In the Pipeline: 11/2/12

We missed this earlier in the week.  But the hypocrisy is so excruciatingly brilliant that we had to share it.  For those who have not been watching, these two Senators are leading the charge to extend the wind production tax credit. Washington Times(10/31/12) reports: “Each job created with federal stimulus cash through the Obama administration’s advanced battery manufacturing program cost more than $158,000 and many of them likely were temporary, according to an analysis released Wednesday by two senior Republicans… Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and John Thune of South Dakota, members of the Senate Finance Committee, cited figures they obtained after pressing for verification of administration claims of the economic benefits of the $2 billion program funded under the stimulus bill.”

Todd Wynn is a stone cold killer.  And his hair is awesome. Master Resource (11/1/12) reports: “These mandates are all regressive. When the cost of electricity rises, low income households shoulder a greater burden than higher income households as the energy costs make up a larger portion of their budget. This is especially true for low income households that are on fixed income such as social security or retirement since their income most likely does not keep pace with higher costs of living.”

Another dog bites man story. American Clean Skies Foundation (October 2012) reports: “This new ACSF report shows that shale gas and tight oil production will add $167 billion to $245 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product by 2017, and that will deliver 835,000 to 1.6 million new jobs. This is only one of the many ways technological innovations in natural gas and tight oil production are transforming the U.S. economy.”

The Great Oz has spoken! Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. The Hill (11/1/12) reports: “The scientific enterprise at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is broken, contrary to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson’s assertions that “science is the backbone of everything we do at EPA,” or that major regulations are based on the recommendations of EPA’s “independent” science advisors. As Americans face a fragile economy and skyrocketing energy prices fueled by President Obama’s agenda, it is important to pull back the curtain on the ideologically-driven processes EPA is using to justify an avalanche of costly rules.”

To remain green, we obviously need more lead-acid batteries all around.  Or maybe more nickel-cadmium batteries. Bloomberg(10/31/12) reports: “Some of the roughly 6 million power customers in the Northeast without electricity in Hurricane Sandy’s wake may be glancing around at a handful of homes with solar panels on their rooftops, thinking their clean-powered neighbors might have juice. Most of the time, that’s not the case.”

Shouldn’t they have asked for more wind turbines or charging stations or cellulosic ethanol?  I mean, I’m pretty sure these people keep telling us that gasoline is the fuel of the past or some such nonsense. Senators Lautenberg and Mendez (11/1/12) report: “We are learning from our county offices of emergency management (OEMs) that there are critical shortages of gasoline and diesel fuel. They have told us they are running out of these resources to run their emergency vehicles and critical infrastructure, such as sewage waste water treatment, and drinking water and sanitation facilities.”

Fewer droughts, fewer hurricanes.  Good news for the rest of us, but bad news for the climate vultures. WSJ (10/31/12) reports: “Sandy was terrible, but we’re currently in a relative hurricane ‘drought.’ Connecting energy policy and disasters makes little scientific sense but that doesn’t stop the nation’s top scientists, Waxman-Markey-Bloomberg from doing it.”

So, apparently, they aren’t any better as boats than they are as cars. Jalopnik (10/30/12) reports: “Approximately 16 of the $100,000+ Fisker Karma extended-range luxury hybrids were parked in Port Newark, New Jersey last night when water from Hurricane Sandy’s storm surge apparently breached the port and submerged the vehicles. As Jalopnik has exclusively learned, the cars then caught fire and burned to the ground.”

We are informally keeping track of which 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 Committment
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