In the Pipeline: 12/11/12

We could not have said it any better ourselves: “The Wind Production Tax Credit: Corporate Welfare at its Worst”. National Center for Policy Analysis (December 2012) reports: “Americans will soon learn whether the political class in Washington is serious about cleaning up the dirty acts of favoritism and cronyism that are business as usual in the nation’s capital. From loan guarantees for the well-connected to subsidies for the non-competitive, Washington specializes in feathering the nests of those with special access to levers of power and taxpayer money.”

We really need to stop massaging the egos of the world’s ‘ruling’ class.  Who knows, maybe the summit in Rio would have been somewhat productive if attendees weren’t working under the false premise that biofuels can magically appear in fuel tanks. Platts (12/10/12) reports: “EPA issued 20,069 credits to Blue Sugars in June for 80,000 liters of fuel made in 2011 at the company’s Western Biomass Energy pilot plant. The company sold the entire batch to partner Petrobras America… Petrobras exported the cellulosic ethanol to Brazil, where it filled the tanks of minivans shuttling diplomats between hotels and the RIO+20 United Nations sustainability conference in June.”

Speaking of a carbon price, do you think Gilbert Metcalf over at Treasury will ever answer Chris Horner’s FOIA? Bloomberg (12/6/12) reports: “The Green Climate Fund, designed to channel as much as $100 billion a year in pledges to emerging nations, may try to wean recipients off fossil fuel and encourage them to put a price on carbon, according to an overseer.”

This is a fun read. Powerline (12/9/12) reports: “But one must say clearly that we redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy. Obviously, the owners of coal and oil will not be enthusiastic about this. One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with environmental policy anymore.”

Senator Bingaman is a good man.  But he is and has been wrong on many issues. Politico (12/10/12) reports: “Despite the long odds for passage of major energy legislation, Bingaman soldiered on — building one of the most bipartisan committees in the Senate… He spent months crafting the latest version of a bill to mandate an expansion of low-carbon power. He floated the proposal in March after intensive internal and external analysis of various policy options, all the while acknowledging that passage of the bill would be ‘very difficult.’”

Senator Kerry, on the other hand, has never been right about anything. NBCNews.com (12/8/12) reports: “But could it also be a signal that the NRDC prefers another candidate for the job – Kerry, the other of the final two candidates reportedly being considered for the post? After all, environmental groups have strongly supported Kerry in the past and have a long working relationship with him. Like they would for most Democrats in a presidential election, for example, the NRDC and the League of Conservation Voters, among others, ran ads in the 2004 election boosting Kerry.”

Some Californians are catching on to the idea that not everything under the sun is a bright idea. LA Times (11/25/12) reports: “So the county grew giddy last year as it began to consider hosting a huge, clean industry. BrightSource Energy, developer of the proposed $2.7-billion Hidden Hills solar power plant 230 miles northeast of Los Angeles, promised a bounty of jobs and a windfall in tax receipts. In a county that issued just six building permits in 2011, Inyo officials first estimated that property taxes from the facility would boost the general fund 17%… But upon closer inspection, the picture didn’t seem so rosy.”

What’s that old saying about being careful what you wish for?KTAR Arizona (12/11/12) reports: “A coalition of 238 groups urged President Barack Obama on Monday to nominate Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Tucson, for the position of Interior Secretary should the job become open.”