In the Pipeline: 10/17/11

Let’s see, Doug Foy.  Gina McCarthy.  John Holdren.  Boyden Gray.  Jim Connaughton.  What do all these people have in common?  That’s easy; they all want to destroy the American industrial economy.  They were all appointed by or consulted with Governor Romney on energy and environmental issues.  They are all Obama Administration appointees (not really, only Gina and John; Jim and Boyden just seem like Obama appointees) Hot Air (10/15/11) reports: Conservatives know well that Mitt Romney has so far refused to back away from his contention that anthropogenic global warming is real, and yet the former Massachusetts governor continues to lead the Republican race for the presidential nomination.  In seven debates, none  of Romney’s competitors have challenged him on this position.  This week, however, the blog Moonbattery found a very interesting memo from Romney’s office in 2005 announcing tough new regulations on emissions — and noting a partnership with a familiar conservative bête noire in this administration.

Of course, one important difference is that Governor Perry never made out on a white couch with Nancy Pelosi.  And he has yet been dopey enough to hire Ed Rollins to do anything Politico (10/15/11) reports: Expanding oil and gas exploration, repealing environmental regulations and restructuring the Environmental Protection Agency are some of the cornerstones of Rick Perry’s energy plan…Also Newt Gingrich’s… The Texas governor’s energy platform, unveiled in a speech Friday morning, is stirring up calls of copycat from the Republican presidential field…A key part of Perry’s 41-page plan deals with dramatically transforming the EPA into an agency that largely serves as a referee between states. Perry’s EPA wouldn’t issue any technology standards or emissions limits, and it would operate with 40 percent of its current budget.

We bore you with this all the time, but the irreducible minimum is that we have all the oil and gas resources we need.  North Dakota (today) and Ohio (tomorrow) and someplace else the day after that is about to prove our point Business Week (10/14/11) reports: North Dakota will likely leapfrog California and may even overtake Alaska in the next year — far outpacing earlier industry predictions — to become one of the nation’s three biggest oil-producing states, a government regulator said…Government and industry officials had predicted that North Dakota likely would hit the No. 2 spot within the decade but the explosion of drilling activity has accelerated the timeline.

Two things about this.  First, take a look at the date stamp of the story.  That’s right, the Administration was so proud of this that they took it out with the trash on Friday evening.  Second, the House Rs pretty much hit the bulls-eye.  There is clearly something there that the President and his crew would rather we not see Politico (10/14/11) reports: President Barack Obama won’t be sharing his BlackBerry messages with House investigators seeking communications about Solyndra, the White House told Hill Republicans on Friday…White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler told House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders that they should still be happy with the trove of Solyndra-related documents they’re getting from federal agencies including DOE, the Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget.

We’ve also had cars that ran on water.  But my guess is that those pimping for the Chevy Volt and the Leaf and other golf carts won’t talk much about that Daily Caller (10/14/11) reports: Meet the Roberts electric car. Built in 1896, it gets a solid 40 miles to the charge — exactly the mileage Chevrolet advertises for the Volt, the highly touted $31,645 electric car General Motors CEO Dan Akerson called “not a step forward, but a leap forward.”…The executives at Chevrolet can rest easy for now. Since the Roberts was constructed in an age before Henry Ford’s mass production, the 115-year-old electric car is one of a kind.

We hate it when we are right because that means we lost money — Solyndra’s little brother is able to join the ash heap of failed government dreams New York Times (10/15/11) reports: Three weeks before Solyndra, the solar-panel manufacturer, based in Fremont, declared bankruptcy, the United States Department of Energy issued a $197 million loan guarantee to another Bay Area solar company that uses the same innovative, but risky, technology…Like Solyndra, which failed despite a $535 million federal loan guarantee, SoloPower, based in San Jose, is a politically connected firm that produces thin film panels built with copper, indium, gallium and selenium (or CIGS) instead of silicon, the basis of most photovoltaic panels.