Cooler Heads Digest 26 June 2010

In the News

EU Countries Slashing Green Budgets
Patrice Hill, Washington Times, 25 June 2010

Markets Should Drive Colorado Energy Industry
William Yeatman & Amy Oliver Cooke, Denver Business Journal, 25 June 2010

Can a Carbon Cap Pass?
Myron Ebell, Politico, 25 June 2010

Climate Policy Not as Simple as Gore Thinks
Jim Manzi, The New Republic, 24 June 2010

Paul McCartney Compares Climate Skeptics to Holocaust Deniers
Josh Miller, FoxNews.com, 24 June 2010

A New Low for Science-the Black List
Fran Smith, GlobalWarming.org, 23 June 2010

Obama’s BP Time
Michael Lynch, MasterResource.org, 23 June 2010

Anti-Climate Law Initiative Qualifies for November Ballot
Dennis Theriault, San Jose Mercury News, 23 June 2010

Crude Stereotypes
Matt Purple, Spectator, 21 June 2010

News You Can Use

EPA Exposes Energy Independence Myth

Senator John Kerry claims that his cap-and-trade bill, the American Power Act, would make the U.S. “energy independent,” but according to the EPA’s economic analysis, the bill would raise gasoline prices to $5.00 a gallon in 2050 yet would leave U.S. petroleum consumption about where it is today.

Inside the Beltway

Myron Ebell

President Cancels Climate Meeting with Senators

President Barack Obama had to cancel his Wednesday morning meeting with a bipartisan group of Senators to discuss the need to pass energy-rationing legislation because he had to talk with General Stanley McChrystal before firing him as head of our Afghan campaign.  The meeting has not yet been rescheduled.

Despite Cancellation, Democratic Senators “Inspired”

Senate Democrats did go ahead on Thursday with their third meeting in three weeks to discuss how to proceed to the floor in July with an energy-rationing package.  Reporters talking to Senators as they came out of the meeting were greeted with uniformly glowing accounts of what happened at the meeting.

Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) told The Hill: “This was without doubt one of the most motivating, energized, and even inspirational caucuses that I’ve been part of since I’ve been here in the Senate in 26 years.”

Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) chimed in that the meeting had been “absolutely thrilling.”  Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was also over the moon: “A number of senators said this was the best caucus they’ve ever attended.  It was really very, very powerful. It was inspirational, quite frankly.”

So what did Senate Democrats decide to do?  They decided to include energy-rationing provisions in a bill to punish BP and the oil industry for BP’s Gulf oil leak.  This would force Republicans opposed to energy rationing to take a very difficult vote against the BP spill bill.

This strategy was first reported by Politico three weeks ago (which I discussed in the Digest here), so I’m not sure what made the meeting so exciting.  Perhaps they finally agreed on what provisions to include in the package?  No, they reported no progress on deciding the actual contents of the legislation.

My suspicion is that Senate Democrats, with no substantive progress to show for their three meetings, decided that they had to make a public show of progress.  Describing the meeting as exciting, inspiring, and thrilling was the best they could come up with.  They can try to hide it, but the fact is that the Good Bus Cap-n-Tax has run out of gas and is slowing to a stop.

The question is whether the Democrats’ huge Senate majority (plus a few Republicans) will be able to pass some modest package of regulations and mandates that will raise energy prices and cripple the economy.

Across the States

Marlo Lewis, from GlobalWarming.org

Louisiana Judge Overturns Obama’s Drilling Ban

On Wednesday, Judge Martin Feldman of the Eastern Louisiana District Court lifted the Obama administration’s six-month moratorium on all oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in waters over 500 feet in depth. Feldman held  that the moratorium was “arbitrary and capricious” and would do “irreparable harm” to businesses that own, operate, and service vessels used to support offshore drilling – an industry critical to the region’s economy. Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar imposed the moratorium on May 28 in response to the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout and oil spill.

Around the World

Chris Horner, from Pajamas Media

Spanish Green Jobs Critic Receives Bomb Threat

Spain’s Dr. Gabriel Calzada-the author of a damning study concluding that Spain’s “green jobs” energy program has been a catastrophic economic failure-was mailed a dismantled bomb on Tuesday by solar energy company Thermotechnic. The bomb threat is just the latest intimidation Dr. Calzada has faced since releasing his report and following up with articles in Expansion. A minister from Spain’s Socialist government called the rector of King Juan Carlos University-Dr. Calzada’s employer-seeking Calzada’s ouster. Calzada was not fired, but he was stripped of half of his classes at the university. My book, Power Grab: How Obama’s Green Policies Will Steal Your Freedom and Bankrupt America,  details the Spanish “green jobs” disaster uncovered by Dr. Calzada, plus similar “green” economic calamities occurring in Germany and Denmark-also programs Obama has praised-as well as in Italy and elsewhere.

The Cooler Heads Digest is the weekly e-mail publication of the Cooler Heads Coalition. For the latest news and commentary, check out the Coalition’s website, www.globalwarming.org.