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Representative Cliff Stearns recently introduced the “No More Solyndras Act,” which would exercise more oversight of the $16 billion federal program that loaned $528 million dollars to the now-bankrupt solar manufacturer Solyndra and subsidized other clean energy companies that have had subsequent financial troubles.  An up-to-date list of these companies can be viewed on IER’s Stimulosers report here. The “No More Solyndras” bill would prohibit any new loan guarantees from being...
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You have to hope that at some point, Governor Romney will start talking about this. WSJ (7/24/12) reports: “President Obama may not want to exploit the energy buried in Canada's Alberta oil sands, but China sure does. Think of Monday's $15.1 billion offer by China's state-owned Cnooc to buy Canadian energy giant Nexen as a post-Keystone XL Pipeline bid to replace the U.S. as Canada's biggest energy investor and market.” This is what regressivity looks like outside of an economics...
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And you shall know the truth.  And the truth shall set you free.  At least that is what my friend John says. We offer this without comment.  Except to say that in every instance subsidies are corrupting.  You know, like the Food Stamp bill just passed by the Senate. The Hill  (6/21/12) Reports: Low natural-gas prices mean that it’s economical to power heavy trucks with the fuel even without federal incentives, according to a new report that finds up-front investment costs for...
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Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal carried a prominent article  about accidental bird deaths caused by communications towers. According to the article, a whopping 6.8 million birds are accidentally killed by flying into these towers (the article did not specify if bird suicides were included or not). These 6.8 million birds are usually attacked – apparently without provocation - by these aggressive and belligerent towers under the cover of darkness by their illuminated red lights. As...
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The Onion Couldn't Have Written a Better Headline ABC News (4/10/12) reports: Former General Services Administration administrator Martha Johnson missed a lavish Las Vegas conference for government employees because she was already committed to meetings in California at  Solyndra, according to testimony in an official government investigation…Solyndra is the now-bankrupt green energy company that the Obama administration had provided with a $535 million loan through the stimulus…The...
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First Energy would argue that they are not intentionally causing a shortage in the capacity markets in order to make a bunch of money from unsuspecting ratepayers.  I like to argue that I am taller and better looking than people think I am Platts Energy (4/8/12) reports: West Virginia regulators ordered FirstEnergy not to begin retiring three coal-fired plants in the state totaling 660 MW until regulators have a chance to review the company's justification for the closings…The Public...
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It’s hypocritical for the same politicians calling for sanctions on China for placing quotas on a its rare earth exports to simultaneously try to block the export of our own natural gas resources MarketWatch  (4/2/12) reports: The Chinese are wrong in the case of rare earth elements and should reverse their practices. President Obama shouldn’t follow in their footsteps with U.S. natural gas, a move which not only runs counter to our own obligations, but which threatens our own economic...
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Solyndra.  Beacon.  First Light.  Q-Cells.  They will be thrown into the exterior darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  For many are called, but few are chosen GWPF The German firm says it has abandoned an attempt to refinance its debts and will file for insolvency on Tuesday…Like other solar panel makers, Q-Cells has been hit by falling prices and last year the firm lost 846m euros ($1.1bn; £702m)…The company started in 2001 with 19 staff and now employs...
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If some is good, more is better Yahoo (3/29/12) reports: An outside group with ties to conservative causes on Thursday launched a $3.6 million ad buy lashing out at President Barack Obama's energy record, blaming him for rising gas prices and his decision to delay the Keystone XL pipeline project…The ads aired in eight states by the American Energy Alliance seek to undercut Obama's message that he has increased oil drilling and pushed to develop renewable energy sources, and came as the...
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The answer is, of course, who cares?  The only reason anyone buys a Prius is so they can demonstrate how much holier they are than everyone else.  And to expose the fact that they don’t what the word “fungible” means Good Magazine (3/27?12) reports: In his book, The Conundrum, New Yorker staff writer David Owen ruffles the feathers of energy-efficiency advocates with his argument that living sustainably often means living, in his words, “pretty much the way I live right now, though...
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