Marita Noon

Cutting “Subsidies” to Big Oil Is Political Sleight of Hand

by Marita Noon on May 9, 2011

in Blog, Features

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Between the time this is written and the time you read it, gas prices will have undoubtedly risen again.  They have been on an upward spiral for months and not likely to drop long term without some bold, decisive action as was taken on July 14, 2008. Instead of encouraging the development of our own natural resources, politicians of both parties  are once again betting that we will not notice if they play the antibusiness card—but 2011 is not a year for politics as usual and the rules have changed. This is no longer a back-room game. It is the poker channel. People are watching.

With their cards close to the vest, Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Harry Reid (D-Nev.) are bluffing. They want America’s citizens to believe their hand is filled with spending cuts—cut subsidies from big oil companies. Somehow we are supposed to think this will lower gas prices?

Part of their bluff is to use the term “subsidy”—which in the house-of-cards economy/debt crisis they’ve built translates to spending. Concerned Americans do not want more spending, they want cuts. We’ve anted up all we can. Politicians are betting we’ll fall for the deception.

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Routed Greens Retreat

by Marita Noon on April 11, 2011

in Blog, Features

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Climate change is real. Climate change is manmade. Manmade climate change has happened within the last twenty-four months.

Leaders in the climate change debate have controlled the message for forty years since the adoption of the Clean Air Act. They have “approached climate change politics with an air of disdain,” according to Fred Krupp, President, Environmental Defense Fund (established in 1967).

Krupp addressed the changing political climate at Fortune Magazine’s Brainstorm Green Conference in early April and admitted that there is a “newfound hostility to climate policy.” He advised the environmental community to be “more humble” and “less arrogant.” He acknowledged the failure of a comprehensive energy and/or cap and trade policy.

Krupp is correct. With the falsification of climate records exposed—known as Climategate, the American people now see climate change as merely hysteria. Polls show they do not view it as a real problem that we need to address now.

At the same conference, Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy, agreed. He said, “Cap and trade cannot be sold and must be reinvented,” adding that it was going to be hard to “resurrect cap and trade.”

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Political pressure to fix energy problems of the future

by Marita Noon on February 10, 2011

in Blog

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The coldest temperatures in the contiguous states created a “state of emergency” due to a disruption of natural gas delivery. Power plants were shut down, workers sent home, schools closed, and shelters set up for those without heat. This was Thursday, February 3. Many people remained without heat a week later while temperatures reached as low as thirty-degrees-below zero.

This was in New Mexico but other states in the southwest faced rolling blackouts and a variety of energy related emergencies. This same problem could face the nation if we continue down the path we’ve been pursuing for our energy supplies.

Businesses, residents and hospitals received word that there may be natural gas disruptions throughout the day. This did not mean that there was, as many believed, a shortage, but rather rolling blackouts in Texas were causing pressure problems in the pipelines-the delivery system. There may have been enough gas to fire up your cook top, but not enough pressure for a furnace. The cold weather and lack of heat combined to create a state of emergency.

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Chunk It or Chuck It?

by Marita Noon on October 21, 2010

in Blog

Chunk it or chuck it?

Following the demise of cap and trade, a key initiative touted during his campaign, President Obama has admitted defeat on his proposed climate change legislation. Two main problems exist. First America’s citizens are fearful of his plans to “fundamentally change America.” Then, the topic has been in the public debate for the two years of attempted passage and people have come to see it as a hidden tax. At a time when the country is in an economic war, people know we can ill-afford additional costs.

After Harry Reid announced that cap and trade is dead, the President has begun talking about doing the same basic legislation in “chunks“-think bits and pieces that will slip through unnoticed by a battle weary public. The “chunk” strategy is one more attempt to go around the will of the people. Here a chunk, there a chunk, and before you know it you have cap and trade-or some other policy that digs deep into the taxpayer’s pockets.

Instead of “chunking it,” President Obama and congress, should “chuck it.”

Just released, the “Post-Partisan Power” report, acknowledges the need for a new approach. The collaborative effort is supposedly the result of a “yearlong dialogue” between three well-known think tanks: the American Enterprise Institute (conservative) and the Brookings Institute and Breakthrough Institute (liberal-leaning). Yet, their solutions seem to be rooted in the pre-recession economy. The authors presume that people will be content with fees on imported oil, surcharges on electricity, and paying “slightly more” (all report suggestions). Yet, according to MotherJones.com, most Americans aren’t willing to suffer even bare-minimum level of sacrifice for the good of the planet.  The “secure funding,” “new appropriations,” and “dedicate revenues” ideas miss the most important point: America is in an economic crisis, not an energy crisis!

Within the report are several viable solutions if America was flush with cash but they fall short when viewed through the filter of borrowing from China to make them happen.

However, we should borrow a few things from China. First, they realize that abundant, available, and affordable energy is essential to growth. So they are building power plants at dizzying rates. Next, the power plants they are building are cleaner and more technologically advanced than anything we have in America-both coal-fueled and nuclear. It has been years since America built a new power plant and the technology, often originating in America, has passed us by while we’ve been trying to push so-called alternative power and increasing the costs of traditional fuels.

The report is critical of America’s dependence on “the same fossil energy sources that have powered our nation since the 19th century” but fails to acknowledge that these same fuels are now used far more efficiently, effectively, and cleaner. We produce more with less energy and manufacture more responsibly than any other country on earth. We have an abundance of these fuels and our wise use and innovative technologies have expanded the resource. Why are we depending on foreign countries for energy when we have it all here within our borders-especially those who despise us?

“How a limited and direct approach to energy innovation can deliver clean, cheap energy, economic productivity and national prosperity,” is the report‘s subtitle.

How about this for a limited, direct approach:

  • Expedite the permitting process for the newest technology in proven coal-fueled and nuclear power plants.
  • Open up access to America’s energy resources.
  • Use our abundant oil and natural gas for transportation fuels.

This will bring “economic productivity and national prosperity.”

Tell Congress, “don’t chunk cap and trade, chuck it!”

Marita Noon is the Executive Director of Energy Makes America Great Inc., the advocacy arm of CARE (Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy), the New Mexico nonprofit organization advocating for citizens’ right to energy that is abundant, available, and affordable. CARE works on energy issues state, region and nationwide. Find out more at www.EnergyMakesAmericaGreat.org.

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