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Houston Chronon China’s Energy Strategy, “The Chinese get it. We hope the [Obama] administration does, too.” Houston Chronicle (10/26)editorializes, “It’s an accident of the calendar that word of China’s purchaseof an interest in 600,000 acres of oil and gas leases in South Texas camewithin days of the Obama administration’s announcement that the moratorium ondeep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico would be ending. We take the word ofthose in the oil and gas industry who say lifting of the ban is mostly symbolicbecause it hasn’t been followed up by approvals for new deep-water wells. Thatis what matters most now, both in deep-water and shallow-water sections of theGulf, where the permitting process also has been sclerotic. It still needs tobe stepped up. This country relies on offshore Gulf resources to supply 30percent of our national demand. Which brings us, perhaps improbably, to therecent Chinese entry into a lively oil and gas play in Texas shale. China’sstate-owned offshore oil and gas company has purchased a one-third interest inacreage between San Antonio and Laredo that could one day yield 400,000 to500,000 barrels per day of oil equivalent. The lease is controlled by ChesapeakeEnergy. China’s aggressive move into Texas builds on that country’s strategy tocontrol ever more natural resources globally. Some say it’s also a convenientway for Beijing to liquidate some of its share of U.S. debt paper. We’ll leavethat speculation to others more knowledgeable. What we do know is that thisgambit sends a signal the Obama administration must not miss: Even as theChinese make much-lauded strides in the renewable energy area, they clearlygrasp the importance of oil and gas in powering the world economy for years tocome. The administration should take a lesson. The Chinese get it. We hope theadministration does, too.

World’sLargest Solar Facility Coming to California; Cost to Taxpayers? Glad you asked,$900 Million to German Company.Wall Street Journal (10/26) reports, “A proposal to build theworld’s biggest solar-thermal power plant in the Southern California desert gotthe go-ahead Monday from the Obama administration, which used the announcementto bolster its message that renewable energy creates jobs. The $6 billionproject is being developed by Solar Trust of America, a joint venture betweenGermany’s Solar Millennium AG and privately held Ferrostaal AG on 7,025 acresof federally owned land near Blythe, Calif. The approval clears the way for thedevelopers to seek federal grants and loan guarantees. The project is the sixthsolar-energy installation approved for public lands. The Interior Departmentsaid in total the projects could generate as much as 2,800 megawatts ofelectricity, enough to power two million homes. California regulators haveapproved or plan to approve a total of nine solar-thermal power plants for thestate. The federal approval allows Solar Trust to start construction on theplant this year and take advantage of government incentives that would reducethe cost of the project. In order to receive cash grants in exchange for unusedtax credits, a popular but expiring program, companies must break ground onprojects or spend 5% of construction costs by year end. The estimated cost ofthe first two units of the Blythe plant is $3 billion. The company could beeligible for a $900 million cash grant for the first two units from the U.S.Energy Department and the U.S. Treasury Department in lieu of a tax credit.”

Speakingof Foreign Investment, China on Pace to Invest $30 Billion in Brazil this YearAlone; 2/3 of Which Going Toward Offshore Oil Exploration.AFP(10/25) reports, “Chinese investment in Brazil is expected to reach 30 billiondollars this year, according to observers — a sum aimed at securing access tothe Latin American nation’s oil and other resources. "Up to the end oflast year, the amount of Chinese investment in Brazil was tiny, less than 400million dollars. Over the first half of 2010, it’s gone over 20 billion dollars– and it should hit 30 billion dollars this year," Charles Tang, head ofthe Brazil-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Sao Paulo, told AFP.Two-thirds of the total coming into Brazil this year will be invested in theoil sector, to which China has privileged access after extending a10-billion-dollar credit line to Brazil’s state-owned Petrobras, and afterChina’s Sinopec bought the Brazilian subsidiary of Spain’s Repsol for sevenbillion dollars. "China is investing everywhere in the world to ensure itgets the strategic resources it needs. And Brazil, obviously, isimportant," Tang said. In return, Brazil gets "capital for its growthand job-creation," he explained. "China needs the mineral resources,oil and land that Brazil has in abundance," Tang added before predictingthat the relationship between the two BRIC economies "has only justbegun." In 2009, China became Brazil’s top trading partner, overtaking theUnited States. Bilateral exchanges topped 36 billion dollars last year. This year,they will amount to even more, based on Brazilian central bank figures showingtrade reached 35 billion dollars in just the first eight months of this year.

PoorDenise. Big Wind All Wound Up Over Campaign Ads Targeting Taxpayer Handouts toForeign Wind Companies; Writes Letter Asking That Ads be Taken Down. Greenwire/NYT(10/25) reports, “The wind industry’s biggest trade group in a letter had askednational campaign committees to cease running ads that the industry argues makefalse statements about the program. The spots, appearing in several states,make inaccurate criticisms about the stimulus law’s section 1603 program, saidDenise Bode, president and CEO of American Wind Energy Association. The effortgives grants in place of tax credits that businesses otherwise would get foralternative energy projects. "Statements that the 1603 program sent jobsto China when all projects receiving tax credits under the program were builtin the U.S. is clearly false," Bode said. "This program is a greatexample of ‘insourcing’ jobs to the United States by leveraging both foreignand domestic investment. It is the opposite of outsourcing." The stimulusbill program has stirred controversy. The political ads target the fact thatmany of the companies that received grants are subsidiaries of foreigncorporations. While the wind farms and other renewable projects were built inthe United States, many used parts that had been made abroad. A study by theLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that as many as 40 percent of thewind farms built in the first year of the program installed turbines and otherequipment manufactured overseas. In addition, a Greenwire investigation foundthat 64 percent of the 50 largest projects — representing $2.7 billion –started construction before the stimulus bill became law.”

Sorry,Markey. Outgoing Chairman of Global Warming Committee Looks for One LastHearing with Oil CEO Before He Moves Offices; Not Gonna Happen According toBP’s Dudley. The Hill (10/25) reports, “New BP CEO Robert Dudley has declined totestify — again — before a 
key Houseenergy subcommittee, citing other commitments. “As I am sure you can imagine, I have an enormous amount ofwork to do
 transitioninginto this role and am very focused on ensuring the right decisions are made forthe future of the company and the safety of ourworkforce,”Dudley wrote Rep. Edward Markey(D-Mass.), chairman of the HouseEnergy andCommerce Energy and Environment subpanel, in a Friday letter. “Therefore, Iregret that I must decline your invitation at this time, but I look forward tosharing our progress with you on these important changes once they have been further developed andimplemented.”Markey asked Dudley in an Oct. 1 letter to appear before the subcommittee inNovember or December, offering possible dates in those two months. Dudleyalready had turned down an initial request to testify before Markey’s panelbefore he officially assumed the role as head of BP this month. Markey quicklyslammed Dudley’s second refusal to appear. “The American people deserve answersfrom BP, but when it comes to appearing before Congress, one thing BP certainlydoes not stand for is ‘being present,’ " Markey said. “If BP is trulycommitted to repairing their image and standing with the American people and governmentofficials, Mr. Dudley can start by appearing before Congress.”

More Foreign Investment, In NotSo Friendly Places. Iran Set to Announce $5Billion Deal to Develop Offshore GasField. Reuters (10/25) reports, “Iranwill soon sign a $5 billion contract with a foreign company to develop itsoffshore Farzad-B gas field, the Oil Ministry’s website SHANA said on Monday.The report did not name the company, but India’s state-run Oil and Natural GasCorpration Limited (ONGC.BO: Quote) (ONGC) heads a consortium which hasexclusive exploration rights for the offshore Farsi block of which the Farzad-Bgas field is part. "Currently negotiation for the investment anddevelopment of this oil field in the Persian Gulf is at its final stage,"Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh, head of the Offshore Oil Co of Iran, was quoted assaying by SHANA. Zirakchianzadeh said an initial agreement on developing thegas field on a buyback basis had already been signed with the foreign companywhich has already secured all the necessary permits. The announcement comesafter many Western energy companies have turned away from Iran due to sanctionsimposed to pressure Tehran over its nuclear programme. Iran has often said ithas no shortage of willing international partners outside Europe and the UnitedStates which have imposed the toughest sanctions.”

We’ve Been Talking About aLame-Duck Energy Deal for Months; Chesser Takes to Pages of the WashTimes, LaysOut in Detail Why Such a Plan Must Fail.Paul Chesser (10/25) writes for the Washington Times, “The word on the Web-o-sphere is that alame-duck Congress could enact a wind- and solar-subsidizing renewableelectricity mandate between November and January. That’s in addition to thebillions of dollars in taxpayer "stimulus" that were dedicated to thecreation of an alternative energy economy, which the Obama administrationtouted as a creator of "green" jobs. But like every otherbig-spending initiative in which Washington tries to centrally plan theeconomy, a renewables mandate will fail, just like the stimulus. The experiencein Pennsylvania is instructive. When President Obama took office in January2009, the state’s unemployment rate was 7 percent – up 2.3 percentage pointsfrom a year earlier. Today it stands at more than 9 percent. So similar to whatPresident Obama has prescribed with the stimulus, the failure hasn’t been thepolicy; it’s been that the government hasn’t intervened enough! And fitting anenvironmentalist economist’s logic perfectly, PennFuture cites New Jersey (a22.5 percent renewable energy mandate by 2021; 9.6 percent unemployment) andCalifornia (a 33 percent renewable energy mandate by 2020; 12.4 percentunemployment) as examples to be followed. What other pains do alternativeenergy mandates inflict? According to Pennsylvania’s Public UtilitiesCommission, the annual cost of ownership for solar energy per kilowatt-hour isover 700 percent more than the cost of coal, and wind energy is almost 23percent more expensive than coal. Meanwhile, state government provides morethan $20 million annually for grants to alternative energy projects, and in2008, Gov. Edward G. Rendell, a Democrat, signed into law another mandate foran additional $650 million to be given to "green" schemes.”

OutsourcingEnergy Production; That’s the Latest Policy Out of Obama Administration,Opponents of Responsible Offshore Energy Exploration.OneNewsNow (10/22/10) reports, “The Obama administration may have liftedthe moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, but it may not doenough to retain jobs and keep prices down. Several nations are stepping upefforts to become self-sufficient when it comes to oil and gasoline, includingCuba. Dan Kish, an energy policy expert with the Institute for Energy Research(IER), explains what is now at stake. "It’s not just Cuba — it’s Brazil,it’s the United Kingdom, it’s Norway, it’s Venezuela, it’s Africa," heexclaims. "Every place in the world except for the United States seems tobe looking for more and more oil — and they are reaching out and asking peopleto come in and invest money and create jobs in their economy because theyrealize how strong it is. "And yet the United States sits on huge suppliesof oil, and our government seems to be pushing investment to those foreignshores." The IER senior vice president for policy says "it’s almostlike outsourcing all of our energy to other places, even though we have it athome." "[This approach] puts us at national security peril, transferswealth to the rest of the world — and meanwhile [it] drives up costs forAmericans," states Kish.”

Meanwhile,Fringe Environmental Group Takes Interior Dept. to Court, Seeks to ReinstateOffshore Moratorium. Anyone Tell ‘Em a Ban Already Exists?The Hill (10/24/10) reports, “The Center for Biological Diversity filedlitigation against the Interior Department Friday that seeks re-instatement ofthe federal deepwater drilling ban, alleging Interior lifted the moratoriumthis month without enough ecological study. The green group’s lawsuit claimsthat damage from the BP oil spill laid bare the need for a fuller analysis. “Wecan no longer afford to have our government simply taking the oil industry atits word when it comes to ensuring the safety of people and the environment.Offshore drilling is a dangerous business, and [Interior Secretary Ken]Salazar’s Interior Department needs to take that threat seriously,” said MiyokoSakashita, the Center’s oceans director, in a statement. The lawsuit adds toattacks on Interior’s oil-and-gas drilling policy from the left and the right.Industry groups say Interior is acting too slowly to grant permits. But theCenter’s lawsuit contends Interior violated the National Environmental PolicyAct by failing to craft a full-blown Environmental Impact Statement.”

About That$7 Billion TransCanada Pipeline Project and the Thousands of Good Paying Jobsit will Create; Four Labor Chiefs Pen Letter to Sec. Clinton, Urge FinalApproval. The Hill(10/22/10) reports, Organized labor is asking Secretary of State HillaryClinton to quickly wrap up an environmental review of a controversialTransCanada pipeline in the midst of a firestorm over whether she is poised toapprove the project ahead of a likely legal challenge. The heads of theInternational Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Laborers’ International Union andtwo other multi-national labor groups are pressing Clinton to finish the reviewpromptly so that work could start on the pipeline carrying crude oil fromAlberta oil sands to Texas. "Each week that goes by in the State Department’spermitting process of the Keystone XL, a process that has gone on for more thantwo years, is lost ground for thousands of workers who are sitting on thesidelines of our ailing economy," the four union chiefs wrote ClintonFriday. The unions — which also include the United Association ofPlumbers and
 Pipefittersand the International Union of Operating Engineers — are 
long-time backersof the $7 billion project. Further, they say blocking the pipeline underminesthe goal “to
 develop abalanced policy to address our nation’s energy and
 environmentalneeds and challenges.” A State Department spokesman this week said theenvironmental review 
is expected towrap up by the end of the year and there was no 
timeline for announcing a decision on theproject.”

Newspaper Gets it Right on AB 32 BallotInitiative, “For sake of jobs, delay A.B. 32.”SanBernardino County Sun (10/24/10)editorializes, “If the polls are right, California voters are having troubledeciding how to vote on Proposition 23. We believe it, because this measuredivided our editorial board more evenly than any other in the Nov. 2 election.Our board’s own close balloting resulted in our decision to support Proposition23. This measure’s appeal is that it could save a million jobs, according toproponents, and they probably are right. It also would save millions of dollarsin energy costs, with little environmental harm and with almost no effect onglobal warming. Proposition 23 would block Assembly Bill 32, which isCalifornia’s global-warming law, until unemployment falls to 5.5percent for afull year. (Since unemployment has been that low for that long only three timesin the last 40 years, the suspension of A.B. 32 could last a long time.) Californiaalready has a reputation as the worst state in the Union for businessfriendliness, and A.B. 32 will make it worse because it will drive up costs.Most members of our editorial board think there’s no way our state’sunemployment rate will get close to 5.5percent again until state governmentgreatly reduces the regulations – environmental and otherwise – it places onbusinesses. Only then will businesses open or relocate here in substantialnumbers. On balance, the green jobs that A.B. 32 would encourage won’t make upfor the traditional jobs lost if it goes into effect, our board decided.”

Looking for Job Creation? Bradford County, PA, Hotbed of MarcellusDevelopment and Home to 60,000 Residents Adds 2,500 Shale Related Jobs in OneYear (!)The Daily Item (10/24/10)reports, “There will be jobs — that was one of the promises of theMarcellus Shale drilling project in northcentral Pennsylvania. The direct workforce to drill one well calls for about 410 people working in 150 variouspositions, according to the Marcellus Shale Education & Training Center’sNeeds Assessment from June 2009. In August, the unemployment rate was 7.2percent in Bradford County — home of Towanda, which some consider to beground zero for the gas drilling — according to the U.S. Bureau of LaborStatistics. "I’m asked that all the time: Why do we still see so manyOklahoma and Texas and West Virginia license plates?" said Frank Thompson,deputy director of the Northern Tier Regional Planning and DevelopmentCommission in Towanda. The natural gas industry has been upstate now for about18 months, and so much is changing so fast, from roads to business to the costof living there. Bradford County’s unemployment rate actually has improved overa year. In August 2009, it was almost 9 percent; that’s a 1.7 percent drop,according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Tioga County, also a MarcellusShale drilling area, has 8.4 percent unemployment, an improvement from 9percent the year before. "There are 2,500 more employed people,"Thompson said. "And for a county of about 60,000, it’s just staggering. Iwas floored, and it had to happen three or four straight months before Ibelieved that kind of thing could happen here."

New Truck Tax. EPA/DOT Regulations on Tractor Trailers Sure to IncreaseCost of Transporting Goods by 18-Wheelers; Turns Out, That’s 70 Percent ofEverything.Boston Globe (10/24/10)reports, “The Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Departmentare moving ahead with a proposal for medium- and heavy-duty trucks, beginningwith those sold in the 2014 model year and into the 2018 model year. The planis expected to call for about a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissionsand fuel consumption for long-haul trucks, said people familiar with the plan.They spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not want to speakpublicly before the official announcement, expected today. Overall, theproposal is expected to seek reductions of 10 to 20 percent in fuel consumptionand emissions, depending on vehicle size. Large tractor-trailers tend to bedriven up to 150,000 miles a year, making them candidates for improved mileage.The rules would cover big-rig tractor-trailers, “vocational trucks’’ such asgarbage trucks and transit and school buses, and work trucks such as heavy-dutyversions of the Ford F-Series, Dodge Ram, and Chevrolet Silverado. The WhiteHouse has pushed for tougher fuel standards as a way of reducing dependence onoil and cutting greenhouse gas emissions, which are linked to global warming. Newcars, pickup trucks, and SUVs would need to reach 35.5 miles per gallon by2016, and the government is developing plans that could push the standards to47 to 62 miles per gallon by 2025.”

Must Read Bonus Clip: NationalGeographic Takes In-Depth, Well-Balanced Look at Shale Gas Revolution.

Who Really Killed theElectric Car? Its Battery Pack – the One Featured on the Nissan LeafCosts $16,000 – With Very Little Hope of Price Coming Down.Wall Street Journal (10/19) reports, “The push to get electriccars on the road is backed by governments and auto makers around the world, butthey face a big hurdle: the stubbornly high cost of the giant battery packs,which can account for more than half the cost of an electric vehicle. Both theindustry and government are betting that a quick takeoff in electric-car saleswill drive down the battery prices. But a number of scientists and automotiveengineers believe cost reductions will be hard to come by. Unlike with tires ortoasters, battery packs aren’t likely to enjoy traditional economies of scaleas their makers ramp up production, the scientists and engineers say. Theseexperts say increased production of batteries means the price of the key metalsused in their manufacture will remain steady—or maybe even rise—atleast in the short term. They also say the price of the electronic parts usedin battery packs as well as the enclosures that house the batteries aren’tlikely to decline appreciably. Current industry estimates say the battery packin the all-electric Nissan Leaf compact car coming out in December costs NissanMotor Co. about $15,600. That cost will make it difficult for the Leaf, whichis priced at $33,000, to turn a profit. And it also may make the Leaf a toughsell, since even with federal tax breaks of $7,500, the car will cost about twicethe $13,520 starting price of the similar-size Nissan Versa hatchback.

By the Numbers: 18 Billion Gallons of Water Flows ThroughPA’s Susquehanna Watershed Each Day – How Much Do Marcellus ProducersNeed? 2 Million Gallons.Williamsport Sun-Gazette (10/17) reports, “According to theSusquehanna River Basin Commission, the gas industry is removing about 2million gallons of water per day from the watershed, though it is permitted toremove 25 to 30 million gallons. That is a drop in the bucket compared to theamount of water flowing out of the watershed at any given moment, he said."We have a decent idea that on average, there’s about 18 million gallons perminute that flow from the Susquehanna to the Chesapeake Bay," Richenderfersaid. "That equates to 26 billion gallons per day." Richenderfer saidthe bay is the river’s sole discharge point, though water also leaves thewatershed through other means, such as evaporation and consumption. Gasindustry usage ranks fourth behind the water supply, power generation andrecreation industries, according to the commission. The water-supply sector -the largest water-consuming sector in the basin – is permitted to remove about325 million gallons of water per day from the basin. The number-two and -threewater-consuming sectors – power generation and recreation – are permitted touse 150 million and 50 million gallons per day, respectively. Gas explorationcompanies seek withdrawal permits from multiple sources to ensure they haveplenty to use in case one or more sources become unavailable, Richenderfersaid.

Interior Design: WesternEnergy Alliance Sues Interior, Salazar for Withholding $100 Million Worth ofLeases from the Folks Who Bid On, Paid For Them.E&E News(10/18, subs. req’d) reports, “Oil and gas companies sued the InteriorDepartment today for failing to issue Western minerals leases long after theleases have been paid for. In the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court inWyoming, the Western Energy Alliance and several oil and gas companies allegethat Interior is violating mineral laws by failing to issue leases within 60days of selling them. The alliance is asking Interior to issue 118 pendingleases in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and other Western states. Energy developerspaid Interior more than $4.5 million for the leases between 2005 and 2008, saidKathleen Sgamma, the alliance’s director of government affairs. The 118 leasesrepresent a "sliver" of the total number that Interior is holdingpast the 60-day limit, Sgamma said, putting the total worth of the withheldleases at more than $100 million. Politico’s MorningEnvironmentalist (10/19)reports, “WEA’s Jon Haubert says the group plans a second suit challengingBLM’s new categorical exclusion policy. "The lawsuit is aimed at what weconsider to be an unlawful rewrite of the specific, limited categoricalexclusions mandated by Congress for situations where the environmental impactis low and/or existing documentation has already been conducted in accordancewith NEPA," Haubert said.

Boiler Makers: EPA Not Usedto Getting Push-Back from House, Senate Dems on Outrageous Stuff It Proposes– But Then Came the Boiler Rule, and All Hell Broke Loose. Politico (10/19) reports, “It is clear to us that, if not significantlyrevised, this proposal will cause the permanent loss of a large number of[well-paying] jobs, well beyond the job losses contemplated in EPA’s economicanalyses,” the trade groups said in comments filed with the agency in August. Many boilers would shut down under the new rules, they said, either becausethey wouldn’t be able to achieve the strict standards or because the costswould be too high. Some of the EPA’s friends in Congress have joined stalwartEPA foes like Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) in attacking the rules. Largebipartisan groups in both the House and the Senate have penned letters to EPAAdministrator Lisa Jackson in recent months that echo industries’ concerns,warning of dire economic consequences and urging the agency to set standardsthat are more favorable to businesses. More than 100 House members —including 45 Democrats — urged the EPA in August to consider flexibleapproaches “that could prevent severe job losses and billions of dollars inunnecessary regulatory costs.” Seventeen Senate Democrats last month joined 24Republicans in sending a separate letter that detailed the same concerns usingsimilar language.

In a Week in Which Prof.Calzada Is Once Again in the USA, Dispatch from Spain Details Just How AwfulGreen Hand-Outs Have Been for Spanish Economy.Bloomberg (10/19) reports, “Spain stands as a lesson to other aspiringgreen-energy nations, including China and the U.S., by showing how difficult itis to build an alternative energy industry even with billions of euros insubsidies, says Ramon de la Sota, a private investor in Spanish photovoltaicpanels and a former General Electric Co. executive. “The government totallyovershot with the tariff,” de la Sota says. “Now they have a huge bill to pay– but where’s the technology, where’s the know-how, where’s the value?” U.S.President Barack Obama highlighted solar energy as part of his plan to creategreen jobs this month with a decision to install photovoltaic panels on theroof of the White House. In 2007, the Spanish parliament approved Zapatero’splan to introduce a feed-in solar tariff — called that because it fixed theprice at which producers can sell their power to the grid — for photovoltaic plantsat 10 times the wholesale rate. Spain’s number crunchers failed to anticipatethe spiraling cost of an open-ended incentive, says Charles Yonts, a renewable-energy analyst at CLSA Ltd. in Hong Kong. “Spain is the poster child of howthings can go badly awry,” he says. “Far too much money was being paid out.”

We Love This Strategy: NRDCReleases Push-Poll Designed to Give Allies in Congress the Nerve to Stand Upand Defend (!) Vote on Cap-and-Raid.ClimateWire (10/18, subs. req’d) reports, “A majorenvironmental group is encouraging vulnerable House Democrats to stand by theircontroversial vote last year on climate legislation amid heavy campaignattacks. The group points to a series of new polls that show there would bestrong support for renewable energy platforms put forward by hypotheticalcandidates. The Natural Resources Defense Council surveyed likely voters in 23congressional districts where Democratic incumbents are locked in tight racesthat might determine control of Congress next year. The polling revealedmajority support for clean energy messages, versus Republican attacks on"energy taxes," in 21 of the battleground districts. The outcome wastoo close to call in two races. "The repetition of opposition messagescombined with money that’s been spent on this issue and the Senate’s failure toact has really fed into a story line that somehow support for clean energylegislation has become a tough sell," said Heather Taylor-Miesle, directorof the NRDC Action Fund. "If anything, what it tells me is if I keep mymouth shut and I get elected, people will actually support the policy as longas we just ultimately come back to it and call it something different, and tryto explain it to them in a better and different way," Leiserowitz said.

Scream IV: Actor DavidArquette Joins James Cameron, Usual Suspects, to Funnel Tens of Millions ofDollars Into Opposition to Proposition 23. Politico’s MorningEnvironmentalist (10/19)reports, “Actor David Arquette joins Academy Award-nominated director MatthewCooke in Sacramento today to unveil a new video critical of the Californiaballot initiative that would effectively kill the state’s main climate law.Arquette stars in "You Can’t Bully California," which will beavailable on social networking sites, YouTube and other No on 23 campaignsites. Video will be up at 5 p.m. EDT. Opponents of Prop 23 are clobberingtheir rivals when it comes to fundraising. Team No has surged over the lastweek to $27 million compared to $9 million for the yes camp. Several bigspenders over the last week for the no side include: the National WildlifeFederation ($3 million), "Avatar" director James Cameron ($1 million),former Intel CEO Gordon Moore ($1 million), venture capitalist Vinod Khosla($1.04 million), Climateworks Foundation ($900,000), Rockefeller Family Fund($300,000), PG&E ($250,000) and Google co-founder Sergey Brin ($200,000). The biggest checks over the last week for Team Yes came from Texas-based CVREnergy ($150,000) and $5,000 apiece from a southern California tomato farmer(The Morning Star Co.) and Ingomar Packing Co. of Los Banos.

Must Read: U.S.-Based TidesFoundation, Funders of NRDC, Sierra, Et. Al, Sending Tens of Millions ofDollars Across the Border to Fight Development of Canadian Energy.Financial Post (10/14) reports, “Like most protests, theone against oil tankers has all the look and feel of a Canadian grassrootsmovement. The campaign against Alberta’s oil sands also seems to rise out ofthe people, but the interesting thing is that there are very few roots underthat grass. Money comes in from a small core of U.S. charitable groups. One ofthose groups — the U.S. Tides Foundation of California and its Canadiancounterpart have paid millions to at least 36 campaign organizations. All themoney, at least US$6-million, comes from a single, foreign charity. The TidesU.S. campaign against Alberta oil is a campaign against one of Canada’s mostimportant industries. It’s fair for Canadians to inquire about who’s fundingthis campaign and why. The trouble is, nobody knows. But Tides U.S. is notalone. U.S. tax returns and public records show that Tides U.S. and charitiesbased in California and New York have granted US$15-million since 2003specifically for campaigns against Alberta oil and against oil tanker trafficand pipelines through British Columbia. The purposes for these grants areclearly outlined in the filings. For example, Tides U.S. received US$700,000 in2009 from the Oak Foundation of San Francisco “to raise the visibility of thetar sands issue and slow the expansion of tar sands production by stopping newinfrastructure development.”

Only Two Minor Issues withElectric Cars, Reports WSJ: 1) They Won’t Reduce Emissions and 2) No One KnowsHow to “Recycle” the Rare Earth Lithium Batteries; Other Than That, They’reAwesome.Wall Street Journal (10/18) reports, “Today, though, manybuyers of electric cars will be charging up on power created by burning coal."For modern coal-fired power plants, if you drive a mile on electricity itis practically the same as having driven it with a Prius," said EladioKnipping, a researcher with the EPRI. Another potentially troubling issue withthe coming generation of electric and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles iswhether their lithium-ion battery packs will be recycled. As it stands, fewrecycling companies will even take laptop and cellphone batteries, let alonethe exponentially larger battery packs used in electric cars. Everything inthe packs can be recycled, but it’s just not economically worthwhile to do so,experts say. Realizing they could face an environmental backlash if batterypacks start ending up in landfills, car companies including General Motors Co.and Nissan Motor Co. are studying ways to give old car batteries a second lifeonce a car is scrapped or the batteries reach the end of their ability to becharged fully. GM has partnered with Swiss company ABB and Nissan with SumitomoCorp. of Japan, both of which are looking at ways to use the old batteries asbackup storage in the electrical grid.

Isn’t EDF Supposed to Bethe “Moderate” One? New Ad from Environmental Defense Fund Shows Little Girl ina Hospital Bed – All ‘Cuz Kit Bond Opposed EPA Carbon Criminalization. Politico’s Morning Environmentalist (10/18) reports,“The Environmental Defense Fund will begin running a new TV spot today blastingSen. Kit Bond for his efforts to block U.S. EPA from writing new air pollutionrules. The ads will run throughout the week in major media markets in theretiring senator’s home state of Missouri. The 30-second video makes nomention of global warming or greenhouse gases, but instead focuses on thepotential health impacts of air pollution, complete with video of a young girlin a hospital bed. Watch the not-so-subtle ad here. Bond is on the greens’ naughty list as aresult of his unsuccessful bid last month to attach an amendment to the defensebill that would have undercut EPA’s ability to regulate carbon emissions and hisopposition to tighter standards on mercury pollution from boilers. "WhileSenator Bond’s efforts did not succeed, it is clear that this is the beginningof a sustained assault on the air pollution rules that protect the health ofall Americans," EDF’s Tony Kreindler e-mails Morning Energy. A WARNINGSHOT – "While Senator Bond is retiring, we intend this ad to be [a]message to any Member of Congress – Democrat or Republican – who might considerfollowing his lead in the weeks and months ahead," Kreindler said.

Installed Solar in US WillEqual Power Capacity of One Nuclear Reactor By End of 2010 – But It WillGo No Further, Says NYT, Because Applications for Free Gov’t Money Are “TooLengthy.”NY Times (10/17) reports, “The U.S. solar energy industry is having itsbest year ever, yet financing remains scarce for the billion-dollar projectsneeded for it to gain ground on global leaders like Germany. For the U.S. solarsector to move up from rooftop add-on technology to the scale of fossil fuelpower plants, the country needs to build large plants covering hundreds ofacres. Each can cost as much as $1 billion, a huge sum for the nascent industryto finance, even with U.S. government incentives. U.S. solar sales are ontrack to reach about one gigwatt this year, equivalent to one nuclear reactor.Globally, solar installations are expected to reach 14 gigawatts this year. Atleast half of that will come in Germany, where developers have rushed to buildprojects before financial incentives are cut. The U.S. government has twoprograms to help the industry: a cash grant that pays 30 percent of projectcosts for plants under construction by Dec. 31, and a loan guarantee programthat covers as much as 80 percent of project costs. Applicants to the loanguarantee program have complained that the process is too lengthy and murky,leading to just a handful of projects’ winning approval. “We and everyone else”need a loan guarantee, said Solar Trust’s chief executive, Uwe T. Schmidt. “Weand everyone else need a cash grant.”

Supporters of California’sJob-Killing Climate Law Outspending Opponents By 2 to 1 Margin – Promiseto Dump Even More Dough into the Referendum These Last Two Weeks. The Hill (10/17) reports, “California has become the primarybattleground for environmental activists this election cycle thanks to a ballotinitiative that would stymie a first-in-the-nation cap on greenhouse gasemissions. The Proposition 23 measure would suspend California’s global warminglaw — which calls for a reduction in emissions back to 1990 levels by2020 — unless the state’s unemployment rate drops below 5.5 percent.Currently, the state’s unemployment rate is 12.4 percent, the third highest inthe nation. Protecting California’s global warming law has become a top priorityfor environmental activists who are still smarting over the defeat ofcomprehensive energy legislation in Congress this year. If the law survives theballot challenge, it could become a model for other states to emulate.Opponents of the ballot measure have outraised supporters about 2-1 and raisedmore than $16 million, including $5 million from billionaire asset manager TomSteyer, co-chair of the “No on Prop 23” Campaign. The League of ConservationVoters and its sister organization, LCV Education Fund, have committed $1.2million so far to defeat Prop 23, the group announced Thursday — morethan they are spending on any candidate races this year.

Perspective: Calif. Leadsthe Nation in Wacky Enviro Mandates – And How’s That Done For Them? StateHas the Third Highest Unemployment Rate in U.S. Wall Street Journal (10/18) editorializes, “California’sclimate change law (known as AB 32) mandates a 30% cut in carbon emissions fromcars, trucks, utilities, agriculture and other businesses by 2020, with a webof new taxes and regulations that take effect in 2012. Governor ArnoldSchwarzenegger sees AB 32 as his crowning achievement and is assailingsupporters of Proposition 23 as "black oil hearts [who are] spendingmillions and millions of dollars" to promote their own "self-servinggreed." In reality, dozens of industries support the initiative, andArnold never mentions that much of the money to defeat Proposition 23 alsocomes from energy companies. Alternative energy investors realize that withoutnew taxes on carbon energy and mandates for "renewables" like windand solar, so-called clean energy sources can’t compete. Environmentalistscounter that "green jobs" will save the day, as if a millionCalifornians will make windmills and solar panels. California already leads thenation in regulations and subsidies to boost alternative energy, and it stillhas the third highest jobless rate in the nation. Voters are also told the lawwould reduce the state’s carbon footprint and save the planet from globalwarming. Except it can’t and it won’t. No single state—even one the sizeof California—can reduce global emissions by unilaterally taxing and regulating.

“Brute Force”: RecognizingHis Time Might Be Limited in White House, Obama and Advisors Said to BeConsidering “Unilateral” Approach to Making American Energy More Expensive. Washington Post (10/17) reports, “The president could alsochoose to use – or threaten to use – his executive powers to get some of whathe wants done without seeking congressional approval. Last year, he backed EPAAdministrator Lisa P. Jackson’s decision to enact tough new regulations oncarbon emissions unless Congress takes action. Similarly, President George W.Bush, faced with opposition from Democrats in Congress, made significantchanges to federal environmental rules to make it easier for the oil and gasindustry to explore on federal lands. Obama’s lack of a specific plan for thesecond half of his term contrasts with the blueprint he drew up as he preparedto take office in 2009. He and his advisers carefully plotted what theyintended to do and in what order they intended to do it. Health care was thecenterpiece, of course, but Obama even instructed aides to begin making listsof possible nominees for the Supreme Court. “The biggest difference is going tobe that we had a unique situation as we took office that required us to doextraordinary things that were not particularly popular," said RobertGibbs, the White House press secretary.

Moses Was Right: U.S.-BasedEnergy Companies Get Set to Tap Massive Natural Gas Reserve Off the Coast ofIsrael – Enough In One Field to Supply Nation for 100 Years. Wall Street Journal (10/18) reports, “Oil companies in Israel,led by Texas-based Noble Energy Inc. this week are expected to start drillingone of the world’s most promising natural-gas prospects of recent years,according to executives. Seismic surveys show the Leviathan prospect, located135 kilometers, or about 84 miles, off Israel’s northern coast, may hold 16trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to supply all of Israel’s gas needsfor 100 years. Leviathan follows the 2009 discovery of Tamar, an offshore gasfield containing 8 trillion cubic feet, which was the largest gas find in theworld in 2009 and the largest ever for Israel. For most of Israel’s history,energy prospectors searched in vain for oil, lamenting the country’s lack ofenergy resources in a region awash in oil. International energy companiesavoided Israel for fear of angering Arab and Muslim states with vast energyresources. Israel’s luck started to turn with a modest offshore gas find in2000. The discovery of Tamar nine years later that triggered the current boom. "Wecan say that Israel’s natural-gas needs will be covered for more than 20 yearsto come by Tamar," said Delek’s Mr. Tadmor. "It’s a dramatic changefrom a macroeconomic and political perspective.

Must ReadOpEd: U.S. Drilling Technology Aided in Rescue of Chilean Miners; Still theWorld Standard. BillWhitefield writes (10/15) for the Houston Chronicle, “A troubling discoveryplaces humans in peril, and only a team of American drillers stand between lifeand certain death. Though eerily similar to the story line of 1998’stop-grossing film Armageddon, this fantastic tale is far from fiction for 33desperate miners who became trapped 2,000 feet underground in Copiapó, Chile,71 days ago. When the nation’s government discovered that the job was beyondthe capabilities of its state-owned drilling company, it brought over Americanexpert Jeff Hart and his U.S. made T-130 drill and drill bits to ultimatelybring the trapped miners to safety. This inspiring story highlights the factthat when it comes to drilling and exploration, the United States is still thegold standard. Companies around the world contract industry leaders like Hartto drill for oil, natural gas, and — as was the case in the war zones ofAfghanistan – even water. The U.S. drilling industry’s continually improvingsafety and environmental standards set the bar for operations worldwide. Thoughrevered abroad, the industry’s amazing track record is overshadowed at home byrelentless vilification by slick politicians and green lobbies.”

You Can’tMake this Stuff Up. Any Guesses What the Top Issue is in New Hampshire HouseRace? If you Guessed Pellet Stoves, You’re Correct. Associated Press (10/15) reports, “A former Republican congressman who’srunning for his old job defended himself yesterday against accusations by hisDemocratic opponent that he created a tax credit while serving in the House tobenefit a wood pellet company in which he owns stock. Charlie Bass called AnnMcLane Kuster’s allegation ridiculous during a debate yesterday in Concord. Thetwo are running for the open Second Congressional District seat. It’s beenvacated by Democrat Paul Hodes, who’s running for the US Senate. “That kind ofself-dealing, that kind of special interest is a mistake. It’s not needed inWashington,’’ Kuster said about Bass’s association with New England Wood Pelletin Jaffrey. She also accused him of setting up a meeting in 2006 — hislast year in Congress — with then-Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman andSteven Walker, president of the company, who is married to Bass’s niece. Themeeting was mentioned in a 2006 issue of a newsletter by the Pellet FuelsInstitute.”

DNCChairman “Not Wild About” Manchin’s Cap-and-Raid Commercial; Mr. Chairman, theAmerican People Aren’t Wild About a National Energy Tax. The Hill (10/14) reports, “Democratic National Committee Chairman TimKaine said he wasn’t “wild about” West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin’s (D) TV ad inwhich he shoots a copy of the cap-and-trade bill. "The part that I mostdon’t like is fixing what’s bad about Obamacare," he said, referencingManchin’s comments in the recent ad. "He had two Democratic senators, verygood senators, who voted for that bill. And they voted for it because itprobably has as much to offer the residents of West Virginia as virtually anystate." Kaine said he knows Manchin "very well" but he hadn’ttalked about the ad with Manchin. "Joe and I have worked very welltogether, he’s been a great governor, and I think he’s going to be a fine U.S.senator," he said. "But, I’m not wild about [the ad]. "He’s ahell of a shot," Kaine joked Thursday at a breakfast organized by theChristian Science Monitor. Kaine made headlines in August when he said it was"crazy" for Democratic candidates to distance themselves fromPresident Obama. The former Virginia governor told reporters Thursday he wantscandidates to run on Democratic "accomplishments." Still, Kaine said,he’s sympathetic to the dynamics of Manchin’s Senate race against RepublicanJohn Raese.”

Who ThinksBig Green, Inc. Doesn’t Have Cash? LCV Spends $4.7 Million in Support ofAnti-Affordable Energy Candidates; Ads Cali. Prop 23 to Dirty Dozen. The Hill (10/14) reports, “The League of Conservation Voters has addedCalifornia’s Proposition 23 ballot initiative to its "Dirty Dozen"list of priorities for the midterm elections. The League has traditionallyreserved spots on the "Dirty Dozen" list for political candidates itopposes, but the group considers Prop 23 "the single most important racein the country,” according to LCV President Gene Karpinski. LCV and its sisterorganization LCV Education Fund have contributed $1.2 million so far to defeatProp 23, "by far the most money” the group has ever spent on a ballot initiative,Karpinski said. The group hasalso contributed or raised more than $1 million so far to support their favoredcandidates, an increase over the approximately $850,000 and $600,000 that thegroup raised or contributed in the 2008 and 2006 election cycles, respectively.LCV has also spent about $2.5 million in independent expenditures so far,compared with $1.7 million in the 2006 midterm election cycle.”

We Call itthe Marcellus Multiplier in Pennsylvania; Rail Industry Sees Boom in ActivityThanks to Shale Gas Revolution in the Keystone State.Scranton Times-Tribune (10/15) reports, “If natural gas drillingin the Marcellus Shale is going to prevail, it needs rail. That was the messagefrom transportation officials Thursday night during a gathering at Mohegan Sunat Pocono Downs. Todd Hunter, director of marketing for the North ShoreRailroad, explained to members of the NEPA Logistics Club that gas companiesare so far from their suppliers – and they are consuming commodities such assand and pipe in such quantities – that rail service is going to be crucial. "Withoutrail, shale fails," he said, quoting Lycoming County transportation plannerMark Murawski. Although Mr. Hunter lives and works in Williamsport, wherenatural gas development is exploding, he believes Northeast Pennsylvania,including Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, will eventually see increasedactivity, too. "We just got started, folks," Mr. Hunter said."It’s a year or two away before this thing really gets rolling." Startedin 1984, North Shore Railroad has six lines and 240 miles of track in northernand central Pennsylvania, 90 employees – it is hiring more – 24 locomotives ofits own and has leased two more to keep up with demand, Mr. Hunter said.

CAP This.Soros Funds Study Bashing Academia for Working with Energy Industry; Author ofReport then says, “We really don’t know where industry had an influence.”Washington Independent (10/14) reports, “A new report commissionedby the Center for American Progress finds that oil industry contracts withuniversities to conduct energy research may not adequately protect theuniversities’ academic independence. The report, written by independentresearcher Jennifer Washburn, looked at 10 industry-university researchcontracts. Washburn found that the contracts “raise troubling questions aboutthe ability of U.S. universities to adequately safeguard their core academicand public-interest functions when negotiating research contracts with largecorporate funders.” As public funding for research dwindles, more and moreresearch is being funded by industry. While Washburn, on a call with reporterstoday, said industry research is important, she warned that it’s important thatthere be some oversight of these agreements. But on the conference call today,Washburn laid out a number of the study’s limitations. “We really don’t know where industry had an influence,” she said,adding later, “We don’t know whether anyresearch has been suppressed,” Washburn explained that it is nearlyimpossible to determine such a thing. She also said many of the universitiesdiscussed in the study pushed back against the report’s findings, arguing thatWashburn should have examined the university practices, not justuniversity-industry contracts.”

With Offshore Moratorium Gone,But Not Really, IER’s Kish Coins New Term: Permitorium. Washington Examiner (10/14) editorializes, “Sen. Mary Landrieu waseither being diplomatic or disingenuous when she used "good start" todescribe Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s lifting of the federal government’sdrilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico. More to the point was her insistencethat lifting the ban means nothing in the absence of "an action plan toget the entire industry in the Gulf of Mexico back to work. This means that theadministration must continue to accelerate the granting of permits in shallowand deep water, and provide greater certainty about the rules and regulationsindustry must meet." Salazar’s edict did not apply to shallow waterdrilling, but, as Dan Kish of the Institutefor Energy Research pointed out, Interior still approved only a tenth asmany of these after the ban was instituted as it did before. And it’s not justin the Gulf of Mexico where Interior’s bureaucratic lethargy under Salazar hasdramatically slowed oil and gas exploration and production activity. Approvalof bids for all U.S. off-shore exploration was slowed so much by Salazar thatroyalty payments to the federal government plummeted from $10 billion in 2008to less than $1 billion last year.”

Report: China 4^th in Global Energy Investment; Only a Matterof Time Before Their Number One, In this Category, Too.Reuters (10/14) reports,“The world’s second-largest oil user was ranked No. 4 in energy policiesrelating to fossil fuels and renewable energy sectors, after the UnitedStates, France and Germany, and sixth in the nuclear sector, EC Harris said inits first research report on National Policies and Incentives for Investors inthe Energy Sector. "It’s quite fragmented still in China in terms ofnational policies. There is huge scale available there and there is hugeinterest for western technology and western companies to invest," PaulStapleton, head of Energy of EC Harris, told Reuters. "The slowlegislative process in China and the ability of Western companies to findsuitable partners and work successfully there so that they see quick returnperhaps drop China a little bit in the ranking," he said. "However,in terms of market scale the opportunity is immense." The rankings werebased on key factors including government policies and incentives, businessenvironment, forecast of economic growth and electricity consumption.”

Salazar Holds Press Conference on Moratorium, Gets a Few Headlines; NextDay, Pyle Calls his Bluff. Thomas J. Pyle writes (10/13) for the WashingtonExaminer, “Extracting natural resources is an inherently risky business,witnessed across the globe from the San Jose mining disaster in Chile, to thered toxic sludge spill in southwest Hungary. Closer to home, the politicalfallout from the BP Deepwater Horizon spill continues to loom large for theworkers and communities that rely on the viability of the Gulf Coast. Butunlike in America, the political leaders in those countries seem to take ameasured approach in their response. In Hungary, for example, the governmentarrested the factory boss who thought his faulty aluminum factory reservoirwall containing the toxic sludge “wasn’t worth repairing. Hungarian PrimeMinister Victor Orban quickly noted the culpability of the rogue actor,ensuring clean-up costs would fall squarely where it belonged. In the U.S., however, federal policymakers havetaken a different approach, spreading the costs of the Gulf spill to the manyinnocent bystanders of the BP blowout, including companies, communities andindividuals in directly affected and ancillary sectors who continue to bepenalized by the moratorium through lost jobs and income. Recent reportssuggest as many as 20,000 jobs may have been lost by the offshore drillingmoratorium.”

New Poll: Folks Support RenewableEnergy, But Don’t Want to Pay for it. Can’t Say We Blame ‘Em. TheHill (10/14) reports, “There is strong support for usingwind farms and other sources of renewable energy in the U.S. and the largestEuropean countries but little appetite for paying much for it, according to anew poll. People in those countries are also divided over whether it’s a goodidea to rely more on nuclear power, according to the Financial Times/Harrissurvey. At least three-quarters of those polled are in favor of building morewind farms in their countries — including 87 percent in the U.S. Thesupport in Europe ranged from 90 percent in Spain to 77 percent in France.There is also majority support — ranging from 77 percent in Italy to 60percent in the U.S. — for using government subsidies to fund biofuels. Asmany as 34 percent of people in Spain and as few as 13 percent in Britain“strongly” favor the subsidies approach.” Critics, though, are quick to arguethat the standard would penalize some states in the South and elsewhere thathave less renewable energy resources. There is also a push particularly byRepublcans for the mandate to include more nuclear and hydroelectric power andcoal produced using carbon capture and storage technology.”

Nick Joe Tells Local Paper that “Coalis Number One,” Also Compares Climate Change to Santa Clause, Both are Real. TheRegister-Herald (10/14) reports, “The coal industry is our foundation, hasbeen, is and always will be. Coal is number one. While it’s our foundation anda solid foundation, that does not mean it should be our ceiling. So,diversification we have been doing. I’ve used that, my seniority, to diversifyour economy. Starting my first year, when we preserved the New River and madeit a national river. That created the whitewater rafting industry. We builtupon the New River by making it the backbone for the largest federallyprotected rivers east of the Mississippi. “Climate change — to deny itexists, to just put your head in the sand and, ‘oh no, it doesn’t exist, whatare you talking about,’ is about like standing on the floor of Macy’s duringthe month of December and claiming Santa Claus doesn’t exist. Come on, getreal. There are responsible coal operators who work with us and continue towork with us, not only on climate change, but safety is another example.”

ThePolitical and Environmental Elites, Also Known and the Oil Spill CommissionHold Meeting in DC, Chastise Industry. Surprised? New Orleans Times-Picayune (10/14) reports, “TheNational Oil Spill Commission’s report on the BP disaster began to take shapein public view Wednesday, offering a critical perspective of an oil industryand a nation that was not prepared for the tragedy that hit the Gulf of Mexico,and a government agency that was no match for the industry it was supposed toregulate. "The record is replete with unrealistic risk assessments, abelief really that a major blowout like this could not happen," saidWilliam Reilly, EPA administrator in the first Bush administration, whoco-chairs the commission, named by President Barack Obama to examine the causesand lessons of the April 20 blowout of the well being drilled by the DeepwaterHorizon. "That was a widespread belief not just in industry, I think, butthroughout society, wholly inadequate preparations for containment and alsoresponse when it did happen; and a regulatory agency staffed by people who wereunder-trained, under-financed, overworked, overmatched and outgunned,"Reilly said.

Bonus Clip — Politico Morning Energy: Former White House ‘Green JobsCzar’ Van Jones is accusing anti-immigrant groups of using phony environmentalarguments to drive their political agenda. “There is a green-washing of hatethat is going on in our country,” Jones told reporters yesterday. He and hiscolleagues at the Center for American Progress released a report asserting thatimmigrants tend to live “greener” lifestyles than native-born Americans. Click here to view thereport.

Let the “Permitorium”Commence: Statutory Ban on Responsible Development in the Gulf May Be Gone– But No One Actually Believes Anything’s Really Going to Change.Politico (10/12) reports, “The Obama administration Tuesday lifted itsban on deepwater oil and gas drilling a month ahead of schedule, but it isn’tenough to get its top budget nominee past Sen. Mary Landrieu, a LouisianaDemocrat who said the move doesn’t go far enough. Interior Secretary KenSalazar removed the moratorium imposed after the BP oil disaster in April, buthe said it could take months before the rigs off the Louisiana coast and theGulf of Mexico are back to work. But Landrieu said the announcement wasunsatisfactory. As a result, she said, she will not remove her hold on theconfirmation of Jack Lew, President Obama’s nominee to head the White HouseOffice of Management and Budget. “What they’ve done is they’ve gotten rid of thepolitical problem,” of the deepwater drilling ban, said Dan Kish, senior vicepresident at the Institute for EnergyResearch. Since the April 20 explosion, Kish said, Interior has issuedshallow water permits at a 10 percent clip of its previous rate over the pasttwo years. “I don’t know what business can run at 10 percent of what itnormally does,” he said. Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), the ranking member of theHouse Natural Resources Committee, said “today’s announcement is so difficultto fully trust.”

Give Her Credit: Sen.Landrieu Sees Right Through the WH Smokescreen on “Lifting” of Gulf Energy Ban– Refuses to Budge on OMB Hold.Washington Times (10/13) reports, “Mrs. Landrieu said theannouncement does not go far enough for her to release her legislative hold onJacob Lew, President Obama’s nominee to be the new White House budget director.Likewise, Gulf State Republicans warned the new rules could create abureaucratic bottleneck by being too onerous for drilling operators to complywith, saying it could be several months before their new applications areapproved. "It’s clear that President Obama is going to preside over acontinuing de facto moratorium for months or years, with new drilling held backto a fraction of previous levels," Louisiana’s other senator, DavidVitter, said. The Institute for EnergyResearch said the move amounted to a "permitorium" on deep-waterdrilling. "Today’s announcement is about politics and headlines, notgetting folks back to work and increasing domestic energy exploration andproduction in the United States," IER President Thomas J. Pyle said."What was announced today will result in no change in domestic energyproduction in the Gulf of Mexico until Interior Secretary Salazar begins toissue permits once again. In the meantime, thousands of Gulf Coast familieswill continue to be out of work. It can’t be explained any other way."

Dept. of the Interior’s Got73,000 Employees – But According to Bromwich, Not Enough Staff to Beginthe Process of Issuing New Permits in the Gulf.EnergyGuardian (10/13, subs.req’d) reports, “The Interior Department may have lifted the deepwater oil andgas drilling ban this week but officials acknowledge that a lack of staffingmay create a choke point for approving new permits. The Bureau of Ocean EnergyManagement recently reallocated 20 staffers from Alaska and California topermit offices in the Gulf of Mexico to address the shortfall and saw somesuccess. At least 12 shallow water permits were approved recently under thegovernment’s new, stricter drilling rule. Seven applications are pending. Butthe lifting of the moratorium on deepwater drilling is expected to generate acrush of new applications. “I think we are in a better place than we werebefore because we’ve reallocated 20 people. I would love to be able toreallocate more. I don’t have any more people,” said Michael Bromwich, thedirector of Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Industry officials fear theagency’s lack of resources for reviewing applications will slow approves andcreate a de facto moratorium. If Congress fails to approve the supplementalrequest, the bureau will “do the best that we can, and if we can get someadditional staff allocations we’ll try to do that, but we’re going to be severelyhamstrung at carrying out the agency’s other tasks,” Bromwich added.

With an Eye on BoostingFarm State Dems 3 Weeks Ahead of Election, EPA Set to Announce Today thatEthanol Will Soon Be Junking Up Our Engines to the Tune of 15%. The Hill (10/12) reports, “EPA is expected to announce Wednesday that ahigher blend of ethanol in gasoline is safe to use in newer vehicles, but notsafe for engines in cars a decade or older, sources said. EPA will grant awaiver allowing E-15 — consisting of 15 percent ethanol and 85 percentgasoline — to be used in cars and light trucks for model years 2007 andnewer. Currently, there is a 10 percent ethanol limit in gasoline for cars andlight trucks. The agency will also say that it is not safe to use E-15 in modelyears 2000 and older, or in motorcycles, heavy-duty vehicles, non-road enginesor offroad vehicles, sources following the issue said. The agency is notexpected to make a decision on whether a higher ethanol blend is safe for modelyears 2001 through 2006 until later this year, sources said. The expectation isfor an early afternoon announcement, though EPA has not yet posted any notice.“Stay tuned,” an EPA official told The Hill. The official did not offer anyspecifics about an upcoming announcement.

Here’s How Bad 15% EthanolIs: Cars Made Prior to 2000 Can’t Even Use the Stuff; But Guess Who’s Gonna GetSued If Someone Mistakenly Pumps It? Not the Ethanol Lobby. The Hill (10/5) reports, “The Texas lawmakers fear the higher ethanolblend could lead to a host of lawsuits against the fuel industry, reminiscentof when the additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) was found tocontaminate groundwater. And with the help of petroleum refiners, the lawmakershave drafted bills that would protect not just that industry but others downthe production and supply chain. In one of several unveiled last week beforelawmakers left town, Texas Democratic Reps. Charlie Gonzalez, Ciro Rodriguezand Gene Green say that only the federal government is liable for any lawsuitsresulting from the higher ethanol blend. That would, in turn, protect refiners,ethanol producers, retail manufacturers, auto companies and others in theprivate sector from damage claims from use of an E-15 blend. Another bill fromTexas Republican Reps. Lamar Smith and Joe Barton, ranking members of the HouseJudiciary and Energy and Commerce panels, would treat the liability issue underthe precedent established in 2005 regarding flu vaccines on the market. Itshields manufacturers and distributors that strictly adhere to federalspecifications, allowing them to offer E-15 fuel without fear of reprisal.

Former MMS Chief PortraysHerself as Lone Voice Trying to Prevent Americans from Accessing More EnergyAlong OCS – Asks Enviros for “Some Ammo” to Make Her Case. Washington Post (10/13) reports, “On Oct. 20, 2009, she metwith nine representatives from environmental groups at Interior headquarters.She knew some of them personally from her years at American Rivers, which worksto protect the country’s waterways. The activists had come prepared to argueagainst an expansion of offshore drilling and were looking forward to awide-ranging discussion. Their optimism faded quickly. Flanked by aides and MMSlawyers at the head of a long, rectangular table, Birnbaum made it clear thatshe would not be able to discuss the five-year plan, because the comment periodhad already closed. As the meeting brokeup, Birnbaum spoke privately to a few advocates. Her demeanor changed."You need to give me more ammo," she said quietly. "These guysare here to lease, and you’ve got to give me information to push back." The environmentalist groups didn’thave that ammunition. They didn’t have petroleum engineers on staff, orindependent studies of the MMS’s inspection practices, or the resources totrack changes in drilling technology. Besides, they had given up on the MMSyears before. "The environmental groups working in D.C. never had thetechnical expertise to determine if MMS’s regulations were as tough as theycould be, or should be," said Environment America’s Michael Gravitz, whoattended the meeting.

This Is a Third Way? AEI, Brookings Unveil Grand Strategy forPursuing “Middle Ground” on Energy: More Taxes, More Fees, More Hand-Outs forSolar and Wind – Isn’t This Already Happening? Politico (10/13) reports, “With energy legislation left in tatters thisyear, experts from both sides of the climate debate have some advice forlawmakers: ditch cap and trade. Instead, they’re proposing a middle ground. Andthey think the country might have a bigger appetite for compromise after thedemise of energy and climate legislation this year. Their vision: toaccelerate energy innovation by investing $25 billion per year in clean energytechnologies. The proposal advocates funneling cash into the EnergyDepartment’s science funding, energy education, and the Defense Department’senergy innovation efforts. The authors also advocate a new generation of smallnuclear reactors as part of a larger clean energy portfolio. To ensure that theinvestments don’t add to the deficit, the authors propose a range of financingoptions, including cutting existing energy subsidies, new royalties for oildrilling, small surcharges on oil imports and a low carbon price. The authorssee politics turning in their favor after election season winds down andlawmakers begin to look for policies that can win bipartisan support. “I thinkthat forward looking Republicans and Democrats will see this as a top contenderfor an economic growth strategy,” Shellenberger said.

I’m Feeling Lucky: GoogleAnnounces Plan to Drop $5 Billion on 350-Mile Stretch of Wind Mills Offshore –$14.2 Million for Every 5,280 Feet of Installed Equipment.NY Times (10/12) reports, “Google and a New York financial firm haveeach agreed to invest heavily in a proposed $5 billion transmission backbonefor future offshore wind farms along the Atlantic Seaboard that couldultimately transform the region’s electrical map. The 350-mile underwaterspine, which could remove some critical obstacles to wind power development,has stirred excitement among investors, government officials andenvironmentalists who have been briefed on it. Industry experts called the planpromising, but warned that as a first-of-a-kind effort, it was bound to facebureaucratic delays and could run into unforeseen challenges, from technologyproblems to cost overruns. While several undersea electrical cables exist offthe Atlantic Coast already, none has ever picked up power from generators alongthe way. Generating electricity from offshore wind is far more expensive thanrelying on coal, natural gas or even onshore wind. But energy expertsanticipate a growing demand for the offshore turbines to meet staterequirements for greater reliance on local renewable energy as a cleanalternative to fossil fuels. Melinda Pierce, the deputy director for nationalcampaigns at the Sierra Club, said she had campaigned against proposedtransmission lines that would carry coal-fired energy around the country, butwould favor this one, with its promise of tapping the potential of offshorewind.

Ransom Note: Big EthanolDelivers New Set of Demands to Enablers on Capitol Hill: Excise Credits, TaxCredits, and Guaranteed Markets – In Perpetuity.The Hill (10/11) reports, “Four main ethanol industry trade groups arefloating draft principles ahead of key White House and Capitol Hill decisionsabout extending federal assistance and market share for the gasoline additive.The groups — American Coalition for Ethanol, Growth Energy, RenewableFuels Association and the National Corn Growers Association — recentlydrew up the draft blueprint offering a long-term policy roadmap for theindustry to help in their discussions with the Obama administration and onCapitol Hill. The draft principles, obtained by The Hill, feature the need toextend a 45-cent volumetric excise tax credit for ethanol that expires at theend of the year “at the highest level possible” for another year. The ideawould then be to transition to a new four-year production tax creditessentially based on the greenhouse gases used to produce a gallon of fuel. Forexample, a facility that makes corn-based ethanol using biofuels would receivea higher tax credit than a corn-based ethanol plant using fossil fuels. Thosethat employ new technology to reduce energy and water use could also receive ahigher credit.

Only Thing Cooler Would’veBeen a Crossbow: Dem Senate Candidate in West Virginia Fires Rifle Round RightThru Cap-and-Raid Bill In Latest Ad. FOX News (10/11) reports, “West Virginia gov. Joe Manchin appears in anew television ad firing a gun, while telling viewers he will "take onWashington and this administration and get the federal government off our backsand out of our pockets." Manchin’s Republican opponent, John Raese, hasattacked Manchin as a sure "rubber stamp" for President Obama andWashington Democrats if elected to the U.S. Senate and the strategy may beworking, with the well known governor trailing in the polls. In the newlyreleased ad, Manchin tries to change that perception by promising to"repeal the bad parts of Obama care," using the term favored by conservativeRepublicans to describe Obama’s national health care law. The candidate alsosays he will "take dead aim at the cap and trade bill," while firinga rifle at a mock copy of the cap and trade bill. Manchin is a popular governorand had been considered the favorite in the special election to complete thelate Senator Robert Byrd’s term. However, Republican businessman John Raese hasspent his own money on tough political ads tying Manchin to the president,whose approval rate in the state is just 29 percent according to the latest FoxNews opinion dynamics poll. Click here towatch the ad.

Rent-Seekers Who Stand toBenefit Most From Carbon Criminalization in California Outspend Opponents ofA.B. 32 Nearly 2 to 1 – With Green Tech “Investors” Leading the Way.NY Times (10/11) reports, “At the start of the campaign forCalifornia’s Proposition 23, the ballot measure that would suspend the state’sglobal warming law, opponents darkly warned that the Texas oil companiesbacking the initiative would spend as much as $50 million to win the election. But with three weeks until Election Day, it is the No on 23 coalition ofenvironmentalists, investors and Silicon Valley technology companies that israking in the cash, taking in nearly twice as much money as the Yes on 23campaign. As of Monday, the No on 23 forces had raised $16.3 million to the Yescampaign’s $8.9 million, according to California Secretary of State records.Over the last two weeks, nearly $7 million has flowed into No campaign cofferswhile contributions to the Yes effort had fallen off strikingly. With thefailure of federal climate change legislation, considerable national attentionis focused on Proposition 23, which marks the first time a global warming lawhas been put before voters.

2-Minute Drill:Schwarzenegger’s Enviro Staff Working Hand in Glove with CARB to Skip theReviews, Ignore the Errors of Science, Produce Final Carbon Rules Before TermIs Up.Politico (10/11) reports, “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s environmentalteam is playing hurry-up offense to issue controversial climate rules beforehis term ends in January, even if it means wading into an Election Day thicketwith the oil industry. California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) is on track bythe end of the month to release more than 1,000 pages of proposed rules for howthe state should curb greenhouse gases at power plants and other largeindustrial plants. Jim Brulte, a former state House and Senate GOP minorityleader, told POLITICO that he’ll be on the lookout for CARB to skirtcontroversy with the proposed regulations to avoid angering different regionsof the state, especially where locals are reliant on fossil fuels. Brulte saidhe expected CARB to either avoid key details, or punt all together until afterNov. 2. "They don’t want the election to be swayed when people figure outwho gets hosed," he said. Derek Walker, director of the EnvironmentalDefense Fund’s California Climate Initiative, dismissed the idea that politicswill prompt CARB to water down its proposal, or delay its release. "My guessis that withholding until post-November 2 is not an option," Walker saidin an e-mail. "CARB has shown a willingness to [successfully] tackle othertough issues amidst the political heat."

Red October: Chinese OilGiant Makes Big Spash in South Texas, Announces $2.2 Billion JV with CHK on OilAssets in Eagle Ford Shale.Houston Chronicle (10/12) reports, “State-owned Chineseenergy giant CNOOC is buying a multibillion-dollar stake in 600,000 acres ofSouth Texas oil and gas fields, potentially testing the political waters forfurther expansion into U.S. energy reserves. With the announcement Monday itwould pay up to $2.2 billion for a one-third stake in Chesapeake Energy assets,CNOOC lays claim to a share of properties that eventually could produce up tohalf a million barrels a day of oil equivalent. It also may pick up someAmerican know-how about tapping the hard-to-get deposits trapped in dense shalerock formations, analysts said. As part of the deal, the largest purchase of aninterest in U.S. energy assets by a Chinese company, CNOOC has agreed to payabout $1.1 billion for a chunk of Chesapeake’s assets in the Eagle Ford, abroad oil and gas play that runs roughly from southwest of San Antonio to theMexican border. CNOOC also will provide up to $1.1 billion more to coverdrilling costs. " McClendon projected the sale would create as many as20,000 jobs, directly and indirectly, and, on CNOOC’s dime, allow the companyto increase its rig count in South Texas from 10 rigs to about 40 by the end of2012. Analysts have suggested that much of CNOOC’s interest is in gainingtechnical insight.

Newsflash: No Industry InAmerica Believes Wasting Energy Is Good for Business – Which Is Why Someof the Most Sustainable Firms in the US Are Among the Most Profitable. The Hill (10/12) reports, “An industry-backed group will unveil areport Tuesday that finds a range of industry sectors are increasinglycommitted to energy-saving “sustainability” practices. The Consumer EnergyAlliance report profiles efforts by the farm industry, energy companies,manufacturers and others to shrink their footprint. For instance, it notes thatDow Chemical has invested roughly $1 billion in sustainability programs andseen a $5 billion return; Nucor Steel has sharply cut mining waste by reusingscrap steel; while the homebuilding industry has boosted the percent of newhomes that garnered the Energy Star certification, reaching nearly 20 percentin 2009 compared to 12 percent the prior year. The report suggests a bargain:It calls on policymakers to embrace conservation while expanding access totraditional energy sources – including offshore oil-and-gas that’scurrently restricted. The group’s members include oil companies, utilities, anda range of manufacturing, transportation and other interests.

Iran, Iraq Boost Proven OilReserves by 9 and 24 Percent, Respectively – How’d They Do It? TheyDrilled Some New Test Wells – Imagine That.AFP(10/11) reports, “Iran boasted Monday its proven oil reserves have risen bynine percent to 150.31 billion barrels, a week after neighbouring Iraq claimedit had overtaken Tehran in terms of size of crude reserves. The increasedassessment was partly due to new discoveries, Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemitold a news conference, adding that the figure "will definitely goup" by the end of the Iranian year in March 2011. "Our oil reservesare today at 150.31 billion barrels," Mirkazemi said, compared with aprevious figure of 138.0 billion barrels. "Our calculations are stillongoing. This figure is from a six month report based on production informationand new discoveries," he added. On October 4, Iraq reported a sharp risein proven oil reserves that it said had catapulted it into third placeworldwide, behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. It announced a new figure of143.1 billion barrels of oil, representing a 24 percent increase over theprevious level of 115 billion barrels.

$170k Salary Isn’t Enoughfor Top Energy Advisor to Sen. Reid — Dude Turns Tidy Profit Buying andSelling Wind, Solar Stocks – Right Before His Office Announces New TaxCredits for ‘Em.Wall Street Journal (10/11) reports, “Chris Miller nearlydoubled his $3,500 stock investment in a renewable-energy firm in 2008. It wasa perfectly legal bet, but he’s no ordinary investor. Mr. Miller is the topenergy-policy adviser to Nevada Democrat and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid,who helped pass legislation that wound up benefiting the firm. Jim Manley, aspokesman for Mr. Reid’s office, initially defended Mr. Miller’s purchase ofshares in the company, Energy Conversion Devices Inc. He said the aide had noinfluence over tax incentives for renewable-energy firms, and that otherfactors boosted the stock. But on Sunday, Mr. Manley added: "Mr. Millershowed poor judgment and Senator Reid has made it very clear to Chris and allhis staff that their actions must not only follow the law, but must meet thehigher standards the public has a right to expect from elected officials andtheir staffs." On May 8, the company issued an earnings report that beatanalysts’ expectations and sent the stock up 43% that day. Mr. Miller sold mostof his stake on May 12 and May 14, according to filings. On May 14, the Houseintroduced its version of legislation to extend the tax credit and voted toapprove it a week later. Mr. Miller continued to hold the remainder of his ECDstake. On Sept. 22, Mr. Miller sold his final ECD shares when the stock wasdeclining; in all, he gained about $3,200 on an investment of about $3,500 in hisECD holdings during 2008. That’s a 91% gain.

OMB OMG: WH Budget OfficeBrings Runaway EPA to Heel on Agency’s Carbon Cap Plan – Ever Defiant,Jackson Says Cost Will Play No Role At All in Final Rule.Politico (10/8) reports, “A contentious climate change policy is beingheld up at the White House as Obama administration officials spar over thecosts of installing pollution controls, according to a source close to thenegotiations. The Environmental Protection Agency was expected to unveillong-anticipated guidance this week on how large polluters like power plantsand refiners will be forced to slash their greenhouse gas emissions, but thatrelease has been stalled amid an inter-agency brawl, said Bill Becker,executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies. The“guidance document is being delayed indefinitely,” said Becker, who wasinformed about the White House negotiations. He said some officials are tryingto set federal cost caps on pollution controls against the will of EPA,although it is unclear who is pushing the provision. The EPA policy arrived atthe White House Office of Management and Budget last month but is languishingthere as administration officials hash out the details. OMB spokeswoman MegReilly did not deny the delay, but declined to comment on the closed-doordeliberations.

We May Just Clip This StoryEvery Day This Week: Calif. Air Resources Board Misses the Mark on PollutionAnalysis By About 340 Percent – And Mary Nichols Refuses to Say Why.San Francisco Chronicle (10/8) reports, “California grosslymiscalculated pollution levels in a scientific analysis used to toughen thestate’s clean-air standards, and scientists have spent the past several monthsrevising data and planning a significant weakening of the landmark regulation,The Chronicle has found. The pollution estimate in question was too high – by340 percent, according to the California Air Resources Board, the state agencycharged with researching and adopting air quality standards. The estimate was akey part in the creation of a regulation adopted by the Air Resources Board in2007, a rule that forces businesses to cut diesel emissions by replacing ormaking costly upgrades to heavy-duty, diesel-fueled off-road vehicles used inconstruction and other industries. The staff of the powerful Air ResourcesBoard said the overestimate is largely due to the board calculating emissionsbefore the economy slumped, which halted the use of many of the 150,000diesel-exhaust-spewing vehicles in California. Independent researchers,however, found huge overestimates in the air board’s work on diesel emissionsand attributed the flawed work to a faulty method of calculation – not theeconomic downturn.

Interior Secretary Salazar,On the Chopping Block in DC, Takes the Weekend to Come Back Out to Colorado,Campaign For Another Politician About to Lose Her Job. The Hill (10/10) reports, “Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is back inhis home state Sunday to campaign for Rep. Betsy Markey (D-Colo.), a formeremployee of Salazar’s who is also one of the more vulnerable Democraticincumbents in this midterm election. Salazar was scheduled to participate in anevent at a park in Greeley, Colo. “Rain or shine, my rally with Ken Salazarwill go on!” Markey tweeted Sunday. It was scheduled from 11:30 am to 1pm MST.Salazar visited the same park in Markey’s district two years ago to campaignfor her before she unseated three-term Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave.Salazar in August also campaigned for another embattled Democratic incumbentfrom Colorado up for reelection, Sen. Michael Bennet. Markey was a districtrepresentative for Salazar when he was a Democratic U.S. senator from Colorado.She is facing a stiff challenge from Republican Cory Gardner – minoritywhip in the Colorado General Assembly.

Want to Frack a Well in theEagleford or Bakken Shale Plays? Get In Line – Presence of Oil Changesthe Dynamic Completely, Resulting in Lots More Jobs and Revenue. Dan Pickering writes on the Houston Chronicle’s Fuel Fix (10/8) blog, “Thought the shale frenzy wasover? Think again. But the names are different now. It’s no longer Barnett,Haynesville or Marcellus. Those plays are gassy…and gas prices have been lowenough for long enough to make you cringe. The 2010 hot shale plays are theEagle Ford (in South Texas) and the Bakken (in the Rockies). Their commoncharacteristic? Oil. With oil now trading almost 4x higher than gas on a btuequivalent basis, players in the energy business are going nuts to drill for oil.So we shouldn’t be surprised that Eagle Ford rig count has ramped from 15 rigsin January 2009 to 99 rigs currently. Bakken rig count has moved from 88 to152 in the same time frame and production there will probably reach over400,000 barrels per day by the end of next year. Both plays rely on drillinghorizontal wells and using multi-stage fracture treatments to tap the tightrocks, so we shouldn’t be surprised that high-end drilling rigs and frack crewsare sold out in both plays. Further proof the oily shale wave hasn’t crestedyet – over 2500 people converged on a San Antonio conference for the pasttwo days to eat, sleep and breathe the Eagle Ford Shale.

Did You Know the “World’sBiggest Day of Climate Change Activism” Was Yesterday? Neither Did We. But WeWere Aware It Was Tanya Tucker’s Birthday. AFP(10/10) reports, “Environmental campaigners planted trees, collected rubbishand rallied against pollution on Sunday for what organisers aimed to make theworld’s biggest day of climate-change activism. The 10/10/10 event known as the"Global Work Party" kicked off in Australia and New Zealand beforespinning its way across the globe via more than 7,000 community events in 188countries. "The only countries that aren’t taking part, we think, areEquatorial Guinea, San Marino, North Korea, so it’s clearly the most widespreadday of environmental action," co-founder of the 350.org campaign BillMcKibben said. The event comes as long-running United Nations efforts to brokera global deal to tackle global warming have stalled, and McKibben said whileorganisers had feared that people would be disillusioned by this, the oppositewas true. "People are discouraged but they are taking out theirfrustrations in action," he told AFP by telephone from Washington."They have decided that we are going to have to show our leaders whatleadership looks like."

Rememberthat “Independent” BP Report that Examined the Macondo Blowout? Turns Out,Report Underwent Extensive Legal Review, Editing by Company Lawyers.Wall Street Journal (10/8) reports, “—BP PLC’s lawyershelped prepare its internal investigation into its Gulf of Mexico drillingdisaster, according to the report’s lead author, raising questions about thestudy’s impartiality. The report, led by Mark Bly, was presented by BP as animpartial investigation into what caused the April 20 explosion, which killed11 workers and caused the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. But outsideexperts have been skeptical, saying its conclusions seemed convenient for BP’slegal position. The 300-plus-page report was the first in-depth attempt toexplain what caused the Deepwater Horizon disaster and will likely be a keydocument in the hundreds of lawsuits filed against the companies involved. Mr.Bly, who was recently promoted by new BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley to overseea new safety division at the company, said in an interview Wednesday thatlawyers assigned to the investigation team helped "with the logic of thewriting" but didn’t influence his conclusions. "They were actuallyquite effective at making sure that our thought logic was good," Mr. Blysaid. He said the team was careful not to have its "insights influenced,even subtly" by outside concerns.”

First forEverything; Democratic Senate Hopeful in Florida Rejects “Co-Endorsement” FromSierra Club, Calls Endorsement and “Insult.”The Hill (10/7) reports, “Florida Senate candidate Kendrick Meek (D)reacted angrily to the Sierra Club co-endorsing him and Gov. Charlie Crist (I).The environmental group said it made the decision following a "detailedendorsement process." "The Sierra Club’s number one priority isensuring a clean energy economy to create jobs and solve the climatecrisis," Frank Jackalone, the Sierra Club’s Florida staff director, saidin a statement. "With Crist and Meek we can count on two serious andaccomplished candidates for the U.S. Senate who understand the urgency ofenvironmental protection and the policies needed to accomplish that goal."Meek called the co-endorsement an "insult to Florida’s environmentalcommunity." "The Sierra Club has chosen to stand with a governor whostood on stage applauding as Sarah Palin chanted, ‘Drill, Baby, Drill,’ agovernor who signed a law making it easier for big developers to drain theEverglades, a governor who endorsed a bill that would have allowed drillingjust three miles away from Florida beaches, and a governor who used pollutertalking points to attack climate change legislation," Meek said in a statement."I respectfully decline the Sierra Club’s co-endorsement."

Boone Pickens, Spokesman for Rent-Seeking Corporate America,Doubles Down on Tractor-Trailer Handout. The Oklahoman(10/8) reports, “T. Boone Pickens said Wednesday he is still optimisticCongress will pass a bill this year to boost production of heavy duty trucksthat run on natural gas, and that he won’t give up if the legislation fails ina postelection session. "I’m not going to quit," Pickens toldreporters at a hotel near the White House. "I’ll try as hard as I can thisyear, and next year suit up and try again." The Natural Gas Act, a billthat Pickens has been pushing for more than two years, is expected to come upfor a key procedural vote on Nov. 17, two days after the Senate returns toWashington for a lame-duck session. The bill offers about $4.5 billion inincentives for the purchase of natural gas trucks, along with incentives tobuild refueling stations. There are additional provisions to promote electricvehicle research and use. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, said it would likely bedifficult for the bill to get the necessary 60 votes in the Senate because ofthe way Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has proposed to offset the costs ofthe natural gas and electric car incentives. Reid’s bill would raise the tax oneach barrel of domestic and imported oil from 8 cents to 21 cents to fund theOil Spill Liability Trust Fund. Republican lawmakers have objected to such alarge increase in the tax.”

CanadaSunk the First Natural Gas Well in Lake Erie back in 1913; 97-Years Later, Sen.Feingold Urges Canada to Ban the Responsible Production of Oil and Nat Gas inAll Great-Lakes.WDIO-TV (10/7) reports, “U.S. Senator Russ Feingold is urging membersof the joint U.S.-Canadian commission that oversees the Great Lakes to supportbanning Canadian oil and gas drilling operations in the Great Lakes. In aletter to the International Joint Commission (IJC), Feingold and 15 otherlawmakers urged the IJC to consider the ban at the IJC’s Semi-Annual Meeting inOttawa on October 19-22, 2010. Currently, Canada has hundreds of active wellsin Lake Erie and allows drilling for oil and natural gas under the Great Lakesfrom onshore wells, and drilling for natural gas in the Great Lakes fromoffshore wells. While new U.S.-based oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes isbanned, seven grand-fathered oil and gas operations continue in Michigan,tapping into Lakes Michigan and Huron from their shores. "While the U.S. hasbanned new oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes, Canada has yet to followsuit," Feingold said. "Banning U.S.-based drilling is only half thebattle. With the Great Lakes providing drinking water to millions and acting asan economic engine for the Midwest, I hope Canada seriously considers ourrequest to end its current oil and gas drilling."

What weKnow: ANWR has Billions-of-Barrels of Oil Lock Within; Alaskans SupportDeveloping this Resource; America Needs These Job-Creating Energy Resources.Despite all that, 50 House Dems Urge Obama to Lock it up for good.The Hill (10/8) reports, “House Democrats are seeking stronger Obamaadministration protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a centralfigure in a largely symbolic fight over oil and gas drilling during the GeorgeW. Bush administration. The Democrats are asking President Obama for “thestrongest possible protections” for the refuge ahead of the 50th anniversary ofthe establishment of ANWR Dec. 6. “In this historic year, we ask that you grantthe Arctic Refuge the strong protections it deserves,” more than 50 Democratswrote Obama Thursday. The Democrats are also – either intentionally ornot — looking to shore up a stronger executive branch fortress againstpossible Republican rule of Congress in the next two years. Republicans havenot laid out any formal energy agenda for next Congress. They have in the pastincluded drilling in ANWR in “all of the above” energy strategies thatemphasize both conventional and renewable domestic energy production. Effortsto expand oil and gas drilling have taken a large hit following the Gulf ofMexico oil spill this summer, perhaps undermining any Republican effort todrill in ANWR or elsewhere even if they control either congressional chamber. “

This Won’tgo Over well in Cajun Country: WH Spill Commission Slams Response Mounted byBobby Jindal and Billy Nungesser; Say Both Men “Caused Serious Distractions” toResponse Effort. ChattahBox News(10/7) reports, “A presidential commission tasked with evaluating the federalresponse to one of the worst oil disasters in the history of the United States,found that ongoing conflicts between federal responders and state and localofficials, hampered early efforts to respond to the oil spill, caused by theexplosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig operated by BP. And take a guess, as towhich state and which governor made the most trouble for federal responders. Yup,Louisiana and Governor Bobby Jindal. “The Decision-Making Within the UnifiedCommand, Staff Working Paper No. 2,” slammed Jindal’s know-nothing politicalgrandstanding, concluding that “the conflicts between federal responders andstate government appear to have been most severe in Louisiana.” And worse,after “Governor Jindal named himself State On-Scene Coordinator,” his actions“slowed decision-making and caused problems in the response efforts.” BillyNungesser, President of Plaquemines Parish was also severely criticized by thepanel for his constant demands for more boom, as part of a federal-stateconflict the commission called the “Boom Wars.” And the panel condemnedNungesser’s use of “battlefield rhetoric” and verbal threats directed towards responders.The Boom Wars became so heated in Louisiana, that Nungesser “threatened toslash the tires of trucks carrying away protective boom.” The antics of Jindaland Nungesser, posed “a serious distraction that took time away fromresponders,” the report said.”