Free Republic

A proposal to ban sales of new gasoline-powered cars in Norway from 2015 could help spur struggling carmakers to shift to greener models, Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen said on Saturday. "This is much more realistic than people think when they first hear about this proposal," she told Reuters, defending a plan by her Socialist Left Party to outlaw sales of cars that run solely on fossil fuels in six years' time. "The financial crisis also means that a lot of those car producers that now have big problems ... know that they have to develop their technology because we also...

TESTIFYING before the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week, Energy Secretary Steven Chu was asked about something he said in September. "Somehow," the Nobel laureate had told The Wall Street Journal, "we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." At the time, gasoline in Europe was going for around $8 a gallon. Did the secretary, Florida Representative Cliff Stearns inquired, still want to see US gas prices rise that high? "In today's economic climate," Chu quickly replied, "it would be completely unwise to want to increase the price of gasoline....

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices fell Tuesday as investors respond to the expiration of the May futures contract and ongoing economic concerns. Light, sweet crude for May delivery was down $1.06 to $44.85 a barrel in pre-market, electronic trade in New York. The May contract, which expires Tuesday, tumbled nearly 9% in the previous session. Oil for June delivery was down $3.96 to $48.51 a barrel. Trading is often volatile in the days leading up to the expiration of monthly futures contracts as investors not wishing to take delivery of physical oil roll positions into the front-month contract. Meanwhile,...

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...

WASHINGTON – Gasoline prices are expected to be relatively low this summer, so motorists might want to take to the road despite the dismal economy if the federal government projections hold. The Energy Information Administration said regular-grade gasoline is expected to average $2.23 a gallon during the April-through-September driving season, although it will likely fluctuate and could jump to more than $2.30 a gallon during the peak driving period in late summer. But that's still a bargain compared with last summer, when gasoline cost an average of $3.81 a gallon. Much lower crude oil prices, which are projected to averaged...

REQUESTING THE INSURANCE COMMISSIONER TO STUDY THE REQUIRING PROOF OF MOTOR VEHICLE INSURANCE TO PURCHASE FUEL. -Snip- WHEREAS, one suggested approach to removing uninsured drivers from the road is to deny them access to purchase gasoline at gas stations, by issuing motor vehicle insurance cards to insured motorists which would allow them to purchase gas; and REQUESTING THE INSURANCE COMMISSIONER TO STUDY THE REQUIRING PROOF OF MOTOR VEHICLE INSURANCE TO PURCHASE FUEL[PDF]

The paparazzi saved Halle Berry's life!!! Or at least her car.As you can clearly see, Halle started to pump diesel gas into her Lexus SUV -- but the paps stopped her before any damage was done. In her defense, diesel gas is better for the environment and provides better fuel economy.

A Saginaw man stuck his finger where he shouldn't have. Lucky for him, help wasn't far away. Victor Harris, 25, was pouring a fuel additive into his Lincoln Navigator at 7-Eleven, 614 S. Washington, about 5 a.m. Thursday when a paper lid from the additive fell into the gasoline tank. Harris tried to fish the paper out but his index finger became stuck in the tank. ''My hand started getting numb about 7 or 8,'' he said. ''I started getting nervous.''

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran's state-owned gas company and a Chinese consortium Saturday signed a multi-billion dollar deal to produce liquefied natural gas in the Islamic republic's South Pars field.. The deal, worth 3.39 billion dollars, was signed ... with the Chinese consortium for an annual production of 10.5 million tonnes of LNG

Iran's oil minister suggested Saturday that a weekend OPEC meeting should decide to cut back on crude output, adding his voice to those in the organization who think supply has outstripped demand. "There is too much oil on the market," Gholam Hossein Nozari told reporters on the eve of a ministerial meeting of the 12-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Other influential OPEC members have also said the group should reduce production. Still their statements have left open whether they want to lower output quotas or if they favor a solution less likely to impact on the struggling global...

WASHINGTON -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said this week that the waters off the Atlantic coast hold some of the country's greatest wind energy potential, and he promised to move aggressively to develop plans to exploit the resource. In an interview with The Associated Press, Salazar also said he wants to review objections to oil and gas leasing in Alaska's Bristol Bay and the Chukchi Sea, where environmentalists argue that the threat to fisheries and polar bears has not been adequately examined, and off Virginia, where the governor has raised concerns.

On March 4 and 5 armed units of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) conducted raids on the headquarters of Naftohaz Ukrainy, the state-owned oil and gas company, and UkrTranshaz, the operator of the Ukrainian gas pipeline company. According to a March 5 report by the UNIAN press service, the raids were part of a recent SBU investigation into the acquisition by Naftohaz of 11 billion cubic meters of gas that once belonged to RosUkrEnergo (RUE), the shady Swiss-based middleman company, 50 percent of which is owned by Gazprom and 50 percent by Dmytro Firtash and Ivan Fursin, two Ukrainian...

The Louisiana Oil & Gas Association, has just completed an online petition urging Congress to defeat the President’s plan to increase taxes on our industry. We will be sending this out to our membership and all associations that we can. We need to respond strongly as an industry and this is our opportunity. Please take the time to sign the petition, and pass this along to everyone you know. This plan will not only attack our industry but will raises energy costs for all Americans and will threaten our Nations energy security. For more information on the issue, please read...

A state official charged with helping develop a small diameter natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to Cook Inlet said Tuesday the so-called bullet line could cost about $4 billion and bring gas to Alaska homes and businesses as early as 2015. Harry Noah, recently appointed project manager of an in-state gas line by Gov. Sarah Palin, outlined the schedule with Palin at a news conference. "This schedule is very ambitious. A lot of things can affect it but when you are trying to develop a project, it's always easy to go slower, but if you stretch it out,...

A keynote speaker at the upcoming International Conference on Climate Change says carbon dioxide would have to be a miracle compound in order to have any significant global climate impact. John Coleman has more than 50 years' experience forecasting the weather. He is also one of the 70+ featured scientists who will be attending the 2009 International Conference on Climate Change in New York City March 8-10. As the Obama administration mulls carbon cap-and-trade, Coleman had this to say about CO2. "CO2? It's a great positive," he states. "Without carbon dioxide in the atmosphere we'd all die because everything we...

WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 27 -- Sharp divisions have formed over the Obama administration's budgetary proposals to eliminate "oil and gas company preferences" worth an estimated $31.48 billion over 10 years and raise other taxes on the industry. A budget that would eliminate tax mechanisms crucial to capital formation for drilling, such as expensing of intangible drilling costs (IDC), drew immediate criticism as "a devastating blow to the American oil and gas industry" from Independent Petroleum Association of America Pres. and Chief Executive Officer Barry Russell (OGJ Online, Feb. 26, 2009). President Barack Obama unveiled the $3.6 trillion budget for the...

Cap and trade yields 'climate revenues.' But don't call it a t--. That didn't take long. The same week that President Obama promised (again) that "95% of working families" would not see their taxes rise by "a single dime," his own budget reveals that taxes will rise for 100% of everyone for the sake of global warming. Ahem.

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/02/28/Keeping-Promises/ THE BRIEFING ROOM • THE BLOG Saturday, February 28th, 2009 at 5:43 am Keeping Promises In the Weekly Address this morning, President Obama explains how the budget he sent to Congress will fulfill the promises he made as a candidate. On fiscal responsibility, a fair tax code, a clean energy economy, real health care reform, and education, this budget sets out a new vision for our country. But having put his priorities on paper and having stood behind them, the President recognizes that there are those who will fight against change every...

China prepares to buy up foreign oil companiesChina is preparing to open a new phase in its race for the world's resources by using its huge currency reserves to buy foreign oil and gas companies. By Richard Spencer in Beijing Last Updated: 8:20PM GMT 22 Feb 2009 This proposal may risk a backlash from countries who fear that China is using the world's economic crisis to tilt the balance of trade and diplomacy in its favour. A conference of officials from the National Energy Administration has agreed to consider establishing a special fund for China's state-owned companies to buy oil...

The United States is in a recession with millions of Americans struggling with being out of work, and now a dozen states across the country are proposing tax increases. They are considering an idea to raise the gas tax. One governor interested in this idea is Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, who wants to raise the state's gas tax by 19 cents, bringing it from 23 cents a gallon to nearly 43 cents a gallon. It would become the highest gas tax in the nation. Patrick isn't the only governor considering it. Lawmakers in New Hampshire, Illinois, Oregon and Ohio are...

IN China, a fourteen-year-old boy was killed when chair he was sitting on exploded.Parts of the chair entered the boy’s rectum. The result was extensive bleeding. And it killed him.The killer chair is a gas cylinder type, of the type seen at computer work stations. In blue.The height is altered by an adjustable cylinder containing highly pressurised gas. It is this that exploded.In 2007 another chair exploded, propelling a 20cm part into the backside of a 68-year-old man. He lived.Made in China. Buyer beware… Source

The cost of a tank of gasoline has marched higher since the start of the year, defying a continued slide in oil prices and reduced demand. So what gives? Industry experts said refiners are trying to reclaim profit margins that disappeared late last year when gasoline prices collapsed after reaching $4 a gallon last summer. "Refined-product prices were way underpriced relative to the cost of crude oil. The refiners were losing money," said Bryant Gimlin, energy risk manager for Gray Oil, a fuel wholesale marketer based in Fort Lupton. A gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in the metro area has...

CALGARY -- The U.S. pipeline group competing against TransCanada Corp. to build the Alaska natural-gas pipeline is cranking up operations in its rival's backyard, with plans to start field work here this winter, expanding its staff and recently opening its own office in Calgary. "We're starting field work [in Canada] this winter," said Bob Bleaney, Denali Canada's general manager, integration. "It hasn't started yet, but the planning work is underway here in the offices. The groundwork will commence a little later on this winter." Further, Denali, which is owned by BP PLC and ConocoPhillips Inc., has also hired Daniel Ouimet...

Symposium Planned To Discuss Implementation of Nationwide Mileage-Based Taxing SystemPublic officials from several states are gathering in Austin, Texas this April for a symposium to discuss the implementation of a nationwide, mileage-based taxing system to replace the gas tax. Spearheaded by the Texas Transportation Institute, this symposium will feature representatives from several state transportation departments such as, Oregon, Minnesota and Texas. Over the course of this two day event, several panel sessions are planned to discuss past, current and upcoming pilot studies for the mileage tax, legislative and policy issues, public acceptance challenges, potential technology applications, and institutional issues. Several...

The European Union faces two obstacles to its project to pipe gas via a southern corridor from the Caspian region and thus reduce western Europe’s dependence on Russian supplies: Turkey’s attitude and the Balkan activities of Gazprom, the state-controlled Russian oil monopoly. After receiving less than a warm embrace by the EU, Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s administration and the Turkish public are not eager to jump on the EU bandwagon when it comes to the southern gas corridor. Ankara’s objective is to turn Turkey into a regional energy hub. This means that Turkey would not be a transit state, but a...

VIENNA - Surging crude inventories and investor skepticism over the U.S. stimulus package dragged oil prices below $36 ($35) per barrel Thursday. Investors seemed more wary than relieved after U.S. lawmakers finally agreed overnight to a $790 billion stimulus bill designed to pull the economy out of recession.

While everyone is distracted with the Pelosi Reid Obama artery–choking, cardiac arrest, Pork Barrel Spending Bill, congress is sneaking-ly trying to pass the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. Left-wing environmentalists are behind this bill to purposely undercut current progress toward affordable domestic energy. Essentially they will be stealing 300 million barrels of proven oil and 8.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from any future use.

When federal or local governments need to add to their coffers, there are 13 items that they find so easy to tax. The cost of these items is inflated with everything from business tax to sin tax. The Center for Fiscal Accountability has a chart showing the breakdown of the “Tax Bites” for these goods and services. The highest ranking item is a pack of cigarettes at 81.30% and this is before the SCHIP bill.

Oil prices plunged below 40 dollars a barrel in New York on Friday, as grim unemployment data stoked concerns about weak energy demand in key consumer the United States, traders said. New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, fell as low as 38.60 dollars per barrel. It later stood at 39.54, down 1.63 dollars from the close on Thursday.

Anyone who believes the "green energy" hype should spend a day driving around Buchanan County, Virginia, to view the cross-hatching of excavations and roadcuts which scar the landscape. Southern Appalachia is experiencing a natural-gas boom, but the production of this "green" fuel is far from benign.

Colorado lawmakers claim state withheld budget figures on enforcing oil, gas regulations . The Department of Natural Resources told Colorado lawmakers in 2007 that developing state oil and gas regulations could cost less than $7,000 the first year, while an internal department estimate put the cost of implementing the regulations at more than $1 million... "This is a major breach of trust," said McNulty, who said he was assured by state budget officials last year that any initial enforcement of new oil and gas regulations would not require a substantial increase in state spending. "We have rules on how we...

Employees at refineries across the nation will report for work at the beginning of the week, after progress was made in contract negotiations between union leaders and Royal Dutch Shell, the lead negotiator out of more than 30 oil companies. Details of the negotiations were kept under wraps, but the deal staved off a strike at almost 90 plants nationwide, representing almost 64 percent of U.S. refining capacity

HOUSTON -- Some 24,000 refinery workers from the Gulf of Mexico to Montana are preparing to head to the picket lines. A labor agreement expires at midnight Saturday. On Thursday, union negotiators turned down the third and latest offer of a 2.5 percent wage increase for each of the next three years, in addition to changes in medical coverage. A strike would affect 60 producers, according to the United Steelworkers, which represents more than 30,000 oil workers nationwide. The nation's biggest refiner, Valero, said it will shut down some facilities if workers strike, as will European oil company BP. Shell...

The key players are now all in place in Washington and in state governments across America to officially label carbon dioxide as a pollutant and enact laws that tax we citizens for our carbon footprints. Only two details stand in the way, the faltering economic times and a dramatic turn toward a colder climate. The last two bitter winters have lead to a rise in public awareness that CO2 is not a pollutant and is not a significant greenhouse gas that is triggering runaway global warming. How did we ever get to this point where bad science is driving big...

Former Vice President Al Gore brought a stark message to the Senate on Wednesday: A new climate change treaty is critical to continuing human life on Earth. The Nobel Peace Prize winner urged the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to push for a U.S.-brokered treaty in December in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the United Nations will host a climate change conference. Only the United States can lead such an effort, he said. “This is the one challenge that could completely end human civilization, and it is rushing at us with such speed and force,” said Gore, who won an Oscar for the...

Governor Palin Releases Energy Guide Goal: 50 Percent of Electricity Generation from Renewable Sources by 2025 January 16, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin today praised energy coordinator Steve Haagenson and the Alaska Energy Authority for the release of their comprehensive guide to energy in Alaska. The guide, Alaska Energy - - A First Step Toward Energy Independence, identifies energy options for communities across the state. “While lower crude oil prices are reducing the costs of energy today, we must remain committed to achieving energy security for our future economic well-being,” Governor Palin said. The guide identifies and prioritizes...

Pity the poor global warming alarmists such as Al Gore, James Hansen of NASA, and the Weather Channel's Heidi Cullen. They went way out on the limb in promoting the absolute certainity of global warming and now Mother Nature is sawing it off behind them with the coldest weather in decades. To spare themselves complete embarrassment, you might have noticed that many media outlets and global warming promoters are backing off from that term and are now using "climate change" more frequently. Last Friday, one of the big global warming promoters on the Huffington Post, Kevin Grandia, publicly struggled over...

(IsraelNN.com) The Houston-based Noble Energy company, drilling for Israel’s Delek fuel company, announced that it has discovered a huge deposit of natural gas under the Mediterranean Sea near Haifa. Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor) said that the find was of “historic proportions,” and that it could change the face of Israel’s economy. Eighty-seven billion cubic meters, or nearly 3.1 trillion cubic feet, of high-quality gas are estimated to be in three deposits in the Tamar Drilling site, which is named for Delek owner Yitzchak Teshuva’s granddaughter. Teshuva said that the find marks a “historic milestone and a great holiday for...

Carol Browner, who headed the Environmental Protection Agency under President Bill Clinton, has been named by Barack Obama to be his Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change. This new and undefined office could give her broad influence over economic policy. That is a frightening prospect, not merely because of her participation in a group with overtly socialist ties, but because of the way hostile foreign powers such as China are manipulating the modern Green movement to serve their own national purposes. http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=1051A58C-1F0D-4574-AFF6-C283D4D6FE83

In the first speech of his "whistle-stop" tour to Washington, Barack Obama talked global warming to a crowd of shivering Philadelphians who braved 18 degree (sub 10 degree wind-chill) temperatures on their journey to the 30th Street Train Station. It's hard to believe that, given the arctic-like temperatures the northeast has suffered through this winter, the president-elect didn't instruct his writers to reword this passage from his "historic" speech: [my emphasis] "Only a handful of times in our history has a generation been confronted with challenges so vast. An economy that is

(IsraelNN.com) In an interview with Army Radio, Nobel owner Yitchak Teshuva said the reserves are enormous and can provide Israel's gas needs. He also said that there is enough gas that it will be possible to export as well.

Plummeting stock and housing prices have triggered a painful recession, America’s worst job losses since 1945, and trillions in lost national wealth. California is grappling with a $42-billion budget deficit. That’s more than the GDP of 112 countries. Maryland, Virginia, New York and other states likewise face billion-dollar budget shortfalls. Congress and the White House want a $1-trillion “stimulus” for the banking, auto and steel industries, roads, bridges and ports, and “worthy” projects like water parks, parking garages and fitness centers. They also support expanded renewable energy programs that will require tens of billions in subsidies and tax breaks –...

A paper written by four students from High Technology High School in Lincroft, New Jersey, entitled Ethanol: Not All It Seems To Be has been published in the January 2009 issue of The Mathematical Association of America's College Mathematics Journal.The paper, which was the winning submission in the 2008 Moody's Mega Math Challenge, is the first M3 Challenge entry to be published in a peer-reviewed journal. It was submitted to the Internet-based applied math competition last March by Afanasiy Yermakov and Jason Zukus, current seniors at High Technology High School, Tom Jackson, now a freshman at Cornell University, and Kelly...

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular unleaded gasoline in Los Angeles County crashed through the $2 mark today for the first time since Nov. 29, rising 1.7 cents to $2.006.

Gas prices are going up. Should we blame President-elect Obama or lame-duck President Bush? Last year people blamed Bush. Will they do the same to Obama? I know it's just supply and demand, but most people think the government should fix everything. Bail out everyone who screwed up. God help us if we don't learn to stand on our own feet and stop expecting the government to save people and businesses from their own follies. Bob Horvath Long Beach

Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 16. The Ukrainian president threw Russia's plans for a weekend gas summit in Moscow into disarray by meeting Friday with European leaders in Kyiv to discuss the natural gas crisis.

California Rep. Henry Waxman said Thursday the environment and U.S. economy depend on congressional action to confront the threat of climate change. Waxman, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, spoke as he opened Congress' first hearing on climate legislation. A group of 14 corporate

How does $8-a-gallon gas sound? Few Americans would want to see that happen. Unfortunately, President-elect Barack Obama’s choices for the government’s two highest energy posts have expressed a surprising level of comfort with sky-high gas prices. As if that weren’t bad enough, the incoming Obama administration and new Congress have suggested that they might reverse the pro-domestic oil drilling measures enacted since last summer. It is starting to look as though the change coming to Washington will bring bad news at the pump in the years ahead. As gas prices topped $4 a gallon last July, President George W. Bush...

US urges Russia to restore gas supply to Europe IANS Monday 12th January, 2009 Washington, Jan 13 (Xinhua) The US government has urged Russia to immediately restore gas supply via Ukraine to the European Union (EU). 'The US welcomes the agreement brokered by the Czech presidency of the EU to enable the restoration of gas flows to European customers and provide greater transparency along the transit route,' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Monday. 'Now that this agreement is in place, we call upon Russia to restore gas flows immediately. We also urge Russia and Ukraine to conclude quickly a...

MOSCOW, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Russia cannot afford to keep its gas taps for Europe turned off for too long as it needs to protect its budget revenues and its gas monopoly Gazprom needs to service its $60 billion debt. Gas exports account for about a tenth of Russia's GDP, but these have been halted for nearly a week in a dispute with neighbouring Ukraine, the transit route for 80 percent of the gas Russia sells to Europe. Analysts say Gazprom, a pillar of the Russian economy, is losing more than $100 million a day because of the transit cut-off.