News

Let the great experiment begin! Super Committee received over $64 million in special interest money Fox News (8/18/11) reports: Let the gridlock begin where it always does, with political donations…The bipartisan “super committee” created under the debt ceiling deal that is supposed to come up with at least $1.2 trillion in deficit savings by the end of November got $64.6 million from special interests groups over the past decade, according to a new analysis by MapLight, a nonpartisan watchdog group that tracks the nexus of money and politics…Political action committees funded by the legal profession ($31.5 million), Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase ($11.2 million), and “Democratic/Liberal” groups ($9.6 million) topped the list here…PACs and employees in the health-care industry gave heavily, too — $9.3 million over the last decade…Who on the super committee got the most cash? The Democrats, with twice as much as the Republican members — $42.7 million in donations over the last decade, according to the analysis by MapLight…Topping the list is Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) — he received roughly $15.8 million in political donations from special interest PACs, largely due to his unsuccessful presidential bid in 2004, says MapLight. Following close behind is Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont) with $8.3 million. Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) received $5.9 million and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), got $5.7 million, says MapLight.

Obama must’ve read that book Hugo Chavez gave him. And, is this what Maxine Waters was talking about when she famously admitted she might “nationalize” oil companies? Wall Street Journal (8/18/11) reports: Exxon Mobil Corp. is fighting with the U.S. government to keep control of one of its biggest oil discoveries ever, in a showdown where billions of dollars hang in the balance for both sides…The massive Gulf of Mexico discovery contains an estimated one billion barrels of recoverable oil, the company says. The Interior Department, which regulates offshore drilling, says Exxon’s leases have expired and the company hasn’t met the requirements for an extension. Exxon has sued to retain the leases…The court battle is playing out at a time in which the Obama administration has made an issue of unused leases, which deprive the Treasury of valuable taxes. It also comes as regulators are being careful not to be seen as lax in their dealings with large energy companies in the wake of last year’s BP PLC spill…The stakes are high: Under federal law, the leases—and all the oil underneath—could revert to the government if Exxon doesn’t win in court…The loss of the leases would be an enormous black eye for Exxon. The company hadn’t previously disclosed the size of the discovery in what is called the Julia field until it was mentioned in the suit Exxon filed against the Interior Department last week in federal court in Lake Charles, La…The Texas behemoth faces the sobering prospect that it may have made the largest discovery ever in the Gulf of Mexico only to lose it. Tens of billions of dollars of oil could slip through its hands because it failed to follow federal rules for getting a lease extension while it moved forward with plans to get the oil out of the ground.

We don’t get this at all.  If the rule has positive consequences with respect to costs and benefits (as EPA has argued and will no doubt continue to argue), why would there be any need to “blunt the impact”?  I mean, who tries to blunt the impact of something good? Politico (8/17/11) reports: The Obama administration is promising to blunt the impact of its pending ozone standards by ensuring flexibility for industries, but it likely won’t have enough wiggle room to win over its fiercest critics…In an effort to refute industry’s claims that a tighter smog standard will put a damper on economic recovery, the White House and the EPA have repeatedly vowed to use flexibility allowed under the Clean Air Act when the rules are implemented. That would allow the administration to install a standard in line with the between 60 and 70 parts per billion that agency scientists have recommended — and appease environmental and public health groups — while giving officials the ability to point to the implementation plan as proof that it has maximized flexibility for industry…EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan has said in several recent statements that “in implementing this new standard, EPA will use the long-standing flexibility in the Clean Air Act to consider costs, jobs and the economy.” And a White House official said last month that President Barack Obama “is committed to using the full flexibility in the law to ensure that the implementation of a new standard does not impede our economic recovery.”…EPA’s ozone rule and a draft implementation plan have been under review by the White House since July 11, and some observers speculate that the final standard has been delayed in part while the implementation plan is fine-tuned.

Seriously, what could go wrong? The Gazette (8/17/11) reports: For the first time ever, more of the corn crop may go into gas tanks than into the stomachs of cattle and poultry destined for kitchen tables…The prediction drew little response last week when it was released by the USDA in its Crop Production and Supply/Demand Report for the 2011 crop season. The USDA kept its prediction for ethanol production demand for corn at 5.05 billion, but lowered demand projections for livestock feed by 100 million bushels to 5 billion bushels…That fuel now tops livestock as the primary user of corn struck at least one observer as noteworthy…“That’s a first-time-ever type of change,”  University of Missouri Extension economist Ron Plain said in a statement released by the university…“For forever,” Plain said, “ feed was the largest single use of corn.”…The news comes as criticism that pro-ethanol subsidies and policies are raising food prices globally seems to be reaching a crescendo.  Critics didn’t seem to latch onto the USDA’s market prediction, however…A spokesman for Iowa’s ethanol industry termed the USDA’s market prediction “a footnote.”…“Every credible study has clearly found the effects of ethanol policies is negligible on the price of corn,” remarked Monte Shaw, president of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association…The USDA Thursday lowered its soybean and corn harvest estimates for the 2011 crop significantly and said ethanol plans will consume more corn than livestock.

What? EDF supports energy? Nah…you’re watching a Washington parlor game. Fred Krupp continues to pretend he likes shale gas production in his “good cop/ bad cop” hunt for cash for his organization (letting nrdc be the bad cop this time). All he wants in his quest to federalize energy production is a little regulation Wall Street Journal (8/18/11) reports: If there’s one thing America doesn’t need right now, it’s more acrimony and gridlock. That’s where the debate over natural gas development in the U.S. has been heading—but it’s not too late to change direction…To be blunt, the natural gas industry has a credibility problem. Natural gas is a growing and increasingly significant part of our nation’s energy economy, but many Americans don’t believe that this resource can be tapped safely…In the past two years, one state and several municipalities have effectively banned (some permanently, others temporarily) the development of unconventional natural gas. Restoring trust will take time, strong oversight by government, and transparency and hard work by the industry. It won’t be easy, but it can be done. A new report by a Department of Energy advisory panel points to some crucial first steps that can help jump-start the process…The natural gas drilling technique of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” has opened up vast deposits of gas trapped in shale rock formations—deposits that were previously too difficult or expensive to reach. One example is the Marcellus Shale, which covers a good portion of New York and Pennsylvania, states not previously known for their natural gas reserves…In 2000, shale gas accounted for 1% of America’s natural gas supply. Today, that figure is around 25% and climbing. From an environmental perspective, that should be good news, since natural gas burns cleaner than coal, emitting less greenhouse gas pollution during combustion and avoiding mercury, sulfur dioxide and other dangerous air pollutants that come from coal.

Do Iowans see the writing on the wall? Ethanol might be on the way out, but with the top republicans signing a wind blade at the Ames Straw Poll, it looks like they’ve found a new subsidy New York Times (8/18/11) reports:  In The New York Times on Thursday, John M. Broder writes about a blood sport that has become quite popular among the field of Republican presidential candidates: attacks on the Environmental Protection Agency. Yet the candidates recently found time to rally behind clean wind energy, a topic some voters identify with a somewhat more liberal agenda…At the Saturday straw poll in Iowa, the G.O.P. contenders Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Thaddeus McCotter autographed a giant 130-foot wind turbine blade to show their support for Iowa’s burgeoning wind industry as a source of home-grown job creation…TPI Composites, based in Newton, Iowa, manufactured the blade and currently employs 700 workers at a former Maytag plant, according to its chief executive, Steve Lockard. The American Wind Energy Association, a trade association and lobbying group, sponsored the event on Saturday…It was one of about 30 such displays set up by organizations and political action committees on the Iowa State University campus…Michele Bachman, the top vote-getter in the straw poll, was not present at the signing, although according to Peter Kelley, the wind energy association’s vice president for public affairs, her staff members had conveyed her interest in attending…Texas is the leading state in installed wind capacity with 10,085 megawatts, while Iowa is second with 3,675 megawatts, accounting for almost 20 percent of the state’s electricity generation in the first quarter of 2011.

She loves me, she loves me not, she loves me…three new flowers are on the endangered species list, adding one more layer of green tape for Western energy states Fox News (8/18/11) reports: The recent placing of three Colorado wildflowers on the federal endangered and threatened species lists will make it harder to exploit untapped fuel resources in the Rocky Mountain State, a group representing the energy industry tells Fox News, an assertion the government denies…“What we’re seeing here is the federal government coming in and adding another layer of regulation,” says Kathleen Sgamma, director of government and public affairs at Western Energy Alliance. Regulators are “saying we don’t care about … what the states are doing and what industry and nonprofit groups are doing to protect those species.”… The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the Pagosa skyrocket as endangered. The other two flowers, the Parachute beardtongue and the DeBeque phacelia, are listed as threatened. The latter two grow only in northwestern Colorado, which is also home to the 200-square-mile Roan Plateau atop massive reserves of natural gas, as well as oil in the form of oil shale…“The listing of these plants won’t stop any oil and gas drilling,” maintains Gina Glenne, a Fish and Wildlife botanist. “When you have a project on federal lands where it may impact the plant, what we do is work to mitigate those impacts. That can involve moving a project some small distance but it doesn’t ever really stop a project, especially an oil and gas project where we know that those resources are needed.”

More news from the peak oil front…San Francisco Chronicle (8/16/11) reports: Norway’s Statoil has received a huge boost to its reserves with the announcement that two previous North Sea oil discoveries are connected which may represent the biggest find in the Norwegian continental shelf in 30 years…Statoil said in a statement Tuesday that the Aldous and Avaldsnes oil discoveries together contain between 500 million and 1.2 billion barrels of oil — significantly more than previously thought…Statoil owns a 40 percent stake in both discoveries and is the operator of Aldous…Tim Dodson, the company’s vice president for exploration, called the combined discovery “giant,” adding that “Norway has not seen a similar oil discovery since the mid-80’s.”…The discoveries show the Norwegian continental shelf remains an attractive source for crude, he said…Trond Frode Omdal, an oil analyst at Oslo-based Arctic Securities ASA, said the size of the discovery was surprising…”I think the companies had almost given up making such a huge discovery in the North Sea,” he said, adding that the gross value of the discoveries could be as much as $40 billion.

I’m not a math major but 14 green jobs for $20 million seems wrong — they must’ve had the same tutor as Geithner growing up Komo News (8/16/11) reports: Last year, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn announced the city had won a coveted $20 million federal grant to invest in weatherization. The unglamorous work of insulating crawl spaces and attics had emerged as a silver bullet in a bleak economy – able to create jobs and shrink carbon footprint – and the announcement came with great fanfare…McGinn had joined Vice President Joe Biden in the White House to make it. It came on the eve of Earth Day. It had heady goals: creating 2,000 living-wage jobs in Seattle and retrofitting 2,000 homes in poorer neighborhoods…But more than a year later, Seattle’s numbers are lackluster. As of last week, only three homes had been retrofitted and just 14 new jobs have emerged from the program. Many of the jobs are administrative, and not the entry-level pathways once dreamed of for low-income workers. Some people wonder if the original goals are now achievable…”The jobs haven’t surfaced yet,” said Michael Woo, director of Got Green, a Seattle community organizing group focused on the environment and social justice…”It’s been a very slow and tedious process. It’s almost painful, the number of meetings people have gone to. Those are the people who got jobs. There’s been no real investment for the broader public.”…Organizers and policy experts blame the economy, bureaucracy and bad timing for the program’s mediocre results. Called Community Power Works, the program funds low-interest loans and incentives for buildings to do energy-efficient upgrades. They include hospitals, municipal buildings, big commercial structures and homes.

As president talks up green jobs in a diesel bus, green jobs are leaving the building Tucson News (8/17/11) reports: Solar module manufacturer Solon Corp. will lay off 60 local workers as it shuts down its production facility in Tucson, the company said Monday…The company will maintain its U.S. headquarters here after the production line shuts down, with some 70 employees in sales, engineeering and research. The layoffs will take place by October, the company said…Solon, part of German-based Solon SE, said it will seek lower-cost sources of solar modules for utility and commercial photovoltaic systems in Asia. The company currently has manufacturing facilities in Germany and Italy…The company’s North American CEO, Dan Alcombright, said Solon regrets the impact of ending production on its workers and the community…”We will continue to aggressively expand in Tucson and our other U.S. offices to support our efforts on commercial and large-scale project development, supply chain excellence, and new product development,” Alcombright said in a press release…Last month, the company announced that it would restructure operations to reduce its debt load…The company’s German parent said in an Aug. 10 release that revenues were down: “Against the backdrop of the nuclear energy debate, many customers appear to have deferred the purchase of solar systems or speculated on a further erosion of system prices.”

The first solar energy company to practice truth-in-advertising — actually naming itself Solon to apparently reflect its dependence on government for its sustenance — is closing its Tucson factory AZ Central (8/17/11) reports: Solon Corp. will close its Tucson solar-panel factory in October, laying off about 65 workers, but the company plans to maintain a development company in Arizona…Solon is a subsidiary of Solon SE of Germany, which has additional manufacturing plants in Europe and Asia…The company will maintain about 70 Tucson employees to continue the more-profitable work of developing power plants, said Dan Alcombright, president and CEO of Solon North America…The North American subsidiary was founded in 2007, using a small production facility at first. The 105,000-square-foot factory opened in 2008…Solon also has about 10 people working in a Phoenix office and five in San Francisco…The company is building power plants for Arizona Public Service Co., Tucson Electric Power Co. and Pacific Gas and Electric Co., and those projects will not be affected by the factory closure…Alcombright said the Tucson facility can’t compete with low-cost factories overseas and that solar panels have essentially become a commodity where the minor differences among manufacturers are not major considerations for utilities buying solar panels…”The Solon product we manufacture here in Tucson may have a better fit and finish than some others, but the market doesn’t really value that,” he said. “The market values a low price. We are going to stop beating our heads against the wall and say, ‘How can we be smart strategically?’ ”

Whatever… National Journal (8/16/11) reports: Republican Gov. Rick Perry of Texas led an unprecedented attack on the ethanol industry in 2008 that could stymie his fledging presidential campaign in the politically critical, corn-rich state of Iowa…The governor urged the Bush administration at the time to roll back the so-called “ethanol mandate,’’ which requires the federal government to annually boost biofuel production, mainly through corn-based ethanol. The Environmental Protection Agency turned down Perry’s request in a decision that elicited relief among Iowa’s corn growers and political establishment and disappointment from his home state’s cattle industry…Perry has yet to address the ethanol mandate since he launched his campaign on Saturday, but he is certain to face questions about it in Iowa, where his path to the nomination begins…“This is a very serious conversation we’re going to have with him,” said Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. “We respect the fact that before, he was acting in the best interests of Texas, which has a lot of oil and quite a few cattle operations…. I’m interested to see if he’s now running for president of the United States, not governor of Texas.’’…“As far as his position in 2008, we didn’t think it was warranted,” said Amanda Taylor, senior policy advisor for the Iowa Corn Growers Association. “We’ll have to wait and see what he says regarding the [mandate] now as he comes to court Iowa voters over the next six months.”

Only the doomed tangle with Chris Horner Washington Post (8/16/11) reports: Four groups say they are worried the University of Virginia may unnecessarily disclose private correspondence from scientists in the case involving the work of former professor Michael Mann…The state’s flagship university has fought requests to release documents under Virginia’s freedom of information laws to Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R), but the groups say they are now concerned about a May 24 agreement U.Va. made to provide some documents to the American Tradition Institute.Environmental Law Center…The four groups — the Union of Concerned Scientists, the American Association of University Professors, the American Geophysical Union and Climate Science Watch — sent U.Va. a letter late Tuesday…“We believe the agreement is in conflict with the university’s previous statements and actions on this issue and it threatens the principles of academic freedom protecting scholarly research,’’ they say in the letter…U.Va. is slated to respond to the American Tradition Institute around Aug. 20. Carol Wood, a university spokeswoman, did not immediately respond to a message for comment…In January. the American Tradition Institute asked the university to turn over documents, including e-mails Mann exchanged with other scientists while employed at the university, on behalf of Del. Bob Marshall (R-Prince William) and two other state residents.

Obamanomics: destroy demand by eviscerating all value created over the past decade and you’ll have cheaper gas at the pump Wall Street Journal (8/15/11) reports: The tumbling price of crude oil this month and signs of falling fuel demand point to lower U.S. gasoline prices ahead, though consumers will have to wait for savings to trickle down to the pump…After reaching an almost three-year high of $3.97 a gallon in early May, U.S. retail gasoline prices have fallen nearly 30 cents on a combination of lower oil prices and flagging sales in the important summer-driving season…The latest step down in oil futures suggests more relief is on the way. Crude futures settled 34 cents lower at $85.38 a barrel Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil is down 10% in August, at one point last week falling as low as $75.71 a barrel, the lowest price in almost a year… The cost of oil is the biggest driver of gasoline prices, but it can take several weeks for a decline in oil prices to work its way through the system and become reflected in retail sales. After oil prices tumbled 15% in the first week of May, it took nearly two weeks for retail prices to drop by 10 cents a gallon…Over the next month, as oil futures held near $100 a barrel, pump prices per gallon continued to drop by another 25 cents. In early July, prices briefly rose before again turning lower.

How about an energy partnership with American companies, Mr. President? The Hill (8/15/11) reports: A top Energy Department official will travel to Brazil next week to launch a high-level partnership aimed at developing the South American country’s oil-and-gas resources…The administration could be wading into politically thorny territory with the partnership. Republicans have pounced on President Obama’s plans to work with Brazil on energy issues, arguing that the administration should be spending more time developing U.S. oil resources…Obama announced his intentions to launch the partnership in May while visiting Brazil. He said at the time that he hopes to invest in Brazil’s oil-and-gas resources because the country is more stable than the Middle East and has vast fossil fuel reserves…“We want to work with you. We want to help with technology and support to develop these oil reserves safely, and when you’re ready to start selling, we want to be one of your best customers,” Obama told a group of Brazilian business leaders in May…“At a time when we’ve been reminded how easily instability in other parts of the world can affect the price of oil, the United States could not be happier with the potential for a new, stable source of energy.”

One more Malthusian trying to cash in with tax payer money on the peak oil scare New York Times (8/15/11) reports: Sitting in a Panera in Boston’s financial district in early July with Jeremy Grantham, I suddenly found myself considering how I might safeguard my children’s and notional grandchildren’s future by somehow engineering the U.S. annexation of Morocco. Grantham, the founder and chief strategist of the asset-management firm GMO, was reading aloud from a rough draft of his next quarterly letter to investors, in which he ranks some long-term crises of resource limitation along a scale from “merely serious” to “dangerous.”… Energy “will give us serious and sustained problems” over the next 50 years as we make the transition from hydrocarbons — oil, coal, gas — to solar, wind, nuclear and other sources, but we’ll muddle through to a solution to Peak Oil and related challenges. Peak Everything Else will prove more intractable for humanity. Metals, for instance, “are entropy at work . . . from wonderful metal ores to scattered waste,” and scarcity and higher prices “will slowly increase forever,” but if we scrimp and recycle, we can make do for another century before tight constraint kicks in…Agriculture is more worrisome. Local water shortages will cause “persistent irritation” — wars, famines. Of the three essential macro nutrient fertilizers, nitrogen is relatively plentiful and recoverable, but we’re running out of potassium and phosphorus, finite mined resources that are “necessary for all life.” Canada has large reserves of potash (the source of potassium), which is good news for Americans, but 50 to 75 percent of the known reserves of phosphate (the source of phosphorus) are located in Morocco and the western Sahara. Assuming a 2 percent annual increase in phosphorus consumption, Grantham believes the rest of the world’s reserves won’t last more than 50 years, so he expects “gamesmanship” from the phosphate-rich.

You know it is bad when the National Journal starts calling your bluff National Journal (8/12/11) reports: President Obama says his new automobile fuel economy standards will create jobs…Not so fast…What he doesn’t say is that those standards will lead to sustained job creation only if Americans choose to buy more fuel-efficient cars in the coming years. And if recent history is true, the driving decision behind that will be the price of gas…Over the past two weeks, Obama has repeatedly touted his ambitious new fuel-economy standards as good for the environment and good for the economy. While the first part of that statement may be self-evident, the second is open to debate…On Thursday, Obama again claimed a nexus between higher mileage vehicles and jobs, this time while touring the Holland, Mich., plant of Johnson Controls, which builds advanced batteries for hybrid and electric cars…“I brought together the world’s largest auto companies who agreed, for the first time, to nearly double the distance their cars can go on a gallon of gas,” Obama said. “That’s going to save consumers thousands of dollars at the pump. It’s going to cut our dependence on foreign oil. It’s going to promote innovation and jobs, and it’s going to mean more groundbreakings and more job postings for companies like Johnson Controls.”…The new fuel-economy standards apply to cars and light trucks through 2025 and – for the first time – to heavy trucks through 2018. Cars and light trucks must reach an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 (up from the current 28 mpg). The truck standards require cuts of 7 to 20 percent in fuel consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions for trucks between 2014 and 2018.

So… I guess even the Messiah has to follow…the law Seattle Times (8/12/11) reports: A judge on Friday threw out Obama administration rules that sought to slow down expedited environmental review of oil and gas drilling on federal land…U.S. District Judge Nancy Freudenthal ruled in favor of a petroleum industry group, the Western Energy Alliance, in its lawsuit against the federal government, including Interior Secretary Ken Salazar…The ruling reinstates Bush-era expedited oil and gas drilling under provisions called categorical exclusions on federal lands nationwide, Freudenthal said…The government argued that oil and gas companies had no case because they didn’t show how the new rules, implemented by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service last year, had created delays and added to the cost of drilling…Freudenthal rejected that argument…”Western Energy has demonstrated through its members recognizable injury,” she said. “Those injuries are supported by the administrative record.”..An attorney for the government declined to comment but Kathleen Sgamma, director of government and public affairs for the Denver-based Western Energy Alliance, praised the ruling.

Good News! Texas Wind Power breaks new records for showing up to work fourteen to twenty-five percent of the time instead of the usual 8%! Bad news; every hour wind makes a megawatt, U.S. subsidies mean we Borrow $22 more dollars from the Chinese who make the confounded things Houston Chronicle (8/11/12) reports: The wind hasn’t provided much relief to Texans during the recent run of 100-degree-plus days, but it has helped keep air conditioners humming…Texas’ wind turbines, particularly those along the Gulf Coast, have come through for the state’s electrical grid more than expected during the hot afternoon hours when demand has been highest…Wind accounts for 11 percent of the state’s total power capacity, and last year only 8 percent of the power produced in Texas came from wind turbines…But during last week’s daily power crisis, officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the state’s main high-voltage power grid, repeatedly touted wind power’s contributions during peak demand…Typically ERCOT expects only about 800 megawatts of power to come from the 9,500 megawatts of wind turbines installed around the state…But wind’s contribution ranged from 1,300 megawatts to 2,400 megawatts during peak demand — including 2,000 megawatts last Wednesday, when the state set a demand record at 68,294 megawatts…It’s a big improvement from last summer, when only 650 megawatts of wind power was humming during the peak hours on Aug. 23, when Texas hit its 2010 record of 65,776 megawatts…”The wind gods have been very, very good to us this summer,” said Ted Hofbauer, director of asset management for Pattern Energy, which owns and operates the 283-megawatt Gulf Wind project south of Kingsville in Kenedy County.

“We must destroy the village in order to save it” : Fracking Panel Head Justifies Federal Government Stealing State Authority NPR (8/10/11) reports: A Department of Energy panel hopes new recommendations — if implemented — will restore the public’s trust in hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” for natural gas…In the last few years, fracking has brought new life to old gas fields around the country. Most of the increasing production comes from dense layers of shale deep underground. By pumping huge deep underground amounts of water, along with smaller amounts of chemicals and sand, drillers can force gas out of shale…Due in part to fracking, the Energy Information Administration estimates the U.S. now has enough domestic natural gas to supply the country’s needs for 100 years, based on 2010 consumption levels…President Obama has declared natural gas key to the country’s energy future. Burning natural gas produces fewer greenhouse gases emissions than coal and oil, and as a domestic source of energy its creating much needed new jobs. But as gas booms have popped up across the country reports of problems have also increased. Critics worry fracking may be polluting ground water…Homeowners who live near the wells claim methane, and possibly toxic chemicals, are leaking into water supplies. These growing concerns prompted President Obama to call for a panel to examine how to make fracking cleaner.

Does anyone have Senator Reid’s email? He needs to know this bit of information Bloomberg (8/11/11) reports: Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) spent a decade moving chemical production to the Middle East and Asia. Now it’s leading the biggest expansion ever seen back home in the U.S. as shale gas revives the industry’s economics.
Dow is among companies planning to build crackers, industrial plants typically costing $1.5 billion apiece that process hydrocarbons into ethylene and other synthetic materials. The new crackers will be the first to be built in the U.S. since 2001 and the largest wave of additional capacity, John Stekla, a director at Chemical Market Associates Inc., a Houston-based consultant, said in an interview.
Driving this renaissance is the plunge in the price of natural gas, used in crackers as a raw material, to a nine-year low. New drilling methods are opening up vast shale formations from Texas to West Virginia. U.S. chemical investments stemming from shale gas may top $16 billion, creating 17,000 jobs directly and another 400,000 indirectly, according to the American Chemistry Council, a Washington-based industry group…“The U.S. now has investment-grade economics, and because of shale we are going to lock those economics in,” Dow Chief Executive Officer Andrew Liveris said. “We can grow our Americas base off our U.S. Gulf Coast assets. That is a big change.”

How is this different from what BOEMRE does? The Global Mail (8/11/11) reports: A man has been charged with trying to bilk oil and natural-gas firms out of millions of dollars in bogus environmental fees…Investigators allege a company calling itself Alberta Environmental Registry sent out false invoices last month that requested payment of environmental compliance fees…The invoices ranged from $400,000 to $3.3-million and were based on the number of wells owned and operated by each company…“It looked pretty sophisticated and it is alleged he did have knowledge of the oil and gas industry so that these invoices [were] very believable,” said Constable Tanya Bertulli of the Calgary Police Service economic crimes unit…“A lot of these companies were very smart to pick it up. We believe had the amounts been smaller, that they would have just paid out.”…John Edward Wilson of Calgary is charged with three counts of fraud over $5,000. Police say further charges are possible…Alberta Environmental Registry was only incorporated last month…The invoices listed a downtown Calgary address and phone number and demanded payment for “2011 Environment Fees – Oil and Gas Sector.”

Do you think someone should let Senator Reid know that it is his own people who have been trying to destroy the energy industry in the country? E&E News (8/10/11) reports: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he will be looking for GOP cooperation to make energy policy a “signature issue” for the Senate this fall…Reid’s comments today that the Senate will focus on job-creation legislation — including energy bills — echo those he made earlier this month before the chamber broke for a four-week recess…”One of the things at the top of the list is energy jobs, and we’re going to try to see if we can get a little cooperation from the Republicans so we can make that one of our signature issues during the next couple of months,” Reid told reporters today during a conference call to promote the upcoming National Clean Energy Summit…”I’m disappointed that we haven’t done better,” Reid added…But he provided few details about what the energy jobs legislation would look like, and he stayed mum on whether any of it would come from the cache of legislation Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have pushed through the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee this year…”That’s one of the few committees in the Senate where there has been really outstanding cooperation between the chairman and ranking member,” Reid said when asked about the prospect of including the panel’s energy bills in the jobs agenda. “They have some legislation that has been reported out of the committee.”…Bingaman indicated last week that he will push Democratic leaders to include some of the 14 reported energy bills as part of the jobs package.

I guess that once you’ve done all the damage you can do, it is time to move along.  I wonder if Ron gets the concept of moral hazard yet E&E News (8/10/11) reports: Ron Bloom, an Obama administration official who helped oversee the auto industry bailout, will leave his position as a presidential adviser on manufacturing policy at the end of the month, the White House announced today…Bloom had previously served as the administration’s “auto czar” and helped work on the restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler. He also participated in White House negotiations on fuel efficiency standards for model years 2017-2025…”I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to serve under President Obama and alongside so many talented individuals who worked tirelessly to strengthen the economy and help communities across the nation,” Bloom said in a statement. “We’ve faced many tough choices and dealt with numerous challenges over the past two and a half years — from restructuring the American auto industry to developing historic fuel efficiency standards. I am confident in this Administration’s ability to build on these accomplishments and continue our efforts to revitalize the manufacturing sector.”…Bloom will return to Pittsburgh to spend more time with his family, according to the White House.

OK, we’ve ignored this as long as we can.  But Al seems to be coming unglued.  No wonder why Tipper left ABC News (8/9/11) reports: The ice caps are still melting, the ozone layer is still disappearing and Al Gore is getting pissed…In a speech at the Aspen Institute last week the former Vice President hid no emotion when he disputed claims that global warming was not happening by repeatedly shouting “bullsh*t.”…“They pay pseudo-scientists to pretend to be scientists to put out the message: ‘This climate thing, it’s nonsense. Man-made CO2 doesn’t trap heat. It may be volcanoes.’ Bullshit! ‘It may be sun spots.’ Bullshit! ‘It’s not getting warmer.’ Bullshit!” Gore said, without knowing that his comments were being streamed online.

Maybe this is why Al is so distracted…Reuters (8/9/11) reports: A worsening global economic outlook has dented prices for emissions permits which depend on a robust economy belching greenhouse gases into the air, and has also impacted oil, grains, coal and natural gas…Carbon offsets have fared uniquely badly because a U.N. climate panel continues to print new offsets, regardless of a widening glut in emissions permits in the main demand market, the European Union’s carbon market…Countries and companies in the developed world can buy offsets as a way to meet emissions caps agreed under Kyoto, paying for cuts in developing country projects instead, but the financial crisis has left a global oversupply…”If the European economy goes through a double dip (recession) it could be a lethal threat for the carbon market,” said Marius-Cristian Frunza, analyst at Schwarzthal Kapital…The U.N. scheme for generating certified emissions reductions (CERs), called the clean development mechanism (CDM), faces additional problems besides the economy…Failure by countries to agree a new round of carbon caps after 2012 under drifting U.N. climate talks, has further curbed prospective demand…The financial crisis has blown off course talks to agree a global climate deal, which now seems years off. The CER market had a traded value of $18.3 billion last year, down from $26.3 billion in its peak year 2008.

Finally, something the rich folks (think Robert Kennedy and clan) have in common – happy to make us pay for these white elephants, and happy to give us happy talk about them, but not really that excited about having the ridiculous things next door Guardian (8/10/11) reports: Donald Trump has pledged to use “any legal means” to block the building of an offshore windfarm near his championship golf course in Aberdeenshire, claiming the development would spoil his view…The proposed windfarm in Aberdeen Bay, about 1.5 miles from the golf resort, would install the next generation of offshore wind turbine technology…The £200m energy scheme has just been formally submitted to Marine Scotland for approval. It has been cut back from up to 33 turbines to a maximum of 11 after safety concerns were raised by shipping agencies and Aberdeen heliport, the world’s busiest, which serves the North Sea oil industry…Trump, who hopes to open his first course at the Menie estate, near Balmedie, next July, in a development spanning about 500 hectares (1,235 acres), has renewed his long-standing complaints about the project. He believes the smaller proposal is still unacceptable: some of the turbines could stand up to 195 metres in the water, more than double the height of the Big Ben clock tower…George Sorial, managing director of the Trump Organisation, said the windfarm would compromise the golf resort. “We are here to stay and I don’t think it’s a good idea to interfere with our investment. We are not going to support a project that compromises what we have done. We will use any legal means in our jurisdiction.”

This is coming from a city that imports all their water from the North and most of their electricity from the East. Now, they are saying Alaska shouldn’t drill for energy? Los Angeles Times (8/10/11) reports: Shell Oil’s proposal to drill three exploratory wells in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska’s North Slope received a conditional go-ahead last week from the Obama administration even though the Interior Department has not yet approved the company’s plan for responding to a catastrophic oil spill. That plan fails to adequately address many of the harsh realities of drilling in Arctic seas. It’s too early for any approval, conditional or otherwise…Exploratory offshore drilling in the Arctic doesn’t present the same potential for danger as, say, BP’s offshore rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The hazards of drilling in the Arctic are quite different and in ways worse…Shell’s wells would be just 160 feet underwater, as opposed to the 5,000-foot depth of BP’s Deepwater Horizon well, source of the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. That, at least theoretically, would make the Arctic wells easier to cap. But there are other important differences. BP’s rig was located in generally calm waters that happen to contain oil-degrading bacteria. The gulf’s concentration of oil rigs also makes it a hub for Coast Guard rescue equipment and drilling expertise…Shell’s response plan contends that it can clean up 95% of spilled oil, an unprecedented percentage even in much less hostile environments. But the skimmers and booms that are usually employed to clean up spills don’t work effectively in waters with large amounts of floating ice. Nor is there any guarantee that Shell would be able to get disaster equipment to the wells. Canada’s National Energy Board recently reported that on one day out of five, conditions in the Arctic, including the Beaufort Sea, are too harsh to send out spill-response teams. Meanwhile, the nearest Coast Guard station is 1,000 miles away, and the agency told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation that it cannot be counted on to respond to spills off the North Slope.

For those of you scoring at home, Mitch used to be chief of staff to Senator McConnell and once upon a time ran the NRSC.  So maybe we might get some sort of pushback against the Obama Administration’s attempts to make sure that:  1) people have to pay more (a lot more) for cars; 2) automobile fleet turnover is consequently retarded (delaying all the environmental benefits that come with turnover; and 3) more people die in highway crashes than would have otherwise E&E News (8/9/11) reports: The nation’s automakers today announced that Recording Industry Association of America head Mitch Bainwol will be named president and CEO of their chief lobbying group…Bainwol, who has led the RIAA since 2003, will head up the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers effective Sept. 1. Before becoming a celebrated lobbyist, Bainwol worked as a budget analyst for the Office of Management and Budget and served as chief of staff to two Republican senators during a 25-year federal career.”It’s a great privilege to join the auto industry at such a dynamic time in its rich history,” Bainwol said in a statement. “From fuel efficiency to safety, the industry’s innovation is nothing short of remarkable. Americans love cars and just as importantly, understand that the economic destiny of our country is linked to the success of this sector.”Bainwol replaces Dave McCurdy, who stepped down in December to take a post with the American Gas Association…Bainwol comes on just after the industry reached a deal with the White House on fuel economy standards that will require a fleetwide 54.5 mpg standard by 2025. The industry must still deal with the fine details of the rule. The group could also be facing new safety and alternative fuel regulations, plus continuing economic pressures as automakers battle back from bankruptcy…The auto alliance represents 12 of the world’s largest auto manufacturers, including the Detroit Three and Toyota Motor Corp.

And now, for my impersonation of President Obama “Folks, we can all agree that what we need to win the future are unicorns for transportation.” The Hill (8/9/11) reports: President Obama will unveil the first-ever federal fuel efficiency standards Tuesday for a range of heavy-duty trucks, a move the White House is casting as a key part of its plan to cut foreign oil imports and slash harmful air pollution…The planned announcement comes amid growing economic uncertainty and increasing jitters on Wall Street. Obama is expected to argue that the standards will result in major benefits to the ailing economy… The standards mark the latest effort by the Obama administration to ratchet up vehicle fuel-economy rules. Late last month, Obama announced a plan to set an average standard of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 for cars and light-duty trucks. The standard builds on rules finalized last year for model year 2012-2016 cars and light-duty trucks…Obama will travel to Interstate Moving Services in Springfield, Va., Tuesday to unveil the efficiency standards. He’ll be joined by officials from truck manufacturers, industry groups and environmental groups who have signed off on the deal, according to a senior administration official…Similar to how previous fuel-efficiency rules were made, the Obama administration worked closely with industry groups to develop the heavy-duty truck standards. Navistar, Volvo, Chrysler, Conway and others all support the standards, the official said.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Monday that his problem with allowing energy development to occur in Alaska is that there is no infrastructure, which of course, his government won’t let Americans go to work building.  He also supports a thriving American economy and getting rid of federal programs that don’t work.  How, exactly, does Secretary Salazar sleep at night? Anchorage Daily News (8/8/11) reports: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar came to Anchorage on Monday and said the Obama administration supports more oil drilling in Alaska, potentially including offshore Arctic development… Salazar joined Alaska Sen. Mark Begich and Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed for a meeting with Alaska business people and said the president’s feeling toward Arctic offshore drilling is “Let’s take a look at what’s up there and see what it is we can develop.”…But any Arctic oil development must be done carefully, he said. Salazar said the Arctic lacks needed infrastructure for responding to potential offshore oil spills and cited painful lessons from the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year…”Not the mightiest companies with multibillion-dollar pockets were able to do what needed to be done in a timely basis, and the representations of preparation simply turned out not to be true from the oil companies that had a legal obligation to shut down that kind of an oil spill. …,” Salazar told Alaska reporters. “When you look at the Arctic itself, we recognize that there are different realities — the ocean is a much shallower ocean, conditions are very different than we had in the Gulf of Mexico. (But) there are challenges that are unique to the Arctic.”…Salazar said a step toward a solution is “having an agency within the United States government and Interior, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Regulation, that can in fact do its job.” The agency is the successor to the Minerals Management Service, which was discredited after the Gulf spill.

No good swindlers want more of your money to build a second rat hole in California. The best part of the story? Obama’s nomination for Commerce Secretary is their CEO CNET (8/9/11) reports: BrightSource Energy has proposed a second, utility-scale solar power project in California, offering a changed plant design in an effort to avoid environmental permitting problems…The Oakland, Calif.-based company today said it submitted an application to the California Energy Commission for two solar power plants able to generate 250 megawatts each in Inyo County, Calif. Called the Hidden Hills Solar Electric Generating System, the project would generate power by using a field of sun-tracking mirrors to create high-temperature steam that turns a standard electricity turbine…BrightSource’s Ivanpah solar power plant in Southern California is one of the few large-scale solar thermal projects to get through the regulatory process, get financing, and begin construction. That plant has been slowed by a number of environment-related concerns, including the amount of water used and the impact of construction on a endangered desert tortoise…With the Hidden Hills plants, which would take up 5.12 square miles, BrightSource said it has changed the design in an effort to address environmental issues. It hopes to have the plants online by the end of 2015, according to a company representative…The updated plant design has a taller tower–going to 750 feet from about 450 feet–which will allow the project developer to place heliostats closer together. The mirrors will be placed directly on poles, which means they can be placed into the ground without having to grade the ground underneath.

Even when we disagree with him (which is a lot), Andy Revkin is a very good guy and a thorough reporter.  He will no doubt get pounded by the “science is settled” crowd for this particular bit of heresy National Review Online (8/8/11) reports: Andrew Revkin, blogger for the New York Times, posts (emphasis mine): For more than a decade, I’ve been probing changes in Arctic climate and sea ice and their implications for the species that make up northern ecosystems and for human communities there…There are big changes afoot, with more to come should greenhouse gases continue to build unabated in the atmosphere. There will be impacts on human affairs in the Arctic, for worse and better, as we explored extensively in 2005 and I’ve followed here since…But even as I push for an energy quest that limits climate risk, I’m not worried about the resilience of Arctic ecosystems and not worried about the system tipping into an irreversibly slushy state on time scales relevant to today’s policy debates. This is one reason I don’t go for descriptions of the system being in a “death spiral.”…The main source of my Arctic comfort level — besides what I learned while camped with scientists on the North Pole sea ice — is the growing body of work on past variability of conditions in the Arctic. The latest evidence of substantial past ice variability comes in a study in the current issue of Science. The paper, combining evidence of driftwood accumulation and beach formation in northern Greenland with evidence of past sea-ice extent in parts of Canada, concludes that Arctic sea ice appears to have retreated far more in some spans since the end of the last ice age than it has in recent years…And here’s an excerpt from one of the reports Revkin is basing his analysis on:..Our studies show that there are great natural variations in the amount of Arctic sea ice. The bad news is that there is a clear connection between temperature and the amount of sea ice. And there is no doubt that continued global warming will lead to a reduction in the amount of summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. The good news is that even with a reduction to less than 50% of the current amount of sea ice the ice will not reach a point of no return: a level where the ice no longer can regenerate itself even if the climate was to return to cooler temperatures. Finally, our studies show that the changes to a large degree are caused by the effect that temperature has on the prevailing wind systems. This has not been sufficiently taken into account when forecasting the imminent disappearance of the ice, as often portrayed in the media…Imagine that. The science wasn’t as settled as we were told.

Real brave of you NYT to come out and say America can save money by raising taxes on oil and gas companies.How about we stop jerking energy producers around on a short leash and let them go back to work. New York Times (8/7/11) reports: If the Republicans are truly determined to slash the budget and end government waste, they will start with two obvious and long overdue cuts: ending the web of tax breaks enjoyed by the rolling-in-dough oil industry and terminating the ethanol subsidy. Together these cuts would save up to $100 billion over 10 years, without hurting the poor and middle class or slowing the economy.,, If only. The oil industry’s well-paid defenders — lobbyists and lawmakers in unison — will surely scream “tax hike” and claim that ending $4 billion a year in sweetheart subsidies will decrease production and increase prices at the pump. All of which is nonsense…In 2005, with oil nearing $60 a barrel, James Mulva, the head of ConocoPhillips, told the Senate that his industry did not need these breaks to keep exploring for oil. They need them even less when oil is $100 a barrel…According to the Congressional Research Service, ending the subsidies would have no effect on gas prices and a trivial effect on profits. The Big Five — Exxon Mobil, BP, ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Shell — reported combined profits of $35.1 billion for just the second quarter. Yes, you read that right…The ethanol subsidies are just as unnecessary. The big one is a 45-cents-per-gallon tax credit that costs between $5 billion and $6 billion a year and goes not to corn farmers, as commonly supposed, or to ethanol producers, but to the refineries that blend ethanol with conventional gasoline. Which is to say, the oil companies.

Alaskans’ response to the NYT time hit piece on Shell and energy workers — American business is business and our business is energy, now get out of our way Anchorage Daily News (8/7/11) reports: Shell can’t count on drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas yet but the oil company got closer last week with a conditional federal permit for exploration in the Beaufort Sea beginning next summer. That’s good news… We need to be wise in where and how we go about the business — and make conservation and efficiency part of the process. As Sen. Lisa Murkowski said, “Produce more, use less.” That’s a good, succinct description of intelligent energy policy…Done right, Shell’s Arctic exploration fits that policy…BOTTOM LINE: Shell’s Arctic drilling should be a go in 2012.

For whom the bell tolls — the NYT rejoices on killing off those who have the least among us to spare New York Times (8/7/11) reports: As John Broder and I report in The New York Times, Shell won a big victory by gaining conditional approval from the Interior Department for its plan to drill for oil in the Beaufort Sea off the North Slope of Alaska. The decision takes the company a giant step closer to drilling oil wells in the Arctic after five years of trying to break through court and regulatory hurdles. But the battle is not over, and environmentalists will surely redouble their efforts…Shell executives say that their discussions with the White House, Interior Department, Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies have gone extremely well in recent weeks, reflecting a will by the Obama administration to move forward — perhaps because thousands of jobs are at stake and consumers are upset about high gasoline prices…Here is something of a road map for the fight ahead…Last year, drilling appeared to be on track until an E.P.A. appeals panel delayed an air quality permit because it wanted more time to consider the potential impact of exploration rigs’ diesel emissions on local indigenous communities. Shell decided six months ago to put off drilling until 2012, fearing it would not have time to get equipment in place for the summer drilling season…Complicating the political calculus was last year’s deadly accident and oil spill at a BP well in the Gulf of Mexico…Shell executives say that the climate for negotiations has since improved and that the E.P.A. is moving the process along at a faster pace. They also complimented the Bureau of Ocean Energy, Management, Regulation and Enforcement for moving quickly in submitting data to a federal court in Alaska in a lawsuit challenging Shell’s 2008 lease sale in the Chukchi Sea, west of the Beaufort in the Arctic.

Sagging Poll Reserve release fails; Washington tries sinking economy.  Memo to president:  You can’t grow with No-Growth policies Washington Times (8/8/11) reports: More than a month after the Obama administration said it would tap the country’s emergency oil reserve to try to combat supply disruptions in the Middle East, gas prices at the pump actually have risen 10 cents…President Obama had hoped the move, coming at the onset of the summer driving season, would temper the loss of supplies due to the ongoing civil war in Libya. Working with international allies, the U.S. said on June 23 that it would release 30 million barrels of oil over 30 days, while other countries with strategic reserves agreed to release another 30 million, in staggered sales during July…And prices at the pump did dip, at first, from a nationwide average of $3.61 down to $3.55, according to AAA. But by last week, they had rebounded and the price per gallon stood a dime higher than when the administration first made its decision…“Although it helped initially to pull down prices it was probably too little,” AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman John Townsend said, pointing out that the nation consumes as much as 20 million barrels of oil a day. “This is just a drop in the bucket.”…Prices may be about to see some relief, though for unwelcome reasons. Last week’s stock market drop and fears of the lingering sour economy have already begun to put downward pressure on oil, which analysts said will translate to lower pump prices — potentially trumping even the administration’s oil release.

Sen Mark Warner of Virginia does his Cuba Gooding Jr. impression on the Senate Floor and yells, “Show me the Money!” National Journal The oil industry is courting a powerful new friend in the Democratic Party­—on the East Coast, no less—just when it needs one most…Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., has no history of warm relations with Big Oil. Indeed, in past years he has been a vocal critic of the $4 billion in annual tax breaks that oil companies receive from the federal government—tax breaks that will be in the crosshairs this fall as the new congressional super committee looks for ways to slice $1.5 trillion off the federal deficit…But now Warner wants Virginia to become the first East Coast state to allow offshore drilling, which he sees as a pragmatic way to bring jobs and new revenue to his state, and perhaps a way to keep his job in the face of an increasingly red constituency…Warner is also vocally vying for a seat on the new super committee, which would give him an outsize influence on the fate of Big Oil’s corporate tax breaks. Even if he doesn’t land a seat, he is likely to continue to be an influential voice in shaping the debt debate, which oil companies say is sure to target their bottom line…Corporate oil currently has just two reliable Democratic friends in the U.S. Senate—Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Mark Begich of Alaska—both from red states where offshore drilling provides thousands of jobs and millions of dollars to state coffers and local economies. Landrieu and Begich consistently break with their party to defend Big Oil’s tax breaks and to back bills that would expand offshore oil drilling and direct more offshore drilling revenues directly to states…But Virginia is taking fledgling steps toward joining the ranks of offshore drilling states, which could significantly change its politics. The federal government estimates that the waters off the coast of Virginia hold 130 million barrels of oil and 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell has made a push for offshore drilling a cornerstone of his administration.

President Obama figured out how to drive down the price of gasoline by lowering demand. The downside? His policies have wiped out an entire year of wealth creation Fuel Fix (8/5/11) reports: Oil prices extended sharp losses, falling to near $85 a barrel today in Asia amid expectations a slowing global economy will weaken demand for crude…Benchmark oil for September delivery was down $1.31 to $85.32 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude tumbled $5.30 to settle at $86.63 on Thursday…In London, Brent crude was down $1.56 at $105.69 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange…Oil and other commodities were dragged down by a plunge in global stock markets as traders lost confidence in U.S. economic growth. The Dow Jones industrial average sank 4.3 percent Thursday and stock markets in Asia opened sharply lower Friday…Investors fled to lower-risk assets, such as the U.S. dollar, which exacerbated oil’s decline. Crude usually falls when the dollar gains since a stronger U.S. currency makes commodities more expensive for investors with other currencies…All eyes will be on Friday’s July jobs report for evidence about the strength of the U.S. economy. Economists expect that 90,000 jobs were created in the U.S. last month, which is not enough to lower the unemployment rate, currently at 9.2 percent.

‘Interior OKs Shell Arctic Drilling Plan’ — E&E had you fooled with that headline didn’t they?  Don’t worry greenies, Shell is still waiting on the Chukchi Sea permits…E&E News (8/5/11) reports: The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement today gave conditional approval for Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s revised exploration plan to drill up to four wells in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea over two years starting in July 2012…Shell for years has been working to start drilling in the region and has invested billions of dollars there. But regulatory and legal setbacks have prevented the company from drilling any wells so far….Today’s long-awaited conditional approval is contingent on Shell securing other permits from U.S. EPA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. But a spokesman for the company called it “welcome news and adds to our cautious optimism that we will be drilling our Alaska leases by this time next year.”…Environmentalists are concerned that the project could harm the fragile Arctic ecosystem….”The biggest problem with this plan is that it doesn’t contain any realistic oil spill-response plan,” said Rebecca Noblin, Alaska director for the Center for Biological Diversity…She said Shell’s proposed plan to mechanically recover 95 percent of the oil would be impossible. She also noted the lack of spill-response infrastructure in the Arctic and unpredictable icy waters.

Wind tax credits are “not spending programs”.  Got it?  They just take money from taxpayers and give them to a favored few companies to produce very expensive, very unreliable electricity. This is his how politicians launder money E&E News (8/5/11) reports: The wind industry continued to boost capacity during the second quarter of this year, but its main trade group warned today that strong policy signals are needed to keep the industry on a strong growth pattern…In its latest market report, the American Wind Energy Association today said the United States wind industry installed 2,151 megawatts of electrical generating capacity in the first half of this year, up 72 percent from the 1,250 megawatts installed in the first half of 2010…But that growth could stall out soon because of uncertainty over federal incentives, the trade group said…”Clearly Congress cannot take for granted all the wind energy manufacturing and construction jobs that have been a bright spot through the recession,” said Denise Bode, CEO of AWEA, in a statement…The group would like to see Congress extend a production tax credit that is set to expire in 2012.

Are you sure?  Because I thought you could get rid of nuclear power and run the whole world on wind.  Turns out I was wrong New Scientist (8/5/11) reports: FOR decades, Germany has had some of the most enlightened energy policies in Europe. It has long been admired for setting world-leading growth in wind and solar. But its decision to ditch nuclear by 2022 will set back efforts to decarbonise the electricity supply by 10 crucial years, and could prove expensive for every household in Europe…Germany’s abrupt about-turn, like all decisions on nuclear, was highly political. Last year the government, headed by Angela Merkel, made the sensible but unpopular decision to extend the life of Germany’s nuclear plants to 2036 as a “bridge technology” towards “the age of renewable energy”. But after the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, public hostility intensified and Merkel retreated. The U-turn may help her in the 2013 federal elections but it is a major reversal for the climate…Around 23 per cent of Germany’s electricity comes from nuclear and 17 per cent from renewables. That’s a 40 per cent share for zero-carbon in total – one of the highest in the European Union…The German government has admirable plans to raise renewable electricity to 35 per cent of consumption by 2020. But even this planned increase falls 5 per cent short of filling the hole in zero-carbon electricity left by abandoning nuclear…How will Germany fill that hole? With coal and other fossil fuels. It has plans to build 20 gigawatts of fossil-fuel power stations by 2020, including 9 gigawatts of coal by 2013. The government now describes fossil-fuel power stations – apparently without irony – as “the new bridging technology”. Some of this may never be fitted with carbon capture and storage because German environmental campaigners don’t like this technology either.

Everybody’s Out To Get Me!  IHS/CERA’s Wrong!  Everybody’s Wrong!  All the people in the Gulf are wrong!  I’m a lawyer!  Oil and gas engineers don’t know anything!  Those jobless people are just faking it! Fuel Fix (8/2/11) reports: The United States’ top offshore drilling regulator is calling out one of the nation’s top energy research firms, accusing IHS CERA of issuing a biased and “fundamentally flawed” report that suggested Gulf drilling projects were caught in a government permitting logjam…The industry-funded analysis, released July 21, concluded that there was a backlog of offshore drilling permits awaiting government approval, with the delays costing coastal states jobs and tax revenues…But Michael Bromwich, the head of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, says the IHS CERA report presents “misleading conclusions about the current state of offshore oil and gas drilling.”..In a letter to IHS CERA Chairman Daniel Yergin, Bromwich today said the report overlooks the sweeping changes in drilling safety and environmental reviews that the government implemented after last year’s spill. That includes a mandate that oil and gas companies be prepared to contain crude from a blown-out underwater well — a requirement that industry was unable to satisfy until early this year…Bromwich said:“Even though all of these developments are absolutely central to understanding the pace of plan and permit approval in the period covered by your report, they are barely mentioned. The six-month period covered by your report cannot be properly understood without context, and yet your report is altogether incomplete and superficial in describing the context.”

Seriously, what could go wrong? SMH (8/2/11) reports: FARMERS fear a new rush of environmental plantings for biodiversity and carbon offsets will accelerate the loss of land for food production…In an emerging trend, carbon traders are starting to buy farms to generate carbon credits for sale under voluntary schemes or – assuming legislation clears the Senate – the federal government’s Carbon Farming Initiative…Storing carbon dioxide through reforestation and other techniques such as soil carbon opens up a potentially vast new market opportunity for rural Australia. The president of the NSW Farmers Federation, Fiona Simson, said while farmers supported the CFI, ”carbon farming with a focus on forestry plantations is just another land-use conflict that’s going to take land away from food production”…The first acquisition linked to the CFI occurred last week. The federal government and R.M. Williams Agricultural Holdings combined to pay $13 million for Henbury Station in the Northern Territory outback, to be transformed into the world’s largest carbon farm…In NSW the value of land bought by carbon traders for carbon offsets in 2010-11 was tiny: the Herald has confirmed one sale last year, of a 1700-hectare sheep and grain farm, Lorraine at Tullamore, in the state’s far west, to the stock exchange-listed CO2 Group and utility ACTEW Corporation…The chief executive of CO2 Group, Andrew Grant, said the property was marginal farming land and had been planted with blue leaf mallee eucalypt, a species endemic to the region. Reforestation was a priority for combating dry land salinity and restoring catchment health.

Next time someone blathers on about how federal bureaucrats really want to help people, send them this link WUSA (8/2/11) reports: Eleven-year-old aspiring veterinarian, Skylar Capo, sprang into action the second she learned that a baby woodpecker in her Dad’s backyard was about to be eaten by the family cat…”I’ve just always loved animals,” said Skylar Capo. “I couldn’t stand to watch it be eaten.”…Skylar couldn’t find the woodpecker’s mother, so she brought it to her own mother, Alison Capo, who agreed to take it home…”She was just going to take care of it for a day or two, make sure it was safe and uninjured, and then she was going to let it go,” said Capo…But on the drive home, the Capo family stopped at a Lowes in Fredericksburg and they brought the bird inside because of the heat. That’s when they were confronted by a fellow shopper who said she worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service…”She was really nervous. She was shaking. Then she pulled out a badge,” said Capo…The problem was that the woodpecker is a protected species under the Federal Migratory Bird Act.  Therefore, it is illegal to take or transport a baby woodpecker.  The Capo family says they had no idea.

Employment Prevention Agency is about to miss the gravy train thanks to the House Wall Street Journal (8/3/11) reports: The White House lookback on “excessive” regulation has concluded and—breaking news—there’s more work left to do. So let’s commend those in Congress trying to force the Administration to conduct a credible cost-benefit test…Last month the House Energy Committee passed a bill that reforms the Environmental Protection Agency’s process for creating new rules and mandates, which it has been doing with a special fervor under administrator Lisa Jackson. Known by the acronym the Train Act, the bill would help expose some of the true costs that the agency is trying to hide…One major improvement is that the Train Act broadens the definition of costs. Under the status quo, the EPA can define almost anything as a benefit, and does. But the EPA rarely considers more tangible economic consequences, like its effects on employment, the price and reliability of energy, or the competitiveness of U.S. companies…The Train Act would also require the EPA at least to gesture at the costs of its larger agenda. The agency is now tightening nearly every eco-regulation in existence, abusing in particular traditional air pollutant laws to shut down coal-fired power plants. This cluster of overlapping rules will cause far more cumulative damage than merely one or another rule would by itself…A utility, for instance, might be able to comply with a single new rule, but under the EPA firehose it might be forced to retire some of its operations. Beyond the direct costs to the utility, plant closures would lead to job losses and higher prices for consumers and business, with their own knock-on effects…This cost-benefit bias may explain why Ms. Jackson could claim at a “green jobs” conference in February that under the Clean Air Act, “For every $1 we have spent, we have gotten $40 of benefits in return. So you can say what you want about EPA’s business sense. We know how to get a return on our investment.”

Now with some extra money to spend with the debt limit increase, lawmakers are turning to renewable energy projects New York Times (8/3/11) reports? Congress’ debt deal leaves climate advocates grappling with a decade of potentially declining environmental budgets and narrowing hopes of attaching a tax on greenhouse gas emissions to pay down the deficit…The deadline measure, passed with bipartisan support in the House last night, promises $917 billion in discretionary cuts over the next 10 years, with decreases of up to $1.5 trillion more ushered in later this year. Huge chunks of funding would be eliminated from the Pentagon and government agencies, prompting concerns that programs related to renewable energy, climate science and technology research could come under the knife for years to come…It’s unclear where the deepest craters will occur, but clean energy supporters urged lawmakers to avoid painful reductions at the Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, which searches for breakthrough technologies to radically alter the nation’s energy use. Other vulnerable programs include energy grants, loan guarantees, and tax credits for wind, solar and other clean energies…Specific cuts aren’t known, but Joshua Freed, vice president of clean energy at Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank, described a vivid choice that the Republican-led House will soon be faced with: Cut agency budgets with modern medical precision or hack away with practices used on Civil War battlefields.

Drill, Wyoming, Drill Fuel Fix (8/3/11) reports: Three companies expect within weeks to submit a plan to vastly increase the number of gas wells in central Wyoming…The targeted area now has about 500 producing gas wells…Encana Oil and Gas, Noble Energy and ConocoPhillips are talking about adding some 4,200 deep gas wells in the remote sagebrush country about 30 miles east of Riverton…Encana spokesman Randy Teeuwen says his company is taking the lead on the project and will turn in a plan of development to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management within a few weeks…The project would cover 400 square miles of mostly BLM land. The companies would tap deep, tight sand formations over 15 years of drilling…The gas field would be among Wyoming’s largest if fully developed.