News

"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."

Pyle:Independence Day a Reminder of How Thoroughly Dependent We Are On Others forthe Energy We Need to Survive – Thanks in No Small Part to Our Government. IER president Thomas J. Pyle writes (7/6) forthe Daily Caller,"Happy Dependence Day! This weekend, we celebrated our nation’s most importantholiday-the birth of this great country and the freedoms and liberty itprovides us.  But while we celebratedour independence as a nation, we continue to face increasing and alarmingdependence in our energy sector, the lifeblood of our economy. There is nodoubt that the moratorium will lead to higher energy prices-a fact the markethas already started to digest. Additionally, thousands of oil rig workers areout of work.  And though themoratorium has been called a temporary "pause" in drilling and production,those thousands of unemployed workers have little reason to believe that theenergy companies that previously employed them will allow their extraordinarilyexpensive equipment to sit idle off our coast when other nations welcome theinvestment, jobs, and affordable energy resources these wells provide. Wecelebrated our independence Sunday by driving to visit family, grilling outwith friends, or even basking in the comfort of air conditioned homes. Weshould all take a moment to consider how important energy is to our Americanway of life.  And then rememberthat while we may celebrate Independence Day, a federal government that keepsenergy under lock and key ensures that we are anything but.

Speaking Of: In Matter ofMonths, Imports of Russian Crude to U.S. West Coast Go from ZERO Barrels a Dayto 100,000. WallStreet Journal (7/6) reports, "Russian oil has taken an unexpected turn tothe U.S., where it is making inroads on the West Coast. Oil refineries spanningthe area between the Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest and greater LosAngeles have been quick to try out oil that is landing in tankers sent fromRussia’s eastern coast. Imports have gone from zero to an estimated 100,000barrels a day in a matter of months since a pipeline bringing crude from deepinside Eastern Siberia came online. The influx has held down fuel prices inplaces like California, which often has the highest gasoline prices in the U.S.Traders have been caught off guard because the oil pipeline was built to targetfast-growing Asian markets. Few people expected to see so many tankerloadsreach U.S. shores. Russia, which only recently joined the list of the top oilexporters to the U.S., is set to climb those rankings thanks to the EasternSiberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline, or ESPO. "Russian crude will beimportant," said Amrita Sen, a commodities analyst for Barclays Capital inLondon.

Doublin’ Down: Obama Admin AsksFederal Court to Reinstate Sweeping Moratorium on Energy Development Offshore -Jobs, Revenue, People Be Damned.  WallStreet Journal (7/6) reports, "The Obama administration asked a federal appealscourt Tuesday to reinstate a moratorium on deepwater petroleum drilling, sayingit is needed to reduce the chance of a second spill similar to the one nowspewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico. In a filing with the U.S. Court ofAppeals for the Fifth Circuit, Justice Department officials said a six-monthsuspension of drilling in more than 500 feet of water is in the "long-termpublic interest of the nation," and is needed to give the InteriorDepartment time to develop and implement new regulations to prevent anotherspill. The filing was in response to a federal judge’s decision in June toblock the moratorium, saying the Interior Department had trivialized theeconomic impact of the temporary ban. In the filing, the administration citednot only the "catastrophic impacts" of the accident on the DeepwaterHorizon drilling rig but also the risk of a second spill, "which industryhas shown limited ability to contain." In Louisiana, many politicians havesaid the ban is crippling an economy already walloped by curtailed fishing anda loss of tourism.

Legal Filing From InternationalAssociation of Drilling Contractors (IADC) Argues Continuation of ObamaOffshore Ban Will Increase Oil Spillage in the Gulf. HoustonChronicle (7/6) reports, "The Obama administration’s ban on deep-waterdrilling is arbitrary, unfounded and will cause "a catastrophic loss ofjobs," the International Association of Drilling Contractors argues in anew legal filing. The IADC questions "whether the local economy can evensurvive the moratorium," as across the Gulf Coast, rig workers are laidoff, contractors lose work and suppliers of everything from rope to groceriessee their sales plummet.  "Oneof the most ruinous effects of the moratorium is that it will drive mobile rigsto leave the Gulf for the waters of foreign countries," the associationwarns. As a result, the ban "will necessarily decrease U.S. oil productionand thus increase America’s dependence on foreign oil." The group goes onto note that because of the record of oil spills from tankers — generallyhigher than spills from blown-out wells — "the moratorium will increasethe risk of oil spillage in the Gulf." The association made its case in afriend-of-the-court brief as the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleansprepares to hear an hour of arguments Thursday over whether it should stay atrial judge’s decision to block the ban.

Funny How: EPA’s Modeling NotSophisticated Enough to Estimate # of Jobs Lost from Its Policies, But Has NoTrouble Modeling # of "Lives Saved" (!) from NOx and SOx Rules.  Politico (7/6)reports, "EPA’s proposed Clean Air Transport Rule is the administration’s mostambitious effort to date to tackle conventional smog- and soot-formingemissions. The agency said its standards, when finalized next year, would leadto hundreds of billions of dollars in public health benefits and help avoid asmany as 36,000 premature deaths every year.  "We believe that today is marking a large and important stepin EPA’s effort to protect public health," said the agency’s top air pollutionofficial, Gina McCarthy. The EPA rule is more aggressive than an earlier effortin 2005 during President George W. Bush’s administration. A federal appealscourt struck down that standard, known as the Clean Air Interstate Rule,forcing EPA to go back to the drawing board to justify its limits for curbingsulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, pollutants linked to chronic and acutebronchitis, heart attacks, asthma, acid rain and poor visibility in nationalparks. Environmentalists are already ratcheting up their campaign to stop anypotential changes to the EPA’s air pollution rules, even if offered in exchangefor their long-sought goals on global warming. "I expect that overreaching fromthe utility sector," said John Walke, a senior attorney at the NaturalResources Defense Council. "They’ve been doing that for three decades."

Dream Team: Texas Gov. AssemblesBest and Brightest to Ask and Answer Toughest Questions on How and Where WeWill Produce Oil and Gas in the Future. AssociatedPress (7/6) reports, "A new group will pool Texas’ brightest minds to comeup with better and safer ways of drilling and producing oil and natural gas inthe wake of the Gulf oil spill, Gov. Rick Perry announced Tuesday.The GulfProject will focus on developing and testing current equipment as well as newtechnologies for the next generation of oil and gas drilling, Perry said. Thegroup also will look to develop better ways of monitoring the equipment onceit’s in place and improve training for responding to oil spills. "Texasmust take the lead in this effort because Texas leads in energy," Perrysaid at a news conference at Johnson Space Center, which he suggested couldhelp in testing new equipment. "We are perfectly suited to lead the effortinto improving safety and reliability in our continued quest for new and bettersources of energy." Texas’ energy industry supplies 20 percent of thenation’s oil production, one-fourth of its natural gas production, a quarter ofits refining capacity and nearly 60 percent of its chemical manufacturing. TheGulf Project will be comprised of researchers, policy experts and stateofficials. But Perry also called on the oil and gas industry to join in itsefforts.

Plane Stupid: Swiss Pilot Slatedto Go on World’s First (and Last) 24-Hour "Solar Flight" Cancels Trip at LastMinute – Maybe ‘Cuz Aircraft Only Travels 44 MPH. HoustonChronicle (7/6) reports, "A Swiss pilot was expected to go on the world’sfirst 24-hour solar flight in an ultralight plane with 12,000 solar cells gluedto its wings tomorrow, ClimateWire said. But the flight was postponed for thesecond time due to technical difficulties. Weather permitting, pilot AndreBorschberg was to fly the plane all day to soak up the sun’s rays and then flythrough the night, waiting for dawn for the batteries to recharge again. TheSolar Impulse HB-SIA plane, with a wingspan roughly the size of a Boeing 747jumbo jet, but around the same size as a family car, uses solar cells to powerfour electric engines and recharge lithium batteries. The plane travels at anaverage speed of 44 mph and can go up to 26,000 feet, ClimateWire said. Theflight is propelled by 40-horsepower electric engines, roughly the same poweras a scooter. The website said they are unable to announce another date for thenext trial yet, but promise to update with further information as it develops.

Authorof New Study Commissioned by IER – Which Finds Kerry-Lieberman Leads toHemorrhaging of 5.1 Million Jobs – Takes on Entire Blogosphere One Greenie At aTime. Andrew Chamberlain writes(7/3) for PajamasMedia,"President Obama has repeatedly told Americans he has three main policypriorities – rewriting health care, overhauling the financial system, andimposing a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He met hisfirst goal and he’s closer than ever on the second; time is running out if hewants to meet the trifecta by the end of 2010. But make no mistake, thepresident and his allies in Congress are working hard to pass cap-and-tradebefore this year is up. The problem is that cap-and-trade bills are expensive,they inevitably cost jobs, and the American people know it. Last year, theHouse passed the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill. But now that 1400+ page billis stalled in the Senate in large part because of its massive costs toAmericans. To jump start the debate, Senators Kerry and Lieberman recentlyannounced a new strategy to impose a cap-and-trade system on Americans – theinaptly named "American Power Act." Senator Kerry no longer calls his variousproposals "cap-and-trade," but changing a bill’s name to disguise itsintentions is a time-honored ruse in Washington. Click herefor IER press release; herefor Chamberlain study; and herefor NRDC’s hit piece (guess that means we hit bone).

AsObama Offshore Ban Claims Livelihoods of Thousands of Gulf Coast Residents aDay, American Energy Alliance Says Enough Is Enough – Launches New Campaign toSave US Energy Jobs. AEA officiallylaunches SaveUSEnergyJobs.com:Save U.S. Energy Jobs is a project of the American Energy Alliance (AEA)dedicated to promoting safety in the development of our offshore resources andto promoting America’s energy jobs. The public widely acknowledges that the BPoil spill is a disaster of staggering societal and economic proportions. Whilethe accident itself is tragic, it is important to separate the actions of onebad actor from the rest of the industry. The far reaching impacts of thisdisaster should not include cutting off access to our domestic energyresources, the economic prosperity and national security benefits thoseresources provide, and the much needed jobs energy production provides to hardworking Gulf residents. By focusing efforts on industry best practices, andensuring across the board implementation of the best technologies andprocesses, we can more safely cultivate our vast national resources while alsogrowing our economy and creating more jobs. Now more than ever, it is essentialthat our leaders turn to America’s world leading energy experts and engineersto guide the way forward, not to partisan rhetoric and talking points. SaveU.S. Jobs will set the record straight.

Battleover Marcellus Shale in Northeast PA is Really a Battle Between Farmers WhoLived There All Their Life (Pro) and Rich Folks from NY with Second Homes(Anti). PhiladelphiaInquirer (7/4) reports, "Tim Coulter’s farm in this rocky corner ofnortheastern Pennsylvania is in financial trouble. He’s sold off the livestock.There’s no market for the timber. And with only 121 acres left, Coulter can’tcarve off any more of the land that his family has owned for five generations.In September, a week before the Wayne County sheriff was scheduled to forecloseon Coulter’s farm to collect $7,000 in taxes, salvation arrived in the form ofa check from a natural-gas company that leased Coulter’s land for MarcellusShale exploration. "Everybody’s counting on the gas to come through,"said Coulter, 48. "Without it, we would have gone under." KarlCanfield, interviewed as he was milking his 70 Holsteins last week, said hisgas-lease bonus offset the $70,000 his farm lost last year because of thedepressed dairy market. His wife, Susan, earns extra money cleaning thevacation homes of wealthy New Yorkers. Pat Carullo, a Staten Island, N.Y.,native who moved to Wayne County after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, goescrimson with rage at the mention of hydraulic fracturing, the extractiontechnique that involves huge injections of water, chemicals, and sand deep intoa well. He compares it to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. "Look at thegulf!" shouted Carullo, a Damascus Citizens cofounder who speaks inhigh-volume sound bites. "We’re fighting for our lives here! Look at myhands. They’re shaking! It’s no game here!"

GoodMoney After Bad: Obama Acknowledges that No Jobs Created Yet From His GreenJobs Push – So What Does He Do? Dump Another $2 Billion into Expensive SolarProject. Energy Guardian (7/6, subs.req’d) reports, "President Barack Obama is acknowledging much of the impact ofhis jobs stimulus package hasn’t been felt yet, but he is targeting fresh moneyto the clean energy sector that has been one of the few economic bright spots.The president used his weekend radio and video address to announce that theEnergy Department is providing $1.85 billion in loan guarantees to two solarprojects in Arizona and Colorado that promise to create as many as 5,000 jobs.More than $1.4 billion in loan guarantees will go to Abengoa Solar to help itbuild one of the world’s largest solar plants in the desert near near GilaBend, Arizona. Abengoa Solar, based in Lakewood, Colo., is a division of theSpanish renewable energy and engineering company Abengoa. The project willcreate 1,600 construction jobs. "After years of watching companies build thingsand create jobs overseas, it’s good news that we’ve attracted a company to ourshores to build a plant and create jobs right here in America," Obama said.Obama said $400 million in loan guarantees will also be awarded toColorado-based Abound Solar Manufacturing to manufacture advanced solar panelsat two new plants, creating more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500permanent jobs. A Colorado plant is already being built and an Indiana plant willbe retooled from an empty Chrysler factory.

IndependentsDay? Carol Browner Admits that Lifting Liability Cap Will Eliminate Ability ofIndependent Oil and Gas Producers to Produce Offshore – And She’s AbsolutelyFine with That. WallStreet Journal (7/3) reports, "The White House’s top energy adviseracknowledged that smaller oil firms might no longer be able to drill in theGulf of Mexico as a result of legislation moving through Congress that wouldeliminate the cap on their liability for oil spills. "Maybe this is asector where you really need large companies who can bring to bear theexpertise and who have the wherewithal to cover the expense if something goeswrong," Carol Browner, special adviser to President Barack Obama on energyand climate change, said in an interview. Eliminating the $75 million cap onliability for oil spills "will mean that you only have large companies inthis sector," she said. The administration has imposed a now-challengedmoratorium on deepwater drilling while a presidential commission conducts asix-month investigation of the BP disaster. Oil companies have been pushing theInterior Department to lift the moratorium, saying that new safety regulationscould allow drilling to resume. "The small companies did nothing wrong -andyou’re going to shut them down?" said Robert Dillon, a spokesman for Sen.Lisa Murkowski (R, Alaska.) "So the only thing you are going to have leftare the big, national oil companies like China. Where are the free-marketvalues in that?"

NYTReporter Apparently Confused Over Which Industries Get Grants and Tax Credits(Renewables) and Which Are Allowed to Keep Slightly More of What They Earn(Oil, Gas) NYTimes (7/3) reports, "With federal officials now considering a new tax onpetroleum production to pay for the cleanup, the industry is fighting themeasure, warning that it will lead to job losses and higher gasoline prices, aswell as an increased dependence on foreign oil.  But an examination of the American tax code indicates that oilproduction is among the most heavily subsidized businesses, with tax breaksavailable at virtually every stage of the exploration and extractionprocess.  According to the mostrecent study by the Congressional Budget Office, released in 2005, capital investmentslike oil field leases and drilling equipment are taxed at an effective rate of9 percent, significantly lower than the overall rate of 25 percent forbusinesses in general and lower than virtually any other industry. And for manysmall and midsize oil companies, the tax on capital investments is so low thatit is more than eliminated by various credits. These companies’ returns onthose investments are often higher after taxes than before.  Oil industry officials say that the taxbreaks, which average about $4 billion a year according to various governmentreports, are a bargain for taxpayers. By helping producers weather marketfluctuations and invest in technology, tax incentives are supporting anindustry that the officials say provides 9.2 million jobs.

China’sPremier Declares He’s Prepared to Use an "Iron Hand" to Make His People UseEven Less Energy Than They Already Do – But Numbers Might Sink Him Anyway. NYTimes (7/4) reports, "Premier Wen Jiabao has promised to use an "iron hand"this summer to make his nation more energy efficient. The central governmenthas ordered cities to close inefficient factories by September, like the vastGuangzhou Steel mill here, where most of the 6,000 workers will be laid off orpushed into early retirement. China has shut down more than a thousand oldercoal-fired power plants that used technology of the sort still common in theUnited States. China has also surpassed the rest of the world as the biggestinvestor in wind turbines and other clean energy technology. And it hasdictated tough new energy standards for lighting and gas mileage for cars.  But even as Beijing imposes the world’smost rigorous national energy campaign, the effort is being overwhelmed by the billionfolddemands of Chinese consumers. Chinese and Western energy experts worry that China’s energy challengecould become the world’s problem – possibly dooming any international effortsto place meaningful limits on global warming.  If China cannot meet its own energy-efficiency targets, thechances of avoiding widespread environmental damage from rising temperatures "arevery close to zero," said Fatih Birol, the chief economist of the InternationalEnergy Agency in Paris.

CubaLibre: Obama Ban on Offshore Energy Exploration Forgets One Important Thing:The Cubans Don’t Observe It; Clear the Way for Drilling 45 Miles from Key West.WallStreet Journal (7/2) reports, "Florida has long fought to prevent oildrilling anywhere near its white sandy beaches. But as the state continues todeal with oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill washing up on its shores, it facesa new threat: deepwater drilling in nearby Cuban waters. Maria Ritter, aspokeswoman for Spanish oil company Repsol YPF SA, said it plans to drill offCuba, about 60 miles south of Key West, Fla., early next year. If successful,this would likely kick off a spate of exploration. Only one deepwater well hasbeen drilled in Cuban waters, by Repsol in 2004. The effort found oil but notenough to justify commercial development. Since then, the U.S. GeologicalSurvey has said there could be a substantial amount of untapped oil off theCuban coast, whetting the appetite of several global oil companies that havesigned exploration leases. Drilling off Florida in U.S. waters has been bannedby federal moratorium for decades. It’s not clear what U.S. or Floridaofficials could do to stop oil exploration in Cuba. The U.S. controls coastalwaters up to 200 miles from its shores, but under a 1977 treaty it agreed todivide the Straits of Florida equally with Cuba. That means Repsol can drill adeepwater well about the same distance from Key West, Fla., as the DeepwaterHorizon was from the Louisiana coast.

DuckLame: Bingaman Shoots Down Greens’ Idea of Ramming Through Controversial CarbonLegislation in Lame-Duck Session – "Senate Will Have to Act Before August" IfAt All. WallStreet Journal (7/1) reports, "A hot idea circulating in Washington is thatcongressional Democrats might try to pass climate-change legislation in thelame-duck session after the November elections. The idea has gained currency asthe Senate’s calendar has grown crowded. But a leading Senate Democrat said theapproach won’t work. If an energy bill is to reach President Barack Obama’sdesk this year, the Senate will have to pass a substantial bill before theAugust recess, said Sen. Jeff Bingaman. Bingaman, chairman of the Energy andNatural Resources Committee, warned his colleagues against assuming they canpass a bill before the election with popular items – such as incentives forwind and solar power and electric cars – and then add more controversialprovisions, such as a cap on carbon emissions, in a conference committee withthe House after the election.  Thatapproach, he said, has failed in the past.  "Any plan that contemplates ‘let’s just get somethingthrough the Senate and … people come back in a lame duck and all of us agree onsomething,’ I think that’s not likely," the New Mexico Democrat said. "If we’regoing to get legislation to the president for signature in this Congress, Ithink the Senate’s going to have to act before the August recess."

Facedwith Order from Federal Judge to Reverse Course on Moratorium, WH Press Sec.Says New "Partial Ban" Plan Is In the Offing – Directly Violating Court’sOrder. E&E News (7/2, subs.req’d) reports, "The White House yesterday said it will issue a revisedsix-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling in the next few days. "Ithink that will come from the Department of Interior, I would expect in thenext few days," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters.The Obama administration has been crafting a revised proposal since a federaljudge struck down its original drilling ban. President Obama in late May haltedapproval of new deepwater drilling permits and suspended drilling at 33exploratory wells while an independent panel conducts a six-month study ofoffshore drilling safety. But U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman ordered theObama administration on June 22 to lift the moratorium, saying the governmenthad not provided adequate reasoning for it and that it would have a permanentand harmful effect on the economy of the Gulf region. Although theadministration requested a stay, Feldman two days later reaffirmed his orderand gave the administration 30 days to comply.

KnowHow Folks Like to Claim that PA’s Portion of the Marcellus Has Hundreds ofTrillions of Cubic Feet of Natural Gas? They’re Wrong – There’s Even More. Reuters(7/1) reports, "Is there even more natural gas than thought encased in the rockbelow Pennsylvania? The state that is already estimated to have enough gas inits Marcellus Shale formation to meet total U.S. needs for a decade or more mayhave additional reserves trapped in geological strata above and below theMarcellus, some energy companies believe. Test wells sunk in recent months haveyielded promising quantities of gas that may indicate major new reserves of afuel that would reduce carbon emissions, cut U.S. petroleum imports, andgenerate thousands of jobs. One of the fields, the Utica Shale, has alreadygenerated interest in the Canadian province of Quebec where a number of horizontaltest wells have been drilled, and that optimism is spreading to Pennsylvania,birthplace of the world’s oil industry in the mid-19th century. Range ResourcesCorp. (RRC.N: Quote), a Texas-based gas driller that is active in thesouthwestern Pennsylvania portion of the Marcellus, said it has successfullytested two wells, in the Upper Devonian Shale above the Marcellus, and theUtica, below it. It plans to release more details in the coming months."The results are very promising," Range spokesman Matt Pitzarellawrote in an email. "Even though it’s still very early, the prospects arevery good, indicating that either of these formations could be stand-alone gasfields."

FederalLIHEAP Program – a Band-Aid Approach to High Energy Prices Embraced by LawmakersUninterested in Examining the Root Cause – Is Exposed as a Scam. AssociatedPress (7/1) reports, "A federal program designed to help impoverished familiesheat and cool their homes wasted more than $100 million paying the electricbills of thousands of applicants who were dead, in prison or living inmillion-dollar mansions, according to a government investigation. The U.S.Department of Health and Human Services spent $5 billion through the Low-IncomeHome Energy Assistance Program in 2009, doling out money to states with littleoversight of the program. Some states don’t verify applicants’ identifies orincome. For example, the program helped pay the electric bill of a woman wholives in a $2 million home in a wealthy Chicago suburb and drives a Mercedes,according to the yet-to-be released report obtained by The Associated Press.GAO studied the program after a 2007 investigation by Pennsylvania’s stateauditor found 429 applicants received more than $162,000 using the SocialSecurity numbers of dead people. "LIHEAP is supposed to be for poorpeople, not for cheats who pose as something or someone they’re not and gettheir paperwork rubber-stamped by gullible government officials," saidU.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the ranking GOP member of the House Energy andCommerce Committee, which requested the investigation.

IEASays Worldwide "Revolution" of Renewable and Alternative Energy Just Over the Horizon- All That’s Needed to Initiate It? 500% (!) Higher Taxpayer Subsidies. E&E News (7/1,subs. req’d) reports, "The International Energy Agency says an energytechnology revolution is under way, but the next decade is critical insustaining that transition. The Paris-based energy watchdog says in a newreport out today that governments should intervene at "an unprecedentedlevel" over the next decade to scale up new clean technologies and avoidlocking in inefficient, high-emissions technologies. "For several years,the IEA has been calling for an energy revolution to tackle climate change andenhance energy security and economic development," Nobuo Tanaka, executivedirector of the International Energy Agency, said this morning in Washington,D.C. "For the first time, we see early indications that such a revolutionis under way." To achieve a 50 percent reduction in carbon dioxideemissions by 2050, government research and development funding in low-carbontechnologies — like wind, solar, nuclear, and carbon capture and sequestration– will need to be two to five times higher than current levels, the reportsays.

SocialistParadise: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Decides the Best Way to SettleDispute over Payment with Offshore Contractor is to Steal the Rigs.   Bloomberg(7/1) reports, "Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez decreed the seizure of 11Helmerich & Payne Inc. oil rigs after the company idled its equipmentbecause of a payment dispute, according to a resolution published in theOfficial Gazette. Petroleos de Venezuela SA President and Oil Minister Rafael Ramireztraveled to Anaco, Anzoategui state, today to take control of the rigs and allgear associated with their operation. Some 600 rig workers, whom Ramirezexhorted to look after the equipment when the planned seizure was firstannounced last month, become PDVSA employees. "We’re here to comply with ourrevolutionary laws and to safeguard our national interests," Ramirez told acrowd of workers today in a speech broadcast on state television. "Myrecognition goes out to workers who watched over the rigs and didn’t allow thecompany to take them out of the country." Helmerich, which has operated inVenezuela for more than 50 years supplying oil field services, said that itidled the rigs after failing to receive more than $40 million of past duepayments. Ramirez called the company "intransigent" in negotiations for newfees following a plunge in oil prices and said PDVSA won’t allow privatecompanies to slow production.

Rebuke:Democrats and Republicans Come Together in the Senate to Establish REALCommission on Deepwater Horizon – Will Compete Directly with Obama’s PotemkinPanel. Energy Guardian (7/1, subs.req’d) reports, "After unanimously approving legislation to overhaul the nation’soffshore drilling laws, members of the Senate Energy Committee did somethingunexpected. They voted to approve their own independent commission toinvestigate the BP accident that would compete with one that Obama createdseveral weeks ago. Five Democrats joined all 10 Republicans in voting to createa dueling panel with 10 members. The vote was a rebuke of Obama’s decision toname the head of an anti-drilling advocacy group-Natural Resources DefenseCouncil President Frances Beinecke-to the commission he created back in May.Sen. John Barasso, R-Wyo., introduced the surprise legislation, sayinglawmakers like himself felt Obama had stacked his own commission withanti-drilling critics who would tarnish the credibility of any of itsfindings.  Sen. Mary Landrieu, aDemocrat from Louisiana, challenged her own party members to consider how theywould have reacted if former President George W. Bush had stacked thecommission with pro-oil members. "We would say this is not fair. And I’m sayingto my colleagues this is not fair," she argued. The committee ultimatelydecided there were enough questions about the independence of Obama’scommission that it was — in the words of New Hampshire Sen. Jean Shaheen –prudent to get a second opinion.

A Tale of Two Panels: Senate Offshore Commissionwill be Populated by Scientists, Engineers; Whereas Obama Panel is Staffed byAdvocates and Hacks.  The Houston Chronicle (7/1) reports, "TheSenate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 15-8 to add thecongressional commission proposal to a broader offshore drilling bill, afterSen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., insisted that the nation needs an "unbiased"examination of the April 20 BP well blowout that triggered the spill. Heblasted a seven-member panel created by President Barack Obama as "stackedwith people who philosophically oppose offshore drilling." Obama launchedthe commission last month and tasked it with conducting a six-month probe ofthe Deepwater Horizon disaster and a rigorous review of drilling safety. Itsfindings could dictate the future of offshore drilling and lead to majorchanges in the way the government polices oil and gas production along thenation’s coasts. But its membership has come under fire in recent days becausewhile its roster includes science and engineering experts, none are drillingexperts. Instead, the membership includes a renewable energy advocate who has complainedabout America’s oil addiction and a marine science professor who recentlyappeared to endorse a delay of planned drilling along the East Coast.

Sassy Waxy: House Energy Chairman Warns that CarbonRationing Will Be Added in Conference Even if It’s Dropped from SenateLegislation.The Hill (7/1) reports, "HouseEnergy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said he would "absolutely"seek to keep greenhouse gas limits alive in a House-Senate conference if theSenate approves energy legislation this summer that omits carbon provisions. "Itwould be open in conference to consider because our bill has it," Waxman toldThe Hill Wednesday. Waxman authored a sweeping climate and energy bill that theHouse narrowly approved last year that merges an "economy-wide" cap-and-tradesystem with other provisions to boost alternative energy and energy efficiency.Greenhouse gas caps face large hurdles in the Senate, and may be left on thecutting-room floor when the Senate debates an energy package that MajorityLeader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wants to bring up next month. But Waxman, an ally ofHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said the climate issue would remainalive in conference, noting he would "absolutely" press for measures thatcreate a cost for emitting greenhouse gases. "I would hope we can put a priceon carbon," Waxman said, arguing it would give the private sector the "rightmarket signal" to develop low-emissions technologies.

George Miller Says His New Bill Seeks to Prevent BPfrom Acquiring an Offshore OCS Lease for the Next 7 Years; The Reality? ItSeeks to Shut Down Offshore Energy In General. The Hill (6/30) reports, "Rep.George Miller (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that he’s drafting legislation to denyBP new offshore oil-and-gas leases for up to seven years due to the oil giant’spattern of safety and environmental problems. "British Petroleum has a flagranthistory of taking risks to boost profits that has resulted in deaths ofworkers, destruction of the environment, and economic chaos in localcommunities," Miller said in a prepared statement about BP, which is strugglingto contain oil from its blown-out Gulf of Mexico well. Miller, a top ally ofHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), hopes to offer his plan as an amendmentto drilling safety legislation under construction in the House NaturalResources Committee. He once headed that panel and currently chairs theEducation and Labor Committee. Miller’s plan is not limited to BP. His officedescribes the upcoming bill this way: "Under Miller’s draft legislation, theSecretary of Interior could not issue offshore oil and gas leases to a companythe Secretary determines is a danger to workers and natural resources," theirsummary states.

Henry Waxman Says His "Blowout Prevention Act" IsJust Making Sure Rigs Are Kept Safe; The Reality? It Defines Every On- andOffshore Well in America As "High-Risk," and Then Blows ‘Em Up. Marlo Lewis writes(6/30) on MasterResource.org, "The draftlegislation that Chairmen Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) willpromote at today’s hearing could shut down all offshore drilling in the UnitedStates. The draft text says the federal government "shall not issue a permit todrill for a high-risk well unless the applicant for such permit demonstrates .. . and the appropriate federal official determines that . . . the applicanthas an oil spill response plan that ensures that the applicant has the capacityto promptly stop a blowout in the event the blowout preventer and other wellcontrol measures fail." Sounds innocent enough. However, the bill defines as "high-risk"any "offshore oil or gas exploration or production well," not justultra-deepwater rigs. The implication is obvious: The federal government "shallnot" issue any more permits for offshore drilling, because nobody knows how to "promptlystop a blowout in the event that the blowout preventer and other well controlmeasures fail." Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) put it this way: "BP ignored avery simple rule. If you can’t plug the hole, don’t drill the well." But, asthe BP disaster shows, some holes cannot be plugged, at least not in time toprevent gigantic spills. Logically, the bill implies that no permits to drillshould be granted and that existing permits should be revoked.

Big AP Story This Week Informed Readers that ShaleProducers in PA Use Benzene, Toluene and Other Nasty Stuff in Frac Fluids -Falsely, As It Turns Out.  Scranton Times-Tribune (7/1) reports, "Anearlier version of the list, provided by DEP to the Associated Press andpublished in newspapers throughout the state this week, purportedly includedall of the chemicals used in Pennsylvania during the gas extraction processcalled hydraulic fracturing. Instead, it included not just the chemicals pumpeddeep underground but also those stored or used on a well site, including fuelfor vehicles and brake fluid. "You can blame it on me," Scott Perry,the director of DEP’s Bureau of Oil and Gas Management, said on Wednesday. Theoriginal list was a compilation of the chemicals identified on safety documentscalled material safety data sheets that hydraulic fracturing contractors mustsubmit to the department, but he did not realize that it included substancesthe contractors use both above and below ground on a well site, he said. Thesecond list was winnowed by a DEP chemist, who recognized that some of thechemicals on the initial list are not among those injected underground duringthe fracturing process. Three compounds specifically addressed in the AParticle because of the risks they can pose to human health – naphthalene,toluene and xylene – are not on the list of hydraulic fracturing chemicals DEPposted on its website on Wednesday.

Steely Determination: Steel Producers Join theScrum in Challenging EPA’s Attempt to Re-Write the Clean Air Act with the Help ofCongress on "Tailoring" Rule.E&E News (6/30, subs. req’d) reports, "The steel industryhas filed a pair of court challenges to U.S. EPA’s "tailoring" rule,putting the trade group in the unusual position of challenging a rulemakingthat would limit the scope of the agency’s greenhouse gas regulations. AfterEPA announced earlier this year that it plans to begin regulating largestationary sources of greenhouse gases next January, the agency proposed ascaled-back approach for the regulations, initially limiting them to newsources producing more than 100,000 tons of greenhouse gases and to existingsources that increase their emissions by more than 75,000 tons. Petitions filedyesterday with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbiaby Gerdau Ameristeel US Inc. and the American Iron and Steel Institute ask thecourt to review the tailoring rule, which multiplied the threshold forregulation by about 750 times. Groups have until Aug. 2 to challenge the rule,which was finalized earlier this month, and two industry-backed advocacy groups– the Coalition for Responsible Regulation and the Southeastern LegalFoundation — have already filed petitions for review. "It’s simply a planto pick winners and losers arbitrarily as to who will be subject to regulationand who will not," he said. "It’s not in keeping with thestatute."

Kerry-Lieberman "AmericanPower Act" (Really, Guys?) Will Cut 5.1 Million U.S. Jobs over Next 40 Years -And, As Usual, Disproportionately Affect Working-Class Families. Investor’sBusiness Daily (6/29) editorializes, "On Wednesday, the Institute forEnergy Research will release an analysis of the American Power Act, pushed byKerry and Lieberman (sans Graham). IER says it will cut U.S. employment byroughly 522,000 jobs in 2015, rising to more than 5.1 million by 2050."Gross annual burden" imposed by the current Senate version ofcap-and-trade is put at a paltry $125.9 billion a year or $1,042 per household,with costs disproportionately borne by low-income households. According to IER,Kerry-Lieberman will redistribute roughly $12.3 billion per year from thebottom 80% of earners to the highest quintile. As the average age of eachhousehold rises, so does the economic burden imposed on it. Health carerationing and Kerry-Lieberman – a double whammy for seniors. Whether throughthe front door, the back door or behind another closed Senate door,cap-and-trade will put a price not only on carbon, but also on freedom. Thepower to tax is the power to destroy, but it is also the power to control. Clickhere for IER’s press release on the study. And clickhere to access the study itself.

No Respect forElders: IER-Commissioned Analysis Finds Folks over the Age 75 Hit the HardestUnder Kerry-Lieberman. MarkTapscott writes (6/29) for the WashingtonExaminer, "More than half a million jobs could be lost by 2015 if Congressapproves the cap-and-trade portion of the Kerry-Lieberman anti-global warmingbill, according to an independent analysis to be made public tomorrow by theInstitute for Energy Research. The study was done by Chamberlain Economics LLCat IER’s request of the measure being sponsored by Sen. John Kerry, D-MA, andSen. Joe Lieberman, I-CN. Besides the 522,000 jobs lost within five years, themeasure if approved would destroy an estimated 5.1 million jobs by 2050. Otherfindings of the Chamberlain study include:  Households would face a gross annual burden of $125.9billion per year or $1,042 per household, with costs disproportionately borneby low-income households. On a net basis, the top income quintile will benefitfinancially, redistributing to these households roughly $12.3 billion per yearfrom the bottom 80ercent of earners. Households over age 75 bear the largestburden at 2.3 percent of income, followed by households aged 65-74 and underage 25 at 2.1 percent. By contrast, the nation’s highest-earning householdsbetween age 45 and 54 years would bear the smallest percentage burden of just1.5 percent.

Kerry Emerges fromMeeting with the President with Promises to Scale Back Cap-and-Raid Provisions -But the Enviros Know Better than That.Politico(6/30) reports, "Some moderate Democrats aren’t even interested in going thatfar. "I’ve got a lot of concerns about utility-only, in a state like mine whereI’ve got a lot of low-income consumers," said Senate Agriculture CommitteeChairwoman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), who urged Reid to keep the focus on theenergy bill approved more than a year ago in Bingaman’s committee. And some ofthe far left environmental groups don’t like the idea all that much either. "Capitulate,then compromise is not a strategy that will produce a real climate bill," saidErich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth. "It’s time for senators to stopcaving to corporate polluters and start listening to the people they representwho are demanding clean, safe energy and jobs." Reid is planning a mid-Julyfloor debate on the energy and climate bill, before the Senate begins theconfirmation debate on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, his spokesman, JimManley, told reporters Tuesday. "I think it’s probably at least a week, if notmore," Manley said of the amount of time Reid has blocked off for energy andclimate.

The Wax ManCometh: Energy Chairman Introduces a Bill that would Allow Any Joe Off theStreet the Shut Down a $400 Million Offshore Rig. TheHill (6/29) reports, "Waxman floated a draft 34-page bill to otherpanelists Friday that would impose new drilling safeguards.  Beginning in one year, it would preventnew "high-risk" onshore and offshore oil-and-gas drilling unless the drillingcompany has a plan ensuring a blowout could be prevented or promptly stopped.Companies must also be able to drill a relief well within 15 days of a blowoutand complete that well within 90 days. The draft sets minimum federal standardsfor blowout preventers and the casing and cementing of wells – areas that aresubject to intense scrutiny in probes of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. One provision that may ruffle some feathersallows for citizen suits to "compel compliance" with the bill’s requirements.It also requires minimum standards for work stoppage "when there are conditionsindicating an immediate risk of a blowout at a high-risk well," and establishesan independent panel to review well-control technology and assess the adequacyof regulations. Other requirements in the draft include unannounced inspectionsof rigs and the banning of retaliation against whistleblowers.  A Waxman spokeswoman called it a "straightforward"plan that will be the subject of a hearing Wednesday in the panel’s Energy andEnvironment Subcommittee.

Obama AgencyDecision to Deny Sale of US PRODUCTS to India Just Because They’re Used to MineCoal Really Rubbing Folks in Wisconsin – Rs and Ds – the Wrong Way. ClimateWire (6/30,subs. req’d) reports, "Pressure is mounting on President Obama to reverse theExport-Import Bank of the United States’ decision to deny funding to a3,960-megawatt coal plant in India. In a letter to President Obama, WisconsinRepublicans criticized the bank’s rejection of a $250 million loan guarantee toReliance Industries Ltd. in India. The financing would have helpedMilwaukee-based Bucyrus International Inc. provide about $600 million worth ofdraglines, electric mining shovels and trucks to a coal mine and supercriticalpower plant in Madhya Pradesh, India. The board voted 2-1 against the loanbecause the plant will produce 26.4 million tons of emissions annually, acarbon footprint Ex-Im bank officials indicated they felt was too high. Butthis week, Bucyrus received cancellation orders for its three contracts withReliance, affecting what the company estimated to be nearly 1,000 jobs acrossseveral states. "It’s a big order for us," Bucyrus President and CEOTim Sullivan said. "It’s substantial business, not only for our plant butall our suppliers and contractors in 13 different states."

Defense Dept.Currently in the Middle of Two Wars and One Rolling Stone Article – And Yet:Investing Millions of Your Dollars in "Extreme" Solar Installations. WiredMagazine (6/25) reports, "For years, the military has made on-again, off-againattempts to find eco-friendly ways to get power war-zones, bases and drones.Now Darpa, usually the agency behind the Pentagon’s most out-there ideas, isputting their money into an old standby: solar power. They’re investing $3.8million into the creation of high-powered, lightweight solar cells that can "standup to battle conditions and environmental extremes." Birkmire is quick to pointout, the cells Darpa’s after will require some lofty innovation. Thin-film,flexible solar cells are a major priority for the military, because they can beapplied onto almost everything – from tents to uniforms – and would minimizethe number of generators and portable battery packs needed by troops in battle.In 2005, the Army tested tents lined with silicon-based solar cells that wereable to generate adequate power for fans, lap tops and lights.Right now,Birkmire said, the cells are in their infancy, and operate at 7-11 percentefficiency. Darpa wants to see that doubled – at least. "They want to takeperformance to another level, and I’m not sure that we’ll get there," he saidof the program, which will also include four industry partners. "Add to that thechallenge of encapsulating these models to make them resilient for battle, andkeeping them lightweight in spite of that, and it’s a big challenge."

At Least It’s Goodfor Something: Squabbles over Corn-Based Ethanol Effectively Shut DownNegotiations in Ways and Means over "Green Jobs" Mass Subsidy Bill. E&E News (6/30,subs. req’d) reports, "A debate over whether to extend tax credits forcorn-based ethanol has emerged as a stumbling block for Democratic members ofthe House Ways and Means Committee working to develop a "green jobs"tax package, even as the larger question of how to pay for the possible $20billion bill lingers. Democratic committee members yesterday left a meeting onthe bill without resolving whether to include an extension of a 45-cent taxcredit for oil companies that blend ethanol with gasoline. Davis is aco-sponsor of a bill — H.R. 4940, introduced by Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.),another member of the Ways and Means Committee — that would extend the ethanol"blenders’ credit" until 2015. Pomeroy has noted if the blenders’credit is allowed to expire this year, North Dakota would lose 2,930 jobs, andthe United States would lose a total of 112,000 jobs. Corn ethanol is criticizedfor escalating food prices and polluting the environment — especially withfertilizer run-off into rivers and oceans. Supporters tout the fuel for cuttinggreenhouse gas emissions and imports of foreign fuel, as well as supportingU.S. farmers and rural communities.