A most ill-informed, intemperate editorial on energy policy sadly was published in the Kansas City Star this weekend, … but thanks to the market-based, democratizing power of the internet, so-called elite media opinion can more easily be exposed for the absurdity it can sometimes be.
In the internet era anyone with a computer, an internet connection, and a clever blog name can stand tall in reply, offering the common sense of the masses as an antedote to foolishness such as the column…
The Western Governors Assoc, a bi-partisan group of Governor of Western states - which would include New Mexico, home of former Clinton Energy Secretary and current Governor Bill Richardson, who is now likely to become Obama’s Commerce Secretary - has a common sense plan for energy that it laid out in a four page letter to the President-elect. The plan was signed by Utah Governor John Huntsman (R) and Montana Governor Brian Schwietzer (D). Regarding fuel use, the plan is…
Wow! The ethanol lobby’s rhetoric has outdone itself on this connection to Memorial Day, … read the box below:
RFA ASKS INDY RACING LEAGUE TO RECONSIDER BRAZIL ETHANOL MARKETING AGREEMENT
Earlier this week, the Indy Racing League (IRL) announced it was partnering with Brazilian trade promotion agency APEX-Brazil, making the agency the official ethanol supplier to the IndyCar Series. The news appeared to be met with little fanfare, but now, the U.S.’ largest ethanol trade group is urging IRL to reconsider…
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–A study conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy shows that cars can run on gasoline with a much higher ethanol component than the 10% blend now being sold at pumps across the country, DOE Secretary Samuel Bodman said Tuesday.
Thirteen different “late-model” cars were tested using gasoline that was 15% and 20% ethanol, Bodman said, and the results were “very encouraging.”
The feasibility of cutting gasoline even further to boost the ethanol content is important, Bodman said, because in…
Worried about high gas prices? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid isn’t. He wants to put back in the ban on shale oil exploration. This is from Sen Jim DeMint’s blog
We’ve just been alerted that despite House Democrats relenting on extending bans on offshore drilling and oil shale in the continuing resolution (CR) appropriations bill, Democrat Senate Leader Harry Reid has decided to sneak an extension of the oil shale ban through as Congress fights over the financial bailout.
Oil shale in…
That’s what two Cornell University economics professors argue in the commentary below, published by Resources for the Future
The Forgotten Flaw in Biofuels Policy: How Tax Credits in the Presence of Mandates Subsidize Oil Consumption
Resources for the Future, June 9, 2008
Harry de Gorter and David R. Just
Gasoline prices are at record highs, and there is widespread public confusion over the reasons why and who is really to blame. But the devil is all in the details. Here we will look at…
Guns for Oil
Wall Street Journal
May 7, 2008; Page A18
Speaking of energy (see here), we can’t help but give more attention to a recent press release from some of the Senate’s leading liberals. Charles Schumer, Byron Dorgan, Bernie Sanders, Bob Casey and Mary Landrieu are demanding that President Bush tell OPEC nations to increase their oil supplies or risk losing arms deals with the United States. The Senators say U.S. consumers need the price relief that only increased oil production can…
Brazil’s energy plan examined
By D. Sean Shurtleff, New York Times
May 7, 2008
With national security on everyone’s mind and the average retail price of gasoline nearing an inflation-adjusted high of $3.40 a gallon, analysts have touted Brazil as an example the United States should follow on the path to “energy independence.”
Unfortunately, the analysts and the public they mislead seem to misunderstand both the substantial differences between energy markets in the United States and Brazil and the underlying reason for Brazil’s success.…
“Taking these together — the environmental damage, the human pain of food price inflation, the failure to reduce our dependence on oil — it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that food-to-fuel mandates have failed.” - Lester Brown and Jonathan Lewis
Ethanol’s Failed Promise
By Lester Brown and Jonathan Lewis
Washington Post, Tuesday, April 22, 2008; A19
The willingness to try, fail and try again is the essence of scientific progress. The same sometimes holds true for public policy. It is in this spirit…
