News

FudgingIt: LSU Prof., AEA, Walk Through How WH Cooked the Books on MoratoriumAnalysis, Sliced Job Loss Numbers in Half. E&E News(9/21, subs. req’d) reports, "The Obama administration manipulated its data tounderstate the economic impact of its moratorium on deepwater drilling, aneconomist charged today. Joseph Mason, a Louisiana State University professorand critic of the administration’s offshore drilling policies, said theadministration’s own data suggested the moratorium had cost approximately20,000 jobs in the Gulf of Mexico region. But in an interagency report on thematter last week, the administration made an arbitrary adjustment to itsfigures to suggest the policy had cost between 8,000 and 12,000 jobs, Masonsaid. "We’re still not being realistic with the effects of themoratorium," said Mason, whose work on the moratorium is funded in part bythe pro-drilling American Energy Alliance. "There was no justification forcutting [the] effects in half. It was really outside anything that could beconsidered a standard economic analysis." The Interior Department imposedthe moratorium on deepwater drilling in July, saying drilling needed to bepaused while new regulations were crafted to respond to the BP PLC-DeepwaterHorizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The moratorium is set to expire Nov.30.

ForEvery $92,000 In, One Job Is Created – That’s What Stimulus Backers Told Us;Why Doesn’t Equation Work in Reverse in Assessing Obama Offshore Ban? WallStreet Journal (9/22) editorializes, "According to the analysis, theexpected six-month ban on deep-water drilling will result in 8,000 to 12,000jobs lost. The report crows that "these estimates are lower" thanthose predicted by other studies and that, moreover, the jobs will "not bepermanently lost," but will return when the ban is lifted. For anAdministration that loves to tout stimulus projects that create a handful jobshere or there, it takes some nerve to describe the loss of up to 12,000high-paying Gulf jobs as a triumph. The report’s numbers violate the logicoffered earlier on the stimulus spending. According to the authors of thestimulus, every $92,000 the government injected in the economy was supposed tocreate one job-year. Yet according to the moratorium report, pulling $92,000out of the economy doesn’t result in the reverse. Instead, the authors offerseveral imaginative explanations for why it is important to"discount" that $92,000 by 40% to 60% when estimating how many jobswill be lost because of the $1.8 billion decline in spending. Thus they arriveat 8,000 to 12,000 lost jobs. LSU Joseph Mason, who has penned a rigorouscritique of the report, notes that if the government had not engaged in such"ad hoc" discounting, the estimate of lost jobs would be about 20,000-inline with prior estimates.

ProducingBetter, Cheaper and More Reliable Products Than Competitors Is Hard Work, Solarand Wind Guys Finding Out – Far Easier to Hold Fundraisers for SenateDemocrats.  WallStreet Journal (9/22) editorializes, "In a free energy market, companiessucceed by producing cheaper, better products than competitors. In a"green" energy market, companies succeed by holding Beltwayfundraisers. For more on the distinction, ask Senate Majority Leader HarryReid, who will benefit today from a tony Washington money-raising breakfasthosted by top "renewable energy" industry groups. The companies thatbelong to the American Wind Energy Association or the Solar Energy IndustriesAssociation (among the fundraiser’s hosts) produce costly products that can’tcompete against traditional fuels. Their business plans are written aroundWashington subsidies and mandates. They’re obviously worried a Republicanmajority might pare back the grants, loans and tax credits, in the name ofcutting government waste. One can hope. As the event invitation noted-inrequesting $2,500 to attend-Mr. Reid’s Nevada Senate competition againstRepublican Sharron Angle is an "incredibly important race." Indeed itis if your balance sheets depend on the Democrats’ special way with taxpayermoney.

AddAnother One to the Pile – the Pile of Respected Studies and Academic Journalsthat Find a Low-Carbon Fuel Standard Won’t Reduce Emissions, But Will RaiseFuel Costs. Toronto Globeand Mail (9/21) reports, "In a report released Tuesday, Cambridge EnergyResearch Associates (CERA) calculates that a legislated 10-per-cent reductionin the carbon content of fuels – which California has already mandated andother states and provinces are now considering – would require a one-third toone-half drop in the emissions used to extract and refine crude. Without majoradvances in the adoption of other transportation fuels such as natural gas,that level of reduction will be virtually impossible for industry to achieve,at least in the next decade, CERA concludes. The impact could be even worse foroil sands exports, which are already 6 per cent more carbon-intensive thanaverage U.S. crude, the group calculated in a report entitled Oil Sands,Greenhouse Gases, and U.S. Oil Supply: Getting the Numbers Right. "Even whenyou think about carbon capture and storage or better fuel efficiency in therefinery, it’s very difficult to envision a case where you could take a thirdof your emissions out of that whole process," said Jackie Forrest, IHS CERA’sdirector for global oil, and one of the report’s authors.

1.4Billion: Number of People In the World Without Access to Electricity; SenateMight Love It Some RES, But Folks In Namibia Would Settle for Some Coal RightNow. NYTimes (9/21) reports, "Without electricity, social and economic developmentis much more difficult," Fatih Birol, the energy agency’s chief economist, saidby telephone. "Addressing sanitation, clean water, hunger – these goals can’tbe met without providing access to energy."  The problem of energy inequality mirrors the gap betweenrich and poor countries, Mr. Birol said. "The amount of electricity consumed bysub-Saharan Africa, with 800 million people, is about the same as that used inNew York State, with about 19 million people," he said.  The agency, which produced the reportin conjunction with the United Nations Development Program and the UnitedNations Industrial Development Organization, looked at both the lack of accessto electricity and the reliance on and use of traditional biomass like wood ascooking fuel. In sub-Saharan Africa, the report notes, the electrification rateis 31 percent. About 1.4 billion people around the world lack electricity, andthey are overwhelmingly in rural areas, the report said. In addition tocontributing to deforestation in poor nations, traditional cooking fuelsdegrade air quality, causing serious health problems and premature deaths, theenergy agency report says.

Yes,Virginia, There Is an Exploratory Well: This One Operating Off the Coast ofGreenland – Potentially Massive Oil and Gas Find for Cairn Energy. WallStreet Journal (9/21) reports, "Cairn Energy PLC said Tuesday it foundtraces of oil and gas in a second well drilled off the coast of Greenland, butfailed to make any commercial discoveries from its first well and wrote off $84million in exploration costs. "The presence of both oil and gas confirms an active, workingpetroleum system in the basin and is extremely encouraging at this very earlystage of our exploration campaign," Cairn Chief Executive Bill Gammellsaid in a statement. The Scottish firm’s second Greenland well is continuing todrill deeper, but preliminary tests on that bore revealed the presence of twotypes of oil intermittently over a 400-meter section of volcanic rock, and somereserves of gas, the company said. Cairn’s first well, which found noncommercial volumes of gas last month,has been plugged and abandoned. The company has written off the cost of thewell, in accordance with standard industry accounting practice.  Cairn plans to continue exploring foroil for several years off Greenland’s west coast-a little-explored regionsimilar in size to the North Sea. Before drilling commenced, the company hadgiven itself just a 10% chance of making a significant oil discovery in itsfirst batch of wells.

Don’tSay Calzada Didn’t Warn You: Facing Prospect of Reduced Subsidies, German SolarDevelopers Rush to Lock-in 20 Year Guarantee of Well-Above-Market Prices. Bloomberg(9/22) reports, "Germany is installing 10 times as much solar power capacitythis year as the U.S. Investors are racing to lock in above- market rates for20 years while they can. Germany’s parliament decided July 8 on a 16 percentreduction in solar subsidies, and another reduction in the so-called feed-intariffs is scheduled for January. Mikio Katayama, president of Sharp Corp.,Japan’s biggest solar-panel maker, said last week the Osaka-based company mayboost sales by 50 percent this year, faster than it earlier forecast, onincreased demand in Europe. Sharp today agreed to buy California’s RecurrentEnergy for as much as $305 million. The all-cash deal will be completed by theend of the year, the companies said. Global 2010 sales for photovoltaic panels may more than double to asmuch as 18,000 megawatts and then flatten next year as countries includingGermany, Italy and France cut solar energy subsidies, Bloomberg New EnergyFinance estimated.  Germany meetsas much as 10 percent of its power demand from the sun on some days, AndreasHaenel, chief executive officer of German solar-plant developer Phoenix SolarAG, said in an interview last month. In the southernmost state of Bavaria,solar power contributes as much as 25 percent of total electricity when the sunshines and demand is low, he said.

DarrenSamuelsohn, NRDC’s Writer-In-Residence at Politico, Pens Article on Coal, Oiland Natural Gas Industries – But Forgets to Get Any Quotes From Them. Politico (9/22)reports, "A series of high-profile disasters this year, topped by the country’sworst-ever oil spill, has brought unprecedented attention to the country’s coalmines, oil drillers and natural gas pipelines. Energy industry officials insisttheir safety record is still second to none as the nation’s thirst for theirproducts continues to grow. But they still have an escalating PR disaster ontheir hands thanks to the series of fatal and visually powerful events. "We’renot hearing about wind turbines falling and chopping up chickens on a farm orsolar panels frying somebody’s head," said Daniel J. Weiss, senior fellow atthe Center for American Progress Action Fund. "Fossil fuel production, as wellas combustion, is a dirty business." Congress has kept busy responding to the various disasters, from holdinghearings to writing major safety bills dealing with each of the key industrialsectors. And environmental groups have tried – unsuccessfully – to use theevents as a launching pad for legislation to cap carbon dioxide emissions.Environmentalists also see in the series of accidents a golden opportunity topush for other energy-saving measures, highlight problems with the industry’saging infrastructure and attack government regulators they say are guilty oflax oversight.

Nutty:Sen. Feinstein Calls Approps-Led Attempt to Prevent EPA’s Criminalization ofCarbon "Very Squirrelly" – Even Though She Wants to Use Same Approps Bill toBlock Offshore Energy. Politico (9/20)reports, "Just last week, environmentalists and the Obama administration dodgeda bullet when the Senate Appropriations Committee canceled a markup of EPA’sspending bill, in which agency foes could have the votes to cut off climatefunds for at least one year.  "That’sa vulnerability – and a significant one," said an environmentalist of thespending committee’s composition. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the subpanel thatoversees EPA’s budget, refused to handicap the prospects for any climate rider."It’s very squirrelly," she said Thursday. "That’s all I’m going to say."Dozens of industry trade groups are leaning on the Senate to clamp down on EPAand leave the legislative heavy lifting on climate change to a future sessionof Congress. "A vote to delay pending EPA greenhouse gas emissions [rules] willprovide Congress the opportunity to develop sound policy approaches to addressgreenhouse gas emissions, rather than default to a poorly designed EPAregulatory approach," Michael Morris, CEO of American Electric Power and arepresentative of the Business Roundtable, said last week in a letter tosenators.

Enviros’Chili Already Running Hot Thanks to Downfall of Cap-and-Raid – Now Those SameDems Who Couldn’t Deliver Want Greens to Knock Doors for ‘Em. Politico (9/20)reports, "Stung by a series of recent legislative setbacks and facingemboldened and financially flush opponents, environmentalists are hunkeringdown in the lead-up to November’s midterm elections. The focus on playingdefense is a distinct shift from past years, when greens and like-mindedprogressives poured their resources into knocking out industry-friendlyincumbents in a bid to clear the way for a sweeping energy and climate victorythat never happened. Environmentalists refute the idea that they’re no longerplaying offense. They point to a number of competitive races across the countryin which they say they can pick up seats, such as in Missouri, where DemocratRobin Carnahan hopes to fill the Senate seat of retiring Republican KitBond.  But ask environmentalists toname their top priorities for this fall, and they sound very much like adefensive-minded team.  "Our toppriority is defeating Proposition 23," said Tony Massaro, senior vice presidentof political affairs for the League of Conservation Voters.

16Months After National Ozone Limits Were Slashed by 15%, EPA Wants to Slash ‘EmAgain by Another 20% — With Absolutely ZERO Science to Back It Up. WallStreet Journal (9/20) reports, "In 2008, the George W. Bush administrationtightened the ozone standard from 84 ppb to its current level of 75. The EPAnormally waits at least five years before revising the standards. A spokesmanfor Ms. Jackson says the standard set by the Bush administration doesn’tsufficiently protect public health and that the administrator "isdetermined to set a standard that protects all Americans."  Congressional Republicans have attackedthe new standard as a threat to economic growth and job creation.  Two of the top Republicans on the HouseEnergy and Commerce Committee-Reps. Joe Barton and Michael Burgess, both ofTexas-called the proposal "extraordinarily expensive and unworkable."A group of senators led by George Voinovich and Evan Bayh recently urged Ms.Jackson in a letter to reconsider the proposal, saying it would "have asignificant negative impact on our states’ workers and families and willcompound the hardship that may are now facing in these difficult economictimes." West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, the party’s candidate for the U.S.Senate seat long held by Robert Byrd, wrote to Ms. Jackson last month andaccused the EPA of "adding an unnecessary element of confusion" byproposing to change the standards "prematurely."

Meanwhile,In the Senate, Tom Carper’s "3E’s" Emissions Bill Laid to Rest – Turns Out ItHad Liability Protections, Which Made the Trial Lawyers Balk. E&E News (9/20,subs. req’d) reports, "Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) is no longer asking the SenateEnvironment and Public Works Committee to vote on his proposal to setnationwide limits on air pollution from coal-fired power plants, he announcedlate Friday. Carper, the chairman of EPW’s Clean Air and Nuclear SafetySubcommittee, had been seeking a markup for a bill (S. 2995) that would setnationwide limits on sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and mercuryfrom coal plants. The bill would require more reductions than U.S. EPA’sproposed Clean Air Transport Rule but would allow more interstate trading thanthe agency’s proposal. And while the Carper-Alexander bill’s emissions caps arestricter than the ones that EPA proposed in July, the legislation would providemore certainty for businesses by fending off potential legal challenges,supporters said. Utilities ended up spending billions of dollars on emissionscontrols to prepare for CAIR before it was struck down in 2008.Environmentalists wanted the emissions limits in the bill to be stricter. Theyalso opposed any amendments that would make the bill weaker than theregulations coming out of EPA.

90%of World’s Largest Businesses See "Significant Opportunity" in Climate Change -And Guess What? All They Need Is Taxpayer Money to Seize On It. Bloomberg(9/20) reports, "More companies foresee business opportunities that may offsetthe market risks of climate change, a survey by institutional investorsfound.  Almost 90 percent of thoseresponding in the survey of 500 of the world’s largest public companiesidentified "significant opportunities" from climate change, up from 80 percentlast year, the Carbon Disclosure Project said in a report today. Siemens AG,Europe’s largest engineering company, and Texas Instruments Inc., the U.S.chipmaker, were among those citing new markets for sustainable products andmore demand for energy- efficient appliances. "We’re seeing a segregation goingon between companies that have a strategy to control costs and to profit from acarbon-constrained world, and other companies — a lot of them are in theUnited States — that are being held back by a government that’s not addressingthis issue," Dickinson said in an interview. Almost half of companies surveyedsaid they are "embedding" climate change and carbon management into theirbusiness strategy, and 85 percent reported senior executives had responsibilityfor climate policy.

ThisIs Why We Love the Greens: With Their Political World Crumbling Around Them,They Decide to Spend Millions on Campaign Targeting Detergent Soap. NYTimes (9/20) reports, "Consumers are not always thrilled about theperformance of environmentally friendly cleaning products. Some consumer andenvironmental organizations even argue that many cleaning products marketed asenvironmentally beneficial are not green enough. One group, Women’s Voices forthe Earth, advocates the use of homemade products because most manufacturersstill use potentially harmful ingredients like dyes, fragrances andpreservatives – their formulas undisclosed, as trade secrets – in productscertified by third-party green labels. "There’s still toxic chemicals in thesesupposedly green products, and unless the company discloses all ingredients,consumers are still in the dark," said Cassidy Randall, program and outreachcoordinator for the group. She said the main concern for many consumers,especially mothers of young children, is "whether the product is safe, not howit’s going to work." Detergents for commercial dishwashers, which operate athigher heat levels than the residential types, are exempt from the new law fornow because manufacturers need time to research how to make those formula workwithout phosphates.

BananaRepublic: Trail Lawyers in Chevron Case Want TRIPLE the Amount They RequestedBefore – $113 Billion for Damages The Gov’t Already Settled on Earlier. WallStreet Journal (9/19) reports, "Plaintiffs suing Chevron Corp. in Ecuadorhave increased their damages claim to a possible $113 billion, raising it morethan four times a previous estimate. Pablo Fajardo, the lawyer leading Ecuador’slegal team on behalf of people from the country’s Amazon region, said Fridaythe damages range was now between $40 billion and $113 billion. The newassessment was submitted to the Lago Agrio Court in the Amazon region onThursday, when the 45-day period given by the Lago Agrio court for both partiesto submit their own damages assessment finished. In November 2008, RichardCabrera, a court-appointed expert, told the Lago Agrio Court that the companyshould pay $27.3 billion in compensation for environmental damages in theAndean country. On Thursday, Chevron submitted expert testimony to the samecourt from scientists, "demonstrating that there is no evidentiary basisfor the lawsuit against the company," according to a company statement.  Chevron also has renewed its motion fordismissal of the case, saying there is no evidence of liability.

DanBeard’s Nightmare: Pelosi’s Penchant for Spending Millions on BoondoggleCapitol Greening Initiatives May Come to an End Under New Majority. Politico (9/19)reports, "Boehner has long been at odds with several parts of Pelosi’senvironmental push, calling them "a waste of money." "It reminds me of theCatholic Church in the Middle Ages, when we had indulgences," Boehner said ofPelosi’s initial plan to buy carbon offsets to atone for the House’s energyuse. And when the cafeterias started offering more exotic, healthful fare,Boehner had a laugh. "I like real food – food that I can pronounce the name of,"Boehner told media outlets after the House initiated a three-year diningcontract with Restaurant Associates, which immediately began incorporatinglocally grown and organic foods like bok choy and jicama into the menus. TheHouse’s food contract with Restaurant Associates, which is part of the Greenthe Capitol program, expires this fall, and it would be up to a new regime inCongress to renew it. As it stands, key parts of the Green the Capitol projectare not complete, including a more than $1 million initiative to revamp theCapitol dome with energy-efficient lighting, which could easily be dismissed ina transition to a Speaker Boehner, said aides close to the project who askednot to be identified.

Coal MinersStand Up to Obama Admin., EPA; Rally on Capitol Hill to Save Their Jobs.  AP (9/15) reports, "Hundredsof coal miners rallied on Capitol Hill Wednesday against the Obamaadministration’s attempts to rein in mountaintop removal mining, accusing theEnvironmental Protection Agency of trying to wipe out the coal industry."This administration is trying to shut down coal and fire all ofyou," said Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., adding that the EPA was practicing"strangulation by regulation." The industry-backed group Faces ofCoal said it paid for most of the travel and lodging expenses for the coalminers, who came from West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Ohio.Speakers included politicians from both parties and country music singer StellaParton. Ralliers wore blue Faces of Coal T-shirts, and some sported hard hats.They hoisted signs that said, "Coal Keeps the Lights on," and"Coal Miners ‘Dig’ Their Jobs." When an opening prayer was given, itincluded thanks to God for natural resources such as coal. "They’re tryingto take our jobs," yelled Haven King, a 65-year-old retired coal minerfrom Hazard, Ky. "We have to stand up." West Virginia Gov. JoeManchin, a Democrat, said that the EPA is blocking jobs. "West Virginiawill fight back and every coal state must fight back," he said.

With CongressBack in Session, Some Call for Offshore Moratorium, Others Bring Facts to theDiscussion. Tom Pyle (9/15)writes for the DailyCaller, "This week, Congress holds hearings to discuss what is widelyseen as a politically-motivated moratorium on deepwater drilling. The Presidentis fully aware that an extended drilling ban would cost thousands of jobs;energy officials within Obama’s own administration have predicted that anextended drilling ban would reduce domestic oil production by 82,000 barrelsper day in 2011. The Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association statesthat nearly 80% of the oil produced in the Gulf comes from wells in the deeperwaters. They estimate that the costs of the exploration suspension rangebetween $8.25 million and $16.5 million per day in rig costs; $1 million perday in costs for support boats; and $165 million to $330 million per month inlost wages for all 33 deepwater rigs. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) hasstipulated that the ongoing economic devastation of the spill may be surpassedby the impacts of the moratorium. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) recently statedthat "the result of this Administration’s decision will still be a substantialloss of jobs – jobs that may not return to the Gulf for years." The expansivedisconnect between voters and their elected representatives is particularlynoticeable with respect to energy policy. A recent Rasmussen poll revealed that61% of those surveyed rank finding new sources of energy as more important thanreducing the amount of energy Americans now consume. Survey after surveyindicates that Americans overwhelmingly support domestic energy development,from oil or natural gas. However, this Administration and its Congressionalallies remain convinced that making domestic energy more expensive and harderto produce is what’s best for American families.

Sure theNatural Gas Industry Created over 44K Jobs in Pennsylvania Last Year; How DoesGov. Rendell Reward the Industry? How ‘Bout a Big Fat Tax. Grover Norquist and Patrick Gleason (9/16) writefor Politico,"Over the next three weeks, the front lines of the energy policy debateare likely to shift from Capitol Hill to Harrisburg, Pa. For Gov. Ed Rendellhas launched an assault on domestic energy production unrivaled by any otherlawmaker or chief executive in the country, President Barack Obama included.Pennsylvania is on the verge of what many policy experts are calling amodern-day gold rush, thanks to the Marcellus Shale formation, a natural gasdeposit that spans most of the state. It only recently, because oftechnological advances, became a viable source of clean-burning natural gas. Infact, Marcellus may turn out to be the second-largest gas deposit in the world.It promises great potential for economic expansion and job creation in a stateand region sorely in need of both. Development of the Marcellus Shale was oneof the few bright spots in Pennsylvania’s economy last year, according to arecent Penn State study, creating 44,000 new high-paying jobs and generatingnearly $1.4 billion in additional federal, state and local tax revenue.

New Poll: 62%of Americans Oppose New Taxes on Oil and Natural Gas; 60% Say Such a Tax WillCost Jobs. Oiland Gas Journal (9/15) reports, "Nearly two thirds of America’s votersoppose raising taxes on the oil and gas industry in the US and believe it coulddestroy jobs, the American Petroleum Institute announced on Sept. 14. API saida telephone survey it commissioned by Harris Interactive found that 62% of therespondents opposed increasing oil and gas taxes, and 60% said it could costthe nation jobs. "Voters fear that raising taxes on an industry that providesmost of their energy and supports more than 9.2 million jobs would hurt themand damage the economy," said API Pres. Jack N. Gerard. "They think it couldcost jobs, and that’s exactly what two recent studies show." Gerard noted thatbased on a Wood Mackenzie analysis in August of production impacts fromeliminating the manufacturing and intangible drilling cost tax deductions forthe oil and natural gas industry, API calculated 58,800 jobs would be put atrisk in 2011 and 165,000 in 2020. A separate study of the impacts of ending themanufacturing tax deduction and increasing taxes on the industry’sforeign-earned income by Louisiana State University finance professor Joseph R.Mason concluded that 154,000 jobs could be lost in 2011, Gerard said. Mason’sstudy, which was released on Sept. 13 by the American Energy Alliance, anInstitute for Energy Research affiliate, also indicated that excluding the oiland gas industry from the manufacturers’ tax deduction and repealing dualcapacity foreign tax credits would reduce US economic output by $341.3 billion,tax revenue by $83.5 billion, and workers’ wages by $67.8 billion between 2011and 2020.

A Win for theGood Guys. Federal Judge Sides with Railroad Industry, Interstate Commerce overGreenies on Emissions in SoCal.  LATimes (9/16) reports, "Air quality watchdogs in Southern Californiacan’t impose limits on emissions from idling trains because they couldinterfere with interstate commerce that the federal government regulates, afederal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The decision dealt a blow to attempts byair quality regulators in the Los Angeles region, who have been attempting tolimit emissions in the densely populated areas around San Pedro Bay ports,through which 40% of the nation’s containerized cargo flows. The U.S. 9thCircuit Court of Appeals upheld a previous decision from the U.S. DistrictCourt for the Central District of California. The lawsuit filed by the Assn. ofAmerican Railroads and the BNSF and Union Pacific railroad companies challengedrestrictions imposed in 2005 and 2006 by the South Coast Air Quality ManagementDistrict, which covers Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardinocounties. In cities along the Los Angeles river corridor, activists have takenaim at diesel pollution from four rail yards, including BNSF Railway’s Hobartfacility, the world’s busiest "intermodal" yard, which transfers 1.2million containers a year between trucks and trains. Diesel exhaust from trainsand trucks is blamed for high cancer rates in several cities along thecorridor. But the air quality district’s rules are preempted by the InterstateCommerce Commission Termination Act of 1995, which says state and local lawscannot unreasonably burden interstate commerce, a three-judge panel of the 9thCircuit said in its ruling.

Rent-SeekingCorporations, Unions, Expensive-Energy Lobbyists Cobble Together 21 Groups toSign Statement in Support of Pinwheel and Sun Catcher Mandate. Newsworthy?ToSome. Reuters (9/16)reports, "Congress must pass a national renewable electricity standard(RES) this fall to stop the dramatic downslide in the American clean energysector, 21 companies, think tanks and trade and advocacy organizations said. Afederal edict would protect thousands of jobs threatened by a sector slowdownand stop capital from flowing out of the U.S. and into China, according to theRES Action Statement, whose signatories include Iberdrola Renewables, theUnited Steelworkers Union, the Union of Concerned Scientists and GE Energy."The jobs and the investment are going to China," said Don Furman, asenior vice president for wind company Iberdrola Renewables, in a conferencecall with reporters. "If we wait another year, we’re going to lose alot." It is the first time such a large cross-sector coalition hasendorsed a specific national clean power standard. The groups, sponsored by theRES Alliance for Jobs, are rallying behind the "Bingaman RES," aweaker option than proposals previously backed by many signatories to theaction statement. Described as "anemic" not long ago, the near-suddenenthusiasm for the policy reveals the dire state at which advocates have arrived,after Congress punted on cap and trade and other climate policies to curtailgreenhouse gas emissions. 

AffordableEnergy Battleground: California and New Jersey. AB32 Campaign Heats up in Cali,NJ Gov. Under Pressure to Drop Out of RGGI. Politico(9/15) reports, "The nation’s premier state-led climate programs are underattack by a growing coalition of industry, tea party and conservativeactivists. Opponents to limits on greenhouse gas emissions see the fights inCalifornia and New Jersey as the next step in the fight over global warmingpolicy after the demise of federal cap-and-trade legislation on Capitol Hill. "Thisis definitely a new battlefield worth reconsidering in light of threat No. 1being shelved," said Clint Woods, energy, environment and agricultural directorat the American Legislative Exchange Council, a free market advocacy group. InCalifornia, Texas oil giants Valero and Tesoro are spearheading a Novemberballot initiative to derail the Golden State’s landmark 2006 law capping itsgreenhouse gas emissions. In New Jersey, conservatives are leaning onRepublican Gov. Chris Christie to drop out of a 10-state regional cap-and-tradecompact and show his true political stripes as he raises his national profilewith an endorsement tour this fall. Similar efforts could follow in otherstates, depending on how November gubernatorial races shake out.

SmallWonder: Mike Castle Had Been Winning Statewide Elections in Delaware for 30Years — Then Came Cap-and-Raid; He Said Yes, His Voters Said No. SeattleTimes newswire (9/15) reports, "O’Donnell’s triumph, though, is the moststriking yet, because Castle, 71, has been winning statewide elections inDelaware for 30 years, while O’Donnell was making her third Senate bid in fouryears. She lost badly the other two times. Castle raised about $3.2 million andhad a seasoned staff behind him; O’Donnell had few resources and raised only$376,000. Castle supporters stood in stunned silence as returns rolled in athis election party but erupted into cheers when he took the stage. "Thevoters in the Republican primary have spoken, and I respect thatdecision," he said. The race took a sharp turn for the negative threeweeks ago after the Tea Party Express announced it would come to O’Donnell’said. Castle, a former two-term governor and veteran of 18 years in the House,repeatedly was assailed as a liberal, a Republican in name only. What set meoff was the stimulus bill," said Chris Shirey, a respiratory therapist andthe state’s tea-party coordinator. "I’d be for it if it was muchsmaller." She found like-minded people with other complaints. They wereangry at Castle’s support of the 2008 bank bailout and of the Democrats’cap-and-trade legislation last year. He was one of eight House Republicans tosupport the bill.

Toughto Blame the Corporate Interests for Backing Enviros’ Efforts to CriminalizeCarbon – It’s Good for Business, Especially If You’re in the Business ofSeeking Rents. Amanda Careywrites (9/14) for the DailyCaller, "In the words of Dan Kish, senior vice president at the Institute for Energy Research: "At theend of the day, the stuff they want us to buy is just more expensive." "Energyruns the world," said Kish. "It is directly linked with wealth and economicoutput … The question here is whether these are just good people who happen tobelieve in saving the earth." "They all go to the government to try and changethe underpinning of our economic society," Kish continued. "But at the end ofthe day the dial stops and everybody’s dancing together." Meanwhile, Obama’sgreen industrial complex continues to grow. But as the web of influentialplayers stretches, it is not by accident that environmentalists are usingcorporations to advance their agenda. "GE and others have signed up to be BigGreen’s PR outfits, though they don’t even realize whose pocket they’re in,convinced they’re the ones using the greens," said Horner. "When politiciansand activists not typically fans of private enterprise suddenly boast thatAmerica’s biggest  corporationssupport the green industry lobbying for these schemes, it is quietly assumed tobe virtuous. No one asks the basic question, ‘why is that, precisely?’"

SpeakingOf: Folks Pushin’ for a National Mandate on Expensive, Intermittent EnergyUnleash Unprecedented PR/Lobbying Effort to Sneak It Thru Before Nov. Politico’s Morning Energy (9/15)reports, "You can add a [national unreliable energy mandate – "RES"] to thegrowing list of things the Senate isn’t going to touch this work period. TheCousins Udall, two of the chamber’s strongest advocates for the renewablestandard, told reporters yesterday that, try as they might, their effort haslittle chance of gaining traction in the near term. Tom (D-N.M.): "I don’tthink we’re going to get there. I just don’t hear it on the list." Mark(D-Colo.) went one better: "The clock is running for the next three to four weeksand there’s no realistic chance of an energy proposal coming to the floor."While their concession is a blow to the RES crowd who is in the midst of anadvocacy blitz, Mark Udall was quick to provide them with a glimmer of hope. "Iknow it’s very much in discussion for the lame duck," he said, adding that SamBrownback and a handful of other GOP votes would likely be in play. Brownbackwarned that his vote isn’t guaranteed. "I’m not going to go along with justanything [Reid] throws in there…. I believe in it, I think it’s the right thingto do, but I can’t be cute with it." RES advocates will hold a press call at 10a.m. in order to continue to beat the drum for passage of a renewable standardthis year. Organizers are billing the call as a "major announcement," and oneadvocate tells Morning Energy that environmentalists, the clean energy crowdand labor will show "unified support for a specific, viable RES for the firsttime."

Easyto Offer Up an Amendment Seeking to Raise Taxes on Energy When You’re Not Upfor Re-Elect This Cycle, Right Bill Nelson? Amazed Your Colleagues FeltDifferently. Energy Guardian (9/14, subs.req’d) reports, "The Senate on Tuesday defeated a tax-reporting proposaltargeted at a group of oil and gas producers that could have increased theindustry’s operating costs. The amendment offered by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.,to the small business jobs bill sought to repeal the Section 199 manufacturingdeduction for oil and natural gas companies. It was defeated 56 to 42, fallingshort of the 60 votes needed to end debate on the proposal. API previouslywarned Senate leadership the tax proposal would kill jobs. "We are pleased theSenate failed to approve this shortsighted amendment that sought to unfairlyrepeal a job-creating tax provision for a handful of oil and natural gascompanies. Had it passed, the provision would have raised taxes and killedjobs, something the nation cannot afford, especially when so many Americans areout of work," said API’s Stephen Comstock. The Section 199 tax law wasimplemented in 2004 to allow companies to deduct a portion of their income fromdomestic production and manufacturing activities. API chief executive JackGerard told reporters on a conference call Tuesday that the oil and gasindustry created two million jobs between 2004 and 2007, which he called anindicator of the industry’s ability to assist in economic recovery.  "We believe at this time it is veryimportant not to do anything to discourage job creation, and to bring energycreation to the marketplace," Gerard said. "Section 199 is a perfect example."

TheUntouchables: Italian Mafia Uses "Green Pork" Hand-Outs, Wind Mandates toLaunder Nearly $2 Billion – US Mafia, Run By GE and Google, Look to Do the SameHere. LondonTelegraph (9/14) reports, "Police in Italy have seized Mafia-linked assetsworth $1.9 billion – the biggest mob haul ever – in an operation revealing thatthe crime group was trying to "go green" by laundering money throughalternative energy companies. Investigators said the assets included more than40 companies, hundreds of parcels of land, buildings, factories, bank accounts,stocks, fast cars and luxury yachts. Most of the seized assets were located inSicily, home of the Cosa Nostra, and in southern Calabria, home of its sistercrime organisation, the ‘Ndrangheta. Investigators said Nicastri’s companiesran numerous wind farms as well as factories that produced solar energy panels.The cupola, or hierarchy, of the Sicilian Mafia has been in freefall since themid-1990s, when police began arresting its most enigmatic and charismaticbosses. Salvatore "The Beast" Riina, who had declared war on thestate and ordered a string of killings, bombings and kidnappings, was arrestedin 1993 after nearly a quarter of a century on the run. His successor, BernardoProvenzano, was captured in 2006 after 43 years on the run. Both Riina andProvenzano hailed from Corleone, the hill town near Palermo made famous by theGodfather movies.

TheLast Thing Rick Boucher Wanted to Hear: Waxman Promises Resurrection ofCap-and-Raid Should Dems Hold Onto the House – Even By a Single Seat. Politico (9/14)reports, "The campaign to pass climate legislation will continue on CapitolHill in 2011 – if Democrats are still in charge, that is. That’s the wordTuesday from a top House Democrat who led the charge over the last two years topass a major cap-and-trade bill. Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman won narrow passageof his global warming bill through committee and on the floor during the firstsix months of the Obama administration in 2009. But the legislation haswithered in the Senate ever since, with Republicans and many moderate Democratsbalking at a floor vote during an election year.  Republican congressional candidates have pledged to blockcap-and-trade legislation next year if they are in the majority. Democrats havebeen a bit more circumspect about their agenda plans if they can hold on to theHouse, Senate, or both.  Asked ifhe’d push climate legislation next year if he’s still in a majority leadershipposition, Waxman told POLITICO, "If we haven’t done the job completely thisyear, we’ll continue to fight it next year through the House and the Senate."  Some of the House Democrats from heavyindustrial districts who voted for the Waxman-led climate bill are now underfire on the campaign trail, a point that the congressman from Beverly Hillsalso bemoaned.  "I think we’ve gotto get away from looking at this issue as a partisan issue," Waxman said.

Di-FiNeeds Wi-Fi; Maybe Then, Sen. Feinstein Would Know that Her Approps RiderSeeking to Ban Offshore Energy Along Pacific OCS Is Superfluous.  TheHill (9/14) reports, "The Interior Department spending bill slated formarkup in the Senate Appropriations Committee will re-impose oil-and-gasdrilling bans off the Pacific Coast that lapsed after decades in 2008, Sen.Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said. Obama administration offshore leasing plansdo not contemplate oil-and-gas development off the coasts of California, Oregonor Washington. But Feinstein – who chairs the subcommittee that crafts Interiorspending bills – said in the Capitol Tuesday that the measure would re-instatethe bans to provide extra protection. Offshore drilling bans that Congress hadlong imposed on the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts were allowed to lapse in thefall of 2008 during a feverish election-year fight over oil-and-gasoline pricesthat hit record highs that summer. Then-President George W. Bush removedoverlapping White House bans that summer as well. But the measure thatFeinstein has inserted into the fiscal year 2011 spending bill – if successful -will be a sign that the political pendulum has swung away from expandeddrilling in the wake of the BP oil spill. Congressional drilling bans werefirst imposed in federal waters off the central and northern California coastin 1982, and were later expanded to include southern California and the coastsof Washington and Oregon.

ConsiderYourself Bromwich’d: New BOEM Director Says that No New Offshore Reforms WillBe Implemented Unless Congress Appropriates Him a Ton of Cash. DowJones/WSJ (9/14) reports, "Michael Bromwich, the head of the agency thatregulates offshore drilling, pleaded his case Tuesday. "If we don’t getthe additional resources, we won’t be able to do the job effectively," hesaid in a call with reporters. "I think it’s that simple." Mr.Bromwich also said it was "highly unlikely" that the administrationwould extend its moratorium on deep-water oil drilling beyond its scheduledexpiration date of Nov. 30. He said the industry has made progress on measuresto contain and respond to spills. The moratorium is under attack in court fromthe oil and gas industry.  A reportlast week by the Interior Department said the bureau’s inspectors operate"with minimal resources" and noted that the bureau has just 55inspectors in the Gulf of Mexico to inspect about 3,000 oil and gas facilities.While there is broad support in Congress for overhauling Mr. Bromwich’s agency,it isn’t clear whether lawmakers will go along with some of theadministration’s ideas for paying for the reorganization. The White House hasproposed paying for the agency’s budget increase in part by increasing fees onoil and gas companies.  Theproposed fee increases drew criticism Tuesday from the American PetroleumInstitute, which noted that the oil industry already pays the governmentbillions of dollars each year in bids for drilling leases, rental fees,royalties on production and taxes on income.

Soundthe Alarm: AEA Study Laying Out Consequences of Obama Energy Tax Hikes (154KJobs Lost!) Generates Headlines from La Jolla to Leo Carillo, and Up to Pismo.GrandRapid (Mich.) Press (9/13) reports, "President Obama’s proposed energy taxchanges could cost up to 154,000 jobs, according to a new study released today.The report, "Regional and National Economic Impact of Repealing theSection 199 Tax Deduction and Dual-capacity Tax Credit for Oil and GasProducers," comes from economist Joseph R. Mason at LSU. His report wassponsored by Save U.S. Energy Jobs – a project of the American Energy Alliance,a nonprofit organization that engages in public policy advocacy and debateconcerning energy and environmental policies. The AEA is the advocacy arm ofthe Institute for Energy Research (IER), a research group that advocates for"freely-functioning energy markets." According to Mason’s report,Obama’s proposed changes, which would end certain deductions and exemptions forU.S. gas and oil companies, would raise the cost of doing business in the U.S.and result in 154,000 lost jobs by the end of 2011. "Though politiciansthink they are selectively targeting ‘Big Oil’ with these energy tax proposals,they would actually devastate thousands of small American businesses nationwideas well as the workers who depend on them," Mason writes.

ShallowThinking: Interior Continues to Play Hide-the-Permit Shell-Game with EnergyOperators in Shallow Gulf – Leading to Lost Jobs, Squandered Revenue. TheHill (9/13) reports, "Oil-and-gas companies that drill in shallow Gulf ofMexico waters on Monday said they’re at an "impasse" with the InteriorDepartment over permitting policies they allege are bringing the industry to astandstill. The Shallow Water Energy Security Coalition met Monday morning inLouisiana with Michael Bromwich, who directs Interior’s Bureau of Ocean EnergyManagement, but the meeting failed to produce reassurances about speeding uppermits the group is seeking. "With 15 of the total of 46 available shallowwater rigs now idle without permits, and only five permits for new wells issuedsince April, we are clearly at an impasse with the regulators. While we shareDirector Bromwich’s commitment to safety, BOEM must recognize that it cannot continueto shove a square peg into a round hole by treating all offshore drillingoperations the same, disregarding history and geological facts," said Jim Noe,the group’s executive director who is also a top executive with Houston-basedHercules Offshore Inc.

EPAForum on HF was Supposed to Draw 8,000 Protestors, NRDC Told Us – Instead,About 300 Showed Up; And Most Didn’t Even Stay for Lunch. Reuters(9/13) reports, "More than 1,600 officials and citizens were due to testifyover two days at a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stakeholder meeting inBinghamton, in upstate New York. Critics and supporters of drilling turned outto voice their opinions as part of the EPA’s two-year study on possible impactsof high-volume horizontal gas drilling on drinking water. Across the road, acrowd held signs reading "Yes to science, No to Paranoia" anddescribed themselves as the "true environmentalists." "We’re notgoing to let some gas company come in and ruin our property," said MarthaKirby, who owns 122 acres in Chenango Forks, New York, that she hopes to leaseto a gas company. "The folks that keep asking for studies, there willnever be enough studies for them," said Travis Windle, a spokesman for theindustry group the Marcellus Shale Coalition. He said deep water oil drillingand shale gas drilling had nothing in common. Asked if he worried the publicwas turning against drilling, he said: "A well-educated landowner is ourstrongest ally." By some estimates, the Marcellus shale holds enough gasto meet U.S. demand for at least a decade. Environmental groups were initiallysupportive of gas drilling, describing it as a domestic "bridge fuel"to renewable sources and away from foreign oil and coal.

LittleHelp from Her Friends: Head of Interstate Gov’t Agency with Quasi-Authorityover Marcellus Activities Attends Fundraiser for Anti-Shale Group. E&E News (9/13,subs. req’d) reports, "It seemed like an innocent request. In the spring, CarolCollier, executive director of the little-known but powerful Delaware RiverBasin Commission (DRBC), accepted an environmental group’s invitation to serveon a panel about natural gas drilling. She saw it as a way to explain what heragency was doing on gas drilling. But to supporters of drilling, it looked liketaking sides, because the panel was part of a fundraiser for an environmentalgroup fighting Marcellus Shale drilling. "They are raising money to bringa lawsuit against you," Marian Schweighofer, head of a pro-drillinglandowners’ group, warned her in an e-mail. She also blasted an urgent bulletinto her organization’s 1,500 members. Collier at first defended her attendance,then backed out, acknowledging to her critics that it presented a"perception problem." "I was not aware [at first] it was reallya fundraiser," Collier said in an interview. It was a taste of thehigh-stakes, high-dollar battle playing out in front of DRBC about the breadthand scope of Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania and New York.

Mutiny:Two Senate Dems Tell Reporters They’ll Support Effort in Approps Committee toMake Clear that EPA Has No Authority to Unilaterally Dismantle US Economy. E&E News (9/14,subs. req’d) reports, "Two Senate Democrats yesterday said they may support anamendment to block U.S. EPA climate rules, increasing the odds of its successwhen the Senate Appropriations Committee votes Thursday on EPA’s budget. Thepotential supporters of an appropriations rider are Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.)and Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), both of whom are co-sponsors of a bill from Sen. JayRockefeller (D-W.Va.) that would freeze EPA’s ability to regulate emissionsfrom stationary sources for two years. "I’d like to see what amendmentsare offered, and I’ll make a judgment about that," Dorgan said. "I dothink that it makes sense to have some time here to have Congress make theultimate decision rather than EPA." Chris Gallegos, a spokesman forAppropriations Committee ranking member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), yesterday saidhe expects to see amendments related to greenhouse gas regulations and offshoredrilling. It remains to be seen who would propose the measures and how broadtheir scope would be.

ThatWas Quick: One Week After Enviro Group Clean Energy Works Says It’s Closing UpShop, Influx of Tides Cash Allows It to Keep Churning Out the Garbage. Greenwire (9/13, subs.req’d) reports, "A coalition thwarted in its effort to secure climatelegislation will launch a campaign this week aimed at protecting what it seesas a last line of defense: U.S. EPA’s ability to regulate carbon pollution.Clean Energy Works, an alliance of about 80 environmental, labor, religious,veteran and other groups, plans a host of strategies including television ads,petitions and town hall meetings. "If we’re going to do this in ameaningful way at the federal level, it’s got to happen through EPA," saidSteve Cochran, vice president of Environmental Defense Fund’s climate and airprogram and a member of Clean Energy Works. "There’s no other way to dealwith greenhouse gases at the federal level." The group insists that it’snot disappearing. Politico last week reported that the group planned to shutdown. "They won’t talk about climate change, it will just be ‘pollutioncontrol,’" said Ken Green, resident scholar with American EnterpriseInstitute think tank in an e-mail. "They’ll move to state and local levelsand claim that greenhouse gases are pollutants that need regulating under statelaw, local law, laws affecting waterways, laws affecting species, laws affectingzoning, etc."

ActivistsWant WH to Install Carter-Era Solar Panels on Roof – And Can’t for the Life ofThem Understand Why Obama Political Advisors Don’t Want Anything to Do with It. E&E News (9/14,subs. req’d) reports, "But last week, White House officials essentially shotdown the idea, telling 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben that they woulddeliberate about future possibilities and releasing a vague statement onObama’s commitment to renewable energy. "It’s one thing after the midtermsto compare yourself to Bill Clinton, the comeback kid," said StuartRothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report, a nonpartisan tip sheet."It’s another thing to compare yourself to someone who was, as president,a failure." Other theories exist as to why the White House is so touchyabout solar panels. Some say the panels would not be effective enough tojustify installing them; others blame it on bureaucracy. The New York Times’Andrew Revkin hypothesized that putting solar panels on the roof would come upagainst difficult security hurdles in a post-9/11 world. McKibben said WhiteHouse officials "wouldn’t give us a reason" for their apprehension."They said only that the WH had ‘a deliberate process’ for deciding, butwhile it may be deliberate it’s also a little obscure since they wouldn’t tellus what it was," he said in an e-mail. As for the touchy Carterconnection, McKibben maintained that while "legend has him as ineffective… clearly in this case he was fairly able" when it came to promotingsolar power.

MatchMade In … : Duke Energy, Long-Sufferer of WH Stockholm Syndrome, AnnouncesPlans to Team Up with Communist China on Solar and Wind. Bloomberg(9/13) reports, "Duke Energy Corp., owner of utilities in the U.S. Southeastand Midwest, may cooperate with Chinese companies on power projects outside ofthe Asian country, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James Rogers said. TheCharlotte, North Carolina-based company seeks joint investment in wind power,solar energy and utilities in the U.S., as well as hydro power in SouthAmerica, Rogers said at the World Economic Forum Summer Davos meetings inTianjin, China. "Our focus is really on partnering and going out together as aChinese-American consortium to develop opportunities outside of China," Rogerssaid, without identifying the possible companies. "I say to our partners, let’spartner, we’ll conquer the world. We bring capital, we bring expertise, webring scaling." Duke gets 90 percent of its revenue from the U.S. and about 9percent from South American countries including Peru, Ecuador and Argentina.

Collateral Damage: New AEA StudySheds Light on Real Targets of Obama "BigOil" Tax Hike: 154,000 US Jobs Lost, $68 Billion in Lost Wages. AEA announces (9/13) new study on SaveUSenergyjobs.org,"LSU professor and renowned economist Dr. Joseph R. Mason estimates thatPresident Obama’s proposed energy tax changes would trigger grave economicconsequences. In the newly released "Regional and National Economic Impact ofRepealing the Section 199 Tax Deduction and Dual-capacity Tax Credit for Oiland Gas Producers," Dr. Mason finds the resulting fallout over the next tenyears would include: Initial losses of over 154,000 jobs by the end of 2011,not only in the energy sector but across the whole economy;  More than $341 billion in lost U.S.economic output; and  In excess of$68 billion in lost wages nationwide. "As we’ve seen in its 2011 budget and newly unveiled ‘stimulus’ plans,the Obama administration aims to single out U.S. oil and gas firms and raisethe cost of energy for consumers by eliminating crucial tax credits to whichall taxpayers are entitled," Dr. Mason said. The discriminatory energy taxincreases proposed by the administration will destroy American jobs and raisethe price of energy for consumers," president and CEO of the American EnergyAlliance Tom Pyle said. "President Obama’s proposed changes – which would applysolely to oil and gas companies – have little to do with the debate over offshoredrilling safety or even energy policy in general. This tax grab merelyrepresents punitive policies that are now finding a place in the sun in thepost-BP oil spill crisis political environment."

Bayou Bengal: Sen. LandrieuContinues to Hold WH to Account for Devastation Wrought by Offshore Ban – WillHold Hearing This Week Demanding Admin Defend Its Policy. E&E News (9/13,subs. req’d) reports, "Gulf Coast senators will continue their efforts to chipaway at the Obama administration’s deepwater drilling moratorium Thursday.Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chairwoman Mary Landrieu (D-La.) has calleda hearing of the committee to receive a report from the administration aboutthe effect the moratorium has had on small businesses. She demanded theeconomic impact data in July after administration officials failed to have itfor a previous hearing. Landrieu said Christina Romer, chairwoman of thePresident’s Council of Economic Advisers, told her outside the hearing that theadministration did not have such data but could assemble it by mid-September.The moratorium has been unpopular among political leaders on the Gulf Coast,because oil production is a significant part of the local economy. Thecommittee includes two of Landrieu’s fellow Gulf Coast lawmakers, Sens. DavidVitter (R-La.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.). Vitter and Landrieu shared centerstage at the July hearing and an August field hearing in Lafayette, La. In bothinstances they heard from a string of witnesses who said the moratorium wasseverely damaging Louisiana’s petroleum-dependent economy. Several smallbusiness owners testified that the effects of the moratorium were tricklingdown to them.

Bombshell: Federal Gov’t ShelledOut $216,625 in Taxpayer Dollars for "No-Bid" Contract to Defenders of Wildlife to Do a Study It Had No Capability to Do. AssociatedPress (9/13) reports, "The federal government hired a New Orleans man for$18,000 to appraise whether news stories about its actions in the Gulf oilspill were positive or negative for the Obama administration, which was keenlysensitive to comparisons between its response and former President George W.Bush’s much-maligned reaction to Hurricane Katrina. The government also spent$10,000 for just over three minutes of video showing a routine offshore riginspection for news organizations but couldn’t say whether any ran the footage.And it awarded a $216,625 no-bid contract for a survey of seabirds to anenvironmental group that has criticized what it calls the "extremeanti-conservation record" of Sarah Palin, a possible 2012 rival toPresident Barack Obama. The contracts were among hundreds reviewed by TheAssociated Press as the government begins to provide an early glimpse atfederal spending since the Gulf disaster in April. While most of the contractsdon’t raise alarms, some could provide ammunition for critics of governmentwaste. The group, Defenders of Wildlife, received a $216,625 noncompetitivecontract from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a seabird survey in the BPspill area. Both Defenders of Wildlife and its political arm, the DefendersAction Fund, have criticized Palin, a former Alaska governor, for supportinguse of low-flying airplanes to hunt wolves and other wildlife in winter.

Mutiny: Even DemocraticGovernors Starting to Join the Fray in Fighting Back Against Usurpation of EPAand Carbon Criminalization – Wyoming the Latest to Say No. Greenwire (9/10, subs.req’d) reports, "EPA is planning to take over permitting programs for statesthat can’t or won’t comply with the Obama administration’s climate rules bynext year, but some officials are arguing that the agency has not given themenough time to align with the federal program and that it is premature to forcestates to comply with regulations that are being challenged in court. DemocraticWyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal yesterday became the latest state official tocriticize EPA’s plans to bring states into alignment. Freudenthal said hisstate will not have the authority to implement the agency’s "tailoringrule" for greenhouse gases — which would require some large facilities tolimit their greenhouse gas emissions — by EPA’s Jan. 2 deadline. Wyoming wouldfirst need to amend state law, which could not occur before the 2011legislative session, he said. "I have serious concerns about EPA’simplementation timelines," Freudenthal wrote in comments to EPA."Given that there are dozens of petitions concerning not only theTailoring Rule but also the foundation for that rule, there is a highlikelihood that any permitting strategy imposed on the states at this junctureis premature." Dozens of groups including states, industries and advocacygroups have asked a federal appeals court to review EPA’s tailoring rule,endangerment finding and other climate policies in cases that are pending.

This Is Rich: Cal-Berkeley "Scholars"Say Efforts to Delay Job-Killing AB 32 from Taking Effect Would Be Bad forEconomy – Since It Might Lead to "Legal Confusion" (!) ClimateWire (9/10,subs. req’d) Suspension of California’s climate law would lead to regulatoryuncertainty and likely cause a domino effect in other states looking to limitgreenhouse gas emissions, argues a new analysis from prominent faculty membersat the University of California, Berkeley. The study on what effect Proposition23 — which will ask California voters this fall to delay the climate law –might have on the state’s legal system and economy was conducted by UCBerkeley’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment. The conclusion wasessentially this: Don’t vote for Prop 23. "Since most significant climatepolicy efforts in California are linked to [the climate law], its suspensioncould lead to legal and regulatory confusion," said UC Berkeley lawprofessor and co-author of the analysis Daniel Farber, who believes thereferendum would freeze climate regulations indefinitely because it is tied tounemployment dropping to 5.5 percent for a full year. Also on board theanalysis were Daniel Kammen, a UC Berkeley professor of energy and formeradviser to President Obama (who this week was appointed to lead the WorldBank’s clean energy strategy), and Michael Hanemann, an environmental economistand professor at the college. Both said suspending the climate law, A.B. 32, isbad idea.

This Is Even Better: SeparateReport Says AB 32 Will Help Mitigate Price Shocks at Pump – Since It WillEnsure Gas Prices Remain High All theTime. LATimes (9/13) reports, "California’s 2006 global warming law would save thestate’s consumers as much as $670 per household in 2020, in the event of aglobal surge in the price of crude oil, according to a report released Mondayby economists for alternative energy advocacy groups. The U.S. economy hasexperienced five price shocks over the past three decades in which crude oilprices rose an average of 179% in one year. The study is aimed at countering aNovember ballot initiative, Proposition 23, which would delay implementation ofthe global warming law. Its analysis is based on projections for 2020, andconservatively assumes only a doubling of crude oil and natural gas prices. The55-page report was authored by economists from three organizations: Energy IndependenceNow, the Center for Resource Solutions and the Environmental Defense Fund.Proponents of Prop 23, however, say the global warming law, which promotessolar, wind and alternative fuels to replace oil, gas and coal, will increasethe price of energy. They project up to a 60% rise in electricity rates, up to57% higher natural gas rates, and a $3.7 billion annual increase in the cost ofgasoline and diesel fuel.

Bode’s In Motion: AWEA BurningThru Every Dollar It’s Got This Week to Put Full-Court Press on Lawmakers -Demand They Pass Expensive Energy Mandates Before They Leave. Govs. Chet Culver and Don Carcieri write (9/13)in Politico,"We are the leaders of the Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition, a bipartisan grouprepresenting citizens across the nation. We convened to address some of America’smost pressing needs – job creation, secure energy supplies and cost-effectivecarbon emissions reductions. Governors from California and Oregon to Minnesotaand Maine agree that among the best ways to address these issues is to harnessthe economic and environmental benefits of domestic renewable electricityproduction. The way to do that is by passing a strong RES – to ensure rapidgrowth of the nation’s wind and other renewable electricity sources. We aretoday sending a letter to Senate leadership, urging the prompt adoption of astrong national RES. A strong RES must be the cornerstone of our nation’s newclean energy economy. It won’t mean just wind farms in Iowa or off the coast ofRhode Island – though it would expand job opportunities in both our states. TheRES remains the most economically efficient way to create opportunity all overthe country and throughout the supply-chain in energy manufacturing; newproject construction and associated transmission, and continuing operation andmaintenance of these facilities. We all agree that creating jobs must be a national priority.