Free Republic

Energy: We balk at importing "dirty" oil from Canada, but others aren't so reluctant. Exempt as a "developing" nation from Kyoto-like agreements, China has decided to help Canada develop its energy-rich oil sands.The Financial Post reports that PetroChina International Investment Co. has struck a deal to buy a 60% interest in Athabasca Oil Sands Corp.'s McKay River and Dover projects for $1.9 billion. China has been establishing energy beachheads around the world in its quest to keep its growing economy fueled. With possible conflict brewing between Israel and Iran, Beijing recognizes the need for reliable suppliers like Canada in an...

Here is a copy of Glenn Beck's "5 Pledges" from his 8/28/09 TV Show. Use it by copy/paste for emails,etc. "We are sending you "The 5 Pledges" from the Glenn Beck TV Program that we endorse and want you to endorse. We support the concept that unless you are "IN" on these concepts we will work so that you are "OUT" in 2010 or your next Re-Election Run. ......to Congress, ** 5 PLEDGES ** 1. I believe in a balanced budget and therefore will vote for a freeze in government spending until that goal is realized. 2. I believe government...

It appears that the EPA, under the "RFS2 - Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007," is going to cause problems with how biodiesel will be viewed as a source of pollution, rather than as a means to reduce it. According to the National Biodiesel Board, the EPA has wrongly calculated the negative impact of biodiesel. As a result, the Board would like to enlist the help of supporters of biodiesel in a mail campaign to the EPA and, I assume, others. The points they most want to drive home are mentioned in the following letter: Honorable Lisa Jackson Administrator...

Energy Policy: New York's governor wants to tap into a shale formation that can supply the entire U.S. with natural gas for 65 years. Will NIMBY environmentalists let him stimulate New York's and America's energy economy? Last week, David Patterson released a draft report of his Energy Planning Board that does something Democrats are loath to do: It proposes developing a domestic energy resource — the huge amounts of natural gas trapped in the Marcellus Shale formation. New York produces 5% of its natural gas in-state and imports more than 95% from the Gulf Coast and Canada. The Marcellus Shale...

Energy Policy: New York's governor wants to tap into a shale formation that can supply the entire U.S. with natural gas for 65 years. Will NIMBY environmentalists let him stimulate New York's and America's energy economy?Last week, David Patterson released a draft report of his Energy Planning Board that does something Democrats are loath to do: It proposes developing a domestic energy resource — the huge amounts of natural gas trapped in the Marcellus Shale formation. New York produces 5% of its natural gas in-state and imports more than 95% from the Gulf Coast and Canada. The Marcellus Shale stretches...

Cap-And-Trade: The administration likes to defend bad policies with analogies to the post office. New studies from a business group and the administration itself confirm that cap-and-trade belongs in the dead-letter bin.Along with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Rep. Ed Markey likens the cost of the Waxman-Markey cap-and trade bill to "about a postage stamp a day," based on estimates made by the Congressional Budget Office and the EPA. But as we and others have shown, they arrive at this magical number in part by ignoring the hit on gross domestic product and employment that will occur. As Garret Vaughan, economist...

Stimulus: Brazil, a leader in the use of biofuels such as ethanol and in the face of falling oil prices, still plans to spend huge sums to expand its offshore oil resources. Drilling rigs are infrastructure too.With oil prices scraping the bottom of the barrel, pun intended, there wouldn't appear to be much incentive to pursue the development of new oil resources. And in tough economic times worldwide, the necessary investment required would appear to be prohibitive. As the U.S. seeks to get its economy going by building roads, bridges and bicycle paths, Brazil has decided to create jobs and...

Energy Policy: The chief economist of the International Energy Agency says the world is running out of oil. We've been told that for the last 150 years. The only thing we're running out of is the will to drill.Ever since the first oil well was drilled in Titusville, Pa., in 1859, experts have been predicting we would soon run out of oil. The latest is Dr. Fatih Birol, chief economist for the International Energy Agency in Paris, whose job it is to assess future energy supplies by OECD countries. In an interview with the Independent, Dr. Birol says that based...

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Dozens of fruitful wells beneath the rich Bakken shale in North Dakota continue to fuel a hunch among oilmen and geologists that another vast crude-bearing formation may be buried in the state's vast oil patch. Lynn Helms, director of the state Department of Mineral Resources, said recent production results from 103 newly tapped wells in the Three Forks-Sanish formation show many that are "as good or better" than some in the Bakken, which lies two miles under the surface in western North Dakota and holds billions of barrels of oil. "I think it's a big deal...

Alternative Energy: A government report says reliance on electric cars will do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and may merely shift our dependence on foreign sources from one set of dictators to another..."If you are using coal-fired power plants, and half the country's electricity comes from coal-powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?" asks Mark Gaffigan, co-author of the GAO report. The report itself notes: "Reductions in CO2 emissions depend on generating electricity used to charge the vehicles from lower-emission sources of energy."

Both projects involve small reactors that would be buried underground and operate for many years without the need for refueling. Toshiba’s reactor, dubbed the 4S for “Super-Safe, Small and Simple,” is designed to produce 10 megawatts of electricity for 30 years without refueling. It would be cooled by liquid metal. (Toshiba is also developing a 50MW version.) Hyperion is promising a reactor that can produce 25MW for five to 10 years and uses uranium hydride as a combination fuel and temperature-moderator. Alaska’s governor supports the concept. “Absolutely I can see nuclear playing a role in our energy agenda,” Gov. Sarah...

Thursday, June 11, 2009 TransCanada and Exxon Join Forces on the Natural Gas Pipeline to the Lower 48 - Major Victory for the Palin Administration! By Joseph Russo Alaska Governor Sarah Palin celebrates a landmark agreement between TransCanada and ExxonMobil to partner together in building Alaska’s natural gas pipeline – the largest and most complex construction project in North America. Governor Palin, center, is joined by (left to right) Marty Massey, Joint interest Manager for Exxon Mobil; Alaska Department of Natural Resources Deputy Commissioner Marty Rutherford; Rich Krueger, President of Exxon Mobil Production Company; Hal Kvisle, President and CEO of...

The giant Russian energy company, Gazprom, which controls the world's largest reserves of natural gas, has issued a stark warning to the European Union saying it must decide if it wants to continue receiving supplies of Russian gas.Speaking in an interview for the BBC's Newsnight programme, Gazprom deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev warned that Europe was now at a crossroads. "Only three countries can be suppliers of pipeline gas in the long-term - Russia, Iran and Qatar. So there is no other choice than to deal with these suppliers," he said. "Europe should decide how to handle this situation… and if...

“Voters want action on energy,” one congresswoman told The Washington Post. “They don’t really care how much it costs.” A Democratic president was on the verge of signing “the most important energy legislation in a decade,” with tens of billions of dollars dedicated to jump-starting a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels and helping the United States achieve “energy independence.” For too long, most analysts agreed, America had put off the hard choices necessary to prevent the next oil shock and wean the country from petrodictators in the Middle East. Now was the time for bold investment and leadership from Washington.The...

The new Honda Insight is supposed to be the "hybrid for everyone," but does that include Republicans? A new Wall Street Journal article runs down the well-known tale of how, mostly, the people who drive hybrids are on the left side of American politics (remember this?). From there, Democratic political consultant Mark Penn asks his big question: "Where Are the Republican Hybrid Buyers?" From the article: But if we really want to expand the number of [hybrid] buyers, we should develop new arguments that appeal to the Republicans who have been holding back. To look at it another way,...

1. Drill, baby, drill: Open ANWR, the Gulf of Mexico and the outer continental shelf to oil and natural gas production. 2. Nuclear power: Environmentalists who are alarmists about alleged man-made global warming and yet oppose building new nuclear power plants are hypocrites. If France can build nuke plants, why not the U.S? 3. Oil shale: We have more shale oil in U.S. mountains than the Saudis have oil in their reserves. 4. Kill Cap-and-trade: This bill is nothing more than a huge, job-destroying energy tax. 5. Yucca Mountain: A perfect place for a repository for our nuclear waste materials...

A key member of the Saudi royal family who headed the country's intelligence service for 25 years accused both the Obama and Bush administrations Monday of "deceiving" the American people that the U.S. can ever end its dependence on foreign oil. "You can't get rid of oil. You can't get rid of fossil fuels — gas and coal — unless you want to price yourself out of existence," Prince Turki al-Faisal, former ambassador to Washington, told editors and reporters at The Washington Times. "I'd hope that the general public in the United States would be wiser than to be deceived...

April 17, 2009, 4:00 a.m. Clean, Safe, and SecureA Gulf of Mexico gas rig shows the way to greater energy independence. By Deroy Murdock Aboard Anadarko’s Independence Hub — When you last showered, 2 percent of the natural gas that heated your water likely came from this bright-yellow platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Painted like a lemon to ward off errant ships and aircraft, this leading-edge installation proves that America can produce far more of its own energy — innovatively, safely, and cleanly — if we just stop scaring ourselves into paralysis. The Independence Hub, or I-Hub, is a joint...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 09-83 Governor Palin Testifies on Outer Continental Shelf April 14, 2009, Juneau, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin today testified before Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar in a federal hearing in Anchorage, urging the Obama administration to stand by Salazar’s confirmation hearing statement favoring “wise, responsible use of conventional fuels,” such as the oil and gas resources found in abundance in the Outer Continental Shelf. “Alaska has consistently supported oil and gas development in our OCS,” Governor Palin testified. “We have done so recognizing that certain areas should be exempted from leasing, or have seasonal drilling...

An under-the-radar provision in a House climate bill would give plaintiffs who claim to be victims of global warming a way to sue the federal government or businesses, according to a report Friday in The Washington Times. The Times reported that Democratic Reps. Henry Waxman of California and Edward Markey of Massachusetts added it into a bill they authored.