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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times — the tale of two states and their use of natural gas Wall Street Journal (7/26/11) reports: Politicians wringing their hands over how to create more jobs might study the shale boom along the New York and Pennsylvania border. It's a case study in one state embracing economic opportunity, while the other has let environmental politics trump development…The Marcellus shale formation—65 million acres running through Ohio, West Virginia,...
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Billionaire Bloomberg fights against affordable coal as Bill Gates admits only rich can afford the alternative energy Wall Street Journal (7/22/11) reports: [Chris] Anderson: When you look at the big picture [for the future of energy], where should we be focusing besides nuclear? On massive solar plants in the desert? On middle-size stuff for office roofs? Or is there a reinvention that could be done right in the home?...Gates: If you're going for cuteness, the stuff in the home is the place...
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What else do you want us to do for you Mr. President on the Keystone XL oil pipeline? Read your horoscope? The Hill (7/20/11) reports: The House in the coming weeks is expected to consider legislation that would require the Obama administration to decide by Nov. 1 whether to approve the expansion of a TransCanada oil pipeline to the U.S…H.R. 1938, the North American-Made Energy Security Act, was just listed on the House Rules Committee website as an "active" bill, although no action is...
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My math is always a little shaky, but it you carry the one . . . you still wind up about a million short of the President’s “goal” of 1 million electric vehicles by whenever Los Angeles Times (7/19/11) reports: When it comes to sales of electric vehicles, Nissan's Leaf is charging ahead…Nissan Motor Co. has sold 4,134 of the battery-powered electric cars this year. General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet, by comparison, has sold 2,745 of its Volt car, which is technically a plug-in hybrid...
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Remember the biased NYT hit piece on Nat Gas? Well, even the NYT's public editor agrees that the article was an unfounded hit piece New York Times (7/18/11) reports: A New York Times article last month, “Insiders Sound an Alarm Amid a Natural Gas Rush,” warned across two columns at the top of the front page that high expectations for companies drilling shale gas might be headed for a fall. It was the kind of story you wish The Times had written about Enron before it collapsed. Or about...
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launches “Not In My Backyard” campaign against...cape wind. As it turns out, wind is good enough for the Hicks in West Virginia, but not arugula eating Bostonians Wall Street Journal (7/18/11) reports:  Someone needs to tell the politicians in Boston and Washington that Cape Wind, the long-stalled plan to cover 25 square miles of pristine Nantucket Sound with 130 massive steel windmill-turbine towers, is a rip-off. That someone is most likely to be the newly...
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The UK government in their infinite wisdom and knowledge of the economy has created an energy famine and poor people have been forced to make hard decisions AP (7/15/11) reports: One in five households in the UK were affected by fuel poverty in 2009 official figures showed on Friday with campaigners warning the situation will worsen as electricity and gas prices continue to rise…The number of UK households in fuel poverty rose from 4.5 million in 2008 to 5.5 million in 2009, the Department...
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IER’s Tom Pyle gives the White House a math lesson U.S. News In the current stalemate on raising the debt ceiling, President Obama has ratcheted up the rhetoric against the American oil and gas industry.  Big Oil, he insists, benefits from generous federal subsidies and enjoys favorable treatment from the current tax code.  The president maintains that increasing taxes on these companies will help close the federal deficit while avoiding any adverse economic consequences…Take a look at...
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It’s no wonder everyone in CA is on medical marijuana — have you looked at the books recently? CA businesses are leaving 5x faster than last year and if you think that’s fast, just wait until Lt. Gov. Newsom unveils his economic plan next week CNN Money (7/12/11) reports: Buffeted by high taxes, strict regulations and uncertain state budgets, a growing number of California companies are seeking friendlier business environments outside of the Golden State…And governors around the...
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Top-Line Findings of “Budget Impasse Hinges on Confusion among Deficit Reduction, Tax Increase, and Tax Reform” Study To read the full study as a PDF, click here. With the August 2^nd deadline rapidly approaching, talk on Capitol Hill over the debt ceiling has become enmeshed in debate over repeal of tax deductions for U.S. oil firms. The marriage of these issues, however, confuses the similar but distinct concepts of deficit reduction, tax reform, and tax increases. Increases in tax...
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