In addition to being a humanitarian and ecological disaster, the ongoing Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant crisis also spawned an energy crunch. A significant amount of supply, the equivalent of 9 average-sized American coal power plants, was lost. The 6 light water reactors at the plant had been an important source of power for Tokyo.
More generally, the Japanese people are likely to have second thoughts about nuclear energy. Japan is a global leader in atomic power because it has almost no natural resources, so it has to import almost all of its raw materials. As such, nuclear is much less inimical to a trade balance that other forms of energy. But considering the 2 precedents to Fukushima (Three Mile Island and Chernobyl), it’s a safe bet that nuclear will play a much smaller role in the nation’s energy mix for a generation or longer.
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Update on the Boondoggle Bandwagon
The controversy over the T. Boone Pickens Earmark Bill, H. R. 1380, continued to grow this week. Three more Republicans joined Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM) in getting off the Boonedoggle Bandwagon and withdrew as co-sponsors. They are Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.), Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.), and Tim Griffin (R-Ark.). The complete list of 187 co-sponsors can be found here.
A joint letter organized by Heritage Action for America and signed by seventeen conservative organizations opposing the bill was sent to the Hill. Pickens himself published an op-ed co-authored by flack-for-hire Denise Bode in Politico that was full of his usual blend of self regard, bluster, and misinformation. Pickens and Bode claimed in the op-ed that the House Republican Study Committee has endorsed his bill. It has not, and Politico quickly corrected Pickens. They also claimed that wind power is now cheaper than new coal-fired power.
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Okay, maybe I was wrong. Just because the Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA legislated from the bench in order to empower EPA to legislate from the bureau does not necessarily mean that lower courts will tolerate similar breaches of the separation of powers.
Yesterday (May 26, 2011), in Avenal Power Center v. EPA, District of Columbia Judge Richard Leon mockingly rejected EPA’s arguments for attempting to amend the Clean Air Act to suit the agency’s administrative convenience. Although not mentioned by him, Judge Leon’s reasoning may strengthen legal challenges to EPA’s greenhouse gas Tailoring Rule.
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After a five-month review, the Obama Administration announced this week that it had gotten rid of, was going to get rid of, or was considering getting rid of several dozen unnecessary regulations. The total savings could add up to several billions of dollars a year.
As part of the rollout, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it was reviewing 31 regulations for elimination. EPA also announced that it had suspended the new rules regulating milk spills under the Clean Water Act. That will save dairy farmers an estimated $146 million a year. Ending another regulation will save gas station owners $67 million a year.
This exercise indicates the level of contempt that President Barack Obama and his Administration have for the American people. They think that we are so stupid that they can fool us with some piddling trimming while they push full speed ahead with their regulatory onslaught. As Wayne Crews of CEI shows in Ten Thousand Commandments: an Annual Snapshot of the Regulatory State, the Obama Administration has over 4000 new regulations in the pipeline. The EPA is trying to raise energy prices for all Americans and destroy jobs by regulating greenhouse gas emissions. And EPA is also targeting specific industries, such as coal, with job-killing regulations.
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A state judge this week ordered the University of Virginia to stop stonewalling on a Freedom of Information Request for emails from Michael Mann, the creator of the much–disputed “Hockey Stick” reconstruction of historical global temperatures.
The American Tradition Institute filed the FOIA more than 4 months ago, but the University repeatedly delayed the release of the documents, in apparent violation of Virginia’s FOIA law. On May 16, ATI initiated legal proceedings to force the University to comply with its statutory responsibilities. Only then did the University agree to produce all relevant documents by August 22, a commitment to which the University is bound by this week’s ruling.
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The American Northeast has attained metaphysical balance on energy rationing, thanks to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s (R) announcement yesterday that he would withdraw the Garden State from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multi-state cap-and-trade scheme. After New Jersey leaves, the remaining nine participants will be: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
Christie’s unexpected decision serves as the yin to New Hampshire’s yang. In late February, the New Hampshire House of Representatives passed HB 519, legislation that would withdraw the Granite State from RGGI, by a 246 to 104 vote. At the time, it was widely thought that the Senate would quickly follow suit, as Republicans control the upper chamber. HB 519’s ultimate enactment appeared so certain, in fact, that Governor John Lynch (D) issued a pre-emptive veto. It should have been a futile gesture, because Republicans hold a veto-proof majority in both chambers of the legislature. Then the environmentalist lobby mobilized and frightened many members of the Senate. The bill was delayed. And in early May, the full Senate, where Republicans enjoy a 2 to 1 majority, voted to remain in the the regional energy rationing scheme. New Hampshire Republicans had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
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Energy Myths of the Left
Ross Kaminsky, American Spectator, 27 May 2011
T. Boone: Remember When You Said…?
Robert Bradley, Master Resource, 27 May 2011
The Running out of Resources Myth
Brian Lee Crowley, Financial Post, 26 May 2011
Speculator Ghosts in the Oil Machine
Gregor.us, 26 May 2011
Climate Diplomacy Not about Temperature
Steven Hayward, Planet Gore, 26 May 2011
Shrimp on a Treadmill
Hank Campbell, Science 2.0, 26 May 2011
As readers of this blog are no doubt aware, I’m a big fan of ‘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 five years. In previous posts, I’ve defended fracking from nonsensical attacks launched by ill-informed environmentalists. Quite contrary to what the alarmists would have you believe, we’re lucky for the fracking revolution. Not only has it dramatically increased our domestic supply of natural gas, but now it’s being used to extract oil, too, and it could prove just as revolutionary for that industry.
Fracking does, however, have one major drawback: it has caused rampant rent-seeking. While gas supply has exploded, American consumption increased only 9 percent from 2005 to 2010. The sagging economy has further increased this disparity between gas supply and demand. For consumers, this is great, as it should usher in a period of relatively stable, low prices in the historically volatile gas market. For gas producers, it could be great. The low prices should make their product more attractive relative to other forms of energy. In turn, this could lead to whole new sectors of demand.The problem is that a couple major players in the gas industry refuse to wait for market forces to work their magic. Instead, these impatient industry titans are trying to convince politicians to enact policies that force Americans to use natural gas.
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On May 17, the Senate voted 52-48 for S. 940, the Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act, sponsored by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). The bill would selectively hike taxes on the nation’s five largest oil companies (Chevron, Shell, BP America, Conoco Phillips, and ExxonMobil).
The bill failed of passage, falling eight votes short of the 60 required to overcome a filibuster.
But that was just one skirmish in the protracted political war against U.S. energy production. A majority of Senators voted for the bill and gasoline prices could hit new highs in the summer driving season. So expect more anti-oil demagoguery from the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body in the very near future.
Demagogues feed and exploit public ignorance and frustration. Nobody likes paying $4.00 a gallon for gas, and self-styled progressive politicians, pundits, and activists claim Big Oil is “price gouging,” reaping “windfall profits,” and not paying their “fair share” of taxes. They claim we’d all feel less pain at the pump if Big Oil felt more pain on April 15. This popular narrative has no basis in fact or economic logic. [click to continue…]
Via The New York Times
Unsurprisingly, the article takes a holier-than-thou tone towards those Americans who (*GASP*) won’t just roll over and let Washington bureaucrats tell us what’s best, and those who don’t feel that it is the government’s business to tell them what kind of lighting they can use in their home.
However, this attack on us mere commoners who actually appreciate consumer freedom runs into a problem: many hotshot interior decorators and lighting specialists also like the incandescent bulbs, thus the stockpiling. It’s an interesting contrast — it is okay for experts who appreciate light to stockpile incandescent bulbs but everyone else is overreacting, possibly succumbing to the right-wing media machine:
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