In the Pipeline: 1/3/13

Jim Lankford is the right man for this job – a solid individual. Politico(1/2/13) reports: “The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is planning a renewed focus on energy issues in the next Congress… Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) will establish a new subcommittee on energy policy, health care and entitlements next year, POLITICO has learned. The subcommittee will be chaired by Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.).”

For you take the high road and I’ll take the low road, and I’ll be in Scotland afore ye.  Unless I’m a bird, then I’m probably going to die a horrific death from the blade of a wind turbine. Scotsman.com (1/2/13) reports: “The RSPB, which has objected to a number of major wind farm developments, claimed that the installation of the turbine would help improve the environmental performance of the charity’s estate. But now the charity has decided to scrap the scheme after it was blown off course by defence chiefs… More than 20 letters of objection from members of the public had already been received by Aberdeenshire Council, vehemently opposing the RSPB’s plans on the grounds that the turbine poses a risk to birdlife on the reserve.”

Keith Olbermann.  Eliot Spitzer.  Al Gore.  Now the royal house of Qatar.  Not sure if it is getting better or worse, but one thing is sure – the channel will continue to hate American energy production, just like it did when Al Gore ran it. NYTimes (1/2/13) reports: “Al Jazeera on Wednesday announced a deal to take over Current TV, the low-rated cable channel that was founded by Al Gore, a former vice president, and his business partners seven years ago. Al Jazeera plans to shut Current and start an English-language channel, which will be available in more than 40 million homes, with newscasts emanating from both New York and Doha, Qatar.”

Does anybody else smell treachery down at the EPA?  Or are we just picking up the scent of a great republic that is being smothered faster everyday?  OilPrice.com (1/1/13) reports: “The cargo of the train was owned by Bioversal Trading Inc., or its US partner Verdero, depending on what stage of the trip it was at. The companies “made several million dollars importing and exporting the fuel to exploit a loophole in a U.S. green energy program.” Each time the loaded train crossed the border the cargo earned its owner a certain amount of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), which were awarded by the US EPA to “promote and track production and importation of renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.” The RINs were supposed to be retired each time the shipment passed the border, but due to a glitch not all of them were. This enabled Bioversal to accumulate over 12 million RINs from the 24 trips, worth between 50 cents and $1 each, which they can then sell on to oil companies that haven’t met the EPA’s renewable fuel requirements.”

This battle may have been lost, but at least a few of the fat ladies in Congress have begun to warm up their pipes. The Hill (1/2/13) reports: “A recently renewed wind power credit could face more scrutiny next Congress, as House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Wednesday that the credit is of “serious interest” to his committee… ‘In 24 hours the heavily subsidized wind industry has gone from the verge of collapse to a modern-day Gold Rush. H.R. 8 seems to create a perverse incentive to rush production of additional facilities even when there may not be adequate demand for wind, biomass, or geothermal energy,’ Issa told The Hill in a statement.”

Hollywood, railroads, rum producers, and phantom fuels… It turns out you’re a fool these days to not scramble for a bite of the pie.  And by ‘bite’ of pie, we mean the crumbs falling off of Uncle Sam’s scraggly beard as he wolfs down the entire U.S. economy. ABC News(1/1/13) reports: “The “fiscal cliff” compromise has been heralded as a saving grace for middle class taxpayers, their families and the unemployed… But buried in the fine print of the 150-page deal are also some lesser-known New Year’s gifts to some of Washington’s favorite industries.”

Stossel hits it right on the screws. Reason (1/2/13) reports: “It is scary to think about a world without regulation. Intuition leads us to think that without government we’d be victims of fraud, as I explain in my latest book, “No, They Can’t!” But our intuition is wrong… Consider this: An entire sector of the economy operates almost entirely without government controls. Complete strangers exchange big money there every day.”