Albuquerque NM—Thursday, June 16, members of the U.S. Senate, by a margin of 73-27, voted to eliminate a tax credit and a tariff that subsidize ethanol production, according to an article in Bloomberg News.
The vote signals a major change in public opinion. It shows that telephone calls to members of Congress can tip the balance in favor of or in opposition to an issue.
Climategate Part 2?
Oliver Wright, The Independent, 17 June 2011
Bigger Cars Are Safer Cars
Eric Peters, American Spectator, 16 June 2011
Eagle Ford Oil: “Resources Are Not, Resources Become”
Greg Rehmke, Master Resource, 16 June 2011
Global Warming? Try Global Cooling
Lorne Gunter, National Post, 16 June 2011
Gore Praises Romney on Climate Change
Dan Berman, Politico, 15 June 2011
Bedbugs are finding their way from more and more hotels into more and more homes. One way to get rid of them is to wash infested bedding and clothes in hot water. Hot means at least 118 degrees F; a warm water wash of only 104 degrees will kill only ten percent of the critters.
An extended bout of high-temperature drying is also recommended.
But with laundry machines and dryers coming under increasingly stringent federal energy efficiency regulations, sufficiently hot wash and dry cycles are becoming a thing of the past. Many new washers have thermostatically controlled mixing valves, which adjust wash water temperatures to levels set by the manufacturer. That high-tech feature isn’t aimed at satisfying market demand, but at meeting either the efficiency regs or the criteria for special manufacturer tax credits (yet another program to boost energy efficiency at all costs).
Everybody and his brother are reporting yesterday’s cloture vote on Sen. Tom Coburn’s amendment to repeal the ethanol tax credit as a widespread rejection by GOP lawmakers of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, conceived and administered by Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). This is spin.
Many in Washington would like nothing better than for Republicans to disown their chief product differentiator, their promise in writing not to raise taxes. That may happen. Raising taxes is what politicians do, especially those who claim we have a deficit problem rather than an overspending problem. But repudiating the Pledge is not what went down in the Senate on Tuesday. [click to continue…]
Some GOP House Members may see no problem in pushing H.R. 1380, the Boonedoggle, Pickens-Your-Pocket Bill, which would hand out tax credits up to $64,000 apiece for the purchase of natural gas vehicles, because, after all, chief beneficiary T. Boone Pickens is a major donor to Republican candidates.
According to Investor’s Business Daily, however, H.R. 1380 would also confer windfall profits on the Left’s patron-in-chief, billionaire George Soros. IBD explains: [click to continue…]
Via Steve McIntyre
Doesn’t seem to be a top priority, and I wouldn’t count on it anytime soon. The report released a month or so ago touting Renewable Energy: “Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation” intended to show that the world could easily meet 80% of its energy needs with renewable by 2050. It was widely discussed on a number of blogs and reported in news media.
It turns out that the lead author of the report was an employee of Greenpeace, and relied heavily upon a joint Greenpeace/European Renewable Energy Council report — not exactly unbiased peer reviewed material: [click to continue…]
Birds Aren’t Celebrating Global ‘Wind Day’
George Fenwick, The Michigan View, 15 June 2011
Obama Concedes His Energy Policy Is a Mess
Alexis Simendinger, Real Clear Politics, 15 June 2011
Federal Energy Policy for America
Robert Bradley, Jr., Master Resource, 15 June 2011
Christie’s Blind Spot
Paul Chesser, American Spectator, 15 June 2011
The UN’s Earth Summit Has Its Head in the Clouds
Larry Bell, Forbes, 14 June 2011
Great news! Yesterday, four more Republicans—Reps. Cory Gardner (CO), Scott Tipton (CO), Rep. Mike Coffman (CO), and Larry Bucshon (IN)—withdrew as sponsors of H.R. 1380, the New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions Act (a.k.a., the NAT GAS Act, a.k.a., “The T. Boone Pickens Earmark Bill,” a.k.a., the “Pickens-Your-Pocket Boondoggle Bill”), legislation that was manufactured by billionaire T. Boone Pickens in order to make himself even richer. The bill would subsidize the use of natural gas as a fuel for the transportation sector, in particular for the trucking industry. Pickens is a gas tycoon, and it goes without saying that legislation to increase demand for gas is good for his bottom line.
Pickens counted on his long history of GOP fundraising to win Republican votes for this boondoggle, and shortly after the introduction of H.R. 1380, it appeared he would get the support of conservatives in the House, as nearly 80 Republicans signed up to sponsor the bill. (They joined almost 100 Democrats.)
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) boasts that its greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards save more fuel than the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards – but denies that GHG standards are fuel economy standards. Huh?
Well, of course, CARB denies it, because the Energy Policy Conservation Act (EPCA) prohibits states from adopting laws or regulations “related to” fuel economy.
But CARB has to trumpet the fuel savings from its GHG standards to attack H.R. 910, the Energy Tax Prevention Act. H.R. 910, says CARB, would make America more dependent on foreign oil by prohibiting CARB and EPA from adopting tougher GHG standards.
H.R. 910 opponents talk as if policymaking were a game in which the regulatory option with the biggest fuel savings wins. By that criterion, why not just let EPA and CARB impose a de facto 100 mpg CAFE standard and declare America to be “energy independent”?
If Congress thinks NHTSA’s standards don’t go far enough, there is a simple fix. Pass a law! What H.R. 910 opponents want is for EPA and CARB to legislate in lieu of Congress. That is neither lawful nor constitutional. [click to continue…]
Last week’s New York Times announcement: “Sen. Cornyn’s Amendment Would Pre-empt Listing of Southwestern Lizard,” has received little attention as the media has been more focused on Congressman Weiner—but this is big news, too. For those in Southeast New Mexico and West Texas who’ve been working to draw attention to a little lizard with the potential to kill jobs and hurt the region’s economy, Senator Cornyn’s (TX) actions represent a giant step toward rational thinking.
For the past few months, since around Christmas time last year the Fish and Wildlife Service announced the proposed listing of the sand dune lizard as an endangered species, Permian Basin residents have been up in arms about the potential economic damage the listing could have on the area’s two major sources of jobs and revenue: ranching and oil and gas development. The feared impact would be especially hard hitting in the current fiscal crisis and could increase the price of gas as the Permian Basin accounts for about 20 percent of our domestic production.
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