Blog

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...
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If anyone thought that Moniz would be middle-of-the-road, this choice should dispel that. The Washington Post  (6/19/13) reports: “Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has tapped highly regarded environmentalist Kevin Knobloch, most recently president of the advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists, to be his chief of staff. Knobloch had also been the organization’s legislative director for arms control and national security and had worked on the Hill in the ‘80s as legislative director...
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Say your prayers and do your penance, the end is coming. The Wall Street Journal (6/18/13) reports: “Consider the meaning in contemporary jargon of the famous carbon footprint that we all leave behind us. What is it, after all, if not the gaseous equivalent of Original Sin, of the stain that we inflict on our Mother Gaia by the simple fact of being present and breathing? We can all gauge the volume of our emissions, day after day, with the injunction to curtail them, just as children...

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We have the resources, the capital, the innovators, and the technology, but do we have the policy?  Energy Guardian  (6/17/13) reports: “The strength of the American manufacturing renaissance has become a hot debate topic, with some experts contending it is more hype than reality, especially as job growth remains slow in the industrial heartland. That skepticism is unwarranted, says American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers President Charles T. Drevna. With the revolution in shale gas...
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After all, we’re just on a big hamster wheel at the Obama administration’s service. Daily Caller  (6/13/13) report: “The White House raised its estimates of the social cost of carbon dioxide emissions from $21 per metric ton to $35 per metric ton, but critics say that there is ‘little ‘science’ behind the whopping numbers.’… ‘The ‘social cost of carbon’ is a very malleable concept that can be inflated or deflated by turning certain wheels,’ Institute for Energy...
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If complete control of a market is called a monopoly, what do you call mandated control of a market...? The Renewable Fuel Standard. PoliticoPro  (6/11/13) reports: Sen. Tom Coburn used the nomination hearing for Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs nominee Howard Shelanski to rip into EPA’s renewable fuels standard…“We’re going to see ... two refineries in Oklahoma close within a year, year-and-half, because they cannot afford to buy the renewable fuel credits. So, we got a...
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Is this guy still alive? I figured he drowned after his beach house was overtaken by rising seas. Politico  (6/11/13) reports: “Former Vice President Al Gore lamented today that scientists “will not let us link record-breaking” tornadoes in Oklahoma and elsewhere to climate change because of inadequate record keeping on the twisters… ‘But when you put more energy into a system, it gets more energetic,’ Gore said at an environmental event in Washington hosted by Sen. Sheldon...
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We mentioned the "social cost of carbon" last week, but here’s the full analysis. The Obama administration is quietly making it easier for their “benefit” numbers to go head to head against costs. IER  (6/6/13) reports: “The very concept of the 'social cost of carbon' is not nearly as objective and scientific as, say, the charge on an electron. It is based on subjective human decisions as to which scenarios to include in the model, the discount rate to apply to future costs and...
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Somewhere down the road, we might find ourselves switching back to PCs. You see, Apple used to be led by a man who was disturbed by the stifling impact of government on business and innovation in this country. Jobs was able to navigate this business environment and still build incredible value for all stakeholders. Today, Apple’s leadership is hiring Lisa Jackson to whitewash the company of the sin of success. Huffington Post  (12/20/11) reports: “‘You're headed for a one-term...
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