News

Bill of Goods: Choleric HouseDems Believe Speaker Lied to Them In Insisting Walking the Plank onCap-and-Raid Was Gonna Be OK – Senate Won’t Leave You Hangin’! WashingtonPost (7/27) reports, "Thirteen months after that tough vote oncap-and-trade, Boccieri and dozens of other House Democrats along the Rust Beltare not at all happy with the way things have turned out. The White House andSpeaker Pelosi had assured reluctant members that the Senate would take up themeasure. Although Senate passage wasn’t a sure thing, House Democrats hoped togo back home to voters with a great story to tell — about reducing dependenceon foreign oil, slowing climate change and creating jobs.  That didn’t happen. Senate leaders,sensing political danger, repeatedly put off energy legislation, and the WhiteHouse didn’t lean on them very hard to make it a priority. In the aftermath ofthe gulf oil spill, the Senate is set to take up a stripped-down bill nextweek, but the controversial carbon-emissions cap is conspicuously missing. Thishas left some House Democrats feeling badly served by their leaders. Althoughlawmakers are reluctant to say so publicly, their aides and campaign advisersprivately complain that the speaker and the president left Democrats exposed onan unpopular issue that has little hope of being signed into law.

The Sun Also Sets: NationalEnviros Continue to Eat Their Own In Expectation of Losing Big in NextElection, and Having Nothing to Show for 2010. E&E News (7/27,subs. req’d) reports, "With Republicans expected to pick up seats on ElectionDay, most advocates of carbon caps say they face a tougher playing field in2011."From an objective standpoint, it looks like what might be the shiftin party balances a little bit might make it harder," said Joe Mendelson,of the National Wildlife Federation. But Paul Bledsoe, a strategist at theNational Commission on Energy Policy, said the presumption that the nextCongress will be less likely to act on climate may not be accurate."Sometimes, when one party has large majorities, it can be difficult toput together a bipartisan coalition," he said. "Sometimes, when theparty balance is closer, it actually becomes easier to put together bipartisancoalitions because you’ve got to get some things done." Bledsoe said theremay also be room for compromise on energy issues outside of climate. "MostRepublicans have vilified the cap-and-trade approach, although many supportedit previously. The question is, ‘Are there other policy measures that couldgain broader acceptance within the GOP?’ And I think it’s a proposition worthtesting." "We’re not focusing on next year," said David Doniger,policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council’s climate center."We’re focusing still this year on finding a way to get a climatebill." It would be "deeply troubling" for the current Congressnot to address climate and energy legislation, he added.

Meanwhile, "Spill Bill" Releasedby House Dems Last Night Not Something Designed to Attract Bipartisan Support,Observers Say – Will Rs Take the Bait? TheHill (7/26) reports, "House Democrats on Monday unveiled their strategy torespond to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a package headed for the floor latethis week that would shore up offshore rig safety standards and block BP fromobtaining new offshore drilling leases. The bill, slated for debate Friday,also increases oil companies’ liability for damages from offshore spills. The238-page plan – a slimmed down combination of bills approved by three panels -would also give subpoena power to a commission President Obama has appointed inthe wake of the Gulf of Mexico spill, while dropping the idea of creating aseparate commission largely appointed by Congress. The House Democraticstrategy includes language from Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) that would blockBP or any other company with a "significant history" of violating worker safetyor environmental laws. The language – approved by voice vote in the HouseNatural Resources Committee – bars a company from drilling in federal waters ifit has five times the industry average for willful or repeat worker safetyviolations at its oil and gas facilities; has more than 10 fatalities at anyfacility; or incurs fines of $10 million or more under EPA air or water lawswithin the preceding 7 years.

Don’t Mess: Republic of TexasSues Federal EPA for Second Time in 6 Weeks – Not About to Let Those Weaselsoff the Hook on New Permitting Rules.SanAntonio Express-News (7/27) reports, "Texas has sued the federalEnvironmental Protection Agency for the second time in six weeks, escalating afeud over the state’s rules for air pollution from refiners and other largeindustries.  State Attorney GeneralGreg Abbott said Monday he filed a petition with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court ofAppeals, seeking to block the EPA from disapproving the state’s so-calledflexible permits. State officials argue the federal agency had no legal ortechnical justification for rejecting the 16-year-old permitting program, whichcovers 122 refiners, chemical plants and plastics makers. The federal Clean AirAct requires polluters to limit emissions of key pollutants at each sourceinside a plant. The disputed Texas permits set a plant-wide ceiling – adistinction that makes them practically unenforceable, the EPA said inannouncing the decision last month. Gov. Rick Perry and state regulators saythe flexible permitting program cuts red tape and air pollution withoutviolating federal law. In a statement praising the lawsuit, Perry said jobs andgains in air quality would be lost if the EPA’s decision stands. "The EPA’soverreach is as potentially devastating as it is unnecessary," Perry said.

U.S. State Dept. Can Negotiatewith Iran – But When It Comes to Issuing a Routine Permit for the KeystonePipeline, Enviros Strike Fear in the Heart of Foggy Bottom. TheHill (7/26) reports, "The State Department is extending its review of acontroversial pipeline project that would expand U.S. imports of oil fromCanadian [oil] sands, a plentiful energy source that is under fire fromactivists and some lawmakers over its environmental effects. The decision tolengthen the review of TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL follows complaintsfrom the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a senior House Democrat thatState’s draft environmental review was inadequate. The department is extendingthe mid-September deadline for federal agencies to comment on the project foranother 90 days, possibly delaying a final decision until next year. A deadlinefor the general public to weigh in was July 2.  The decision to give agencies more time comes after EPArecently said the State Department’s draft environmental impact statementneeded to be revised to take into account concerns that the pipeline could polluteair and water and harm migratory birds and other wildlife. The consequences of "airemissions from refineries and the potential contamination of drinking watersupplies from an oil spill have not been fully evaluated," Cynthia Giles, EPA’sassistant administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance, argued in aJuly 16 letter to the State Department.

First the Loss in ‘04, then theSnub for the State Dept. Job, Now Cap-and-Raid Falling Apart — For a Guy WhoOwns a $7M Yacht, Kerry’s Had Some Pretty Bad Luck. WashingtonPost (7/27) reports, "He fell just short of winning the White House in2004. Four years later, he was rumored to be a leading contender to besecretary of state, until President-elect Barack Obama stunned everyone bytapping his former rival Hillary Rodham Clinton. But even as Sen. John F. Kerry(D-Mass.) announced last week that he had failed in his latest politicalendeavor, pushing through a bill to combat climate change, he predictedeventual success. Rather than take up a bill seeking to limit greenhouse-gasemissions, a long-held Democratic goal and campaign priority of Obama’s,Democrats will try to pass legislation over the next few weeks that would raiseliability caps for companies such as BP after oil spills. The measure wouldalso offer some incentives for Americans to buy more-energy-efficient productsfor their homes. The retrenchment comes after months of internal debate amongDemocrats, much of it led by Kerry. Last summer, the House pushed through abill based on the principle of "cap and trade"; it set up emissionslimits for companies that produce greenhouse gases, along with permits foremissions they could trade with one another.

The New Gulf: Anadarko Teams Upwith UK’s Tullow Oil to Make Second Major New Discovery of Oil Offshore Ghanain 3 Years. Bloomberg(7/26) reports, "Tullow Oil Plc, the U.K. explorer with the most licenses inAfrica, discovered a "major new oil field" off the coast of Ghana.  The Owo-1 exploration well "encountereda gross vertical reservoir interval of 154 meters (505 feet)" in the DeepwaterTano license, the London-based company said today in a statement. Samples showit’s a light oil of 33 degrees to 36 degrees gravity on the American PetroleumInstitute scale, Tullow said. "This is a big well and a big result for Tullow,we’ve got here a very substantial light-oil discovery," said Angus McCoss. "It’sreally looking to be another transformational oil field for Ghana." Tullow isthe operator of Deepwater Tano while its partners include Anadarko PetroleumCorp., Kosmos Energy LLC and Ghana National Petroleum Corp. WallStreet Journal (7/27) reports, "Owo is the second major oil discoveryTullow has made offshore Ghana. The first, Jubilee, which will produce itsfirst oil later this year, propelled Tullow into London’s blue chip index. Owocould potentially be even more valuable to the company, analysts said. … If Owohad not found oil, resources in the greater Tweneboa area would probably havebeen capped at 400 million barrels of oil equivalent, but the new find makes itmore likely that the area contains around 1.4 billion barrels, said PanmureGordon analyst Peter Hitchens.

Off-CycleKerry Wants Senate to Come Back in Lame Duck to Pass Carbon CriminalizationMeasure It Didn’t Have Stomach to Pass When It Counted. Bloomberg(7/23) reports, "U.S. Senator John Kerry said Democrats may take up hiscomprehensive climate-change bill in a lame-duck session after the Novemberelections, while calling on President Barack Obama to escalate his advocacy forthe measure. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yesterday introduced a morelimited energy bill that doesn’t include a cap on greenhouse gas emissions,citing the lack of support for a broader bill.  The bigger measure "is not dead," Kerry, a MassachusettsDemocrat, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s "Political CapitalWith Al Hunt" airing this weekend. "If it is after the election, it may well bethat some members are free and liberated and feeling that they can take a riskor do something."  Kerry, whoco-authored the Senate climate measure with Senator Joe Lieberman, aConnecticut independent, urged Obama to lobby for the bill in private meetingswith undecided senators and at public events. "People have to know it reallycounts," said Kerry, 66. On climate legislation, Kerry said Democrats have "wellover 50" votes for a cap-and-trade program.

Meanwhile,Sen. Reid’s "Spill Bill" Set to be Announced Today Has (At Least) One FatalFlaw: It Prevents Indy Operators from Exploring in the Gulf. TheHill (7/26) reports, "Senate Democratic committee and leadership aideshuddled in the Capitol Building on Sunday to go through the package and plan todo so again Monday morning. The package could be unveiled later Monday. Themain concern with that language is that especially smaller companies may not beable to afford the insurance premiums for projects or be able to receiveinsurance at all for some riskier projects. "It’s just a messaging bill and atrap to force Republicans to vote against this bill," said Robert Dillon,spokesman for Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is workingwith Republicans and Democrats to possibly add language protecting smaller,independent producers. Oil companies under state law already face unlimitedliability, as well as for federally required cleanup costs. Under current lawif gross negligence or regulatory violations are found, federal liability capsdo not apply. Menendez and other lead backers of the language contend that thepublic at large supports the idea. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), though,acknowledged that political reality may dictate the liability should be raisedinstead of lifted entirely. "I think we ought to raise it," Kerry toldBloomberg’s Al Hunt in an interview that aired this weekend. Kerry saidDemocrats "ought to find out what the political market here [is] and the Senatewill bear and get to a realistic figure."

RealOversight: Senate Small Biz Cmte to Hold Hearing Tomorrow on Economic DisasterCaused by Obama Offshore Ban – Prof. Mason (of AEA Study Fame) Set to Testify. E&E News (7/26,subs. req’d) reports, "The Senate Small Business Committee will meet tomorrowto discuss the impact of the Obama administration’s deepwater drilling ban oncompanies operating in the Gulf of Mexico. The committee’s chairwoman, Sen.Mary Landrieu (D-La.), has been a vocal opponent of the six-month moratorium,saying it has further hurt the already-battered regional economy. Tomorrow, shewill have a chance to flesh out those concerns with small business owners,industry experts and local officials from the Gulf Coast region. "We mustcontinue this battle to end the moratorium and save the hundreds of thousandsof jobs that are in jeopardy," she said last week at a Louisiana rallyagainst the moratorium. "Louisiana families need certainty from ourfederal government that paychecks will not turn into pink slips. And our oil supportcompanies need to know that the Gulf is open and ready for business.""The economic health and future prosperity of the entire region is on theline," Landrieu added. "If we are to recover from this oil spill, theGulf Coast cannot afford a second economic disaster."

ObamaHas Yet to Veto a Single Bill that Congress Has Sent Him – But That WillChange, He Says, if Rockefeller’s Endangerment Delay Bill Gets to His Desk. The Politico (7/23)reports, "State and industry-driven lawsuits also are in the works to block theEPA effort, starting with a challenge in a federal appeals court to the agency’sunderlying "endangerment finding" that greenhouse gases contribute to globalwarming and are pollutants that endanger human health. That EPA findingtriggered the requirements to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the CleanAir Act.  On Thursday, White Houseenergy and climate adviser Carol Browner stopped short of pledging a veto of theRockefeller bill and its House companion. But she insisted that the EPA wouldhave running room thanks to the Supreme Court’s 2007 ruling that affirmed theagency’s authority to write the climate rules.  "We will continue to use all the tools available to us toreduce greenhouse gas emissions," she told POLITICO. "The president believes inthe science. He believes we have a Supreme Court decision and we will continueto move forward."  Prospects of anybill stripping EPA of its authority are uncertain in the current politicalclimate, but a GOP takeover of either chamber in 2011 makes the threat muchmore real.

TheWax Man Cometh: OK Papers Wonder Aloud if Chairman Waxman’s Crusade AgainstHydraulic Fracturing is Pathological, or Merely Compulsive. The Oklahoman(7/26) editorializes, "Hydraulic fracturing’s effect on water supplies has beenexamined for years and likely will be until the last syllable of this administration’sexecutive orders is written. Tomorrow and tomorrow can’t come soon enough forenergy executives.  No adverseimpact from fracturing has been proven. Shaking up rock through fracturing isessential for releasing natural gas from shale formations; natural gas isessential for transitioning power generation away from coal. Gas is also key(along with offshore oil drilling) in reducing dependence on foreignsupplies.  Nevertheless, some poorplayers in Congress won’t let the fracturing issue die a dusty death.California U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman seems obsessed by it. Yet natural gas is arelatively green, clean and abundant fuel.  We hope Waxman isn’t on a witch hunt. Yet we’re notencouraged by his antics when insurance firms made accounting adjustmentsfollowing passage of Obamacare. Then, Waxman waxed indignant and demandedanswers. It was all sound and fury, signifying nothing.  Perhaps the fracturing probe will alsobe a brief candle. Waxman’s strutting and fretting, though, appears to be a dramawith no final act.

SteveMufson Spills Lots of Ink in the WPost About Oil Spilled in the Gulf Over thePast 45 Years – Not a Single Word About Natural Seepage, Where 65% of Its ComesFrom. The WashingtonPost (7/24) reports, "The oil and gas industry’s offshore safety andenvironmental record in the Gulf of Mexico has become a key point of debateover future drilling, but that record has been far worse than is commonlyportrayed by many industry leaders and lawmakers. Many policymakers think thatthe record before the BP oil spill was exemplary. In a House hearing Thursday,Rep. John J. "Jimmy" Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.) said, "It’s almost anastonishingly safe, clean history that we have there in the gulf."Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the industry’s "history of safety overall of those times" had provided the "empirical foundation" for U.S.policy. But federal records tell a different story. They show a steady streamof oil spills dumping 517,847 barrels of petroleum — which would fill anequivalent number of standard American bathtubs — into the Gulf of Mexicobetween 1964 and 2009. The spills killed thousands of birds and soiled beachesas far away as Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. "The oil industry has drilled42,000 wells in the Gulf of Mexico, and this is the first time an incident ofthis magnitude has happened," said the American Petroleum Institute’spresident, Jack Gerard, who has been urging Congress to avoid imposing toughnew regulations.

BodeSnatcher: Top Brass from AWEA Marauding About the Hill Today Demanding CarveOut for Wind Mandate in Energy Bill. E&E News (7/26,subs. req’d) reports, "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spent the weekendputting the finishing touches on a small energy and oil spill response packagehe plans to unveil today and appears to be holding firm against a renewableelectricity standard despite a late lobbying blitz. The Nevada Democrat saidSaturday that the inclusion of an RES would threaten the fate of the entirelegislation. "I don’t think I have 60 votes to get that done," Reidsaid at the progressive Netroots Nation conference in his home state. A groupof environmentalists and clean energy advocates had sent a letter to Reid onFriday asking him to rethink his decision to omit an RES. "Home Star issimply a cash-for-clunkers," said Dillon, referring to last summer’sfederal program that paid consumers to scrap old cars and trucks for newer,more fuel-efficient ones. "It’s just a jobs bill that doesn’t create anyjobs, it just gives money to unions." While the provision mandatesspending for efficiency, Dillon said no one is overseeing it to make sure themoney is being spent well or that improvements are being made.

NewAEA Report on Severe Economic Consequences of Obama Offshore Ban Gets PriorityPlacement of Drudge Report – 20 Million Folks Visit that Joint Each Day. E&P Magazine (7/19)reports, "The presidential offshore drilling moratorium will cost approximatelyUS $2.1 billion in economic loss to the states along the Gulf of Mexico (GoM)in first six months, according to a recently released paper. "The Economic Costof a Moratorium on the Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration to the Gulf Region" waswritten by Dr. Joseph R. Mason, Louisiana State University endowed chair ofbanking and renowned economist. Mason said he estimates the moratorium will seea loss of 8,000 jobs and $500 million in lost wages in the Gulf Coast in thefirst six months. "The moratorium will cost the Gulf Coast region jobs, money,and economic development," he said. "In fact, the moratorium could be morecostly than the oil spill itself." The study, sponsored by Save US Energy Jobs -a project of the American Energy Alliance – also focuses on the spillovereffect the moratorium will have on other job sectors such as mining,transportation, warehousing, wholesale and retail trade, health care,entertainment, education, and waste management. Texas will see a decrease ofapproximately 2,492 jobs, and Louisiana will see a decrease of approximately4,719 jobs. You can downloada copy of Dr. Mason’s report on the AEA website.

SinoSurprise: Everyone Always Knew China Would Overtake USA As World’s LargestEnergy Consumer – But 10 Years Ahead of Schedule? Really, China? WallStreet Journal (7/19) reports, "China has passed the U.S. to become theworld’s biggest energy consumer, according to new data from the InternationalEnergy Agency, a milestone that reflects both China’s decades-long burst ofeconomic growth and its rapidly expanding clout as an industrial giant. China’sascent marks "a new age in the history of energy," IEA chiefeconomist Fatih Birol said in an interview. The country’s surging appetite hastransformed global energy markets and propped up prices of oil and coal inrecent years, and its continued growth stands to have long-term implicationsfor U.S. energy security. The Paris-based IEA, energy adviser to most of theworld’s biggest economies, said China consumed 2.252 billion tons of oilequivalent last year, about 4% more than the U.S., which burned through 2.170billion tons of oil equivalent. The oil-equivalent metric represents all formsof energy consumed, including crude oil, nuclear power, coal, natural gas andrenewable sources such as hydropower. China, meanwhile, disputed the IEAfigures, but didn’t offer alternative data, according to Zhou Xian,spokesperson for China’s top energy agency. China overtook the U.S. atbreakneck pace. China’s total energy consumption was just half that of the U.S.10 years ago, but in many of the years since, China saw annual double-digitgrowth rates.

"Closed-Door"Meetings Among Hard-Core Enviros, Stockholm Syndrome Suffering Utilities, YieldNo Progress on Cap-and-Raid. Politico (7/19)reports, "Sen. John Kerry led more closed-door talks on Monday with topelectric utility and environmental officials in the search for a sweet spot ona bill capping greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants.  Edison Electric Institute President TomKuhn, Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp and David Hawkins, headof the Natural Resources Defense Council’s climate center, huddled for about anhour in the Massachusetts Democrat’s Senate office.  All three declined comment as they left the meeting withKerry, a lead author with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) of legislation thatwould set the first mandatory limit on carbon dioxide emissions from powerplants. Krupp and Hawkins spent several hours last week negotiating with ahandful of big U.S. power companies – including Duke Energy Corp., Exelon andPG&E – on the remaining sticking points related to a power plant-firstclimate bill.

AutoCompanies Want Sen. Stabenow to Drop an LCFS Into Reid’s Climate Bill, ForcingRefiners to Prop Up Things Like the Chevy Volt – Today, the Good Guys SwingBack. TheHill (7/20) reports, "Our families are struggling, but unfortunately it’sbusiness as usual in Washington," according to a 60-second radio ad sponsoredby the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) and running in four Midwestern states.The "latest bright idea" from Congress is a low-carbon fuel standard, accordingto the ad. Auto companies and the autoworkers union are pushing such astandard. CEA’s radio campaign cites unnamed studies that claim a standardwould cost consumers up to $2,000 annually and increase gas prices at the pumpby up to 170 percent.  Thecoalition funded a recent studyby Charles River Associates that contended a low-carbon fuels standard startingin 2015 and reducing the carbon intensity of transportation fuels by 10 percentafter that would increase transportation fuels to consumers by 90 to 170percent by 2025.  A low-carbonstandard would also "further damage our ailing economy" and kill up to 1.1million jobs and "10s of billions of dollars" in economic investment in theMidwest, according to the coalition’s ad. "Low-carbon fuel standards may soundlike a good idea, but as usual Congress wants you to pay the price," accordingto the ad.

SeeHow They Run: Autos DENY They’re Working with Stabenow on LCFS Provision forClimate Bill, a Direct Contradiction to What Debbie Told Darren GoodeYesterday. E&E News (7/20,subs. req’d) reports, "Charles Territo, a spokesman for the Alliance ofAutomobile Manufacturers, which represents Detroit’s Big Three, Toyota MotorCo. and a handful of other carmakers, refuted unsourced reports from Politicoand The Hill that the industry is working closely with Sen. Debbie Stabenow(D-Mich.) to craft and push such legislation. "[W]hile we strongly believethat any policy aimed at enhancing energy security and reducing greenhouse gas emissionsneeds to include not only autos, but also fuels and consumers, at this time thealliance is NOT advocating for a low carbon fuels standard to be included inthe [S]enate energy bill," Territo said in an e-mail. Consumer EnergyAlliance — a coalition that includes oil and gas companies and the U.S.Chamber of Commerce — will launch a two-week television and radio campaigntoday in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Minnesota that the group says is designedto bring public attention to the issue. "Our families are struggling, butunfortunately it’s business as usual in Washington," the ad opens."The politicians’ latest bright idea: new energy regulations calledlow-carbon fuel standards that will cost you up to $2,000 per year."

"We’reLooking for Pay-Fors": House Ways and Means Searching High and Low to Find anExtra $22 Billion of Your Tax Dollars to Throw Down "Green Jobs" Rat Hole. E&E News (7/20,subs. req’d) reports, "The question of how to pay for an approximately $22billion "green jobs" bill continues to plague House Democrats and maydelay the markup of the bill this week. "We are working on thepay-fors," House Ways and Means Chairman Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) told reportersafter a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) yesterday. The WhiteHouse and Democrats are hoping to add the measure to their ammunition of jobcreation bills before the midterm elections in November. Levin could not give adefinite timeline for the markup of the bill, which may mean it could bepostponed until after the August recess. Last week Levin indicated it would bethis week. At a White House meeting scheduled for later today, administrationofficials are expected to meet with community leaders, stakeholders and energyexperts from the federal government to talk about the administration’s effortsto boost a "clean energy economy," including building efficiency, andthe House Ways and Means green jobs bill. The green jobs package includes severaltop energy priorities for Democrats, including expanding and uncapping a 30percent tax incentive for "clean energy" manufacturing companies,energy efficiency tax credits and a more controversial one-year extension of anethanol tax credit that expires this year, according to a draft summarycirculated last week. But paying for the bill is tricky.

NOAA’sArc: WH Seizes Opportunity with the Spill, Announces Sweeping New Oceans PolicyDesigned to Restrict Access to Energy, Fishing, Fun, Etc.  E&E News (7/19,subs. req’d) reports, "The Obama administration set a new policy in motiontoday intended to improve coordination among federal and state agencies on theuse of the Great Lakes and coastal and deep ocean waters for activities rangingfrom recreation, fishing to energy development. The final recommendations froma task force of federal agencies officials call for a National Ocean Councilthat would seek to make sense of the hundreds of different laws affecting theoceans and unify the diverse federal agencies that can have some effect on theGreat Lakes and marine waters. "This sets us on a new path towardscomprehensive planning," said White House Council on Environmental QualityChairwoman Nancy Sutley. President Obama is expected to sign an executive ordertoday backing the plan, Sutley said. "These final recommendations willsignificantly impact the economic and recreational uses of our oceans, oceanlands and potentially all rivers, tributaries and lands that drain or adjoinour oceans," said Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), ranking member of the HouseNatural Resources Committee. For more information on why CEQ’s oceans policy isa cold-blooded economic killer, visitthe National Ocean Policy Coalition website.

JudgeWho Stepped Up to Reject Obama Offshore Ban Refuses to Step Down After BeingTargeted by National Enviro Groups. AssociatedPress (7/19) reports, "A federal judge who overturned the Obamaadministration’s initial six-month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling hasrefused to disqualify himself from the case. Several environmental groups hadasked U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman to withdraw from the case because ofhis investments in several oil and gas companies. Feldman refused in an orderissued Friday and posted Monday. Earlier this month, a federal appeals courtrejected the government’s bid to restore its temporary ban on issuing newpermits for deepwater drilling and suspension of 33 existing drilling projectsin the Gulf of Mexico. The Justice Department later issued a new moratoriumthat it hopes will pass muster with the courts.

Hot off thePress:  New AEA Study Finds that ObamaOffshore Moratorium to Cost $2.8 Billion. Politico MorningEnergy (7/19) has the scoop, "Lookfor the oil industry and friends to tout a study coming out today by LouisianaState University financial expert Joseph R. Mason. Mason’s paper, "The EconomicCost of a Moratorium on Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration to the Gulf Region,"concludes that the U.S. will see a loss of about $2.8 billion in economicactivity – $2.1 billion of which will come from the Gulf coast region – as aresult of the first six months of the administration’s offshore drillingmoratorium. Mason is the LBA Chair of Banking at the Ourso School of Businessat LSU and a Senior Fellow at the Wharton School. However, the study is notsponsored by either institution, but by the American Energy Alliance, theadvocacy arm of the Institute for Energy Research, both of which are closelyaffiliated with the fossil fuel industry, and have been vocal advocates ofincreased drilling." Check out the AmericanEnergy Alliance website later this afternoon for the full report.

NewlyMinted Mountaineer Senator Comes out Swinging Against Carbon Caps. TheHill (7/16) reports, "West Virginia’s newlyappointed senator signaled Friday that he’s unlikely to support climate changelegislation, dealing a fresh blow to advocates seeking a spot for emissionscaps in a broader energy bill. Carte Goodwin – who West Virginia Gov. JoeManchin (D) appointed as an interim replacement for the late Sen. Robert Byrd(D) – said at a news conference that he was "reluctant" to discuss specificlegislation. But he added: "From what I’ve seen of the Waxman-Markey bill thatpassed the House of Representatives and other proposals pending in the Senate,they simply are not right for West Virginia." Waxman-Markey refers to thesweeping climate bill the House narrowly approved in 2009. His stance appearsto be a setback for Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), whoare shopping a scaled-back climate plan that would impose emissions curbs onelectric power plants. Byrd, while a longstanding defender of his state’s coalindustry, had in recent years moved to the left on climate and had been viewedas a swing vote on a global warming bill. Goodwin has close ties to Manchin,who opposes mandatory emissions curbs, and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), whohas also expressed skepticism and recently called on the Senate to abandon climatelegislation this year."

History.  China Passes USA as World’s LargestConsumer of Energy; Ends 100 Year Rein. WallStreet Journal (7/19) reports, "Powered by years of rapid economic growth,China is now the world’s biggest energy consumer, knocking the U.S. off a perchit held for more than a century, according to new data from the InternationalEnergy Agency,The Paris-based agency, whose forecasts are generally regarded asbellwether indicators for the energy industry, said China devoured a total of2,252 million tons of oil equivalent last year, or about 4% more than the U.S.,which burned through 2,170 million tons of oil equivalent.  The oil-equivalent metric representsall forms of energy consumed, including crude oil, nuclear, coal, natural gasand renewable sources such as hydropower. "Thefact that China overtook the U.S. as the world’s largest energy consumersymbolizes the start of a new age in the history of energy"," IEAchief economist Fatih Birol said in an interview.  The U.S. had been the biggest overall energy consumer sincethe early 1900s, he said. The IEA is an energy adviser to most of the world’sbiggest economies. China’s voracious energy demand helps explain why thecountry – which gets most of its electricity from coal, the dirtiest of fossilfuel resources – passed the U.S. in 2007 as the world’s largest emitter ofcarbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases." The WashingtonPost also reports.

Saw this cominga Mile Away:  With AmericansOpposed to Cap-and-Trade, Harry Reid Proclaims, "Those words are not in myvocabulary," Yet Presses Forward with Carbon Criminalization. Politico (7/19)reports, "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid played dumb last week when areporter asked him if the energy and climate bill headed to the floor wouldcome with a "cap" on greenhouse gas emissions. "I don’t use that," the NevadaDemocrat replied. "Those words are not in my vocabulary. We’re going to work onpollution." Moments earlier, Reid had confirmed he was trying to craftlegislation targeting the heat-trapping pollution that comes from power plants.But he’s determined to win the war of words when it comes to a carbon cap – andthat means losing the lexicon attached to past climate battles. Gone, in theDemocrat’s mind, are the terms "cap" and "cap and trade," which are synonymouswith last June’s House-passed climate bill as well as other existingenvironmental policies for curbing traditional air pollutants. In their placeare new slogans recommended by prominent pollsters (and even a neuroscientist)that Reid and allies hope they can use to overcome the long-shot prospects forpassing climate legislation."

Quick TicketHome: Freshman Dem Senator’s Come out in Support of a National Energy Tax. TheHill (7/16) reports, "Freshmen Senate Democrats are pushing legislationthat prices industrial greenhouse gas emissions as part of a broader package ofenergy and climate initiatives. All 12 in the current freshmen Democratic class- in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) Friday – say aprice on carbon emissions is needed in order to provide market certainty andkeep pace with major developing countries like China and India. Their call fora "polluter pays" approach to climate change echoes that of Democratic leaderslooking to strike a deal on a first-time carbon-pricing program focusing onelectric utilities. Environmental groups and electric utility companies havebeen meeting to try to reach a consensus that could be used by SenateDemocratic leaders as a way to attract centrists in both parties. The Senatefreshmen do not specify the scope of a carbon cap but they do address concerns thathave been raised by manufacturers and other major industrial electricityconsumers about a utility-focused plan raising their production costs andsending jobs overseas."

Why rewrite agood Headline?  "Obama using oil spill to impose an energy tax." Senate Republican Leader MitchMcConnell writes (7/19) in the LexingtonHerald Leader. "The July 7 editorial hitsprecisely the wrong note once again. The tragedy of the gulf oil spill demandsthat our government’s top priority must be stopping the leak and cleaning upthe damage it has caused. But this paper, along with President Barack Obama andthe liberal Democrats who control Washington, see it as a chance to jam througha new national energy tax that has been at the top of liberals’ wish list foryears – long before the Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank. Most Americansknow that this national energy tax – sometimes called "cap and trade"- will hit them every time they fill up their car or flip a switch to turn on alight bulb. And because Kentucky is rich in coal and other natural resources,most Kentuckians understand that a national energy tax will hit our state muchworse than most. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Take it fromKentuckians in every corner of the state, urban and rural, Republican andDemocrat, those directly impacted and those who would feel it indirectly aswell: A national energy tax would hurt their livelihoods, their businesses andtheir families."

New Report:Alaska Dept. of Environmental Conservation Denial of "Open Burn" Permits in ’89Valdez Accident Compounded Enviro. Damage.  Petroleum News(7/18) reports, "Exxon Corp. wanted to burn freshly spilled oil from the 1989tanker spill in Prince William Sound, but a slow response by the AlaskaDepartment of Environmental Conservation blew the opportunity to destroy almostall the oil and save thousands of birds and animals and 1,300 miles of pristineshoreline. "We wanted to burn it, and use dispersant around the edges," said along-time, reliable Petroleum News source who was working for Exxon in Alaskaat the time and has only recently agreed to go on the record. But in order toburn the oil Exxon needed an open burn permit from the Alaska Department ofEnvironmental Conservation, or ADEC. The longer the oil was exposed to thewater, however, the harder it would be to burn. Time was of the essence. PrinceWilliam Sound weather was known for being finicky and brutal. Weather reportsshowed a storm moving in. Exxon was in a race against the clock and the clouds.It asked ADEC for a permit to burn all the spilled oil. Rather than issuing anopen burn permit, ADEC Commissioner Dennis Kelso, part of Democrat Gov. SteveCowper’s administration, demanded Exxon conduct a test burn to demonstrate theeffectiveness of in-situ burning. "Kelso required test burning; Exxon did itand it worked," the source told Petroleum News in a June 2010 interview."

"BrownDog" Democrats Giving White House Heartburn on Carbon Criminalization. Politico (7/16)reports, "President Barack Obama’s next big legislative priority – acomprehensive energy and climate bill – sits in limbo in no small part becauseof wavering senators from his own party. About a dozen Democrats – from theGreat Plains, Midwest, Appalachia and the South – continue to resist the ideaof putting a cap on greenhouse gas emissions. And despite months of legwork bythe president’s Senate allies, few of these so-called Brown Dogs are biting.Election-year concerns, fueled by GOP labels of a "national energy tax" andpublic angst over expansive government, have many moderate Democrats holdingtightly to the fence, unwilling to commit to the White House agenda when itcomes to tackling global warming. "I think it’s still a work in progress," saidMissouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, who worries that a cap would be a loser forDemocrats in November. "You know, it took 50 years on health care." SenateMajority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is spending the next week working throughvarious proposals on energy and climate change with a goal of starting floordebate as early as the week of July 26. But garnering 60 votes on a plan thatcaps emissions is a major challenge as long as Democrats such as McCaskill fearthe electoral consequences."

WithSome Good News Out of the Gulf, Only a Matter of Time Before Anti-EnergyAdvocates Find New Line of Attack on Affordable, Reliable, Efficient Energy. NYTimes (7/16) reports, "The hemorrhaging well that has spilled millions ofgallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico remained capped for a second day Friday,providing some hope of a long-term solution to the environmental disaster. Livevideo from the seabed Friday morning showed that all was quiet around the topof the well, suggesting the test assessing the integrity of the well wascontinuing. Earlier in the week, Kent Wells, a senior vice president for BP,had said that the longer the test continued the better, because it wouldindicate that the pressure inside the well was holding. The oil stopped flowingaround 2:25 p.m. Thursday when the last of several valves was closed on a capat the top of the well, Mr. Wells said. Mr. Wells emphasized that pressuretests were being conducted to determine the status of the well, which is nowsealed like a soda bottle. BP and the government could decide to allow the oilto flow again and try to collect all of it; they could allow the oil to flowand, if tests show the well can withstand the pressure from the cap, close thewell during hurricanes; or they could leave the well closed permanently."

W&M Committee Gearing up ForAnother Round of "Green" Job Handouts, What’s Another Couple Billion Down the "Green"Drain? The Hill (7/15) reports, "A draft of the Ways and Means green energy jobs billcosting approximately $22 billion surfaced in the Capitol and along K Street onThursday. The draft is by no means the bill that Ways and Means Chairman SandyLevin (D-Mich.) hopes to mark up next week, but rather a list of ideas thatcould be incorporated in the final legislation. Under the draft, tax creditswould be awarded for improvements in energy efficiency, integrating renewableelectricity onto the electric grid, and creating technologies and equipmentthat capture biogas to produce energy and other "post-consumerwaste-to-energy" facilities. The draft’s centerpiece extends through 2014the Section 48C manufacturing tax credit for investing in renewable energy. Thetax credit was created in the 2009 stimulus bill and has been touted byPresident Obama as being instrumental in helping companies become energy efficient.The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimates the extension will costapproximately $6.9 billion."

Speakingof "Green" Jobs, Shouldn’t We Learn from Europe’s Failed Experiment? TheInstitute for Energy Research (7/15) writes on their blog, "Europe’sfeed-in tariffs have led to higher electricity prices without having positiveimpacts on emissions reductions, employment, energy security, or technologicalinnovation. In Spain, the feed-in tariff has helped create a rate deficit sogreat that it imperils the sustainability of Spain’s electricity system.Despite these real-world experiences, some believe we should implement the samepolicies in the U.S. Recently ClimateWire carried the following item, withopening language provided: A new paper from a leading climate policy expertmakes the case that California should have a feed-in tariff like the ones inGermany and Spain that have been credited with creating unprecedented demandfor solar power. Dan Kammen is a professor of energy, policy and nuclearengineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and was an adviser toPresident Obama on energy policy during the 2008 campaign."

WeThink 9.5 Percent Unemployment is High Enough, Only Wish our Friends in the Anti-EnergyMovement Agreed. The Politico(7/15) reports, "Democratic leaders and environmentalists hope to seize onpublic outrage over the oil spill in the Gulf as a way to roll back billions ofdollars in tax breaks and financial incentives long enjoyed by the oilindustry. Democrats contend that many of the decades-old tax breaks areoutdated and allow oil companies to perform highly profitable drilling onpublic lands and in federal waters at taxpayers’ expense. Republicans and theoil industry say that taking away the tax breaks will raise energy costs anddrive production overseas. The attempts to extract big dollars from Big Oilaren’t new. As soon as Democrats won control of Congress in 2006, House SpeakerNancy Pelosi led a charge to strip the oil industry of $7.6 billion in taxbreaks over 10 years and to close loopholes in offshore drilling leases thathad allowed oil companies to avoid paying about $10 billion in federalroyalties. President Obama went even further – his 2011 budget proposal askedCongress to roll back $35 billion in oil and gas tax incentives over 10 years.To date, all those efforts have failed and stalled, largely due to intenselobbying by the oil industry and its allies in Congress.

NelsonDraws early Line in the Sand on National Energy Tax: "Idon’t think that’s an appropriate way to go." Politico (7/16) reports, "Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraskasaid Thursday he would not support a procedural vote later this month to begindebate on a climate bill that includes a cap on electric utility emissions, adeclaration that underscores the tough climb that Majority Leader Harry Reidwill have in trying to cobble together a 60-vote supermajority on thecontroversial issue. "A carbon tax or trade piece would significantly increasethe utility rates in Nebraska for businesses, agriculture and individuals," theNebraska Democrat told POLITICO. "I don’t think that’s an appropriate way togo. And while I’d usually vote for a motion to proceed, this is soextraordinary, that I just can’t bring myself to do that." Nelson has long beenknown as an opponent of proposals for tackling greenhouse gases with acap-and-trade plan. But his opposition to the procedural vote stands out givenparty discipline that at least allows the majority leader to take a bill up onthe floor. Environmentalists tracking the debate said earlier this week thatthey expect most Democrats will vote for the motion to proceed out of deferenceto Reid and President Barack Obama.

ThisRahall Bill is Dangerously CLEAR: Empower NOAA, Restrict Domestic EnergyExploration and Slap a New $2 Per Barrel Tax on Oil Extraction. E&E News (7/15subs. req’d)  reports, "The HouseNatural Resources Committee today approved sweeping legislation to reformfederal oversight of offshore drilling in the wake of the Gulf of Mexicodisaster. The bill from Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), approved 27-21, wouldreorganize the beleaguered federal agency tasked with overseeing offshore oiland gas drilling into three separate leasing, enforcement and revenue-collectionentities. It also contains provisions to overhaul onshore oil and gasregulation, create a solar and wind leasing program and boost conservationfunding. The legislation likely will be folded into the House’s Gulf spillpackage, expected on the floor sometime this month. No Republicans voted forthe measure, and two Democrats voted against it: Reps. Stephanie HersethSandlin (S.D.) and Dan Boren (Okla.). "Democrats are trying to exploit theGulf oil spill as an opportunity to pass costly, controversial and otherwisedoomed legislation," ranking member Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) said."Democrats should not use this tragedy to build up a Christmas tree billof unrelated new spending, taxes and laws."

Game-Changer:Chair of Obama Spill Commission Changes His Mind on Need for Offshore Ban AfterVisiting Gulf Coast – "It’s Not Clear to Me Why It Should Take So Long." NYTimes (7/13) reports, "Three weeks ago, William K. Reilly, the newly namedco-chairman of the presidential commission appointed to investigate the BP oilspill, said he thought the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in theGulf of Mexico was necessary – and maybe even too short. He said in aninterview with The Times that the commission was unlikely to recommend that theban be lifted before the panel completes its work in January. He said thatgovernment and industry must first adopt profound changes in how they operatebefore he would be willing to advocate lifting the moratorium. "Those thingswould have to happen faster than past history would suggest is possible," hesaid. But on Tuesday, after two days of touring the gulf region and a day and ahalf of hearing testimony from a variety of aggrieved local officials, businessinterests and oil executives, Mr. Reilly changed his tune. The moratorium isspreading economic pain across the region, he said, and for many is worse thanthe effects of the spill itself. "It’s not clear to me why it should take solong," Mr. Reilly told reporters during a break in testimony on Tuesday.

Welcometo 7^th Grade: In Wake of Reid Announcement that "Energy" and "Climate"Bill Will Be Run Week of July 26, Host of Other Senators Scurry into Corner toPlan Their Way In. E&E News (7/14,subs. req’d) reports, "The architects behind this year’s sweeping Senate energyand climate proposal are working overtime to round up support for aslimmed-down version of their bill that would curb emissions from only theelectric utility sector. Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.)had previously conceded that they would be willing to scale back their goal ofan economy-wide price on carbon, and the pair are now ramping up efforts totake the lead in making such a utility-only bill a reality. A draft proposalfrom the duo surfaced yesterday shortly after Majority Leader Harry Reid(D-Nev.) announced his plans to address emissions from power plants as part ofa larger energy bill later this month. Meanwhile, Kerry worked late into theevening to try to drum up support from stakeholders off the Hill. Themaneuvering comes as a number of senators are feverishly working to ensure thattheir priorities make the cut when Reid unveils the final package. Reidprovided a rough outline yesterday of what he plans to include in the four-partpackage: oil spill response, energy efficiency, clean energy production andefforts to slash greenhouse gases from power plants. That leaves Reid a lot ofwiggle room to pick and choose which measures he will include in the finalpackage, which he wants to send to the floor the week of July 26.

Round3: Did Salazar Really Think That Updated Obama Ban Would Survive Without LegalChallenge? Ensco Files Suit This Time Around. HoustonChronicle (7/13) reports, "The Obama administration may have hoped that anewly revised ban on deep-water drilling would end the legal battle over theissue, but it became clear Tuesday that the fight over offshore exploration isfar from over. Ensco Offshore Co., a U.K.-based rig owner, filed a lawsuitaccusing the administration of illegally imposing new requirements on theindustry and dragging its feet in permitting shallow-water drilling. AlthoughEnsco is arguing against the same original ban that other companies also havesued over in federal court, the company also is challenging new safetystandards imposed on the industry and delays in issuing shallow-water drillingpermits. Meanwhile, Hornbeck Offshore Services, the drilling rig owner thatsuccessfully challenged the first ban in federal court, was skeptical of thenew moratorium and weighing its response. A third challenge of the originalban, by Houston-based Diamond Offshore also is pending in a federal district court.Secretary Ken Salazar issued the new directive Monday, in response to a June 22federal court ruling that invalidated the original ban on drilling in at least500 feet of water. Although Salazar’s order was rewritten so it would applyregardless of water depth – and was accompanied by more than 20 pages of newjustification – it essentially maintains the status quo in the Gulf of Mexico,where deep-water drilling has been blocked since May 27.

NaturalGas Documentary Called HaynesvilleMay Not Have Gotten Nod from Bob Redford to Be in Sundance, But Still WowingAudiences Wherever It’s Played. Houston Chronicle (7/14)reports, "The natural gas documentary Haynesville has been out quite a bitlonger than the film Gasland, but hasn’t attracted the same sized audience asthe decidedly anti-drilling movie. Maybe it’s because a positive take onnatural gas is a harder sell (or taking a negative turn on anythingenergy-related is much easier?) Being off on the timing for Sundance in 2009probably didn’t help, as the warm embrace of Sundance 2010 has certainly helpedGasland. It’s too bad because Haynesville director Gregory Kallenberg wouldmake a great foil to John Stewart on the Daily Show. In any case, Haynesvilleis making another stop in Houston today and tomorrow at the Alamo Draft House.The filmmakers are embracing the greater notoriety of Gasland by including aquote from Fort Worth Star-Telegram film writer Bud Kennedy in its promotionalmaterial: "Battle of the gas movies: The emotional @GasLandMovie is on HBOMonday, but Louisiana-based @HaynesvilleFilm is fairer and smarter. Seeboth."

PublicEnemy No. 1: Forget the Coal Plants, Forget the Offshore Oil and Gas -Policymakers in Australia Concerned About One Thing on Climate Change: CattleBurps. NYTimes (7/13) reports, "But while cattle belch enormous amounts of methaneto digest the food, kangaroos release virtually none – they burp only harmlessacids that can be turned into vinegar. Sure, Mr. Klieve, an expert on bovinestomachs, has fiddled around with the ruminants’ diet to make them less gassy.But on a tour of the new $28 million Center for Advanced Animal Science here,Mr. Klieve grew animated when he talked of leading a team of microbiologistsand genetic researchers to make cattle guts behave like kangaroos’. "Feedadditives can lead to incremental decreases in methane," Mr. Klieve said,standing inside a nearly complete high-tech chamber where cattle will bebrought in to have their methane burps measured precisely. "But we’re trying todo other things that might give us a quantum leap, and that’s why we’re lookingat kangaroos." Australia contributes more greenhouse gases per capita than justabout any other country, with its coal-fired power plants leading the way. Butmore than 10 percent of those gases come from what bureaucrats call livestockemissions – animals’ burping.

Aufwiedersehen!German Wind Farm Gets Shelved Thanks to Host of Environmental Concerns -Apparently Screwing Up Habitat for Porpoises (!). Bloomberg(7/14) reports, "The construction of new offshore wind parks in Germany may bedelayed as a government agency refuses to grant building permits because ofenvironmental concerns, Financial Times Deutschland reported, citing aninternal document. The Bundesamt for Naturschutz, an agency for the protectionof the environment, said construction work on the foundations for the windmillsis driving porpoises from their natural habitat and is harming crustaceans andother marine life, FTD reported. Companies specializing in offshore wind parks may now face higher costsas licensing processes become more complex and investments are jeopardized, FTDsaid.

PoliticoPiece on Al Gore Attempts to Lure Pro-Energy Crowd Into Saying Nasty ThingsAbout VP’s Failed Private Life – But We’d Rather Talk About His FailedPolicies. Politico (7/14)reports, "While maintaining his innocence in the Portland case, Gore hasn’tskipped a beat in his pitch for a controversial limit on greenhouse gasemissions, lending a critical voice from the left as the Senate edges closer toa vote on an issue to which Gore has dedicated the past decade of his life,ever since losing the White House to George W. Bush. "I don’t think this recentstuff can help," said Ken Green, a resident scholar at the American EnterpriseInstitute. "It looks like he exaggerated the strength of his marriage for along time. And while the climate stuff doesn’t reach the tabloid level, themarriage stuff does." "He’s lost some standing with that average person," Greenadded. Myron Ebell, director of energy and global warming policy at theCompetitive Enterprise Institute, said he’d prefer that the climate debatecenter on the merits of the policy Gore is advocating for and not dwell on hispersonal life."By and large, people on our side don’t stoop to thepersonalizing of these things," he said. "We’d rather engage him as thepolitical figure who peddles nonsense, misleading rhetoric and falsehoods."

InToo Deep: Salazar "Shocks" Oil Spill Commission By Asking Panel for AssuranceHe’s Doing the Right Thing in Shilling for Obama Offshore Ban – Rebuke CameQuick. WallStreet Journal (7/12) reports, "The really odd moment came when InteriorSecretary Ken Salazar said in a statement that he was looking to the commissionfor information that could inform the administration’s position on haltingdeepwater drilling. Salazar’s statement stunned the commission’s twoco-chairmen, William K. Reilly and Bob Graham, who said they had been assuredby Salazar’s office and the White House that giving advice on the moratoriumwasn’t their job. "We’re 10 minutes old," Reilly told an audience in NewOrleans, where the commission held its first hearing. "The idea we’d have anear-term responsibility to make recommendations on policy was not our understanding[of the panel’s mission] and is not consistent with my most recent conversationwith [Interior Deputy Secretary] David Hayes, who said the Interior Departmentdidn’t look to this commision for advice" on the matter. Graham, speaking toreporters after the hearing, said he too was "confused" by Salazar’s statement.He said he and Reilly plan to go back to the Interior Department "to try toclarify what is our responsibility and how we’re going to carry it out."

Meanwhile,as Salazar Trips on His Tongue in New Orleans, Justice Dept. Tells Court thatNew Moratorium Should "Render Moot" Court’s Order to Lift Previous One. Politico(7/12) reports, "Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s move Monday issuing a new"pause" of deepwater drilling should render moot pending litigationover the similar moratorium issued back in May, the Justice Department saidMonday night. DOJ spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said the court planned to ask afederal appeals court to drop an appeal set to be argued next Month. U.S.District Court Judge Martin Feldman, who blocked the earlier moratorium, willbe asked to dissolve his injunction and dismiss the underlying case brought bybusinesses who said they’d been devastated by the drilling limits. DOJ isarguing the two moratorium orders are entirely legally distinct and thereforethe plaintiffs need to basically sue again if they object to the new one.Feldman had objected in particular to Salazar’s ban applying to drilling inover 500 feet of water. The judge said there was little evidence in the recordto support that dividing line. The new moratorium applies to all drilling fromfloating rigs. In practice, the two orders are expected to have similar if notidentical impact. Ending the case would be a relief to the government, whichdidn’t fare too well with Feldman or in its first go-round with the appealscourt.

AsObama Ban Continues to Claim Livelihoods Along the Coast, One Worker TellsPress He Prefers Working in Angola – "Because It’s Politically Safer" ThanWorking Here. OilDaily (7/13, subs. req’d) reports, "It could take the Louisiana ports thatsupport the Gulf of Mexico exploration and production industry several years torecover from the economic damage caused by the Obama administration’smoratorium on deepwater drilling. "It will take at least five years before theports and the industry recover from this," Don Briggs, president of theLouisiana Oil and Gas Association told Oil Daily. "And yes, it will also affectany future developments in the deepwater Gulf." The service and support industryis crucial to sustaining offshore operations, he said. Without it, the oil andgas industry cannot carry out basic operations such as drilling, production orjust routine maintenance. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana) said the energyindustry alone could lose up to 38,000 jobs in four months because of themoratorium. An estimated 12,700 of those jobs would be lost in just two SouthLouisiana parishes: Lafayette and St. Martin.  Briggs said service companies "have seen the handwriting onthe wall and are already starting to deploy people around the world so they cankeep them working. I had one driller tell me that he prefers working offAngola, because it is safer politically than doing business in the US."

UnderPressure from IER on Membership of Oil Spill Commission, Bob Graham Insiststhat, Despite Past Statements, No One on Panel (Even NRDC?) Has "PoliticalObjectives." TheHill (7/12) reports, "The co-chairman of the presidential commissionprobing the BP oil spill said Monday that the panel will work without bias orpreconception, a pledge that follows political attacks from Republicans andpro-industry critics who say it’s tilted against oil-and-gas development. "Weall agree that this will be a science- and fact-driven, thorough, independentinvestigation without any preconceptions and without any political objectives,"said former Florida Sen. Bob Graham (D). Several GOP senators and otherconservative critics, such as the nonprofit Institute for Energy Research, have alleged the panel lacksexpertise and is stacked with members that oppose drilling. Members in thecritics’ crosshairs include Natural Resources Defense Council President FrancesBeinecke, who came under attack from two Senate Republicans last month becauseNRDC has intervened in litigation over the six-month federal ban on deepwaterdrilling. The group wants to keep the drilling freeze in place. But the environmentalgroup says it has created a firewall between Beinecke and NRDC litigation, andtaken other steps to prevent a conflict of interest.

IsAl Gore a Junior Press Aide Over There? New WH Talking Points Seek to CompareBoondoggle of Green Jobs Subsidies with the Creation of the Internet.  WashingtonPost (7/13) reports, "President Obama is looking again to convince votersthat the billions of dollars he has pumped into embryonic clean-energy firmswill build a better economy even if they generate only a modest number of jobsbefore the middle of the decade. The White House compares the effort to thegovernment’s investment in the Internet several decades ago, and Obama willhighlight startups that make electric batteries for future fleets ofzero-emissions cars and trucks. In a report due Wednesday, the president’seconomists say the loan guarantees and grants extended under the Recovery Acthave the potential to "stand up" new industries that could employthousands of Americans by 2015. They estimate that for each dollar in federalinvestment translates to $3.50 of total investment.  On Thursday, for the second time in two weeks, Obama willvisit a battery-making plant, this time in Michigan, and Cabinet officials willfan out to similar facilities across the country.  "There’s a view that crisis sometimes providesopportunities," said Jared Bernstein, the chief economist for Vice PresidentBiden. "One of the things we have to do with Recovery Act funds is plantthe seeds for ongoing opportunities. We could have had the same conversationabout the Internet several decades ago."

Anatomyof a Talking Point: Get the NYT to Weave a Mythology about How Oil CompaniesGet More in Subsidies than Wind and Solar, and Then Run Lots of Ads Off It. TheHill (7/12) reports, "As prospects for industrial carbon-pricing are onshaky ground heading into this month’s Senate energy and climate debate,environmental groups are starting to fine-tune their messaging campaign infavor of efforts to scale back billions in tax incentives for oil and gascompanies.
Environmentalistsare looking to roll out a targeted grassroots and possible paid media campaignto stop "The Big Oil Welfare Tax," a term coined to counteract Republicanarguments that Democratic climate and energy proposals would create a "nationalenergy tax."A campaign will belaunched next week to "attack Big Oil for profiting from the Big Oil WelfareTax and highlight their hypocrisy for calling investments in new technology andrenewable sources of energy an ‘energy tax,’" according to a messaging memosent Friday to members of the Clean Energy Works coalition. A paid mediacampaign may follow, timed closer to votes in a Senate floor debate that couldstart next week, a spokesman for the coalition said.
The memo – prepared bycoalition consultants at Blue Line Strategic Communications – states thecampaign will target activities in the same states where the American PetroleumInstitute is running TV ads arguing that reducing the industry’s tax incentiveswould harm the economy and jobs.

Who Could’ve Seen This Coming? Seriously: WhoCould’ve Predicted the Cellulosic Ethanol Mandate in ‘07 Energy Bill Would BeDeemed "Unmeetable" By EPA? E&E News (7/12, subs. req’d) reports, "U.S. EPA hasproposed major cuts for an ambitious nationwide mandate for cellulosic ethanolthat Congress passed in the 2007 energy bill. The agency today proposed itsannual "percentage standards" for the four fuel categories thatqualify for the renewable fuel standard program, known as RFS2. The standardsbreak down what percentage biodiesel, advanced biofuels and cellulosic biofuelswill share in the renewable fuel standard in 2011. EPA will issue newpercentage standards for subsequent years. In its sweeping 2007 energy bill,Congress included a mandate that the United States produce 36 billion gallonsof renewable fuel by 2022. The 2011 breakdown gives cellulosic biofuels aminuscule share of the mandate, at hundredths of a percent of the total fuelshare. The proposed numbers are significantly below the targets set forcellulosic biofuels in the energy bill — illustrating continued hurdles forthe industry to produce affordable, commercial-scale quantities of the fuel. Ina statement announcing the new percentage standards, EPA said it would continueto evaluate the market before it finalizes the cellulosic standard.

Opportunity Knocks: China Imported More Oil inJune than In Any Month in its History – And Guess Whose Share They’re Going After.Oil Daily (7/13, subs. req’d)reports, "China imported a record 5.44 million b/d of crude oil in June,breaking the previous 5.17 million b/d record set in April. On a daily basis,the total was up 29% from the 4.22 million b/d imported in May and was 34%higher than in June 2009 – or up by about 1.38 million b/d – underscoring thecountry’s continued strong appetite for crude oil as it builds up refiningcapacity and fills strategic stockpiles. For the first half of 2010, China’simports averaged 4.78 million b/d, up 30% year-on-year. China, the world’ssecond-largest oil consumer after the US, continued to be a net productsimporter in June. It imported 3.31million tons of products, down almost 8% fromthe same month last year, and exported 2.15 million tons, down almost 13%. Datareleased over the weekend by the General Administration of Customs do notinclude product import details, but fuel oil was likely the main reason Chinaremained a net importer. According to the most recent detailed data, China’snet imports of fuel oil in May averaged 272,000 b/d, down from 355,000 b/d inApril. China has also been a net LPG importer, although it brings in smallervolumes of LPG than fuel oil. Despite June’s lower products exports,  China’s exports for the first half of 2010 were up almost38% year-on-year to 14.3 million tons. Product imports slid 5% to 18.5 milliontons.

WSJEditorial Draws on IER Research to Expose Obama Spill Commission for What ItReally Is: A Few Activists, a Few Hacks, Every One of ‘Em a Dilettante. WallStreet Journal (7/9) editorializes, "As for the rest of the President’scommission, the Institute for EnergyResearch has compiled a summary of their views on oil exploration:"Offshore drilling is a needless risk," said Ms. Beinecke in 2008."We should be redoubling our efforts to get off oil," said fellowcommission member Donald Boesch in May. He wants "transportation notpowered by liquid petroleum." Appointee Terry Garcia of the NationalGeographic Society rapped the Bush administration in 2008 for not doing more to"protect" oceans from "commercial and recreational fishing, oiland gas exploration or deep-sea mining." The University of Alaska’s FranUlmer is on the board of the Union of Concerned Scientists, which wants theU.S. to curb its "oil addiction" by requiring that cars get at least42 miles to the gallon. This lineup is the equivalent of naming a panel ofAmish to win the war in Afghanistan. They have neither the knowledge nor theinterest in drilling down to learn the facts of what went wrong in the Gulf andhow to prevent future oil spills. Having had his drilling moratorium declaredillegal by a federal judge and now his drilling commission rebuked byDemocrats, Mr. Obama might want to liberate himself from Carol Browner andother antidrilling White House advisers before they cause him greater politicaldamage.

FederalAppeals Court Rejects Obama Admin Attempt to Enforce Capricious Ban on OffshoreEnergy – But Don’t Worry: New Ban Set to Be Released Later Today. NYTimes (7/8) reports, "A federal appeals court on Thursday turned down theObama administration’s effort to enforce a six-month moratorium on deepwaterdrilling in the Gulf of Mexico. A three-judge panel of the United States Courtof Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, ruled shortly after a hearingin a lawsuit filed by companies that claim they are being financially crippledby the suspension of drilling. The Interior Department said the moratorium wasnecessary because of the uncertainties about the cause of the BP oil wellblowout in April, a shortage of response equipment and a need to write strictnew drilling rules. The moratorium was struck down by a lower court on June 22by a federal judge who found it arbitrary and economically ruinous to industry.The appeals court found that the Interior Department failed to show the federalgovernment would suffer "irreparable injury" if the moratorium is lifted whileit appeals the trial court’s decision. A senior administration official said earlier Thursday that the InteriorDepartment would immediately issue a new moratorium if it lost the court case.Those new regulations, revising the earlier suspension, could come as early asFriday.

Brutal:Barney Frank – Yes, That Barney Frank- Calls on NOAA Chief Jane Lubchenco to Resign – She of All-Fishermen-Are-"Exploiters"-Fame.E&E News (7/8,subs. req’d) reports, "Rep. Barney Frank, a longtime defender of the fishingindustry, today called for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationchief Jane Lubchenco to resign in the wake of controversy over her agency’senforcement of fisheries regulations. Frank (D-Mass.) charged Lubchenco withfailing to rein in NOAA’s law enforcement branch, which has recently come undersharp criticism from the Commerce Department’s inspector general. Lubchenco"failed in her duty to fishermen" and has been unresponsive to concernsfrom a fishing industry that faces severe reductions in catch, Frank added."I think this just bespeaks of an absolute, to some extent hostility andat best an inattention, to the industry," Frank said on a radio talk showon Boston’s WBSM. "I think it’s time for Lubchenco to go."In astatement in response to Frank’s comments, Lubchenco noted that she has beenworking to address issues with fisheries law enforcement since the early daysof her tenure at NOAA. Lubchenco requested the inspector general report in June2009, three months after taking her new job.

Fla.Gov. Charlie Crist Wants to Call a $50,000/Day Special Session to Ban EnergyExploration Off FL’s Coast – Can Someone PLEASE Give This Man a Copy ofDomenici’s ‘06 Bill? St.Pete Times (7/8) reports, "Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday abruptly calledfor a special session of the Legislature to ask lawmakers to let votersconsider putting an offshore oil drilling ban in the state Constitution.  Crist said the July 20-23 session willbe devoted to one issue – "a rifle shot," he called it, intended totap into widespread disgust over the still-uncapped Deepwater Horizon blowoutoff the Louisiana coast, which is already decimating the Panhandle’stourist-dependent economy. But in doing so the governor is trampling on afundamental rule of Tallahassee politics: Don’t call a special session withoutan agreed-upon deal. "The rightness of this is so clear, especiallydealing with what we’ve experienced in the past 80 days or so in the Gulf ofMexico," Crist said. A special session costs about $50,000 a day, largelyfor travel for all 160 legislators. "Legislative action should be based on solid data and empirical analysis,rather than political contrivance," Senate President Jeff Atwater said ina letter to senators, adding that additional measures should be consideredduring the session to help taxpayers and business owners.

Lessthan a Week After Being Embarrassed by Spain in World Cup, Germany Decides toPart with Spanish Energy Policy and Slash Subsidies for Solar – Coincidence? Bloomberg(7/9) Germany’s upper house of parliament backed reductions in solar-powersubsidies of as much as 16 percent after offering the industry an extra threemonths to adjust to the cuts. The measure trims so-called feed-in tariffs forsolar power fed into Germany’s electricity grid by 16 percent for rooftopequipment, 15 percent for farmland and 11 percent for spaces such as formerindustrial or military sites, effective July 1.  Shares of manufacturers in Germany, the world’s biggestmarket for photovoltaic panels, have suffered this year amid uncertainty abouthow much the tariffs would be reduced. The Bloomberg Global Leaders SolarIndex, with 38 members including Q-Cells, First Solar Inc. and Solarworld, hasdeclined 23 percent this year. After some German state governments objected,the planned eductions were scaled back by three percentage points for eachcategory until Sept. 30, when the full cuts kick in.

Speakingof Spain: Germans Can’t Ditch the Spanish Green Jobs Model Fast Enough – OnlyFolks Who Seem to Be Enamored of It These Days is Obama Admin. CEI’s Chris Horner writes (7/8) on PajamasMedia.com,"So the Spaniards’ enterprise carries a per-job cost of $860,534, even though95% of those jobs are temporary (we learned they likely all are in the same waythat census jobs are: the job disappears when the federal support ends). Wow.And proponents even embarrassingly boast that solar power requires more workersthan any other energy source. This could get expensive. Also using White Housefigures, if you assume the actual cost to the taxpayer for the loan guaranteeis 10% of the loan, there is a per-job subsidy of $86,000. This project bringsto life the reason that both the president of Spain’s renewable energyassociation and the communist trade union called Professor Gabriel Calzada "unpatriotic"for revealing that these schemes are uneconomic drains: Spain needed the UnitedStates, Uncle Sucker, to buy into the scheme just to keep them afloat, as Idetail in Power Grab. The administration’s latest line in pushing this waste -it has merit because it would produce jobs – is vacuous. Everything you robfrom Peter to pay Paul to do "creates jobs." That’s not an argument. You candig ditches and fill them back up for less. And that, believe it or not, isless economically harmful by far, as also detailed in PowerGrab.

Newsflash:Berkeley Professor Supports Subsidizing Solar by Forcing Utilities to PurchaseIt at a Rate 10 Times the Market Price for Electricity – Also Known As "Theft." ClimateWire (7/9,subs. req’d) reports, "A new paper from a leading climate policy expert makesthe case that California should have a feed-in tariff like the ones in Germanyand Spain that have been credited with creating unprecedented demand for solarpower. Dan Kammen is a professor of energy, policy and nuclear engineering atthe University of California, Berkeley, and was an adviser to President Obamaon energy policy during the 2008 campaign. He is backing a state-set price forrenewable energy fed back to the electricity grid. The price guarantee, knownas a feed-in tariff, would promote the development of wholesale distributedgeneration — mainly solar, but also some wind, biogas, biomass and geothermalpower. Wholesale distributed generation is key to meeting California’s existingrenewable portfolio standard of 33 percent by 2020, Kammen says. The state’sthree investor-owned utilities have missed the 2010 target of 20 percentrenewables and are not on track to meet the 2020 target, either. Californiaalready has a feed-in tariff of sorts: 2006’s A.B. 1969 has provisions forprojects between 1 and 1.5 megawatts. It also has the California SolarInitiative and the Small Generator Incentive Program, which provides incentivesfor projects under 1 MW.

Here’sHow You Know You’ve Become Irrelevant: You’re the Secretary of Energy, There’sa Massive Oil Spill in the Gulf, and You’re Submitting Articles to NatureMagazine About How Gravity Slows Time.AssociatedPress (7/8, subs. req’d) reports, "Some people relax by doing crosswordpuzzles, watching movies or reading a good book. In his down time, often whileflying somewhere, Energy Secretary Steven Chu relaxes by tackling a scientificconundrum and stretching the limits of technology. The result: Chu has a denseresearch paper being published online Wednesday in the prestigious scientificjournal Nature. The title: "Subnanometre single-molecule localizationregistration and distance measurements." Chu’s scientific colleagues call hisstudy a major advancement in how tiny an object optical microscopes can see.Chu came up with a system using existing technology to see objects, such asmolecules and parts of cells, as small as half a nanometer. This is Chu’ssecond such meaty scientific paper in recent months, both published in thejournal Nature. The first, published in February, was following AlbertEinstein’s general relativity theory and better measuring how gravity slowstime. Both were published while he has been energy secretary, but started longbefore he took the job in January 2009. A third study is in the pipeline, Chusaid. None of this is the sort of thing Cabinet secretaries usually read, letalone write. For the Nobel Prize-winning physicist, it’s how he takes a breakfrom the problems of a devastating oil spill, global warming and high gasprices. "I just consider it my equivalent of … vegging out in front ofthe TV," he told The Associated Press.

Poll Released This Week – Oversampled withDemocratic Voters – Finds 70 Percent of Respondents Oppose National Energy TaxBeing Debated by Congress. E&E News (7/7, subs. req’d) reports, "Voters areoverwhelmingly opposed to any policy they perceive as increasing taxes onenergy and have little interest in seeing climate legislation become a reality,according to a poll released today by a conservative-leaning think tank. The pollfound that roughly 70 percent of voters opposed such a policy, while 28 percentexpressed support. Sixty-three percent of voters did say they see the proposalas a tax, compared to 33 percent who do not. In a follow-up question, 61percent said they are unwilling to pay any amount more in gasoline taxes inorder to address global warming. Institutefor Energy Research spokesman Patrick Creighton said that the pollingconducted by environmental groups often ignores the cost aspect, painting thelegislation as benefiting the consumers through rebates and other policieswhile downplaying the potential financial hit to individuals andbusinesses."We ask about cost; they don’t ask about cost," Creightonsaid. "The reason we did this, pure and simple, is because wheneverpolling data comes out on energy and environmental issues, there’s never anycost associated with it."

Chu on This: Even As Energy Dept. Tells Americansto Install Expensive Lighting All Over the Joint, DOE Delinquent in Doing theSame Things In Its Own Compound. NY Times (7/7) reports, "Likeflossing or losing weight, saving energy is easier to promise than to actuallydo – even if you are the Department of Energy.  Its Web site advises that choosing new lighting technologiescan slash energy use by 50 to 75 percent. But the department is having troubletaking its own advice, according to an internal audit released on Wednesday;many of its offices are still installing obsolete fluorescent bulbs.  And very few have switched to the mostpromising technology, light-emitting diodes, which the department spentmillions of dollars to help commercialize. In one case, the Department ofEnergy made most of the investment by installing timers to shut off lights atnight when it moved into a new building in 1997. But it got no benefit: as ofMarch of this year, it had not bought the central control unit needed to runthe system.  "We are requestingpeople in the federal sector and the private sector to do the cost-benefitanalysis and make the investment," Gregory H. Friedman, the inspector general,said in a telephone interview. "We should do it ourselves."  Asked about the report, a spokeswomanfor the Energy Department, Stephanie Mueller, said, "We can acknowledge there’smore work that needs to be done."

"No Regrets": 9/11 Truther and Former Top WH EnviroAdvisor Says Fall from Grace "Worth Every Minute" If It Translates Into HigherEnergy Taxes for Americans.Politico (7/7) reports, "Thelast time Van Jones spoke at a Campus Progress National Convention, he was anenvironmental adviser in the White House – "and now I’m not," he said at thisyear’s conference Wednesday. "That sucks." But despite his self-described "roughexit" from the White House last September, he said he wouldn’t trade theexperience for anything. "What I learned in those six months [in the WhiteHouse] I am going to be able to take with me forever," he said addressing agroup of 1,200 young liberal activists at the Campus Progress nationalconference in downtown Washington. It was Jones’ first high-profile remarksabout his White House experience. "If you were given the same opportunity I wasto go and serve for six months, and it was 100 percent guaranteed that you’dhave the same rough exit that I had, do it – it’s worth every minute," hesaid.  Paul Begala, who ended theconference’s speaker lineup, focused on the way Democrats can win in Novemberin a non-presidential election year. "This is not a hope election, it’s a fearelection," Begala told POLITICO. "Since you don’t have your hero [Obama] on theballot, make sure you have a villain."

Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Lautenberg: Pressurefrom Congressional Dems Forces BP to Halt Multiyear Project in Alaska’s LibertyField.Wall Street Journal (7/7) reports, "BPPLC probably will postpone exploratory drilling at the Liberty field offAlaska’s coast until next year, as it responds to inquiries from federal andstate regulators about the safety of the enterprise, a company spokesman saidWednesday. BP’s plans to drill fresh wells at the Liberty field in the BeaufortSea using new techniques have come under fire from environmental groups andsome lawmakers in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf ofMexico. The company originally planned to start drilling the wells this fallbut is now considering postponing the start date to next year, said SteveRinehart, a spokesman for BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. The U.S. InteriorDepartment and its new offshore drilling agency, the Bureau of Ocean EnergyManagement, Regulation and Enforcement, as well as the Alaska Oil and GasConservation Commission, have asked BP to provide more information about theLiberty project for a new round of reviews.

Ahead of Schedule: BP Expects to Intersect Macondowith Relief Wells over the Course of Next 2 Weeks – Potentially Weeks Ahead ofInitial Timetable.Wall Street Journal (7/7) reports, "BPPLC is pushing to fix its runaway Gulf oil well by July 27, possibly weeksbefore the deadline the company is discussing publicly, in a bid to showinvestors it has capped its ballooning financial liabilities, according tocompany officials. At the same time, BP is readying a series of backup plans incase its current operations go awry. These include connecting the rogue well toexisting pipelines in two nearby underwater gas and oil fields, according tocompany and administration officials. Much of the additional planning has beenpushed by the U.S. government, which has urged BP to develop what one officialcalled the "backup to the backup plan." Both BP and the federalgovernment are concentrating on their next steps, particularly because ofuncertainty caused by the imminent hurricane season and the protractedpolitical and financial damage caused by the endless spill. Both BP and theCoast Guard continue to state publicly they’re aiming to have a fix in place inearly to mid-August. BP has discussed its backup plans only with administrationofficials, who in turn have briefed President Barack Obama.

Massive Subsidization of Solar Installations inWashington State Not Enough to Get Folks to Jump – State "Is the Last Place inthe World" Where Solar Can Work. Seattle Times (7/7) reports, "Countingthe Deans, the statewide number of solar-power systems using allWashington-made parts stands at only 15. "We’re going at it at a slowpace," said Mike Nelson, who’s been involved in solar power since 1979 andis now director of Shoreline Community College’s clean-energy program. TheLegislature created the Renewable Energy Cost Recovery Incentives Program yearsago. It pays people or businesses using renewable-energy systems – such aswind, solar or anaerobic digesters – a base rate for each kilowatt-hourproduced by the system. The rate increases if various parts are manufactured inWashington, up to 54 cents per kilowatt-hour. There’s also an incentive forsolar-power manufacturers: They get a 43 percent break on their business &occupation tax. Even though there are incentives for both manufacturers andconsumers, the two combined aren’t as attractive as subsidies in other states.Electricity in California costs 15 cents a kilowatt-hour, compared with 7 centsin Washington. Cheap hydroelectric power makes Washington "the last placein the world" where solar power will reach a competitive price, Nelsonsaid.

You Know It’s Bad When: Even Federal GovernmentSays California Solar Giveaway "Presents Significant Risk to Lenders" – andShuts the Program Down Cold. Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press Democrat (7/7) reports, "SonomaCounty has suspended an innovative 16-month-old program to help property ownersfinance solar installations and other energy-saving retrofits after a federalagency announced Tuesday that such programs present a risk to giantgovernment-chartered mortgage lenders. The decision prevents new applicationsand freezes 578 pending applications with the county’s Energy IndependenceProgram. It does not affect participants who signed their deals with the countybefore Tuesday. Still, the suspension of new business – and the federalguidelines prompting it – are a significant blow to the momentum and moneyflowing toward energy efficiency and green building locally, said countyofficials, contractors and others. Some experts say the new guidelines alsocould affect many mortgage holders with no connection to the county’s programby lowering loan limits. The Federal Housing Finance Agency said Tuesday thatsuch arrangements "present significant risk to lenders" and "are not essentialfor successful programs to spur energy conservation."