In the Pipeline: 5/7/13

The only thing I see when I look at this dude’s “aura” is a black hole where your taxpayer dollars go to die. Bloomberg (5/6/13) reports: “Whatever you think of Gore, one thing is indisputable: leveraging his aura as a technology seer and his political and climate work connections, Gore has remade himself into a wealthy businessman, amassing a fortune that may exceed $200 million.”

Marsha Blackburn deserves an apology from Al Gore. CSPAN (4/24/09) reports: “Rep. Marsha Blackburn challenged Former Vice President Al Gore’s contribution to environmental charities during an exchange at a subcommittee hearing on global climate change legislation.”

You can do a lot of these comparisons. North and South Korea, for instance, have some different rules that impact economic growth. Manhattan Institute (May 2013) reports: “If New York lifts its moratorium, companies will be drilling the same type of wells to exploit the same subterranean source of gas—the Marcellus Shale. Pennsylvania’s experience is a good guide to what would happen in New York… In this paper, we analyze the effect of hydrofracturing—at modest, moderate, and high levels—on jobs and income growth in Pennsylvania counties. We then use these data to project the benefits that New York counties stand to gain if the state again permits hydrofracturing.”

Does “minimally viable” involve making a profit? Or were those things just a 20th century fad? The Hill (5/6/13) reports: “Kiernan said AWEA suggested ramping down the production tax credit over the course of six years as part of an analysis of what the industry needed to be “minimally viable.” He stressed the House Ways and Means Committee requested the exercise, and that it was performed in the context of broad tax code changes.”

These people have no shame. But I guess it’s cool if they want to put their credibility on trial and provide us with some solid entertainment (all at the expense of taxpayers, of course). WSJ (5/6/13) reports: “Now, SolarCity is pushing back with a lawsuit that alleges the opposite: some of the taxpayer-funded grants it received weren’t as big as originally promised… The suit, filed quietly in February in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, comes as SolarCity and other industry players are defending solar-friendly government policies, and it could undermine the industry’s message that solar power will soon be viable without government help.”