published by Chief Executive magazine, the Empire State ranked 49th among all states against a wide range of business climate indicators.

Again, the narrative remains sturdy:  energy development equals . . . well, you know the rest Vindy (9/22/11) reports: Ohio’s oil and natural-gas industries and the emergence of horizontal hydraulic fracturing could create more than 200,000 jobs and pump billions into the state economy over the next five years, according to a new study released at the Statehouse…“[These] resources will be responsibly developed, and doing so will benefit all Ohioans who are looking for economic opportunity and energy security,” said Tom Stewart, executive vice president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association…The economic-impact study, released Tuesday, was prepared by a Cleveland-based consulting firm on behalf of the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program.

Someone buy Rep. Issa a beer — last hearing was entitled, “How Obama’s Green Energy Agenda Is Killing Jobs” San Francisco Chronicle California Rep. Darrell Issa opened a new front Thursday in the GOP attack on renewable-energy subsidies following the bankruptcy of solar manufacturer Solyndra, accusing the Obama administration of waging a “war on carbon-based energy” and exaggerating claims of new “green jobs.”…Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, mocked Labor Secretary Hilda Solis’ description of a San Jose, Calif., transit district bus driver’s job as green…Issa titled the hearing, “How Obama’s Green Energy Agenda Is Killing Jobs.”…At a committee hearing Thursday, Solis cited the case of Peter Reyes, who had been laid off from his job in banking and retrained with government help to drive a hybrid bus manufactured in Hayward and operated by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.

EPA, after Shell spends $4 billion and counting and may have 54,000 jobs waiting to be filled by Americans, grants a permit Washington Post (9/19/11) reports: Shell Oil Co. on Monday took a step closer to tapping vast petroleum reserves off Alaska’s Arctic coasts when the federal Environmental Protection Agency approved an air quality permit for one of the company’s drilling vessels…The EPA approved the air permit for the drilling vessel Noble Discover, which Shell hopes to use for exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s northwest coast, and its support fleet of oil spill response and supply vessels.

With Solyndra gone, it’s a race against time for the DOE to clear out the books for politically well connected friends before the American people bring down the hammer Politico (9/20/11) reports: Even as it takes fire over its $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra, the Energy Department intends to keep pushing billions of dollars in additional guarantees in the next week and a half…For the department, it’s a matter of bad timing: Last month’s collapse of Solyndra has thrown a cloud of suspicion over the entire clean-energy loan guarantee program, just as DOE nears a Sept. 30 deadline to close on $9.3 billion in pending applications… Some Republicans have accused DOE of slapping together the remaining guarantees to beat the clock…”With $10 billion still on the shelf, the last thing we can afford from the Obama administration are more of the same sloppy, poor investments in the final rush to get the cash out the door,” Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), oversight chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a statement.

I thought Nobel winners were supposed to care about those with the least among us? Well, nine of them sign a letter urging Obama to reject the Keystone project and sentence our poor to high energy prices New York Times (9/19/11) reports: With his approval rating among American voters at an all-time low, President Obama could use a little support from his peers. But this month nine fellow recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and the Dalai Lama, sent the president a letter urging him to veto the construction of a huge pipeline that would bring bring crude oil to the United States from Canada…On Monday, the letter was published as an advertisement in The Washington Post. It reads in part: “The night you were nominated for president, you told the world that under your leadership — and working together — the rise of the oceans will begin to slow and the planet will begin to heal. You spoke of creating a clean energy economy. This is a critical moment to make good on that pledge.”

Here’s an idea for job growth, let’s mandate that every building needs an escalator that runs on renewable energy New York Times (9/19/11) reports: A business consortium that includes Lockheed Martin and Barclays bank plans to invest as much as $650 million over the next few years to slash the energy consumption of buildings in the Miami and Sacramento areas. It is the most ambitious effort yet to jump-start a national market for energy upgrades that many people believe could eventually be worth billions… Focusing mainly on commercial property at first, the group plans to exploit a new tax arrangement that allows property owners to upgrade their buildings at no upfront cost, typically cutting their energy use and their utility bills by a third. The building owners would pay for the upgrades over five to 20 years through surcharges on their property-tax bills, but that would be less than the savings.

This is why you don’t play nice in the sandbox — greenies throw renewable energy in the face of those conservatives who supported renewable energy New York Times (9/19/11) reports: lambasted the Obama administration over what he has described as its failed efforts to stimulate new jobs through clean-energy projects backed with billions of dollars in federal loans or other assistance.,, But Mr. McConnell, of Kentucky, is one of several prominent Republicans who have worked to steer federal money to clean-energy projects in their home states, Energy Department documents show…Mr. McConnell made two personal appeals in 2009, asking Energy Secretary Steven Chu to approve as much as $235 million in federal loans for a plant to build electric vehicles in Franklin, Ky.

OPEC counties have oil money and we have T-Bills to pay off our disaffected youth Fuel Fix (9/20/11) reports: Saudi Arabia will spend $43 billion on its poorer citizens and religious institutions. Kuwaitis are getting free food for a year. Civil servants in Algeria received a 34 percent pay rise. Desert cities in the United Arab Emirates may soon enjoy uninterrupted electricity…Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries members are poised to earn an unprecedented $1 trillion this year, according to the U.S. Energy Department, as the group’s benchmark oil measure exceeded $100 a barrel for the longest period ever. They are promising to plow record amounts into public and social programs after pro-democracy movements overthrew rulers in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya and spread to Yemen and Syria.