Cooler Heads Digest

Announcements

More than 70 of the world’s elite scientists specializing in climate issues will confront the subject of global warming at the Heartland Institute’s second International Conference on Climate Change in New York City, March 8-10, 2009. They will be joined by economists, legal experts, private-sector business people, state and federal legislators and officials, policy analysts, media, and students. To learn more, click here.

In the News

Travesty-Rep. Inslee’s Behavior at Committee Hearing
Marlo Lewis, Globalwarming.org, 12 February 2009

The Collapse of Climate Policy
Roger Pielke Jr., Prometheus, 7 February 2009

Obama’s Extreme team on Energy
Ben Lieberman, FoxNews.com, 6 February 2009

Video: Heartland Institute Exposes Fear Mongering
Heartland Institute, 5 February 2009

Carbon Collapse Threatens Green Dreams
Sarah Arnott, The Independent, 9 February 2009

Climate Change Paradox: New Wind Power Doesn’t Reduce Emissions
Anselm Walderman, De Spiegal, 10 February 2009

Energy Secretary Floats a Carbon Tax
AFP, 12 February 2009

News You Can Use

Expensive Ethanol

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy jointly have launched a new website that allows viewers to compare the annual cost of fueling vehicles with E-85 (a blend including 85% ethanol) and regular unleaded gasoline. According to their calculations, it is almost 120% more expensive to fill a vehicle with E-85 than with gas. Click here to read commentary by CEI’s Marlo Lewis on the new site. Thanks to Dan Kish of the Institute for Energy Research for calling it to our attention.

Inside the Beltway

Senate Confirmation Hearing for Chronic Kook

The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee held a hearing on Thursday, 12th February, on the nominations of Dr. Jane Lubchenco to be Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and of Dr. John P. Holdren to be White House Science Adviser and Director of the Office and Science and Technology Policy.  Lubchenco was careful not to say anything.  It looked as if Holdren’s eagerness to say something was frustrated by his knowing that he’d been advised by his handlers not to say anything.  The only interesting exchange during questions came when Senator David Vitter (R-La.) asked Holdren about some of the outrageous statements he has made over the years.  Holdren has been preaching imminent environmental doom and the need for population control and de-development of the industrialized countries for decades.  A few years ago he predicted that one billion people could die from global warming by 2020.  Vitter put him on the spot and peeled away just enough of Holdren’s mask to catch a glimpse of the kook underneath.  The Chairman and Ranking Republican of the committee, Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) are trying to send both nominations to the floor quickly for confirmation by voice vote.  Let’s hope that Sen. Vitter’s efforts will cause some Senators to consider Holdren’s nomination a little more carefully.

Green Pork in Stimulus

The House and the Senate are likely to vote on the conference report for the so-called stimulus package in the next day or two.  The bill wastes $790 billion of taxpayer money in an astounding number of ways.  The “green” spending provisions reportedly survived pretty well in the House-Senate negotiations.  It will take some time to add up all the potential “green” spending and tax credits.

Boxer Sets Timetable for Energy Rationing

I forgot to mention in last week’s issue that Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Marin County, Calif.), Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, held a press conference on 3rd February to discuss her plans for a cap-and trade bill this year.  She said that the new bill would be less complicated than the Lieberman-Warner bill that crashed on the Senate floor last June and listed six principles that would guide writing the new bill.  The only item worth noting is Boxer’s discussion of the schedule.  She said that she was determined to vote a bill out of committee before the annual UN global warming meeting in Copenhagen in December.  That’s when the parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change are supposed to wrap up their negotiations on an agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of 2012.

It was only a few months ago that the Democratic leadership said they would have a cap-and-trade bill on President Obama’s desk to sign before Copenhagen.  Now, Boxer is committed to having a bill out of committee before Copenhagen, while her House counterpart, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Beverly Hills, Calif.), Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, has promised to have a bill out of his committee by Memorial Day.  But it looks increasingly likely that neither the House nor the Senate will consider and vote on a cap-and-trade bill on the floor this year.  And 2010 is an election year, when floor time becomes scarce and Members shy away from having to take votes on controversial issues.  Although these same Democratic leaders complained in the early years of this decade that the Republican majority was stalling on global warming legislation and that the time for talk was long past, the prospects for enacting energy-rationing legislation by a Democratic majority nonetheless continue to fade into the future.

Around the World

UK: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

According to a story this week in the Independent, Sammy Wilson, Northern Ireland’s Environment minister, banned an advertising campaign urging people to help tackle climate change by turning off their television sets because he does not believe humans are the main cause of global warming.

An airline industry journal this week reported that Adair Turner, chairman of the independent Committee on Climate Change that advises UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, proposed limiting UK citizens to just a few vacation trips abroad by air per year in order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party in Britain, spent almost $5,000 to install a D400 Stealthgen wind turbine on the roof of his London home in order to appear environmentally sensitive. After planners noticed it was in the wrong spot, Cameron took the turbine down, but it never went back up, most likely because it was an unsightly waste of money: Experts estimated that Cameron’s turbine would take 40 to 70 years to pay its way. B&Q, the manufacturer of the turbine, has announced that it will stop selling the D400.

Study: Renewables Remain Uncompetitive in EU even with Energy Rationing Policies

A new study by Chappin and Dijkema from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands questions the common assumption that raising the cost of inexpensive coal-fired power will cause a shift to renewable sources. By modeling the future reductions forced by the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme, they conclude:

“A long-term portfolio shift towards less-CO2 intensive power generation is observed. However, the effect of CET (CO2 Emissions Trading) is relatively small and materializes late. The absolute emissions from power generation rise under most scenarios. This corresponds to the dominant character of current capacity expansion planned in the Netherlands (50%) and in Germany (68%), where companies have announced many new coal-based power plants. Coal is the most CO2 intensive option available and it seems surprising that even after the introduction of CET these capacity expansion plans indicate a preference for coal. Apparently in power generation the economic effect of CO2 emission-trading is not sufficient to outweigh the economic incentives to choose for coal.”

Across the States

California

The Los Angeles Times reported this week on an independent analysis asserting that the city government has not “appropriately analyzed or communicated” the fact that the city’s plan to generate 35% of its electricity with renewables by 2020 would have a “significant impact” on energy prices. The office of LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) disputed the analysis. The Mayor continues to claim that using greater amounts of expensive alternative energy will benefit the economy.

Maryland

Maryland Governor Martin O’ Malley (D) held a press conference this week to promote S. 278, the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Act of 2009, which directs a state agency to develop a strategy to reduce Maryland’s greenhouse gas emissions 25% below 2006 levels by 2020, while at the same time ensuring “no loss of manufacturing jobs; a net increase in jobs and a net economic benefit…and no adverse impact on the reliability and affordability of electricity and fuel supplies.” Of course, that’s impossible, but by the time that Maryland citizens have to pay more for energy to meet O’ Malley’s contradictory agenda, the Governor will be safely out of office.