In the Pipeline: 5/6/13

Relax, Michelle. Your husband has already dug plenty of other holes for the country. 

The Marshall crew is as cool as the other side of the pillow. George C. Marshall Institute (5/3/13) reports: “The year 2013 will see a major political debate over proposals for a carbon tax—a tax on emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), particularly carbon dioxide (CO2). The justifications for the proposals include: (1) a desire to reduce emissions to prevent a rise in global temperatures; and (2) the hope that a carbon tax could substitute for other taxes and improve economic efficiency, while raising enormous sums for the government. The carbon tax finds theoretical justification in economic theory, but it is a deeply flawed idea. Five sets of consideration militate against it—the five circles of Carbon Tax Hell:” [Emphasis added]

It’s bad enough to be someone who hates progress and people and prosperity, but it is much worse to be a coward: “She declined to be interviewed for this story.” National Journal (5/5/13) reports: “One notably high-profile former Obama adviser whose position differs from the several people interviewed both on and off the record for this article is Carol Browner. Browner was Obama’s top energy and climate adviser until she left in January 2011.’Until we do have a climate policy, the idea that we should be supportive of a pipeline that will increase greenhouse-gas emissions is deeply troubling,’ Browner said at an energy forum in November 2011, according to a Reuters article.”

Another one bites the dust… Renewable Energy World (5/2/13) reports: “After selling just 100 units of its product, electric car manufacturer Coda Holdings has filed for Chapter 11 in a Delaware bankruptcy court… Coda Automotive’s only vehicle was its Coda Car, an all-electric sedan with four doors and a battery pack. The company has its headquarters in Los Angeles. Coda Cars have an EPA-rated battery range of about 88 miles to a charge — less than electric vehicles made by competitor Tesla Motors.”

Progressives should invest all of their money in “green energy” companies, like the Obama Administration does with our tax money.The Nation (5/1/13) reports: “Now it turns out that some green groups are literally part owners of the industry causing the crisis they are purportedly trying to solve. And the money the green groups have to play with is serious. The Nature Conservancy, for instance, has $1.4 billion in publicly traded securities, and boasts that its piggybank is ‘among the 100 largest endowments in the country.’ The Wildlife Conservation Society has a $377 million endowment, while the endowment of the World Wildlife Fund-US (WWF-US) is worth $195 million.”

You might think we were a bunch of tech geeks if you could see our excitement for new toys that actually work. AP (5/3/13) reports: “Fossil fuels? They were going to be expensive and scarce, relics of an earlier, dirtier age… But in the race to conquer energy technology, Old Energy is winning… Oil companies big and small have used technology to find a bounty of oil and natural gas so large that worries about running out have melted away.”

Seriously, it has been a tough year for the bad guys. Real Science (5/5/13) reports: 2013 is having the coldest spring on record, the fewest tornadoes on record, and also the fewest forest fires on record.

If some is good, more is better. Chron (5/3/13) reports: “Earlier today, in response to Brooks’ post, former New York Times environmental report Andrew Revkin, who now can be found at Dot Earth, wondered whether scientists and reporters who jumped on the climate angle in 2011 would do so again now, tweeting:”