In the Pipeline: 7/26/13

Call it whatever you want, it’s a growth limiting, prosperity capping, cost increasing, ineffective policy that expands the size and scope of the government. The New York Times (7/24/13) reports: “The headlines last week were dramatic: Australia abandons its carbon tax. The move seemed to confirm suspicions that putting a price on carbon dioxide emissions is politically toxic … Avoiding the term ‘carbon tax’ may make such policies a bit easier. In Australia now, ‘it will be possible for the government to say that it has removed a ‘tax,’ and avoid the unpopularity of that word,’ Mr. Pannell said. ‘The opposition is arguing that the new system will still be effectively a tax by another name. But the political effect of their arguments is diminished.’”

Watch as billions are lifted out of poverty. Unless McKibben has his way. Bloomberg (7/25/13) reports: “World energy consumption will rise 56 percent in the next three decades, driven by growth in developing countries such as China and India, the Energy Information Administration said. Demand will increase to 820 quadrillion British thermal units in 2040 from 524 quadrillion in 2010, the EIA said in the International Energy Outlook 2013, with the two Asian countries accounting for half the gain. One quadrillion Btu is equal to 172 million barrels of crude oil. China, which used 3.4 percent more energy than the U.S. in 2010, is expected to double U.S. demand by 2040.”

 A no brainer.

Typical of the subsidization of the wind (or any) industry. The Institute for Energy Research (7/25/13) reports: “One of the largest wind facilities in the world is benefiting from millions of dollars in state tax credits it is not qualified for and does not need, according to a recent series of investigative reports in The Oregonian. The 845 megawatt Shepherds Flat wind facility that opened in 2012 received final approval last month from the Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE) for three separate tax credits totaling $30 million. Caithness Energy, owner of Shepherds Flat, was able to secure the credits by defining the project as three separate wind facilities. But as the new reports reveal, Shepherds Flat likely qualifies for just one out of three Business Energy Tax Credits under explicit ODOE rules that determine what constitutes a “separate and distinct” facility.”