June 2011

Post image for Lawsuit Filed Against New York’s Participation in RGGI

The Competitive Enterprise Institute announced today that it is acting as co-counsel in a recently filed lawsuit in the state of New York against the state’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (a state cap and trade program). The lawsuit has been filed on behalf of small business owners in New York State who have faced increased electricity costs, and can be read here (.pdf). The American Spectator has a short write up here. The basis for the suit relies on the fact that elected officials in New York enrolled in the RGGI without approval by the state legislature. New York is the only state involved with RGGI who entered the initiative without approval from its legislature. As RGGI has forced electricity generators to purchase annual carbon allowances, it has raised the price of electricity for New York residents, effectively acting as a tax on electricity producers (those who produce more than 25 megawatts annually) in New York. [click to continue…]

Post image for The Mendacity of Al Gore’s Rolling Stone Article, Part 3: Diplomacy and Climate Policy

[N.B. Ex-Vice President and massive carbon “polluter” Al Gore took to the pages of last week’s Rolling Stone in order to critique President Barack Obama’s supposedly timid response to global warming. This is Part 3 of a multipart series on the policy distortions peddled by Mr. Gore in the piece.]

Regarding the diplomacy of climate change mitigation, Mr. Gore wrote,

The failure [of the Congress] to pass legislation to limit global-warming pollution ensured that the much-anticipated Copenhagen summit on a global treaty in 2009 would also end in failure.

This is utter malarkey. The failure of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to produce a legally binding treaty to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions at the Copenhagen summit had zero to do with the U.S. Congress, and everything to do with realist international relations.

As I wrote on this blog last May,

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Post image for Ethanol Policy Updates: E15 and Tax Credits

The EPA has finalized label requirements for E15, backing down a bit from initial proposal which included the word ‘caution.’ The new label, as you can see, is a slightly less alarmist ‘attention.’ I will note that the new label does not point out in any form that ethanol will provide fewer miles per gallon for your vehicle. Adjusted for energy content, ethanol is more expensive than gasoline. However, if you do not adjust for energy content, ethanol costs less than gasoline. Being that the label doesn’t point this out, it seems that consumers might fill up with E15 as it will be slightly cheaper than E10, as few are aware that they will be reducing their fuel economy when moving from E10 to E15. I suspect that the government would be taking action if a private company were to do this.

The Corn Grower’s Association has weighed in, and they are unsurprisingly less than thrilled despite the fact that the EPA kowtowed to their demands:

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Post image for Energy and Environment News

Employment Crash Requires Real Change in Washington
Rep. Fred Upton, Washington Times, 28 June 2011

Shale Gas Neo-Malthusianism: Poor Journalism at the Paper of Record
Michael Lynch, Master Resource, 28 June 2011

Obama Was Right about the SPR Release
Jerry Taylor & Peter Van Doren, Forbes, 27 June 2011

Why Your New Car Doesn’t Have a Spare
Sam Kazman, Wall Street Journal, 26 June 2011

The End Is Near for Faith in AGW
Russell Cook, WattsUpWithThat, 25 June 2011

Post image for The Mendacity of Al Gore’s Rolling Stone Article, Part 2: Special Interests and Climate Policy

[N.B. Ex-Vice President and massive carbon “polluter” Al Gore took to the pages of last week’s Rolling Stone in order to critique President Barack Obama’s supposedly timid response to global warming. This is Part 2 of a multipart series on the policy distortions peddled by Mr. Gore in the piece.]

Regarding the influence of special interests on climate policy, Mr. Gore wrote,

…a badly broken Senate that is almost completely paralyzed by the threat of filibuster and is controlled lock, stock and barrel by the oil and coal industries; a contingent of nominal supporters in Congress who are indentured servants of the same special interests that control most of the Republican Party…

… don’t give up on the political system. Even though it is rigged by special interests…

Mr. Gore would have you believe that his preferred climate policy, a cap-and-trade energy-rationing scheme, failed due to opposition from hydrocarbon special interests. This is not true. In fact, cap-and-trade bills in the 110th and 111th Congresses were voted down by bi-partisan majorities of lawmakers, for a very simple reason: These politicians didn’t want to lose their jobs by enacting an energy tax and thereby angering their constituents, the preponderance of whom had (and continue to have) bigger concerns (read: jobs) than global warming, no matter how much Mr. Gore tried (and continues to try) to alarm them by blaming every disaster in the news—Floods! Droughts! Heat waves! Snow storms!—on climate change. That is, the failure of cap-and-trade in the Congress has little to do with hydrocarbon energy lobbies, and everything to do with the fact that Americans don’t want energy-rationing because they aren’t alarmed. Rightfully so.

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Post image for More Jump Off the Boondoggle Bandwagon

Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) are planning to introduce their version of the T. Boone Pickens Earmark bill this week.  Rep. John Sullivan (R-Okla.) released a list of 220 supporters of the Pickens-Your-Pocket Plan, which is H. R. 1380 in the House.  The list is mostly companies, many of them small to medium in size, that hope to benefit from federal subsidies for natural gas vehicles and infrastructure.

It looks now like a failing effort.  The pushback from free market and conservative groups has made a substantial dent in enthusiasm.  Fourteen Republicans in the House have withdrawn their names as co-sponsors.  That leaves 182 co-sponsors currently.

Here is the list of the Representatives who have gotten off the Boonedoggle Bandwagon: Steve Pearce (R-NM), Todd Akin (R-Mo), Glenn Thompson (R-Penna), Tim Griffin (R-Ark), Cory Gardner (R-Colo), Scott Tipton (R-Colo), Mike Coffman (R-Colo), Larry Bucshon (R-Ind), John Kline (R-Minn), Mike Kelly (R-Penna), Scott Rigell (R-Va), Blake Farenthold (R-Tex), Richard Nugent (R-Fla), and Joseph Pitts (R-Penna).

Post image for Energy and Environment News

Why Your Car Doesn’t Have a Spare Tire
Sam Kazman, The Wall Street Journal, 27 June 2011

Snow job: Al Gore doesn’t know how to use the internet
Anthony Watts, WattsUpWithThat, 27 June 2011

Will the CFTC Prosecute Obama and the IEA for Manipulation?
Craig Pirrong, The Streetwise Professor, 26 June 2011

The Facts About Fracking
Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal, 25 June 2011

Insiders Sound an Alarm Amid a Natural Gas Rush
Ian Urbina, The New York Times, 25 June 2011

(A Rebuttal to the NTY Piece)
Is Shale Gas a Ponzi Scheme?
Michael Levi, The Council on Foreign Relations, 27 June 2011

Low-hanging corn
Editorial Board, The Salt Lake Tribune, 25 June 2011

Obama’s focus on visiting clean-tech companies raises questions
Carol Leonnig, Joe Stephens and Alice Crites, The Washington Post, 25 June 2011


Post image for Obama Raids Oil Reserve, But Still Blocks Producing More

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced on Thursday that the federal government would release 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to counteract supply disruptions in the global oil market.  In addition, the other member nations of the International Energy Agency would release another thirty million barrels.

Thirty million barrels is the largest single release in the history of the SPR, but is insignificant compared to total global daily consumption of roughly 80 million barrels.  The Washington Post noted in an editorial on Friday that the crisis the Obama Administration is trying to deal with is that “President Obama’s re-election prospects will be harmed if national discontent over high gasoline prices continues.  The oil release could be seen as a way for the president to take credit for gas prices that are falling anyway….”

Rory Cooper at the Heritage Foundation’s Foundry discusses what a stupid idea this is and how it fits in with all of President Obama’s other phony, counter-productive energy policies.  Instead of tapping the SPR, why doesn’t the President announce that the federal government is opening federal lands and offshore areas to new oil and gas exploration?  That would increase global oil production and lower gasoline prices now and over the long term.  The reason is because President Obama and his Administration favor much higher gas prices.  The SPR release simply helps delay implementation of his policies until after the 2012 election.

Post image for EPA Greenhouse Gas/NHTSA Fuel Economy Standards: ‘Harmonized and Consistent’?

This post updates my June 14 post on the mantra intoned by EPA, the California Air Resources Board (CARB), and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that EPA/CARB’s greenhouse gas (GHG) motor vehicle emission standards are “harmonized and consistent” with NHTSA’s fuel economy standards.

EPA Associate Administrator David McIntosh recently sent written responses to questions from House Energy and Commerce Committee members following up on a May 5, 2011 hearing entitled “The American Energy Initiative.”

In a nutshell, EPA defines “harmonized and consistent” as “whatever we say it is.” [click to continue…]

Post image for The Mendacity of Al Gore’s Rolling Stone Article, Part 1: “Bribes” and Climate Policy

[N.B. Ex-Vice President and massive carbon “polluter” Al Gore took to the pages of this week’s Rolling Stone in order to critique President Barack Obama’s supposedly timid response to global warming. This is Part 1 of a multipart series on the policy distortions peddled by Mr. Gore in the piece.]

Regarding the influence of “bribes” on climate policy, Mr. Gore wrote in Rolling Stone,

“…Polluters and Ideologues are trampling all over the “rules” of democratic discourse…buying elected officials wholesale with bribes…”

Clearly, Mr. Gore hasn’t been following the Congressional politics of climate change policy. Because if he had been paying attention, he’d know that the only people “buying elected officials wholesale” are the very people who are trying to enact his preferred climate policy, a cap-and-trade energy rationing scheme.

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