In the Pipeline: 6/21/13

We loved our time in New Mexico last summer. KRQE (6/19/13) reports: “Tight school budgets have New Mexico schools trying to find different ways to raise money. The Carlsbad Municipal School District is doing it by pumping black gold. The district’s director of finance said nearly seven acres owned by the district aren’t being used, so why not put it to good use by pumping oil? ‘If it’s a resource available to us, and it’s not currently being used,’ Laura Garcia said. ‘I think the main idea is to utilize what we have.’”

Quod licet Jovi non bovi. The Daily Caller (6/20/13) reports: “San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer has spent millions on environmental causes, including efforts to stop construction on the Keystone XL pipeline. But his hedge fund Farallon Capital Management has extensive holdings in fossil fuel companies — including investments that could benefit from the blocking of the Keystone pipeline.”

Member of the board of the World Wildlife Fund, currently associated with CATO, favors a “free-market” carbon tax. The good news is AEI now has some company in the morally bankrupt think tank department. And thanks for your keen insights, Mr. Litterman, but we prefer to Kepos our own Capital. CATO (pdf) reports: “It would be best to get started immediately by pricing carbon emissions no lower, and perhaps well above, a reasonable estimate of the present value of expected future damages, and allow the price to respond appropriately to new information as it becomes known.”

EPA fails to find proof that hydraulic fracturing contaminated groundwater in Pavillion, WY and halts study. If you’re keeping track, the EPA is now 0/3. ABC News (6/20/13) reports: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has dropped plans to have outside experts review its theory that hydraulic fracturing may have played a role in groundwater pollution in Wyoming, and the agency no longer plans to write a final report on its research that led to the controversial finding a year and a half ago.”

And just what is causing the haze in Singapore? Mass burning of carbon-sequestering natural vegetation in Malaysia and Indonesia to produce –you guessed it — palm oil to make biodiesel for guilt-ridden and gullible Westerners. The Wall Street Journal (6/20/13) reports: “Smog in Singapore worsened to a record “hazardous” level Thursday, as smoke from fires in neighboring Indonesia billowed into the island state’s worst-ever air-pollution crisis. According to Singapore’s National Environment Agency, the city’s three-hour Pollutant Standards Index rose to an all-time high of 371 at 1 p.m. local time (0500 GMT) Thursday, surpassing the official “hazardous” designation of 301 or higher.”

You know it is bad when Ron Wyden is telling you that you have gone too far. E&E News (6/20/13) Reports: “The chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee sharply criticized members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission today for rejecting a proposal that would have made it voluntary for utilities in the Pacific Northwest to pay for regional transmission projects under Order 1000, and vowed to take legislative action if the decision isn’t reversed. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) took issue with the commission’s 3-to-1 vote to approve a filing that ColumbiaGrid, a regional transmission planner, proposed to comply with Order 1000, a far-reaching rule the commission recently approved to revamp the way the grid is planned and paid for.”

Change, prosperity, and the well-being of your fellow man are very scary to the Representative from Illinois. It constantly amazes us that the citizens don’t rise up in armed rebellion. [39:37]

If you’d like to stand with these fine folks against a carbon tax, please contact us at [email protected].
Tom Pyle, American Energy Alliance
Myron Ebell, Freedom Action
Phil Kerpen, American Commitment
William O’Keefe, George C. Marshall Institute
Lawson Bader, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Andrew Quinlan, Center for Freedom and Prosperity
Tim Phillips, Americans for Prosperity
Joe Bast, Heartland Institute
David Ridenour, National Center for Public Policy Research
Michael Needham, Heritage Action for America
Tom Schatz, Citizens Against Government Waste
Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform
Sabrina Schaeffer, Independent Women’s Forum
Barrett E. Kidner, Caesar Rodney Institute
George Landrith, Frontiers of Freedom
Thomas A. Schatz, Citizens Against Government Waste
Bill Wilson, Americans for Limited Government
Wayne Brough, FreedomWorks
Rich Collins, Positive Growth Alliance
Craig Richardson, American Tradition Institute
The Honorable George Allen, American Energy Freedom Center