In the Pipeline: 4/29/13

Remember this? Well, the situation in Colorado is about to go from bad to worse. Fierce Energy (4//13) reports: “Colorado is closing in on new legislation that would more than double the renewable portfolio standard (RPS) for the state’s rural electric co-ops, setting a goal of 25 percent of generation by 2020.”

There are two important takeaways here:  John Shively is far too nice for this job; and Mark Begich has just been introduced to the albatross that will be wrapping itself around his neck. Anchorage Daily News reports: “The Environmental Protection Agency says the proposed Pebble mine in Alaska could wipe out nearly 100 miles of streams and 4,800 acres of wetlands in one of the last places remaining in the world to support huge runs of wild salmon….The EPA asserts that it has the power under the federal Clean Water Act to shut down the possibility of the massive copper and gold mine.”

We’re pretty sure this is a legit story. It is… insane. DailyMail (3/8/13) reports: “The reason for this hugely costly decision is that Drax has become a key component in the so-called ‘green revolution’ which is now at the heart of the Government’s energy policy… Because it burns so much coal, Drax is the biggest single emitter in Britain of carbon dioxide (CO2), the gas supposedly responsible for global warming. The theory is that, by gradually switching to wood — or ‘biomass’ as it is officially known — Drax will eventually save millions of tons of CO2 from going every year into the atmosphere, thereby helping to prevent climate change and save the planet.”

I suppose we can thank Japan, too. At the very least, be thankful that there are still people out there who haven’t completely lost their minds. Sydney Morning Herald (4/26/13) reports: “The Japanese government is moving to speed up the environmental assessment process for new coal-fired power plants as its power sector struggles with a surging energy bill in the wake of the forced idling of much of the country’s nuclear power plants following the Fukushima power plant meltdown in 2011.”

So, after all that, it turns out that the science might not be settled.  Which would certainly suggest that we might have been victims of a . . . what is the word when someone lies to you repeatedly about a specific thing? The Daily Caller reports: “Despite the heated rhetoric from the Obama administration and environmental groups about the urgency of global warming, climate scientists have begun to come to terms with the lack of evidence of catastrophic global warming over the last decade.”

The priesthood of limits, those who hate humans and want them to be fewer, poorer, and less free, have had a very bad time over the last several decades. Food. Energy. Innovation. Prosperity. Freedom. We are limited only by our imagination. And our willingness to ignore the elites. Washington Times (4/25/13) reports: “Malthusians can breathe a sigh of relief: If current trends hold, human beings won’t fulfill doomsday predictions by making like rabbits after all. Thanks to the success of incessant fear-mongering, the world’s population is expected to peak soon and then begin a long slide downward. That’s fewer of us “defacing” the planet.”