A week ago, I poked fun at Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) for acting the fool during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Republican legislation that would speed the permitting process for the Keystone XL Pipeline. Yet I also noted,
“While I disagree with everything he does, I nonetheless esteem Rep. Waxman as a master tactician. More than once, I’ve wished that the other party had someone as cunning as the Congressman from Beverly Hills.”
Last week, Rep. Waxman was off his game; this week, I’m sad to say, he has returned to form. Energy and Environment News (subscription required) reported this morning that Rep. Waxman and Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Bobby Rush (D-Illinois) yesterday fired off a letter to Committee Republicans, demanding the holdup of the “Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act” (a.k.a., the TRAIN Act) over some arcane procedural matter. This sort of nitpicky stonewalling is classic Waxman.
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She gets something right:
“I think that all of our energy subsidies need to be relooked at today and eliminated,” Palin told RCP during a quick stop at a coffee shop in this picturesque town tucked into the south-central Pennsylvania countryside. “And we need to make sure that we’re investing and allowing our businesses to invest in reliable energy products right now that aren’t going to necessitate subsidies because, bottom line, we can’t afford it.
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Skeptic Don Boudreaux Makes Climate Bet
Jonathan Adler, Opposing Views, 31 May 2011
The New Military War against Climate Change
Larry Bell, Forbes, 31 May 2011
What with Immelt Sounding a Little Squishy
Chris Horner, AmSpecBlog, 31 May 2011
California High Speed Rail All Strung out on the Outskirts of Town
Marc Scribner, Open Market, 31 May 2011
Palin: Eliminate All Energy Subsidies
Scott Conroy, Real Clear Politics, 31 May 2011
On Global Warming, Gov. Christie Needs To Visit a Doctor
Paul Mulshine, New Jersey Star Ledger, 30 May 2011
Someone alert the Guinness Book of World Records! In 2010, humans set a new all-time high for global greenhouse gas emissions, according to an International Energy Agency analysis released yesterday.
If you are an alarmist, then this is one of your many causes for concern. If, however, you are a global warming “denier” like me, then this is a cause for celebration, because more emissions translate into more wealth creation!
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What should drive fuel efficiency? Select the answer you think is correct:
(a) Government;
(b) Markets; or
(c) Please pass the sweet and sour shrimp.
If you chose (a), then go straight to www.allsp.com (Season 10) and watch my favorite South Park episode, “Smug Alert.”
If you chose (c), then you’re on your way to a promising career as a diplomat.
Today, on National Journal’s energy blog, I explain why the correct answer is (b).
1. Everything you’ve heard about fossil fuels may be wrong, Michael Lind (Salon):
The arguments for converting the U.S. economy to wind, solar and biomass energy have collapsed. The date of depletion of fossil fuels has been pushed back into the future by centuries — or millennia. The abundance and geographic diversity of fossil fuels made possible by technology in time will reduce the dependence of the U.S. on particular foreign energy exporters, eliminating the national security argument for renewable energy. And if the worst-case scenarios for climate change were plausible, then the most effective way to avert catastrophic global warming would be the rapid expansion of nuclear power, not over-complicated schemes worthy of Rube Goldberg or Wile E. Coyote to carpet the world’s deserts and prairies with solar panels and wind farms that would provide only intermittent energy from weak and diffuse sources.
A healthy, optimistic look at future energy supplies.
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In the worst Spitzerian tradition, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) today announced that he is suing the federal government for failing to conduct an environmental analysis on the impacts to drinking water caused by ‘fracking,’ a.k.a. hydraulic fracturing, the American-made technological miracle in natural gas production that has roughly doubled known North American gas reserves in only the last 5 years.
New York could be a huge beneficiary of fracking, as much of the state is situated above the Marcellus Shale, an enormous gas deposit in the American Northeast that can be tapped only with this new technology. But environmentalist special interest groups oppose the practice, because it would expand America’s supply of hydrocarbon energy, and they have whipped up alarm among Manhattanites by making unfounded claims that fracking would pollute New York City’s water supply.
In fact, these allegations are bunk. Just ask the British Parliament, which recently concluded that fracking is safe for water supplies. Closer to home, AG Schneiderman could have sought counsel from New York State Geologist Dr. Taury Smith, a self-described liberal Democrat, who told the Albany Times Union that the state’s natural gas deposits are “a huge gift.” Dr. Smith dismissed the environmentalists’ allegations about water contamination as being “exaggerated,” and “the worst spin.”
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Recently, an environmentalist special interest group engendered a political backlash in Massachusetts after running a particularly sleazy television advertisement that equated baby abuse with Sen. Scott Brown’s (R) admirable vote for excellent legislation that would have reined in the Environmental Protection Agency’s runaway regulatory regime for greenhouse gas emissions. I wrote about it here; suffice it to say, Sen. Brown turned lemons into lemonade by painting himself as a sympathetic father-figure under attack from unscrupulous sleazebags.
In the immediate wake of this blowback, I find it interesting that Politico’s Morning Energy Report (I recommend signing up here) reported today on how the greens feel that they have failed to achieve a cap-and-trade energy rationing scheme because they have been too timid. According to the Politico writeup,
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Ethanol Strategery
Ross Kaminsky, American Spectator, 31 May 2011
California’s Cap-and-Trade Illegality
Thomas Tanton, Master Resource, 31 May 2011
Who’s Afraid of Ethanol? The 2012 Campaign Will Tell
Don Gonyea, NPR, 31 May 2011
Oil Boom, Thanks to Fracking
Clifford Krauss, New York Times, 27 May 2011
The Great Tornados of 2011 Put in Perspective
Patrick Michaels, Forbes, 26 May 2011
The Problems with the Precautionary Principle
Jonathan Adler, The American, 25 May 2011
Driving is an American pastime on Memorial Day weekend. Indeed, today’s holiday is THE road trip occasion in American culture. This acute association explains why American politicians choose the lead up to Memorial Day to trot out plans to address high gasoline prices.
This year, it was dueling votes in the Senate. Roughly speaking, the Republicans tried to increase the supply of oil by ending the Obama administration’s de facto moratorium on domestic drilling, wrought by bureaucratic foot-dragging. The legislation already had been passed by the Republican-controlled House. On the other hand, the Democrats wanted to raise taxes on “Big Oil” companies, by eliminating tax breaks enjoyed by many—and in some cases, all—businesses. Neither party wooed enough votes to survive a filibuster, so they both failed. Of the two, the Republicans’ ideas were better this time, but there have been instances in the past when both parties were equally bad in the run up to Memorial Day weekend.
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