In the Pipeline: 12/18/12

Like they always say: The road to hell is paved with good intentions. POWER Mag (12/1/12) reports: “Forgotten by many proponents is the justification for the PTC in the first place: to reduce CO2 emissions…. [Yet] … many utilities with large amounts of wind generation steadfastly refuse to release operating data for analysis. I suspect to do so would mean the release of empirical data to build the opposition’s case for insignificant CO2 reduction and poor operating economics. I was unable to find one study of existing wind energy installations that found the CO2 reductions predicted by AWEA.”

Dumb: Green energy investing. Wall Street Daily (12/17/12) reports: “People can “go green” all they want. After all, America is still the land of the free. But I just don’t recommend that investors do it. And that’s not because I’ve got something against the tree-hugger mentality.”

And Dumber: Combating cronyism with more cronyism.  Seriously, what do you think are the chances a government investment in technology will produce jobs and economic growth?  Hit me with it.  Just level with me.  Give it to me straight.  Like, one out of a million? IEEE Spectrum (12/14/12) reports: “The continuing saga of A123 Systems Inc. has culminated this past week in most of its assets being sold for US $256.6 million to the Chinese-owned Wanxiang America Corporation, an auto parts conglomerate… Why the US government would give a grant to expand the company’s production capacity when the market problem it faced was that its main customer wasn’t selling any of its own products is probably a worthy discussion. However, combating crony capitalism with more crony capitalism, which some U.S. Senators seemed engaged in with their fight to block the sale, hardly seems to be a solution.”

Rob shucks this corn like a total boss. Forbes (12/17/12) reports: “Back in 2007, the RFS’s biodiesel mandate seemingly had a public-interest rationale. But now, with five years worth of evidence, it’s clear this rule is a failure economically and environmentally. It should be scrapped, not ratcheted up in 2013.”

You say tomato, I say tomato.  You say Tropical Storm Sandy so the folks can collect more insurance.  I say Hurricane Sandy so the eco-thugs have a talking point.  Of course, Chuck Schumer has never had a problem talking out of both sides of his mouth.  Or just plain talking for that matter. Powerline Blog (12/17/12) reports: “Today, we’ve sent a letter to NOAA, the weather agency, as well as to the insurance companies that we’re looking over their shoulder. We want NOAA to keep this classified as a tropical storm and to save homeowners in New York and Long Island thousands of dollars and we don’t want the insurance companies to play any games.”

Markey’s Way: If at first you don’t like the results of a DOE study, browbeat the agency mercilessly until they redo it to your liking.  We hear Pacino will be playing the role of Ed Markey. Reuters(12/17/12) reports: “‘Given the important role this study may play in determining U.S. natural gas export policy, I strongly urge that the study’s methodology be reevaluated in some key areas, that the most recent projection data available be utilized in the model, and that the model be re-run and re-analyzed,’ said Congressman Edward Markey, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources committee.”

We included this interview because clearly Grover Norquist has given this carbon tax thing some thought.  But mostly because we dig Maria Bartiromo. USA Today (12/16/12) reports: “But one thing to keep in mind: If the president got the tax increases he said he wanted in his budget, you still have an $8 trillion debt over the next 10 years. Which means he has to come to the middle class with an energy tax. So when that happens, I think the Democrats will have a hard time explaining themselves in 2014 and ’16 … since this little tax increase — on high-income people and small businesses doesn’t solve Obama’s problem. He has to get the carbon tax, which is thousands of dollars per family.”

There will doubtlessly be some fun questions for Senator Kerry during the confirmation process.  With Senators Barrasso and Inhofe on the dais, things could get dicey for the nominee when the time comes to start talking Keystone XL.  Kerry will likely get a pass, though, unless Michael Brune finds out that Teresa Heinz has her money in TransCanada. Reuters (12/17/12) reports: “There is a possibility the U.S. State Department will have a new secretary before the department’s deadline of the end of March for a issuing a decision on the project. Democratic Senator John Kerry, who has long supported taking more action to cut greenhouse gas emissions, is widely expected to be the nominee to replace Hillary Clinton.”