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Before Obama says he can do nothing about gas prices, how about he tries to do something first? Like have open up some of the 97% of OCS where he doesn’t allow development Herald Times (2/6/11) reports: Pitching the promise of energy independence, President Barack Obama cautioned Wednesday that it’s going to be tough to transition from America’s oil-dependent economy and acknowledged there’s little he can do to lower gas prices over the short term…“I’m just going to be honest with you. There’s not much we can do next week or two weeks from now,” the president told workers at a wind turbine plant. It’s a theme Obama’s struck before as he tries to show voters he’s attuned to a top economic concern with gas prices pushing toward $4 a gallon…Obama said he wants to move toward “a future where America is less dependent on foreign oil, more reliant on clean energy produced by workers like you.” That will happen by reducing oil imports, tapping domestic energy sources and shifting the nation to renewable and less polluting sources of energy, such as wind, the president says. He has set a goal of reducing oil imports by one-third by 2025.

Go Anchorage! Anchorage Daily News (2/1/11) reports: Anchorage’s city power utility made a long-awaited offer this week to buy wind power from Cook Inlet Region Inc., backers of a proposed wind turbine project on Fire Island… But CIRI senior vice president Ethan Schutt said the offer is so low it’s ridiculous and contains unworkable terms…Municipal Light and Power director Jim Posey held a press conference Thursday to explain the utility’s offer, which he said protects ML&P customers from higher costs…CIRI wants to begin construction of turbines on Fire Island off Anchorage this summer, but has so far been unable to get any utility companies to sign contracts to buy the power it would generate, said company spokesman Jim Jager. “Realistically, the project isn’t going forward until we have power-purchase agreements,” he said in a recent interview…The corporation is lined up to get nearly $44 million in federal grants to help build the turbines, but the money is contingent on starting this year. The state has approved using $25 million in public funds to build a transmission line from Fire Island to the mainland…The first phase of the project — 22 turbines that could provide electricity for 12,000 households — would cost about $135 million, said Schutt.

Shock Study! Wind Farms are inefficient.  Who would have thought? BBC (2/5/11) reports: The analysis also suggested output was low during the times of highest demand…The report, supported by conservation charity the John Muir Trust, concluded turbines “cannot be relied upon” to produce significant levels of power generation…However, industry representatives said they had “no confidence” in the data…The research, carried out by Stuart Young Consulting, analysed electricity generated from UK wind farms between November 2008 to December 2010…Statements made by the wind industry and government agencies commonly assert that wind turbines will generate on average 30% of their rated capacity over a year, it said….But the research found wind generation was below 20% of capacity more than half the time and below 10% of capacity over one third of the time.

Weird — You mean turning food into fuel means there’s less food? New York Times (2/6/11) reports: But last year, 98 percent of cassava chips exported from Thailand, the world’s largest cassava exporter, went to just one place and almost all for one purpose: to China to make biofuel. Driven by new demand, Thai exports of cassava chips have increased nearly fourfold since 2008, and the price of cassava has roughly doubled… Each year, an ever larger portion of the world’s crops — cassava and corn, sugar and palm oil — is being diverted for biofuels as developed countries pass laws mandating greater use of nonfossil fuels and as emerging powerhouses like China seek new sources of energy to keep their cars and industries running. Cassava is a relatively new entrant in the biofuel stream… But with food prices rising sharply in recent months, many experts are calling on countries to scale back their headlong rush into green fuel development, arguing that the combination of ambitious biofuel targets and mediocre harvests of some crucial crops is contributing to high prices, hunger and political instability.

Senate to Vote on Plan to Reign In EPA Today–Unless Vote Gets Postponed Again… The Hill (4/5/11) reports: The Senate will vote on a GOP-backed plan to kill Environmental Protection Agency climate change rules Wednesday afternoon, according to Democrats and a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)…Lawmakers will vote on McConnell’s amendment to small-business legislation, as well as several Democratic alternatives. The amendments need 60 votes to pass…The GOP-led EPA amendment mirrors legislation that the House will debate Wednesday as well. The Senate Democratic alternatives would limit or delay EPA rules without stripping the agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, including Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s (D-W.Va.) plan that would delay regulation of power plants, refineries and other facilities for two years. All the plans face very high hurdles to winning 60 votes…A caveat: The votes have appeared imminent several times in recent weeks without materializing. Stay tuned.

What has the world come to–the Communists in Cuba understand the value of domestically produced energy, but the President of the United States does not Associated Press (4/5/11) reports: Cuba on Tuesday announced plans to drill five deepwater oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico beginning this summer, expressing confidence that its efforts will be rewarded with major new energy finds…”We’re about to move to the drilling phase,” said Manuel Marrero, an official with the government authority tasked with overseeing Cuba’s oil sector…”We’re all really hopeful that we will be able to discover large reserves of oil and gas,” said Marrero, who added that the ventures would be undertaken with the help of unspecified foreign companies…He said the deepwater wells were to be drilled between 2011 and 2013, and would be in waters ranging in depth between 400 meters (a quarter mile) and 1,500 meters (1.6 miles). He did not specify which countries would be among the foreign partners working with Havana on the project.

Since members of Congress and the President do not have to pay for their own gas, it must be hard to notice that the national average is $3.70 Financial Times (4/6/11) reports: As the oil price continues to soar, taking it to record sterling highs, governments are starting to fret….In the UK, the chancellor was last month pushed to offer a 1p cut in fuel duty to offset the impact of higher oil prices. The opposition claimed on Tuesday the cut has already been erased by the rise in oil since then, and it is no coincidence that on the same day, the energy secretary Chris Huhne met the Saudis to talk about what can be done on the supply side…In the US meanwhile, Barack Obama has talked about weaning the country off its oil imports to improve energy security…But none of this activity is likely to have a bearing on the oil price, says Moody’s, which predicts that it will continue to rise as markets start incorporating a higher political risk premium into their commodities valuations…This seems an unexpected conclusion, given that the risks of producing oil in politically unstable parts of the world are surely well known already. But the argument would help explain why the oil price has risen so much since the beginning of the conflict in Libya, which only produces around 2 per cent of the world’s daily oil output.

Lisa Jackson channels her inner Scooby Doo villain and says, “If it weren’t for you pesky free market advocates, we would have gotten away with it!” New York Times (4/4/11) reports: A Virginia state lawmaker caused a stir in February when he admitted that his resolution declaring U.S. EPA’s effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions a “regulatory train wreck” was written by the coal industry…Republican Delegate Will Morefield’s resolution said EPA regulations would have potentially “devastating consequences,” called for a “comprehensive study” of their impact on the economy and urged Congress to place a two-year moratorium on new air pollution regulations….Morefield’s resolution was drawn almost word-for-word from model legislation written by the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, which touts its access to almost 2,000 state legislators. The Washington, D.C.-based group claims credit for advancing legislation that it says has undermined climate science and environmental regulation in several states since the late 1990s….ALEC has been focusing of late on EPA’s greenhouse gas regulations and regional climate initiatives. At least eight state legislative bodies have adopted resolutions this year urging Congress to limit EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gases — all of which came directly from ALEC model legislation….Legislators in more than 10 other states have introduced similar resolutions, according to Clinton Woods, the director of ALEC’s energy, environment and agriculture task force.

Do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell? Whoa oh, oh…Wind is in love with money and not with saving the world Wall Street Journal (4/5/11) reports: After years of blustery growth, wind power is facing a blow-back in some of its major markets. It is reeling from lackluster electricity demand in many mature economies, rock-bottom prices for competing natural-gas in the U.S. and uncertainty throughout much of the world about government subsidies. Companies that make wind turbines are slashing production at some plants and reconsidering previous expansion…Wind power is the biggest and cheapest of the renewable-energy sources now attracting major investment, from solar to biofuels to ocean waves, analysts say. Bigger blades, taller towers and slicker software all have improved the efficiency of the massive, pinwheel-style turbines that now dot landscapes from Iowa to India. The uncertain outlook for nuclear power after the Japan disaster should boost wind power’s appeal…Yet wind remains a tiny slice of the energy pie. In the U.S, it generated about 2% of electricity in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says. World-wide, it generated about 1% of electricity in 2008, the most recent global numbers available, the International Energy Agency says.

When it comes to shale gas, Huff Po writers pay homage to Mark Twain who said, “Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please” Huffington Post (4/5/11) reports:  We are desperately awaiting good news, but the bad news involving energy steadily worsens. It was a year ago this week that 29 miners perished in West Virginia’s Upper Branch coal mine and we collectively asked how much sooty coal we want to keep burning. Soon after, the Gulf of Mexico was carpeted with oozing gunk for months, forcing us to question whether offshore drilling is viable following the worst oil spill in history. That tragedy had only begun to recede when the Middle East began to explode and we once again confronted the vulnerability of our tenuous energy supplies. Then, as if Japan’s double-punch earthquake and tsunami wasn’t horrific enough, meltdown of the crippled nuclear power plant began. These events in rapid succession reminded us that every source of traditional energy is its own Hobson’s choice fraught with danger…All of these events together made people – and energy markets – increasingly jittery. Most Americans don’t make the connection until their pocketbooks are affected, such as when fuel prices surge, along with air fares, transportation costs and everything else. But Americans don’t want to hear about the problem; rather, our can-do attitude and American ingenuity demand a solution…Right when energy is on everybody’s mind, the biggest-circulation news magazine rides to our rescue with a compelling cover story “This Rock Could Power the World: Why Shale Can Solve the Energy Crisis.” It proclaims that natural gas offers us a whole century of relatively clean energy.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain — the same guy who didn’t see the financial meltdown coming is now telling us not to worry about rising energy prices CNBC (4/5/11) reports: Concerns over global growth were also fueled by a survey published in the Nikkei business newspaper which showed economists expect the Japanese economy to contract by 0.6 percent for the January-March quarter and by 2.6 percent in the three months to the end of June…They expect growth quarter in the world’s third-largest economy to return in the July to September, the survey found….Back in the US, investors were digesting comments made by Federal Reserve President Ben Bernanke Monday evening which suggested the Fed is not yet ready to start tightening monetary policy despite an improving economy…Bernanke said a recent rise in prices was driven by a spike in global commodity prices and was unlikely to persist…The Fed releases the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting at 2 pm New York time…The report could offer further clues on whether the Fed is likely to raise rates in the near term.

The beatings will continue until morale improves — Republican senators want to know where Obama is getting the money for his high speed rail The Hill (4/4/11) reports: Twenty-two Republican senators are asking President Obama to explain where he would find the revenue to pay for his proposed increase in transportation funding…The Republicans said they hoped the White House would not consider raising the gas tax to offset the costs of the 2012 budget request…”To communicate to our constituents whether or not the $435 billion trust fund represents a large gas tax increase, we respectfully request details on how the Administration calculated the amount of revenue it envisions for the ‘Bipartisan financing for Transportation Trust Fund,’ ” the senators wrote…”As energy prices continue to increase, we are hopeful that this new revenue stream proposed by the Administration would not be a new gas tax on American consumers.”

NYT reporter is shocked by his discovery that we live in a world that is confined by scarcity and that includes energy New York Times (4/3/11) reports: Political support may be holding for nuclear power and offshore oil, despite the Fukushima and Gulf of Mexico disasters, as decision makers confront the challenges of climate change and dwindling energy reserves…A theory of “peak everything” suggests the world is running short of vital assets like clean water, carbon-free air, some minerals, fish stocks and the cheap fossil fuels that have powered the world economy and helped rein in the price of food…If countries want to secure domestic supplies and curb carbon emissions, too, then energy options are limited. And that fact has clearly dawned on governments.

Make due with what you have – onshore oil producers squeeze oil out of a turnip while weathering the EPA storm Houston Chronicle (4/3/11) reports: A spill-related slowdown in the Gulf of Mexico could cut into oil production from the offshore basin for several years. But a number of emerging oil fields onshore, once thought out of reach, are helping the U.S. fill in the gap in the meantime…Oil and gas companies, using techniques mastered in recent years to produce natural gas from shales and other dense rocks, are now having success extracting big quantities of oil from tight rock formations stretching from Texas to North Dakota…Amid steadily high oil prices and a U.S. market saturated with low-price shale gas, they’ve had ample incentive to try…In 2010, when an offshore disaster dominated the news, rising output from such fields – including North Dakota’s Bakken Shale and the Eagle Ford Shale play in South Texas – quietly helped domestic crude oil production rise for the second year in a row, after years of declines…Production also rose in the Gulf, where several new pro-jects ramped up output. (A federal moratorium on deep-water drilling, which lasted for five months after the Deepwater Horizon accident, did not apply to producing platforms.)

Will it lower energy prices? Check. Will it create jobs? Check. Will it create money for the U.S.? Check. Can we have a permit to build? NO! New York Times (4/2/11) Later this year, the State Department will decide whether to approve construction of a 1,700-mile oil pipeline from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast called Keystone XL. The underground 36-inch pipeline, built by TransCanada, would link the tar sands fields of northern Alberta to Texas refineries and begin operating in 2013. The department should say no…The Keystone XL would cut diagonally across Montana and the Nebraska Sand Hills — a delicate region of porous, sandy soils — to northern Kansas before heading south to the Gulf. It would also cross the Ogallala Aquifer, a shallow underground reservoir of enormous importance for agriculture that also provides drinking water for two million people. A pipeline leaking diluted bitumen into groundwater could have disastrous consequences….For this reason, Senators Mike Johanns and Ben Nelson of Nebraska have vigorously opposed the planned route of the Keystone XL. Still, political pressure to win swift approval has been building in Congress. Moving ahead would be a huge error. From all of the evidence, Keystone XL is not only environmentally risky, it is unnecessary.

The fight between reason and emotion on Gulf energy production is renewed with dead sea turtles as we approach the one year anniversary of Deep Water Horizon Huffington Post (4/3/11) reports: Sea turtles continue to wash ashore along the Gulf, forcing the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to scramble and figure out what is causing the spike. Last week, the Natural Resources Defense Council and The Huffington Post were first to publish blogs about the sea turtle deaths in Mississippi…Since then, the national media picked up the story. Last Friday, NMFS released a statement with some details about its investigation: In the past few weeks, we’ve seen an increase in turtle strandings in the northern Gulf, primarily in Mississippi. The spring time is the typical time when turtle strandings in this region begin to increase, but the sharp increases in recent days are of concern to us….Like the dolphin strandings this year, it’s likely that many more turtles have died and will never be found. A recent study of dolphin deaths showed the true number of mortalities is probably 50 times what is recovered.

Here’s a free talking point — end subsidies for all energy sources. Iowa farmers, go back to growing what the market demands Washington Examiner (4/1/11) reports: I was far from thrilled with John McCain as the GOP presidential candidate, but I always admired one thing about his two bids for the White House: he never sucked up to the ethanol lobby in Iowa. Nearly every other Republican and Democratic presidential candidate did, including Bill Bradley and Al Gore, both of whom admitted they better…You might think the Tea Party’s seriousness about shrinking government and strong distaste for corporate welfare might liberate this year’s GOP field from the ethanol chains. But you’d be wrong. Aside from Buddy Roemer, the lonsghot Republican from Louisiana, who said “I will eliminate the ethanol subsidy,” the rest of the GOP field looks hooked on ethanol.

You go first, Mr. President Detroit News (4/1/11) reports: The U.S. Secret Service said today that some federal vehicles for law enforcement and security purposes will be exempt from President Barack Obama’s directive that all federal vehicles purchased starting 2015 be advanced technology models….Secret Service spokesman Robert Novy said the directive wouldn’t apply to vehicles used for some law enforcement or security reasons by various federal agencies…”Certain specialized vehicles including those with law enforcement and security specifications are not subject to this directive,” Novy said…That would include the GM-built Cadillac presidential limousine and other vehicles in the motorcade. It also expected to include many law enforcement vehicles

Obama positions his green pivot on national security and we all know OPEC is far more stable than the U.S. Politico (3/30/11) reports: President Barack Obama will try yet again Wednesday to make his case for major energy reforms, a mission he’s so far struggled to accomplish, thanks to global and domestic challenges often beyond his control…Senior White House officials said the speech at Georgetown University kicks off a “concerted effort around energy security” that will occupy the president and several Cabinet officials in the coming weeks…Pivoting off Middle East unrest and spiking domestic energy prices, Obama plans to set a goal of reducing the nation’s foreign oil imports by a third over the next decade. To get there, he will describe a range of executive tools and call on Congress to advance several pieces of energy legislation.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer rent seeker — T. Boone says he has the votes to pass his crony natural gas legislation Fuel Fix (3/30/11) reports: After spending nearly three years and more than $80 million of his own money to tout his energy plan, T. Boone Pickens says he finally is about to have something to show for the effort…On April 6, a bill, known as the Natural Gas Act, which he has championed, will be introduced – again – in Congress. And this time, the billionaire oilman says the legislation has the votes the pass…“I think we got the deal done,” Pickens told reporters after a luncheon speech at the Petroleum Club of Houston, hosted by the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers and Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists…“I think we’ll get it through the House before the summer recess.”…The Natural Gas Act would dramatically expand the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel among heavy-duty truck fleets, including 18-wheelers and garbage trucks. Pickens sees the legislation as a key first step in broader adoption of natural gas in the transportation sector and weaning the U.S. from foreign oil.

It’s not the energy policies of command and control causing setbacks for green energy, it’s that Obama doesn’t have the right people CNN Money (3/30/11) reports: President Obama has had some pretty lousy luck with his energy plans…Last March he proposed opening up new areas of the country for offshore oil drilling. A month later BP’s rig blew up in the Gulf of Mexico…This year he asked for $36 billion to help build new nuclear plants. Within weeks at least three reactors at a Japanese nuclear plant were on the verge of a meltdown…His capstone plan to regulate greenhouse gas emissions failed in the Senate. Governors are giving back his high speed rail money. His energy czar is gone…”He picked the three losers right from the start,” said Kevin Book, a managing director at the research firm ClearView Energy Partners, referring to the greenhouse gas law, oil drilling and nuclear power. “His timing couldn’t be worse.”

Obama wants a third less oil consumed in a decade, wants a million electric vehicles, and wants every man, woman and child to use a winged Pegasus to get to work

Maybe Keynes was right, we are all dead in the long run — CA increases their renewable energy goal to 30% Green Journal (3/30/11) reports: California has further underlined its position as the leading clean energy hub in the US after lawmakers voted yesterday to beef up the state’s renewable energy goal. It will now require energy firms to source a third of their energy from renewable sources by 2020…The State Assembly voted 55 to 19 to approve bill S.B. 2, which requires the state to generate 33 per cent of its energy from renewables. The bill has already been approved by the state senate and will now move to governor Jerry Brown’s desk where it is expected to be approved…California has had its renewable energy target in place since September 2009 when former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order requiring the target to be met. Since then, regulators have put in place a series of measures designed to ensure the goal will be met.

Governments create the incentive to invest in green energy with tax credits and subsidies, but real question is who is buying the product and I don’t think it’s China New York Times (3/30/11) reports: A study released Tuesday by the Pew Environment Group suggests that investment in clean energy among the world’s 20 leading economies, a k a the G-20, is generally on the rebound after a grinding global recession…It also suggests that the narrative in the United States, which has been marked by partisan bickering and general paralysis over energy and climate policy, continues to weaken its position as a locus for investment…China drew 22 percent of the $243 billion in clean energy investments last year, or $54.4 billion — up from $39.1 billion in 2009. Coming in second place, and nudging the United States down a rung over last year, was Germany, which drew $41.2 billion, up from $20.6 billion in 2009…The United States drew $34 billion, up from $22.5 billion over 2009.

HOF won’t induct Charlie Hustle for betting on his team to win, but the HOF just placed a bet against American energy Mother Nature Network (3/29/11) reports: The hall of fame, based in Cooperstown, decided to support the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce’s recent resolution opposing hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” as it is commonly known. Fracking is a controversial method used by the natural gas industry where rig operators pump a mixture of water, sand and secret chemicals into the ground to extract isolated pockets of natural gas….Cooperstown is located in central New York, in the heart of the of the gas-rich Marcellus Shale region. The sleepy town is a picturesque tourist destination for baseball fans around the world, and is even a growing retirement community….A full transcript of the hall’s opposition to fracking was reprinted online over at pressconnect.com, and can be read below. The statement isn’t nearly as strong as the hall’s opposition to Pete Rose, but as far as I can tell, the natural gas has never bet on baseball.

President Obama’s interior monologue: “I made energy prices skyrocket, but still no one is buying my $40,000 Volt – what gives?” CNBC (3/28/11) reports: Last week, the Commerce Department revised real GDP up to 3.1 percent for the fourth quarter of last year. That was some cause for joy in the stock market. But today we saw a poor consumer-spending report for the month of February, which is picking up the rise in gasoline prices and the decline in consumer sentiment…Real income after-tax — known as real disposable income — actually fell in February. But the inflation rate jumped 0.4 percent, which is almost 5 percent annually. And while real consumer spending did rise, over the past three months it has gained by only 1.4 percent annually… The gasoline-driven inflation hike now puts consumer inflation as measured by the personal consumption deflator at 4 percent over the last three months. That’s higher than wage and salary income. So while energy prices are bulging along with food, real wages look to be falling — not a good combination.

Rent seekers panic that their gravy train is leaving the station, but something tells me Markey or Waxman New York Times (3/28/11) reports: There is growing angst over the pending end to a Department of Energy program that allows projects to claim cash grants in lieu of the tax credits that have been the mainstay of renewable-energy project financing for years. Insiders assume the production tax credits and investment tax credits will return next year, but most also agree the grants will end this Dec. 31. That raises a big question: Can projects shift from grants to credits?…Deals are getting done, but not at the rate that the industry would call robust, and many project developers are still dependent on temporary government support measures.

On the House side, we gave Barney this lesson and we will do the same for the Senate — when supply is restricted and demand remains constant, prices increase. This applies to snuggies and gas prices The Hill (3/28/11) reports: Five senators are pressing the Federal Trade Commission to use its powers under a 2007 law to probe whether recent oil price spikes – and the attendant rise in pump prices – stem from market manipulation…“We are writing to inquire whether the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is fully utilizing the regulatory authority granted to it by Congress to ensure American consumers are paying a fair price for gasoline. We urge you to use this authority aggressively to ensure that recent crude oil market price spikes and volatility are not the result of manipulative practices or anticompetitive behavior,” states a letter to the FTC from Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)…Rockefeller chairs the Senate Commerce Committee…The letter Friday is the latest example of lawmakers – mostly Democrats – essentially laying energy price increases at the feet of Wall Street, and comes as GOP leaders pressing for wider offshore drilling…It presses the FTC to use 2009 rules – which stem from a 2007 energy law – that give the regulators enhanced power to crack down on anti-competitive practices in wholesale petroleum markets.

Insanity is defined as repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting different results — are the inmates running the asylum in Florida? Miami Herald (3/28/11) reports: The Florida Senate unveiled its plan Monday to allow Florida’s electric companies to raise average customer bills $1.40 to $2.60 a month to build solar and biomass energy plants for the next five years…But because the measure also allows the electric monopolies to control the renewable energy market by earning as much as $377 million a year in additional revenue, the proposal drew warnings that it will stifle jobs and hurt customers over time…“We will go out of business,’’ said Scott McIntyre, president of Solar Energy Management of St. Petersburg. “The Senate bill will not attract renewable energy to the state of Florida. It will not employ people.”…By contrast, Josh Kellam of Global Energy United, a Virginia-based solar panel manufacturer, said his company will employ 250-300 people at its Rivera Beach plant if the bill passes…Kent Crook, president of Wire Masters of Miami, a residential and commercial electrician, said that he has received a Workforce Florida grant to retrain his employees in installing solar energy panels but has had to stop using it “because there are no jobs.”

Do you believe in magic? Professor Folbre commands wind and solar to be cost competitive with fossil fuels and to displace nuclear energy New York Times (3/28/11) reports: More important is the rate of change in the cost and utilization of these technologies, particularly those that rely on wind, water or solar power and will not contribute to global warming…The cost per kilowatt hour of generating electricity from wind and solar power has declined steadily in recent years and is projected to decline further. Energy Secretary Steven Chu predicted that they would be no more expensive than oil and gas by the end of the decade…The cost of nuclear power, by contrast, has increased, even without factoring in the huge social costs imposed by accidents. These costs include the disruptive effects of major evacuations such as those under way in the vicinity of Fukushima Daiichi, as well as ominous — and difficult to measure — health risks…In “Nuclear Power: Climate Fix or Folly,” Amory Lovins, a physicist with the Rocky Mountain Institute, and two colleagues argued that expanded nuclear power does not represent a cost-effective solution to global warming and that investors would shun it were it not for generous government subsidies lubricated by intensive lobbying effort.

In this case, you can call it a comeback because Statoil was set to drill before the moratorium, but that doesn’t stop the BOMRE from celebrating Fuel Fix (3/28/11) reports: The federal government today granted a permit to Statoil that allows the company to launch work on an offshore well halted by last year’s ban on deep-water exploration…The Norwegian company now will be able to begin drilling a well in its Cobra prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, about 216 miles off the Texas coastline, south of Texas City. According to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, which issued the permit, Statoil will drill the well in 7,134 feet of water in Alaminos Canyon Block 810…Statoil made news in 2007 by bidding $37.6 million for the tract — the highest bid in the western Gulf of Mexico lease sale where it was up for grabs…Statoil was close to drilling the well last year — and had a key permit in hand and a rig under contract for the work — but those plans were halted by the oil spill and the administration’s subsequent ban on deep-water exploration.

Employment Prevention Agency rules and regulation is like creating a tax without the revenue Wall Street Journal (3/28/11) reports: But a vote for the McConnell amendment, which would permanently bar the EPA from regulating carbon unless Congress passed new legislation, is justified on democratic prerogatives alone. Whatever one’s views of Massachusetts v. EPA or climate science, no elected representative has ever voted on an EPA plan that has often involved the unilateral redrafting of plain-letter law…A vote to overrule the EPA is also needed to remove the regulatory uncertainty hanging over the economy. This harm is already apparent in energy, where the EPA is trying to drive coal-fired power out of existence. The core electricity generation that the country needs to meet future demand is not being built, and it won’t be until the EPA is bridled. This same dynamic is also chilling the natural gas boom in the Northeast, and it is making U.S. energy-intensive industries less competitive world-wide…As the EPA screws tighten, the costs will be passed along to consumers, with the same damage as a tax increase but none of the revenues. Eventually, the EPA plan will appreciably lower the U.S. standard of living. Hardest hit will be the middle-American regions that rely on coal or heavy industry, though the EPA bulldozer will run over small businesses too. The Clean Air Act, once the carbon doomsday machine has been activated, won’t merely apply to “major” sources of emissions like power plants or factories. Its reach will include schools, farms, hospitals, restaurants, basically any large building.

Death by a thousand barrels — the gradual decrease in oil flow through TAPS is causing mechanical issues and leadership in Congress doesn’t seem to notice Anchorage Daily News (3/26/11) reports: And on March 18 Barrett was back in Juneau talking to the House Finance Committee, reiterating his concerns about declining oil flow through the line and saying that the pipeline is already at a point where cooling of the slowly flowing oil as it travels from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez could lead to a major disruption in pipeline operations…”A lot of people have asked me at what point will the declining flow of crude oil become a problem for TAPS, for Alyeska,” Barrett said. “And the response is simple — the problem exists out there now. This is not something facing us down the road; it’s not theoretical; it’s an issue we confront at TAPS daily, today. And without increased throughput in the line, our challenges of operating the line safely will increase over time.” The problem is that the 48-inch pipeline was designed to carry much more oil than the 630,000 barrels per day that currently flow into the line from Pump Station 1. As a consequence, the length of time that it takes each barrel of oil to travel from the North Slope to Valdez has increased from four-and-a-half days during peak throughput in the late 1980s to about 15 days now. The increasing travel time causes the oil to cool as it flows south during the cold of the winter, thus raising the risk of water that is carried with the oil freezing, and increasing the potential for wax and sediments to drop out of the oil and clog the line.

Industrial Windpower Cometh, Once Supportive Locals “Lawyer Up” Human Events (3/24/11) reports: Wind energy took another blow—this time in Massachusetts…Wind One is the 400-foot-tall wind turbine owned by the town of Falmouth, on the southwestern tip of Cape Cod.  The residents of Falmouth initially welcomed Wind One as a symbol of green energy and a handy way to keep local taxes down.  Electricity generated by the turbine would be used to power the municipality’s infrastructure, thus shaving about $400,000 a year off its utility costs…Installed in the spring of 2010 at a cost of $5.1 million (with some $3 million derived through grants, government kickbacks, and credits), the huge turbine cranks out 1.65 megawatts of electricity during optimum conditions…The topography of Falmouth is stunningly beautiful.  Small ponds, creeks, pines, and oaks rest adjacent to the rocky beachfront.  What’s totally out of place is a monstrous pillar of white steel rising from the countryside, topped with its whirling three-bladed rotor.  However, proving that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, one local told a Public Radio reporter the turbine is “quite majestic.”

Energy crisis by design — the war against affordable and reliable energy will not go without casualties Washington Post (3/24/11) reports: Last month, Seahawk Drilling declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced the sale of its assets to shallow-water driller Hercules Offshore. This devastating decision was the culmination of a long period in which we found our customers unable to secure permits for work in the Gulf of Mexico despite the fact that both our industry and our company have excellent safety records. In the 11 months after the Deepwater Horizon accident, it became clear that Seahawk’s greatest rival was no longer our industry competitors but the U.S. government…The government’s drastic slowdown in the issuance of permits for shallow-water drilling operations — in which companies work in familiar geological formations, typically in less than 500 feet of water, mostly seeking to produce natural gas — has all but crippled the industry. The survivors (for now) like Hercules are staying afloat largely thanks to revenue from operations outside U.S. waters. Put another way, a once-proud industry born in the gulf during the Truman administration can no longer survive on operations in its own back yard.

How would the Obama Administration respond to this question, “Do you think high gas prices are a good thing?” NRO covers the faux conversation National Review Online (3/24/11) reports: as is well over $4 a gallon in most places in California — and soaring elsewhere as well. But are such high energy prices good or bad?…That should be a stupid question. Yet it is not, when the Obama administration has stopped new domestic offshore oil exploration in many American waters, curbed oil leases in the West, and keeps oil-rich areas of Alaska exempt from drilling. Last week, President Obama went to Brazil and declared of that country’s new offshore finds: “With the new oil finds off Brazil, President [Dilma] Rousseff has said that Brazil wants to be a major supplier of new stable sources of energy, and I’ve told her that the United States wants to be a major customer, which would be a win-win for both our countries.”… That conclusion is not wild conspiracy theory, but simply the logical manifestation of many of the Obama administration’s earlier campaign promises. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu — now responsible for the formulation of American energy policy — summed up his visions to the Wall Street Journal in 2008: “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” I think Chu is finally figuring out the “somehow.”

Jevons Paradox: As technology improves, more goods and services are consumed. For example, VMT will increase with more efficient engines or even EV’s, but Congress wants to know how you tax it The Hill (3/24/11) reports: “In the past, the efficiency costs of implementing a system of VMT charges — particularly the costs of users’ time for slowing and queuing at tollbooths — would clearly have outweighed the potential benefits from more efficient use of highway capacity,” CBO wrote. “Now, electronic metering and billing are making per-mile charges a practical option.”The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) this week released a report that said taxing people based on how many miles they drive is a possible option for raising new revenues and that these taxes could be used to offset the costs of highway maintenance at a time when federal funds are short…The report discussed the proposal in great detail, including the development of technology that would allow total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) to be tracked, reported and taxed, as well as the pros and cons of mandating the installation of this technology in all vehicles.

Winning the Future: China out innovates the world on nuclear technology while Congress holds hearings and threatens American energy New York Times (3/25/11) reports: While engineers at Japan’s stricken nuclear power plant struggle to keep its uranium fuel rods from melting down, engineers in China are building a radically different type of reactor that some experts say offers a safer nuclear alternative…The technology will be used in two reactors here on a peninsula jutting into the Yellow Sea, where the Chinese government is expected to let construction proceed even as the world debates the wisdom of nuclear power…Rather than using conventional fuel rod assemblies of the sort leaking radiation in Japan, each packed with nearly 400 pounds of uranium, the Chinese reactors will use hundreds of thousands of billiard-ball-size fuel elements, each cloaked in its own protective layer of graphite.

Lisa Jackson puts on a persuasive writing clinic — letter to farmers against dust regulation, but sets up back door for asthma campaign Fresno Bee (3/24/11) reports: On my visit to California this week, many people have offered thoughts and prayers for Japan and the earthquake and tsunami victims now facing threats from radiation. Many have also voiced concerns about radiation reaching the United States…The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and our federal partners are closely monitoring radiation levels and ensuring that all steps are taken to safeguard health, and we will continue to work closely with state and local officials and regularly update the public…One example is the resource conservation work here in the Valley, which is considered among the best in the country. Developed in collaboration between growers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the local air district and the EPA, these cost-effective practices can be tailored to individual farms.

Take that, Hofmeister.  IER’s Pyle predicts $6 gas if Obama affordable energy war continues unabated News Max (3/25/11) reports: Although Pyle noted that both Democratic and Republican administrations have shied away from exploiting the country’s vast energy resources in the past, Obama’s policies in particular “have led to basically a shutting down of the oil and gas industry in this country…”Which, as the third-largest producer of oil in the world, is certainly going to send a signal to the marketplace that we are going to see a shortening of supply at a time when we actually need to be producing as much oil as possible not only to satisfy the growing demand in other countries but also in order for us to recover economically.”..The country is “on a path for not only $4.50 gasoline, potentially $5, even $6 gasoline if these policies continue,” said Pyle, former policy analyst in the U.S. House…However, just as Obama’s policies have sent a signal to the marketplace, a reversal will do the same with an immediate effect, he said