In the Pipeline: 8/9/13

  • 08/09/13
  • AEA
  • Blog

Congress should take this as a teachable moment and mandate that the plant generate all its electricity from wind or solar and that Congress will rely on no other powerplants.  I suspect the Republic would be a lot safer if staffers and Members had to get by on a few hours of electricity a day.

The New York Times  (8/8/13) reports: “As part of the climate change agenda he unveiled this year, President Obama made a commitment to significantly reduce the federal government’s dependence...
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In the Pipeline: 8/8/13

  • 08/08/13
  • AEA
  • Blog

I bet you did not know that Commissioner Binz is the hand-picked successor of the current FERC chairman, who himself is hostile to coal, natural gas, and anything, really, that works.

Complete Colorado  (8/7/13) reports: “As Ron Binz campaigns to be confirmed as the head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, much of the emphasis has been on his position as an activist for what he considers to be low or no carbon energy sources, predominantly Big Wind. (Forget the fact that wind...
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In the Pipeline: 8/6/13

  • 08/07/13
  • AEA
  • Blog

Do you think the protesters drove there?

Reuters  (8/4/13) reports: “Police arrested more than 200 demonstrators for trespassing at Chevron Corp in the California city of Richmond on Saturday to mark the one-year anniversary of a massive refinery fire and to protest a proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The arrests came as a throng of sunflower-carrying picketers chanted, 'Hey hey, ho ho, fossil fuels have got to go,' as people of all ages walked onto Chevron's property to draw...
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In the Pipeline: 8/7/13

  • 08/07/13
  • AEA
  • Blog

These suckers are floating around London’s sewers and they’re spun up about fracking? I'm not a betting man, but I'm willing to wager that burning "fatbergs" is much dirtier and less efficient than hydrocarbons.

Newsy  (8/5/13) reports: “Workers at a water company in London have made a historic and disgusting find — a so-called ‘fatberg.’ It’s a combination of fat poured down drains along with flushed wet wipes. The two coupled together to create a massive clump of waste. The...
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In the Pipeline: 8/5/13

  • 08/05/13
  • AEA
  • Blog

Actions speak louder than words. 

The Washington Times  (8/4/13) reports: “If the Obama administration is indeed waging a “war on coal,” as its critics contend, then newly minted Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz aims to build a bridge between the opposing camps. Since joining the administration about 10 weeks ago, Mr. Moniz — a Massachusetts Institute of Technology scholar who is considered to have one of the nation’s brightest minds on energy issues — has offered an olive branch...
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In the Pipeline: 8/2/13

  • 08/02/13
  • AEA
  • Blog

About that growing “conservative” coalition for a carbon tax...

The Washington Times  (7/31/13) reports: “House Republicans launched an all-out attack Wednesday on what they say are the secretive, pseudo-scientific 'cost of carbon' metrics that the Obama administration is using to justify increasingly harsh environmental regulations. At least three pieces of legislation to dismantle the metric, or at least greatly limit how it can be used, are moving through Congress. The measures...
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In the Pipeline: 8/1/13

  • 08/02/13
  • AEA
  • Blog

You RFS advocates keep saying those words “free market.” I do not think it means what you think it means.

The National Journal  (7/31/13) reports:  “Washington can clearly find agreement on the RFS. The answer is to repeal this harmful mandate. The biofuel industry should compete on the merits of their product, not because Washington mandates the use of those products. Furthermore, the RFS proponents fail to show the benefit to Americans of keeping the mandate in place. The lack of...
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In the Pipeline: 7/31/13

  • 07/31/13
  • AEA
  • Blog

Here's what passes for Presidential logic: A $7 billion infrastructure project (ie. Keystone XL) financed privately is "not a jobs plan", but spending $50 billion in taxpayer dollars on bridges is "putting people immediately to work."

E&E News  (7/30/13) reports: “On the latest stop of his new jobs tour, President Obama visited an Amazon.com distribution center in Chattanooga, Tenn., to propose a new "grand bargain for the middle class" that would lower business tax rates in exchange for...
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In the Pipeline: 7/30/13

  • 07/31/13
  • AEA
  • Blog
Skittishly dancing around the issue is unbecoming and childish. Fred Upton is right. E&E News (07/29/13) reports: “The prospect of a House vote on a carbon tax turns Rep. Fred Upton, chairman of the House Energy Committee to thoughts of, well, love. He grasped a reporter by both shoulders last week and, when asked about the prospect of a vote, poured out his heart: 'I would love to vote on it,' he exclaimed. 'I would love to vote on it, because the House would send a very strong signal...
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In the Pipeline: 7/26/13

  • 07/26/13
  • AEA
  • Blog
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...
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