AEA urges support of “No More Solyndras” Act of 2012

WASHINGTON D.C. — The House of Representatives will vote today on H.R. 6213, the “No More Solyndras” Act of 2012. American Energy Alliance President Thomas Pyle sent a letter this morning to all House members urging their support of the “No More Solyndras” Act.

” Government exceeds its legitimate functions when Congress – or the administration – establishes programs to pick market winners and losers or direct industrial policies by political means,” Pyle wrote.

““No More Solyndras” is a line in the sand. Your support will send a strong message that you oppose the political cronyism and wasteful spending that has left so many of your constituents angry with Washington, and not a few of your colleagues out of work.”

To read Pyle’s entire letter, click here.

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AEA President Responds to President Obama’s DNC Speech

“The United States must not embrace the failed policies of the last three years that have led to higher energy prices, more restrictions on domestic energy production, and reward the president’s political cronies with lucrative loan guarantees at the expense of hardworking Americans who deserve a better use of their tax dollars.”

WASHINGTON D.C. — American Energy Alliance President Thomas Pyle released the following statement in response to President Obama’s speech tonight before the Democratic National Convention meeting in Charlotte, NC:

“On the eve of the one-year anniversary of Solyndra’s bankruptcy, Barack Obama made the latest in a four year string of empty promises about his plan to achieve American energy independence. Despite his pledge to create 600,000 jobs in the energy sector and 1 million new manufacturing jobs, President Obama has presided over the worst economic recovery in a generation.

He has refused to permit the Keystone XL pipeline, which would create tens of thousands of jobs, and he has instituted a de facto embargo on offshore energy development that has left the Gulf coast economy struggling to recover. At every turn, President Obama has denied access to taxpayer owned energy resources on federal lands, including more than a trillion barrels of oil shale.

President Obama has a record, and he cannot run from it. He’s waged a three year war on coal, directed a federal regulatory assault on the hydraulic fracturing technologies that are responsible for our natural gas boom, and enacted numerous policies that prohibit American job creators from unlocking more than 200 years of oil supply that lies under our feet and off our coastlines.

Meanwhile, he’s spent the country into the poor house by pumping billions of taxpayer money into Solyndra-style renewable ventures, in some instances increasing the handouts by as much as 1700 percent.

America indeed has a choice. The United States must not embrace the failed policies of the past three years that have led to higher energy prices, more restrictions on domestic energy production, and reward the president’s political cronies with lucrative loan guarantees at the expense of hardworking Americans who deserve a better use of their tax dollars.

America’s energy future is less secure, less independent, and more expensive because of Barack Obama’s policies. It is unlikely that the next four years would offer a different course under his continued leadership.”

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Let the Wind Production Tax Credit Expire

WASHINGTON D.C. — American Energy Alliance President Thomas Pyle joined the leaders of 63 other organizations to oppose extension of the wind Production Tax Credit (PTC), which is schedule to expire at the end of this year.

“Whenever the government protects a particular industry, as it has with wind energy production, the industry tends to remain dependent on it. As Nobel laureate Milton Friedman noted, ‘the infant industry argument is a smoke screen. The so-called infants never grow up.’” The wind PTC, like other green energy incentives, is a prime case in point,” the letter notes.

“The PTC was created in 1992 to get the wind industry off the ground. Yet 20 years later, we have little to show for it. We’re still providing a $5 billion special tax break each year for an industry that supplies just over 2 percent of our power.”

To read the entire letter, click here.

*Since September 6th, 24 more organizations have signed the letter. Below is an updated list of organizations who have signed on.

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AEA Releases Statement on Romney-Ryan Energy Plan

WASHINGTON D.C. — In advance of Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney’s speech today, in which the former Massachusetts governor will outline his plan for energy independence, AEA President Thomas Pyle released the following statement:

“Energy will continue to be a major concern for the American people. With gas prices setting record highs this summer, corn prices artificially inflated due to failed energy policies, and electricity rates skyrocketing nationwide, it is important for the American people to know where Mitt Romney stands and where he would take the country,” Pyle said.

“For the last four years, we’ve seen what President Obama’s policies have meant: record layoffs in the coal industry, a deluge of anti-growth regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency, greater dependence on oil from the Persian Gulf, endless delays for the Keystone XL pipeline, an economy-busting stranglehold on offshore development, and billions of taxpayer dollars wasted on the administration’s renewable energy schemes. In the coming weeks, the American Energy Alliance will continue to monitor all the proposals put on the table — and assess those proposals against the records of two men who aspire to lead America’s energy future.”

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AEA: USPS TROUBLES TIED TO FAILED ENERGY POLICIES

WASHINGTON, D.C. — American Energy Alliance President Thomas Pyle released a statement today in advance of a default by the United States Postal Service, which is expected to skip more than $11 billion in mandatory contributions for employee retirement benefits between now and Sept. 30 to remain solvent. There are competing measures in the U.S. House and Senate to address the postal service’s long term fiscal crisis. A May 2011 GAO report revealed that USPS compliance with congressionally authorized energy policies substantially increase postal operating costs. Congress has mandated that 75 percent of new light duty vehicle acquisitions run on alternative fuels like biodiesel and ethanol. Moreover, replacement costs for these expensive alternative fuel vehicles complicate USPS’s long term sustainability. 

“If Congress wishes to address long term problems at USPS, it will require long term solutions. The alternative fuel mandates on USPS are another example of bad energy policy crippling efficient government services and opening the door to more taxpayer bailouts,” Pyle said.

“Immediately granting USPS the freedom to continue its constitutionally-authorized responsibility to deliver the mail with an affordable fleet of vehicles that use affordable fuels is a no brainer. A five day delivery — which USPS has considered but Congress resists — is another viable cost-cutting measure that would reduce fuel demand. On the other hand, proposals to meet USPS fleet fuel demands with offshore wind farms like Sen. Carper (D-Del.) recently suggested on the Senate floor are laughable, and green roof reforms at the postal service do nothing to affect the bottom line. USPS knows that it cannot deliver the mail if it is forced to plug into wind mills or burn algae and other biofuels in its fleet. To save USPS, Congress should reverse course and replace failed energy policies with commonsense solutions based on free market principles.”

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AEA President: “No More Solyndras” is a “Line in the Sand”

WASHINGTON D.C. — Thomas Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, released the following statement in advance of a vote this week of the energy and power subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which is scheduled to consider the “No More Solyndras” Act of 2012.  The act would prohibit the Department of Energy from issuing any Section 1705 loan guarantee applications submitted after December 31, 2011, and greatly reduce taxpayer risk for loans submitted prior to that time. Last week, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board took three lawmakers to task for supporting a “politicized venture capital operation” and Solyndra-style loan guarantees at taxpayer expense.

“The ‘No More Solyndras’ Act is one of the most common sense pieces of legislation to come from the 112th Congress. It ends a system of crony capitalism, strips the Department of Energy of its authority to put taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars in loan guarantees, and steers the federal government back toward fiscal sanity,” noted Pyle.

“This is a line in the sand for Republicans and Democrats. Either you stand with Solyndra and other bankrupt experiments in politicized venture capital, or you stand with hardworking American taxpayers.  Either you want to protect rent-seeking cronies in the renewable industry, or you want to preserve the sacred trust of the men and women who sent you to Washington.

“After billions of dollars wasted — never to be recovered — and years of a failed energy program that spans both Republican and Democratic regimes, the time has come to end Solyndra-style loan guarantees once and for all. The Section 1705 program is rotten from the root, and no parliamentary maneuver or tweaked amendment can recover lost billions in taxpayer money or set the program aright. The only responsible course of action is to close this awful chapter of failed bureaucratic tinkering with our energy future.”

To read more about the Obama administration’s “Stimulosers” that have received taxpayer backing and still gone bust, click here.

To read about Amonix, the latest ‘Stimuloser” to go bankrupt, click here.

To view a video exposing the failed experiment that led to Solyndra, click below.

AEA President Opposes Obama Push for More Wind Handouts

For Immediate Release
May 24, 2012

WASHINGTON D.C. — In advance of President Obama’s campaign-year stop in the State of Iowa to tout his administration’s support for wind energy handouts, AEA President Thomas Pyle released a letter to all Members of the 112th Congress opposing the administration’s call for more deficit spending on renewable energy.

“Decades of clamoring for subsidies and cash handouts by wind power proponents have done nothing to mature the industry into a viable competitor in a free energy market,” Pyle wrote.  ”If the past three years have proven anything, they have demonstrated that record deficit spending does not create jobs. Neither does limitless taxpayer-funded handouts to an uneconomic, uncompetitive renewable sector reduce the cost of electricity for American consumers nor midwife a sustainable industry.”

To read Pyle’s letter, click here.

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AEA Statement on EPA Administrator’s Resignation

WASHINGTON D.C. — American Energy Alliance Senior Vice President Daniel Kish released the following statement on the resignation of EPA Region 6 Administrator Al Armendariz, announced earlier today:

“Like a shamed Roman soldier who dishonored Caesar in battle, EPA Administrator Al Armendariz fell on his own sword today, hoping that professional suicide would save the EPA and the Obama White House from more political fallout. But there is no indication that the regulatory crucifixions that Al Armendariz’s proposed will stop, despite damage control efforts being coordinated from the Obama campaign and the White House.

“The loss of one rogue regulator will not change the culture of arbitrary enforcement and politicized rule making that has developed at Lisa Jackson’s EPA. Congress must continue its vigilant oversight efforts to determine how pervasive Administrator Armendariz’s views are at the agency, and how consistently his proposed enforcement strategy has been applied. How many other EPA political appointees hold similar views, but have yet to be caught on tape advocating them so brazenly?

“From discredited studies attacking hydraulic fracturing to phony science behind the agency’s regulatory assault on conventional energy sources, there’s overwhelming evidence that the fish rots from the head. The American people deserve answers, especially given President Obama’s public assurances that his administration would find more ways to ‘skin the cat’ after the failure of his cap-and-trade policies.”

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National Survey: Wrong Direction for Obama Energy Policies

Americans see Direct Connection Between Domestic Energy Production and Lower Prices

WASHINGTON D.C. – As a part of an ongoing multi-million dollar initiative to educate the American public about energy issues, the American Energy Alliance (AEA) released today results of a national survey of likely voters that reveals overwhelming support for increased energy production and widespread acknowledgment that a healthy energy industry – which not only provides us with our basic energy needs, but also is responsible for hundreds and hundreds of products we use every day – is a critical link to lower energy prices and an improved economy.

“Americans see a clear connection between a robust energy industry and lower energy prices here at home,” said Tom Pyle, President of AEA. “A solid majority of likely voters want our government to promote policies that increase energy production and help guarantee energy security. Americans overwhelmingly agree that more production from U.S. lands will reduce our level of imported oil and help moderate gasoline price spikes,” Pyle added.

Highlights of the survey include:

  • Almost three-quarters of respondents (77%) said yes when asked whether increasing U.S. production could help moderate gasoline prices.  4 in 5 said that such an increase in production could help either “some” (32%) or “quite a lot” (57%).  Even 52% of moderates and 38% of liberals think that additional production of oil would help moderate gas prices ‘quite a lot’.  Additionally, 83% of total respondents agreed that increased U.S. production would reduce our dependence on imported oil.
  • Respondents rejected the Obama Administration’s approach that emphasizes making the economy less dependent on fossil fuels versus increased production.  In that hard test, more than half (51%) preferred increased American production, while 38% said that the right answer was to reduce our overall dependence on fossil fuels.
  • Respondents think that the federal government can do more.  When asked (on a scale of one to ten, with ten being “quite a lot”) how much the federal government could do to affect the price of gasoline, the mean response was 6.5 (and the median response was 7).  When asked what the President was actually doing, the mean response was 3.6 (and the median was just 3).  Voters perceive a fairly significant gap between what can be done and what is being done.
  • Respondents are clear that the President is not as committed to traditional fuels as he is to alternative fuels.  Almost two thirds (64%) agreed that the President would rather focus on alternative energy instead of oil and gas.  It appears that the President has been branded as an alternative energy fan; that means that his efforts to seem to be in favor of more oil and gas production ring hollow (which is probably why respondents rate his efforts so low).

 

The national telephone survey of 1000 likely voters was conducted by MWR Strategies on April 6th through April 13th, 2012, and has a margin of error of 3.1%.

To view the actual survey questions, click here.

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AEA launches “Obama Promises” ad on Pandora Radio

WASHINGTON D.C. — The American Energy Alliance launched today a 30-second advertisement on Pandora Radio, a development of the Music Genome Project with more than 125 million registered users throughout the United States. The ad, entitled “Obama Promises,” will air in nine states — New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Virginia and North Carolina.

AEA purchased 45 million spots for both audio and visual advertisements on Pandora Radio in what constitutes one of the largest current campaigns hosted by the Oakland, Calif-based company and a first-ever venture into Internet-based radio advertising by the Alliance. The spots will air between Apr. 16 and Apr. 27, 2012.

“The American Energy Alliance is adopting an ‘all of the above’ strategy to reach the American public with our message about President Obama’s failed energy policies. What began as a $3.6 million television ad now continues through an aggressive effort to reach tens of millions of Pandora listeners with a hard-hitting message about Obama gas prices and the politically-connected companies who benefit from the administration’s war on fossil fuels,” AEA President Thomas Pyle noted.

“We will use every available resource — from television to radio, the Internet to direct mail and grassroots mobilization — to educate American consumers who are paying for President Obama’s failures at the gas pump, on their electricity bills, and in the goods and services they use every day. The “Obama Promises” ad is latest component of our nationwide effort to combat bad policies that drive up the cost of energy and rob the American people of the affordable, organic energy sources our future depends on.”

To hear AEA’s “Obama promises” ad, click here.

To watch AEA’s “Nine Dollar Gas” ad, click here.

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