PG&E Wants Higher Rates Even While Collecting Millions for Improvements Never Made?

January 28, 2012 | Filed Under Budget, Business, California, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Ethics, Government, Liberals, Los Angeles, Natural Gas, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Since the several disastrous accidents that claimed the lives of too many Californians, Pacific Gas & Electric has been fighting criticism over its dismal safety record. In response, the energy provider cried poor and said it needed billions for upgrades and repairs and wanted ratepayers to pay even more for its services. But a new report says that PG&E collected millions from ratepayers for repairs and improvements that it never actually made.

Early last year PG&E got a large rate increase, but by August the energy provider was at it again asking for an additional $2.2 billion for upgrades, repairs, and improving its explosion-prone delivery system, a cost to be born on the backs of the ratepayers.

This January, though, the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) reported that PG&E has already collected half a billion dollars that was supposed to go to these repairs and upgrades yet the repairs were never made.
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Destroying America by Denying Access to Energy

January 27, 2012 | Filed Under Alan Caruba, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Jobs, Liberals, Money, Oil, President, Senate, Taxes | No Comments

-By Alan Caruba

It is the crime of the century that America, home to some of the world’s greatest reserves of coal, natural gas and oil, is being deliberately destroyed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior as they do everything in their power to restrict access and drive energy producers out of business.

It is common sense that a nation that cannot produce sufficient electricity to turn on its lights and power its manufacturing sector will be destroyed if current Obama administration regulations and actions continue. Our vital transportation sector and all others that utilize petroleum-based products will suffer, too.

While President Obama babbles about millionaires and billionaires, everyone will be impoverished by the loss of jobs and revenue our energy sector produces now and can produce in the future.

This isn’t an “energy policy.” It’s a “no-energy policy” and it is a guarantee of economic disaster.
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Upset about Big Brother’s Ban on Incandescent Bulbs? Buy a Heatball!

January 5, 2012 | Filed Under Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Green Energy, Selwyn Duke | No Comments

-By Selwyn Duke

This is just too good.

Many of you know that in a few days the federal ban on conventional incandescent light bulbs will go into effect. And while House Republicans included a provision in a recent spending bill that will block funding for the ban’s enforcement, it’s said that it will have little effect; manufacturers have prepared for the new standards and will no doubt abide by the law. So does this mean we’ll be forced to buy more expensive LED (light emitting diode) or CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs, the latter being those squiggly things said to be loaded with mercury? Not if we follow the lead of German businessman Siegfried Rotthaeuser.

After the European Union banned conventional incandescent bulbs, Rotthaeuser’s entrepreneurial spirit was sparked. He started selling another product: heatballs.

What’s a heatball? According to this Teutonic Knight of Freedom and Light, it is a “small heating device” that compensates for the loss of heat a home experiences when conventional light bulbs are swapped for more energy efficient ones. Here is an image of this novel new product.

Obama Crony Capitalism: Navy Buys ‘Green’ Fuel at 4 X Price

December 12, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Biofuels, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Climate Change, Crony Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Environment, Ethics, Global Warming, Government, Government, Corruption, Green Energy, Liberals, Military, Navy, President, RightPundits.com, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Obama administration has announced its successful purchase of “green” biofules for the U.S. Navy at $15 per gallon. This success story is interesting for the fact that the Navy’s regular fuel cost is just under $4 per gallon. Additionally, one of the companies involved in the sale employs a prominent member of Obama’s 2008 transition team, one T.J Glauthier.

The company in question, Solazyme of California, has also been a happy beneficiary $21.8 million of Obama’s “stimulus” spending.

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

We’ve Been Had: Reagan’s Words Have Gone Unheeded

December 8, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Daniel Clark, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Energy, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Oil, Republicans, Ronald Reagan, Taxes | Comments Off

-By Daniel Clark

In Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address, he described America by saying, “We are a nation that has a government, not the other way around.” Thirty years later, that doesn’t exactly ring true.

During the 2008 primaries, Barack Obama told a group of supporters in Oregon that, “We can’t drive our SUVs, and eat as much as we want, and keep our homes at 72 degrees at all times, and then just expect that other countries are going to say, ‘oh, okay.’ That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.” Exercising our freedom as consumers is “not going to happen?” Spoken like the future leader of a government that has a nation.

This September, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack lectured representatives of the National Restaurant Association about the amount of salt and sugar in their food, as part of an intimidation campaign with which several large restaurant chains are already “cooperating.” Of course, salt and sugar cost money, so if it made good business sense for restaurants to reduce the amounts they use, they would have done so already. They haven’t because the food just won’t taste as good, as you’re well aware if you’ve ever accidentally bought a can of low-sodium soup, and then carpet-bombed it with salt in an attempt to make it palatable.
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‘Historian’ Gets Mouthy At Congressional Hearing

December 4, 2011 | Filed Under Animal Rights, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Energy, Ethics, GOP, Government, History, House of Representatives, Oil, President, Regulation, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

I meant to get to this last week, but “historian” Douglas Brinkley is so forgettable as a writer that it all slipped my mind. But, it’s a slow news day, so let’s take a look at the temper tantrum this hack threw when he visited the House Natural Resources Committee on Nov. 22, shall we?

Brinkley was there to provide his, uh, “insight” into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, testimony that Alaska Rep. Don Young called “an exercise in futility” because the hearing wasn’t going to be changing anyone’s mind about the subject. I’d have to agree that anything including hack Brinkley truly is an exercise in futility. He’s one of the worst writers of popular history out there.

The fireworks began when Rep. Young accidentally called Brinkley by the wrong last name. This sent the scribbler off into paroxysms of pique and spurred him to interrupt not only Rep. Young, but also Committee Chair Doc Hastings when he tried to restore order.

Rep. Young later told the Washington Post’s Amy Argetsinger that he thought that Brinkley was just trying to get publicity with his outburst.
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Actor Ruffalo Wants Obama to Turn Army Corps of Engineers Political

November 18, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Environment, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Media Bias, Movies, Natural Gas, President, Regulation, TV, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Mark Ruffalo — you know, the millionaire actor that claims to be part of the 99% — may not be a scientist. But he plays one on mass emailings from left-wing advocacy groups. And with that activism Ruffalo is urging President Obama to turn the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from a science-based service to the American people into just another politicized arm of progressivism.

Ruffalo is lending his name to WaterDefense.org, an anti-fracking group claiming that the practice of drilling for natural gas contaminates drinking water wherever it is employed.

The science of the water contamination claim is not exactly proven but that won’t stop this group and actor Ruffalo from claiming it as fact. Clearly more scientific studies are needed to determine what is true and what isn’t here.
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Rancho Cordova Blast Fine Too Low to Assure Future Public Safety

November 15, 2011 | Filed Under Business, California, Capitalism, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Energy, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Natural Gas, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

In 2008 a pipeline operated by Pacific Gas & Electric exploded destroying several homes and killing 72-year-old Wilbert Paana. Since that time authorities have been attempting to determine what sort of fines PG&E should face for its negligence. Recently administrative law judge John Wong proposed that a fine of $38 million — and an end to the whole matter — would be enough. But is this enough to assure the protection and safety of California’s ratepayers?

To his credit, Judge Wong rejected an even lower proposal of a $26 million fine noting that if found guilty the utility would face at least a $97 million if found guilty of all the charges and safety violations leveled against it. Yet, he’s willing to let PG&E get away with less than half of what it could face were it to go the distance in the courts.

Whatever is fair or not, though, one thing must be noted. PG&E’s board recently rewarded CEO Peter Darbee with a $35 million severance package even though he presided over multiple violations of safety including that Rancho Cordova incident that took the life of Mr. Panna, not to mention eight more deaths in the San Bruno incident. He also headed up the utility as it wasted $46 million on the ballot initiative Prop 16 which was an attempt to enshrine in law PG&E’s California monopoly.
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Killing Energy, Killing Jobs, Killing America

November 4, 2011 | Filed Under Alan Caruba, Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Coal, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Electric, Energy, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Natural Gas, Nuclear Power, Oil, President, Regulation, Solar, Taxes | Comments Off

-By Alan Caruba

America has been under attack since Barack Obama took the oath of office on January 20, 2009. The primary target has been the nation’s ability to generate energy for electricity and transportation, without which this nation will slide into Third World status and economic decline.

This appears to be the goal of this administration from the President to his Secretaries of Energy and Interior, to his Director of the Environmental Protection Agency. There is no other rational explanation for what they are doing.

We are days away from the latest Environmental Protection Agency assault in the form of the “MACT” rule allegedly to reduce mercury and other emissions that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says will reduce electricity generation in America by about 81 gigawatts in the years ahead. A recent Wall Street Journal editorial said “this could compromise the reliability of the electric system if as much as 8% of generating capacity is subtracted from the grid.”
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Citing Elmhurst Dillard Calls for Pressure on ComEd

October 19, 2011 | Filed Under Business, Chicago, DuPage County, Electric, Energy, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Kirk Dillard, Republicans, Senate, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

From the office of Ill. State Senator Kirk Dillard (24th District)…

In a Friday, October 14, 2011 interview on WLS radio’s Don Wade and Roma Show, Illinois State Senator Kirk Dillard (R-Westmont) outlined his concerns about the SmartGrid legislation being pushed by Commonwealth Edison.

Voicing concerns relayed to him by local citizens and elected officials, Dillard said on the radio station that the SmartGrid legislation needs improvement. “The status quo is not enough,” Dillard said. “Cities like Elmhurst, which is right in my area, have had severe power outages. We need reliability. We’ve got to do something and we need to look at our electrical grid. In some places it’s old and decaying, so the status quo is not acceptable.”

In response to a question about how Quinn thinks raising electric rates are bad for businesses but thinks a 66% increase in income tax is okay, Dillard said, “I don’t believe in guaranteed rate increases [for utilities] by the Commerce Commission.”

Will Warmists Face Justice for their Deceptions?

October 16, 2011 | Filed Under Alan Caruba, Anti-Americanism, Budget, Cap and Trade, Climate Change, Democrats/Leftists, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Regulation, Taxes, UN | 1 Comment

-By Alan Caruba

When you murder someone the case is never closed. The same holds when you murder the truth. No matter how long it takes, truth is defended despite all the calumnies heaped on those who stand firm against the lies and the propaganda intended to persuade those who have been deceived.

Ultimately, truth is its own defense. There never was a shred of truth in the claim that humans were causing the Earth’s climate to heat up by using so-called “fossil fuels” and engaging in manufacturing and other activities. There was no dramatic “global warming” in the 1980s until the present.

The Earth’s climate has warmed very slightly since the end of the Little Ice Age, dated to around 1850. Five hundred years of extremely cold weather had gripped the northern hemisphere starting around 1300. The much heralded “climate change” is, unlike the weather, measured in terms of centuries, not days, weeks or years. It is used by politicians that do not know what they are talking about. It is also used by charlatans, but I repeat myself.

Under the direction of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) a massive fraud was engineered. The object was to turn carbon dioxide (CO2), a common though minor atmospheric gas, into a commodity that could be traded in exchanges around the world that would issue “carbon credits” to utilities, industrial facilities, and others who would be required to pay for permission to produce energy and products. It was an audacious scheme.
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Roskam Applauds House Passage of the Coal Residuals and Management Act

October 16, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Coal, Congress, Energy, GOP, House of Representatives, Illinois, Peter Roskam, Republicans, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

From the office of Rep. Peter Roskam (R, Illinois 6th District)…

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Peter Roskam (IL-06), Chief Deputy Whip, issued the following statement after the House passed H.R. 2273 – the Coal Residuals and Management Act – a bill with bipartisan support that will allow coal combustion residuals to be used effectively and efficiently while protecting jobs:

“This bipartisan legislation is another commonsense solution to restore confidence in American businesses and workers. This is a regulatory solution that would protect jobs, keep electricity costs low, and keep construction material costs low. The construction and energy industries can’t grow and expand with regulations as these excessive these.

“Americans are looking for answers on how we can turn this economy around, and excessive regulations from Washington are only adding to that frustration. It is initiatives like these that will provide for the kind of certainty and pro-growth environment needed to get businesses hiring again and move our economy in the right direction.”

http://roskam.house.gov/

Ancient Green History: Chevy Volt No Better Than 115-Year-Old Care

October 14, 2011 | Filed Under Business, Democrats/Leftists, Electric, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Liberals, RightPundits.com, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

It almost seems like a cosmic joke against these greenwits, but a new report seems to show that the Chevy Volt doesn’t get any better mileage than an electric car that was invented in 1896!

The Roberts electric car, circa 1896, got a “solid 40 miles to the charge” when it debuted years before the Wrights Brothers even took their first flight. Amusingly, its the exact same number of miles that the Chevy Volt gets today…

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

PG&E’s Catastrophic Failure of Public Trust By Company and Government Both

October 12, 2011 | Filed Under Business, California, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Electric, Energy, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Los Angeles, Natural Gas, Regulation, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Another in a long line of explosions and other catastrophic safety failures occurred at the end of September when a natural gas pipeline built and owned by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) ruptured in Roseville, California. This is just of a piece of the failure of PG&E to ensure public safety, a failure that the so-called government watchdog agency set up to watch the utility, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), has seemingly done little to mitigate.

Now, not only has PG&E failed to safeguard the public, but the company is insisting that ratepayers foot the bill for repairs and new safety programs to the tune of some $2.2 billion. Government watchdog CPUC seems wholly content to stand aside while they do it.

Michael R. Peevey, President of the CPUC, has been at the helm of the regulatory commission during many of the worst failures of public safety. Yet, even as he’s claimed he intends to make major changes in the agency, Governor Jerry Brown has not sacked Peevey whose term ends in 2014. The question is, why?

Peevey has been a disaster. Peevey has reigned over some of the most disastrous failures which have caused the deaths of nearly a dozen Californians, his softened stance seems to have allowed PG&E to act with impunity and arrogance, all to no good effect for ratepayers pocketbooks and their very safety.
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New Perry Ad: Romney & Obama, Carbon Copies

October 7, 2011 | Filed Under Cap and Trade, Climate Change, Conservatives, Elections, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, GOP, Government, Mitt Romney, President, Rick Perry, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

http://www.rickperry.org/join-today/

OK, I have to say something here. It is a pretty good ad, such as it is, but it is time that Perry stopped talking about the other candidates and spent more time defining himself.

Oil is There. Obama Doesn’t Care.

October 2, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Declaration of Independence, Energy, Huffington Post, Jobs, Kevin Roeten, Oil, Uncategorized, Unemployment, Washington Post | Comments Off

-By Kevin Roeten

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has told the Obama Administration they’ve found enough oil under US territory that estimates 163 billion barrels of recoverable oil and enough natural gas to meet the country’s demand for 90 years. [Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/10/new-report-says-u-s-has-largest-fossil-fuel-reserves-in-world/#ixzz1ZAKRYXDD.]

Back in 2006, the Department of Energy (DoE) and the Mineral Management Service (MMS) both revealed the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) had enough oil to last at least another 50 years [Assessment of Undiscovered Technically Recoverable Oil and Gas Resources of the Nation’s Outer Continental Shelf, 2006 (Summary Brochure)].

The map above is from a 2006 MMS titled “Assessment of Undiscovered Technically Recoverable Oil and Gas Resources of the Nation’s Outer Continental Shelf”. Additional details are here.

That was well before the CRS report. In fact, the CRS report shows how the US leads all nations in World Fossil Fuel Resources. That includes Russia, Saudi Arabia, China, Iran–everyone.
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MSNBC Guest: Solyndra is Bush’s Fault! (Despite Truth)

September 29, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Energy, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, President, Solar, Stimulus, Taxes, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a recurrence of its bout with Bush Derangement Syndrome, MSNBC recently relied on a left-wing, green activist to assert that the whole Solyndra scandal was really started by George W. Bush. Yep, it’s Boosh’s fault once again. Of course, the facts speak otherwise, but let’s not let truth get in the way of a good left-wing trope, shall we?

On the Friday September 23 episode of MSNBC Live, host Thomas Roberts was discussing the wasted loan of half a billion in tax dollars to the later bankrupt green company Solyndra and he brought on a the left-winger to address the mounting scandal plaguing the Obama administration. Naturally Thomas and guest were desperate to find someone other than Obama to blame this mess on. And who better to blame than the left’s favorite fall guy, George W. Bush?

Thomas had showed a video clip of Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (R, Fla) who called the loan “waste” and “corruption,” but Thomas next went to left-wing, green activist Dr. Mijin Cha who earnestly told the audience that, “the administration actually didn’t do any wrongdoing, right,” because “this loan was begun under the Bush administration.”

Sorry, Cha Cha, but you’re wrong.
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The ‘Solar Decathalon’ That Needed a Gas Generator for Cloudy Days

September 27, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Democracy, Economy/Finances, Energy, Environment, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Solar, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

What happens when the sun refuses to shine on a PR event for solar power…

Yeah, look to the right under the sign. Yep, that’s a gas generator powering the “solar” sign.

Brett Jacobson was alerted to this hilarious example of the unviable nature of solar power as a reliable source of energy.

It was too deliciously funny to ignore.
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Obama’s EPA Regs to Kill 183,000 Private Sector Jobs a Year

September 27, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Cap and Trade, Climate Change, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Energy, Environment, EPA, Global Warming, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Nanny State, President, Regulation, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency is completely put of control. Now it wants to implement new regulations that would destroy 183,000 private sector jobs every year. Yes, even after Obama has destroyed the economy and jobs we do have he wants to destroy even more.

The EPA’s new rules, according to PennEnergy, would be disastrous to our already flagging economy.
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Kinzinger, House Energy and Commerce Committee Passes Bipartisan Legislation to Prevent U.S. Cement Plant Closings and Save Jobs

September 23, 2011 | Filed Under Adam Kinzinger, Congress, Conservatives, Energy, GOP, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Regulation, Republicans, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

From the office of Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R, 11th District)…

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed bipartisan legislation known as the Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act of 2011. Congressman Adam Kinzinger (IL-11), who serves on the Committee and is an original co-sponsor, says the bill would protect domestic cement manufacturing and tens of thousands of American jobs.

Kinzinger made the following remarks in his opening statement:

“Last September, the EPA released new regulations on the American cement industry. These new requirements will cost $3.4 billion, close 18 of America’s 100 cement plants, and leave 20,000 Americans without jobs.

“When this rule is in full effect and the plants are closed, where will America purchase its cement? From China, a country that is producing cement with zero environmental safeguards? With the increased demand in China global hazardous pollution will rise with these new rules.

“This bill gives regulators time to develop practical rules for cement manufacturing facilities and will protect jobs in the cement industry, the manufacturing industry, and the construction industry that could otherwise be sent overseas. Enough is enough. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this bipartisan legislation.”

The Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act of 2011 was first introduced on On July 28, 2011. The legislation would grant federal regulators more time and guidelines to develop achievable rules governing emissions from cement manufacturing facilities. This necessary extended timeline would prevent plant shutdowns, while protecting jobs. Estimates confirm that recent rules issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could result in shutting down nearly 20 percent of the nation’s cement plants in the next two years, driving up the price of cement, increasing imports, and eliminating thousands of jobs.
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The Loser In Chief

September 18, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Climate Change, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Jobs, Liberals, President, RightPundits.com, Solar, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Over at The Corner, Robert Costa has a great little postette — I say postette because it is just a shorty. It is a quote from George Will from his appearance on ABC’s This Week on Sunday.

I kind of wish that Costa had fleshed out the Will quote, though, as there is far more to the ineffectiveness of this president. But first, the quote…

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

EPA to Give Itself Powers to Preemptively Deny Natural Resource Development?

September 16, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Coal, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, EPA, Freedom, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Natural Gas, Oil, President, Property Rights, Regulation, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once again an Obama regulatory agency tries to give itself wild new powers, powers that would crush American energy and natural resource development, powers meant to quash the business sector.

A press release from Resourceful Earth News imparts a warning about the Environmental Protection Agency’s newest powergrab. A lfet-wing Democrat Senator is asking the EPA to accept the idea of taking upon itself the power to deny mining or development of other natural resources before any scientific studies or any permitting procedures even begin. This Senator wants the EPA to just say no because, well, simply because it feels like it.

This effort is at the behest of Washington Senator Maria Cantwell (Dem.) who is urging the EPA to invoke the Clean Water Act to put a permanent end to the development of Pebble Mine in Alaska. Pebble Mine owners have already spent $120 million over three years to satisfy federal and state government regulations. Expensive and expansive scientific studies and environmental studies have already been conducted but now that the EPA has agreed to launch its scientific analysis of the mine, Cantwell wants the EPA to preempt the environmental review process the EPA itself put in place and simply decide to prevent the operation of the mine out of hand with no science needed to back it up.
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Solyndra: Green Jobbery, Green Robbery

September 14, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, President, Regulation, Solar, Stimulus, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

We have come to learn something about our president. He really loves green. But what we can’t quite decipher is if that green is green jobs and energies or just the good old fashioned green of tax money. Whatever the case, it sure is true that the green of U.S. tax dollars is far more prevalent with “O” than those mythical green jobs he’s trying to fund with it and this mess with failed green company Solyndra is revealing quite a lot.

Now, firstly lets dispense with the left’s weak defense of this whole Solyndra mess, shall we?

Left-wing organization The Center for American Progress is trying to take the spotlight off Obama and Biden and off the current administration’s culpability for the millions in tax dollars given Solyndra by informing everyone that the first time a federal loan to the green company was broached was during the waning weeks of George W. Bush’s presidency.
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Our Least Sustainable Energy Option

September 7, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Climate Change, Coal, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Electric, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Natural Gas, Nuclear Power, Oil, Paul Driessen, President | Comments Off

-By Paul Driessen

From a land use, economic, environmental or raw materials perspective, wind is unsustainable

President Obama and a chorus of environmentalists, politicians, corporate executives and bureaucrats are perennially bullish on wind power as the bellwether of our “clean energy economy of the future.”

In reality, wind energy may well be the least sustainable and least eco-friendly of all electricity options. Its shortcomings are legion, but the biggest ones can be grouped into eight categories.

Land. As American humorist and philosopher Will Rogers observed, “They ain’t making any more of it.” Wind turbine installations impact vast amounts of land, far more than traditional power plants.
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Spreading ‘Big Oil Subsidy’ Disinformation

September 2, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Free Trade, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Oil, Paul Driessen, President, Regulation, Taxes | Comments Off

-By Paul Driessen

Every American manufacturing company gets tax deductions that help it create jobs and strengthen our economy – whether it produces newspapers, furniture, cars or fuel. Eliminating those deductions would increase unemployment and further slow our nation’s desperately needed economic recovery.

Yet that is precisely what President Obama wants to do when oil companies want to use the deductions. It is one of many ways the Obama administration is undermining the oil industry and 9.2 million Americans whose jobs it supports. It is part of the administration’s strategy for replacing fossil fuels with heavily subsidized “alternatives” that taxpayers cannot afford, and consumers will not purchase on their own.

Newspapers that benefit from the same genre of tax deductions as oil companies nevertheless sometimes join attacking the oil industry, and the jobs and benefits it creates. This is rank hypocrisy.
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Electric Cars Not In The Least ‘Green’

September 1, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Climate Change, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Oil, Regulation, RightPundits.com, Science, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Margaret Wente of Canada’s Globe And Mail has found out “the shocking truth about electric cars” finding that the whole idea of electric cars being “the future” is a laughable claim. The facts she relays are the sort of truths that should doom electric cars as the harbingers of greenism. After all, the true believers in the religion of green shall not be deterred.

The purpose of Wente’s column is to highlight the silly expenditure of Canada’s treasury on electric cars, but she also went on to point out the many failings of electric cars, failings that wild-eyed proponents of electric cars refuse to notice.

“The fantasy that electric cars are right around the corner doesn’t survive even the most cursory reality check,” Wente writes. “… consumers simply won’t pay a $20,000 premium for a vehicle that doesn’t go very far, isn’t very convenient, and runs out of juice as soon as you turn on the air conditioner.”

Too true….

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

No Spark: The Unanswered Questions of the Chevy Volt

August 23, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Electric, Energy, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Oil, President, Regulation, Stimulus, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Every time we turn around these days President Obama is touting the idea that the “future” of America lies in green energy and one of those greenie ideas is an Obama favorite: electric cars. Not to let him down, Government Motors has obliged by pushing the Chevy Volt as the car of the future. But thus far the future looks a lot like GM’s present; a whole lot of failure leaving a whole lot of questions.

While Obama continues to tout his — meaning our — investment in GM others are not so sanguine. For instance, billionaire Warren Buffet has invested in a Chinese electric car company instead of putting his considerable investment acumen to use with the Chevy Volt. Buffet may be a dolt on taxes, but apparently his investing senses haven’t gotten any spark from the Volt.

One of the reasons that Buffet went for the Chinese company is that some of its technology seems superior to various systems of the Chevy Volt. According to Forbes, Buffet has targeted the company because the, “car can travel 186 miles, more than the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt, on a single charge with a top speed of 87 miles per hour.”
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Another Favored Obama Green Business Goes Bankrupt

August 16, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Climate Change, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Environment, Ethics, Global Warming, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Nanny State, President, Regulation, Stimulus, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

It seems that the surest way to go bankrupt is to have President Barack Obama use your business as some sort of example of the wonders of his administration and we have yet one more example of that in Evergreen Solar, Inc., the heavily taxpayer funded business that has now closed its doors.

In April of 2009 Barack Obama’s White House Communications Dept. sent out a missive to the State of Massachusetts happily touting all the great new “green jobs” that his stimulus spending was creating.

“Evergreen Solar,the Marlborough-based maker of solar panels,” the White House letter said, “also is hoping to hire 90 to 100 people at a manufacturing plant in Devens, said Gary Pollard, vice president of human resources.
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Obama’s New CAFE Standards Will Cost Us All More Money

August 5, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Climate Change, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Environment, Ethics, Free Trade, Freedom, Global Warming, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Nanny State, Oil, Republicans, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Obama administration has been touting new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to be imposed on America’s automobile manufacturers saying that it will save all Americans money at the pumps. Unfortunately, there are all sorts of hidden costs of which the administration isn’t noting, costs that will drive up the price of driving in multiple ways for all of us.

The new standards are supposed to raise the miles per gallon requirements from the 2016 mandate of 35.5 mpg to 56 mpg by the year 2025. The administration claims that this would be a big savings and would serve to help get Americans off a reliance on foreign oil.

Curiously, as Obama touts his new CAFE standards as a way to get us off foreign oil, there is no talk at all of increasing domestic oil production which would help do the same thing. But I digress.
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Before Pipeline Explosion Calif. Utility Spent Millions on Political Campaigning

August 4, 2011 | Filed Under Business, California, Democrats/Leftists, Electric, Energy, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Natural Gas, Oil, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Back in September of 2010, a gas pipeline running underneath the city of San Bruno, California ruptured. The resulting explosion killed eight people. A recently finished investigation has revealed safety and engineering failures at many levels but, sadly, even the state agency charged with investigating seems to be hoping that the failures are hushed up. Why? Politics, of course.

Dennis Wyatt of the Manteca Bulletin read the new report issued by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the government agency charged with investigating the failures that led to the disaster, and he finds that the CPUC report “comes off more of a lapdog” than it does a watchdog of Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E).

The failed pipeline was built in 1956 and ran under the intersection of Glenview Drive and Earl Avenue in a residential section of the city. The section that failed (Line 132) exploded killing eight people and destroying 38 homes. 70 more homes were damaged by the explosion, 18 were left uninhabitable.
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