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Dems Energy Plans ‘Stumble’ - Hollywood ‘Once Hailed Offshore Drilling’ - Erase a Century? Climate Bill = 1910 Emission Levels -– Round Up
June 26, 2008 Posted By Marc Morano - 5:55 PM ET - Marc_Morano@EPW.Senate.Gov Dems Energy Plans ‘Stumble’ - Hollywood ‘Once Hailed Offshore Drilling’ - Erase a Century? Climate Bill = 1910 Emission Levels - Round Up New Webpage: Get the Facts on Energy & Gas Prices – LINK Sampling of articles in past week:
Politico – Dems' ‘stumble’ - Energy proposals stymied – June 26, 2008 Speaker Nancy Pelosi hoped to send House Democrats home for the Fourth of July recess with a series of votes that would show they’re serious about easing the pain at the pump. [ . . . ] But nothing has gone according to plan. The price-gouging bill failed to garner the two-thirds support necessary to pass. An accounting issue forced leaders to put off for a day the so-called “use it or lose it” measure. And the legislation to curb speculation is now caught up in a member fight over the proper path forward — a fight that exposes the misgivings some Democrats have about this activist agenda. […] The Democrats’ stumbles come as congressional Republicans continue to push aggressively for more domestic oil and gas production on the Outer Continental Shelf and in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as well as for an ambitious plan to turn coal shale beneath the High Plains into natural gas. FrontPageMag.com: Hollywood Once Hailed Offshore Drilling – June 23, 2008 Excerpt: By 1953 Hollywood (no less!) was already hailing the pioneering wildcatters who moved major mountains – technological, logistical, psychological, cultural – to tap and reap this source that today provides a quarter of America's domestic petroleum, without causing a single major oil spill in the process. This record stands despite dozens of hurricanes – including the two most destructive in North American history, Camille and Katrina – repeatedly battering the drilling and production structures, along with the 20,000 miles of pipeline that transport the oil shoreward. This is the most extensive offshore pipeline network in the world. In the 1953 movie “Thunder Bay,” Jimmy Stewart plays the complicated protagonist, Steve Martin, the hard-bitten, ex-navy oil engineer who built the first offshore oil platform off Louisiana in 1947. "The brawling, mauling story of the biggest bonanza of them all!" says the Universal ad for the studio's first wide-screen movie. […] Half a century later, with 3203 of the 3,729 offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico studding her coastal waters, Louisiana provides almost a third of North America's commercial fisheries. A study by LSU's sea grant college shows that 85 percent of Louisiana's offshore fishing trips involve fishing around these structures. The same study found 50 times more marine life around an oil production platform than in the surrounding mud bottoms. That this proliferation of seafood might come because – rather than in spite – of the oil production rattled many environmental cages and provoked a legion of scoffers. Excerpt: Back then, ‘40 million people in America and two-thirds of them lived on farms and the method of transportation was foot power or animal power’ - U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, issued the following statement today as part of an Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee hearing entitled, “Legislative Proposals to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions: An Overview:” […] The World Resources Institute says that Mr. Waxman’s bill, H.R. 1590, Mr. Inslee’s bill, H.R. 2809, and the Sanders-Boxer bill would reduce greenhouse emissions in the U.S. by 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Where does that number come from? I don’t know. I’m told it is also Sen. Obama’s proposal. I do know if we reduce CO2 by 80 percent below the 1990 level, it’s going to take us back to an emission level that we last hit in 1910. 1910? When there were about 40 million people in America and two-thirds of them lived on farms and the method of transportation was foot power or animal power? In the state of Texas, the average per capita carbon emission today is 31 tons. In the great state of Vermont, it’s zero. I don’t quite understand that since each of us emits a third of a ton of CO2 a year just breathing. But whatever it is and whatever part of our great nation, going back to 1910 emission levels, in my opinion, makes no sense. In Texas alone, the National Association of Manufacturers said the Lieberman-Warner could cost the average household $8,000 per year. Excerpt: There are many energy bills currently pending before Congress, and they fall into two general categories: those that seek to increase domestic energy supplies and those that seek scapegoats and diversions instead. Last week, the President gave a speech in favor of the former, spelling out four useful ideas for expanding American energy: Removing restrictions on oil drilling in American waters; Opening up a small portion of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling; Streamlining the regulations that hamper refinery capacity expansions; and Eliminating the federal barriers to development of oil shale. RightsideNews.com: Carbon Control Versus Energy and Food Security - June 24, 2008 Excerpt: The world can have carbon control or it can have food and energy security. The former means reduced energy supply while the latter requires greatly expanded energy supply, which in turn, for at least the next 3 or 4 decades, means substantially greater carbon expansion. A few rich nations, accustomed to energy and food security for about 50 years now, want carbon control to prevail. The rest of the world seeks food and energy security since billions of people today have little of either. Roughly about 600 million people live in societies or polities (not nations) where carbon control is politically fashionable and 6 billion is societies or polities where food and energy security are quotidian challenges. It is carbon versus bread. The emergent great divide in the world today, that threatens to widen even further all the other fractures and fissures and chasms that contribute to global disunity and conflict, is the one between the advocates of carbon control at all costs versus those pursuing energy and food security, irrespective of consequences.
BMI - NBC Uses Shaky Intelligence to Fan Flames of Global Warming Alarmism National Review Online – The Latest NIE Scandal – June 25, 2008 Excerpt: Today marked a new low for the way congressional Democrats deal with national security. This morning, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming held a joint hearing on a "National Intelligence Assessment" on global climate change. This analysis was ordered by the Democratic Congress last year and was issued a few weeks ago. Some highlights (or low-lights) from the hearing: Washington Post - A Better Way Than Cap and Trade – June 26, 2008 Excerpt: Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a co-sponsor of the bill, has called it "the world's most far-reaching program to fight global warming." It is indeed policy on a grand scale. It would slow American economic growth by trillions of dollars over the next half-century. But in terms of temperature, the result will be negligible if China and India don't also commit to reducing their emissions, and it will be only slightly more significant if they do. By itself, Lieberman-Warner would postpone the temperature increase projected for 2050 by about two years. Fayetteville Observer – Dole now supports lifting ban on offshore drilling – June 26, 2008 Excerpt: Sen. Elizabeth Dole said North Carolina should have the option of allowing oil exploration off the state's coast, backing away from her long-held support of a federal moratorium on Atlantic drilling.In a statement Wednesday to The Associated Press, Dole said she supports lifting a 27-year-old moratorium that has prohibited exploration off the North Carolina coast. "Now, more than ever, responsible and practical steps are needed to increase our energy independence and strengthen economic and national security," Dole said. News By Us –Thermometers Are Doing the Talking – June 08, 2008 Excerpt: Fishing fleets have gone on strike across Europe against ultra-high diesel prices, while the Greens demand that fuel become even more scarce and expensive * Truckers are staging fuel-protest slowdowns in major European cities. * Protesting French farmers have blockaded fuel stations. * More than 70 percent of Britons now say they will not pay any extra taxes to “save the planet.” Meanwhile, the Vatican, widely flung governments, and dozens of universities have scheduled conferences on the global food shortage. Guess whose advice we took on shifting much of our cropland from food to biofuels? The advice of the same Greens who told us not to burn coal or oil. We shifted too much of our scarce cropland into corn ethanol and palm oil biodiesel. We forgot that the world’s food and feed demand was in the process of doubling due to 1) the last surge in human population growth; 2) rising Third World incomes and expectations; and 3) millions more beloved cats and dogs as households have fewer children and more affluence Assuming society is not yet ready to starve the poor or euthanize their pets, we must feed them. That means at least twice as much global food and feed per year by 2040. Nor do we want to clear the forests or drain the wetlands to grow more crops. That means there is no “spare” cropland for corn ethanol Unless the planet starts warming again, quickly and significantly, the Green momentum for a low-carbon society will come to a screeching stop. Riley To Congress: Get Serious About Gas Prices – June 25, 2008
Excerpt: Governor Bob Riley is urging Congress to increase domestic energy production by authorizing the exploration of proven American energy reserves. AP – Ethanol mixes finding way into traditional tanks – June 25, 2008 Excerpt: Auto manufacturers warn that ethanol can corrode fuel lines and damage hoses, seals and the fuel pump in cars not made to carry ethanol. That can lead to bad gas mileage, poor performance and may even affect the vehicle computers that warn of problems. The EPA says it can damage emission control devices. E&E Daily - GOP drilling push, high prices challenge Democrats- June 25, 2008 Excerpt: Record energy prices and a relentless GOP push for wider oil drilling are creating problems for Capitol Hill Democrats and their allies, who find themselves on the defensive in the new world of $4-per-gallon gasoline. "Would we rather spend time on something else? That is an understatement," said Sierra Club lobbyist Athan Manuel. While Democrats hold power in Congress, they are scrambling to hold off proposals that would lift on- and offshore oil and gas drilling bans. At the same time, party leaders have also hit hurdles in pushing their own agenda. Yesterday, Democrats stumbled when a vote that would create new penalties for gasoline "price gouging" did not get the two-thirds support needed for passage under suspension of the rules. ATA: Airlines 'loser' industry in emissions trading proposals – June 23, 2008 Excerpt: "The bottom line is that the airline industry, as the [Lieberman-Warner bill was] drafted, is one of the loser industries," he said, adding that if enacted the bill would have cost US carriers a collective $5 billion in just its first year of implementation. "The suggestion that we could just pass this [cost] on is misplaced," he said. Global Warming Erased? 2008 Global Temperatures Similar to 1940 Says UN Scientist – June 25, 2008 Excerpt: By Richard Courtney, DipPhil, a UN IPCC expert reviewer and a UK-based climate and atmospheric science consultant.) Courtney took up the NRDC challenge to skeptical scientists to 'let NRDC's real climate experts take them on' Excerpt: Richard S Courtney says that the temperature is similar to 1940. […] The global temperature fell from 1940 to 1970, rose from 1970 to 1998, and fell from 1998 to the present (i.e. mid-2008). This is 40 years of cooling and 28 years of warming, and global temperature is now similar to that of 1940.” [..] It is simply true. Please do not take my word for it but check it for yourself. I cite CRU data from: http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/temperature/hadcrut3gl.txt In that CRU data set the 1940 monthly values of temperature anomalies from the 30 year mean are presented in degrees Celsius. They range between -0.191 and +0.057 with an annual mean of +0.018. In that same data set the monthly 2008 anomalies to date are +0.053, +0.192, +0.430, +0.254 and +0.278. This is a mean value for the months in 2008 to date of +0.241. The ranges of the monthly values for these years overlap; i.e. the highest monthly value in 1940 (+0.057) was higher than the lowest monthly value in 2008 (+0.053). I think it very reasonable to say they are “similar” when their ranges overlap. However, my use of the word “similar” could be considered to an understatement because the mean values differ by only 0.223 degrees Celsius and the data has inherent error of +/- 0.2 degrees Celsius. So, within their inherent errors the mean values are not similar because THEY ARE THE SAME. But atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration has increased by more than 30% since 1940 and increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is supposed to induce "dangerous" global warming. Wall Street Journal: FIRST IT WAS YELLOW JOURNALISM, NOW IT'S YELLOW SCIENCE – June 25, 2008 (By Mr. Kerian is a mechanical engineer and small business owner in Grafton, N.D.) Excerpt: In the late 19th century, William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer developed what would come to be known as yellow journalism. By disregarding what had been standard journalistic methods, particularly in regards to the verifying of sources, these two publishers were able both to push their country toward war with Spain and dramatically increase the circulation of their respective newspapers. […] Over the past several decades an increasing number of scientists have shed the restraints imposed by the scientific method and begun to proclaim the truth of man-made global warming. This is a hypothesis that remains untested, makes no predictions that can be tested in the near future, and cannot offer a numerical explanation for the limited evidence to which it clings. No equations have been shown to explain the relationship between fossil-fuel emission and global temperature. The only predictions that have been made are apocalyptic, so the hypothesis has to be accepted before it can be tested. The only evidence that can be said to support this so-called scientific consensus is the supposed correlation of historical global temperatures with historical carbon-dioxide content in the atmosphere. Even if we do not question the accuracy of our estimates of global temperatures into previous centuries, and even if we ignore the falling global temperatures over the past decade as fossil-fuel emissions have continued to increase, an honest scientist would still have to admit that the hypothesis of man-made global warming hardly rises to the level of "an assertion of what has been or would be the result of carrying out a specified observational procedure." […] Certainly, however, under the scientific method it does not rise to the level of an "item of physical knowledge." Nevertheless, the acceptance of man-made global warming as scientific fact has become so prevalent that the secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, recently declared: "The debate is over. It's time to discuss solutions." Leaving aside the question of the secretary-general's qualifications, that is certainly one of the most antiscientific statements ever made. […] Hearst made only a fraction of his estimated $140 million in net worth from yellow journalism. Global warming, on the other hand, has provided an estimated $50 billion in research grants to those willing to practice yellow science. Influence in the public sphere is another strong temptation. It might not be as impressive as starting the Spanish-American War, but global-warming alarmists have amassed a large group of journalists and politicians ready to silence any critics and endorse whatever boondoggle scheme is prescribed as the cure to our impending climate catastrophe. Finally, one should not underestimate the temptation of convenience. Just as it is far easier to publish stories without verifying the sources; so is it much more convenient to practice yellow science than the real thing. It takes far more courage, perseverance, and perspiration to develop formulas, make predictions, and risk being proved wrong than to look at historical data and muse about observed similarities. Yellow scientists have fled the risks of science that Albert Einstein described when he said, "No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right, a single experiment can prove me wrong." # # # |
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