In the Pipeline: 11/16/12

Or, Nissan’s CEO realizes that trolling for taxpayer cash is a whole lot different than putting an attractive product on the road. Detroit News (11/15/12) reports: “As recently as October, Andy Palmer, Nissan’s executive vice president of product planning, said the automaker is not giving up on its plan to double electric vehicle sales, but that sales are not meeting expectations.”

So the good news is that the National Academy of Sciences got 350 million and the Fish and Wildlife Foundation got 2.4 billion.  I guess they couldn’t figure out a way to funnel some of the money to unions or trial lawyers. Politico (11/15/12) reports: “BP will pay a record $4.5 billion in fines and plead guilty to a dozen felony counts under a deal with the U.S. government to settle criminal charges stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident that killed 11 workers and spilled nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.”

These wise words are certainly chicken soup for my soul. Orange County Register (11/14/12) reports: “The temperature after imposition of cap-and-trade, the Kyoto Protocol or a carbon tax will be whatever it would have been without any of them. So, while a new energy tax may be chicken soup for the wealthy world’s environmental guilt, as a substantive matter, it is a futile gesture.”

So, I guess the message here is that the mandate is not a particularly good idea. Beacon Hill Institute (November 2012) reports: “Over the period of 2013 to 2021, the [renewable energy standard] will cost Missourians an additional $4.47 billion over conventional power, within a range of $2.06 billion and $6.87 billion… Missouri’s electricity prices will increase by an average of 1.27 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), or by 14.8 percent, in 2021, within a range of 46 cents per kWh, or by 5.3 percent, and 1.97 cents per kWh, or by 23 percent. Costs for customers of investor-owned utilities, such as Ameren, will be higher… By 2021 Missouri will lose an average of 6,065 jobs, within a range of between 2,185 jobs under the low-cost scenario and 9,450 jobs under the high-cost scenario… In 2021 the RES will reduce disposable income by $675 million, within a range of $245 million and $1.055 billion… and Investment in the state will decrease in 2021 by $75 million, within a range of $27 million and $116 million.”

More battery failures are coming. Alt Energy Stocks (11/15/12) reports: “Exide is closing certain facilities for the sake of reducing costs.  The company has been historically profitable, although it did report a net loss of $106.5 million on $693.4 million in sales in the June 2012 quarter, after establishing a valuation allowance for future tax allowances of $87.6 million.  Exide has produced positive operating cash flow in each of the last five fiscal years at a rate averaging 3.4% of total sales.”

Does anybody really think that a carbon tax is going to be an alternative to regulation?  Does anybody really think that a carbon tax is going to be revenue neutral? Renewable Energy World(11/15/12) reports: “Exxon Mobil Corp. is part of a growing coalition backing a carbon tax as an alternative to costly regulation, giving newfound prominence to an idea once anathema in Washington.”

What great news!  35 billion in savings, taken right off the top of a trillion dollar monstrosity.  Because nothing says fiscal sanity more than limiting deductions for taxpayers while loading up the goodies for “farmers”. Politico (11/15/12) reports: “House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas said Thursday that he had been assured by Speaker John Boehner that the farm bill remains part of the year-end “big picture” for Republicans and the promise of $35 billion in 10-year savings “has gotten somebody’s attention.””

The following think tank chiefs are opposed to a carbon tax.  The list to date follows.  If your guy is not on the list, it is because he either favors a carbon tax, wants to retain the option of favoring a carbon tax at some point in the future, or has yet to contact us.

Tom Pyle, American Energy Alliance / Institute for Energy Research
Myron Ebell, Freedom Action
Phil Kerpen, American Commitment
Fred Smith, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Andrew Quinlan, Center for Freedom and Prosperity
Tim Phillips, Americans for Prosperity
Joe Bast, Heartland Institute
David Ridenour, National Center for Public Policy Research
Michael Needham, Heritage Action for America