There, fixed it.
Posted on 07/26/2008 1:24:31 AM PDT by Kaslin
The silver lining in the cloud of high energy prices is the growing public support for domestic development of natural resources. Opinion polls, including data from California, show Americans are increasingly inclined to support drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf and in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
In an effort to increase the domestic supply of oil and also to pressure Congressional Democrats not to extend the offshore ban, which expires September 30, on July 14 President Bush eliminated the executive order preventing offshore drilling.
Not surprisingly, Democratic congressional leaders and their special interest allies oppose adding new areas for development. Responding to the president’s initiative, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) charged, “Once again, the oilman in the White House is echoing the demands of Big Oil.” A representative of the Natural Resources Defense Council asserted that “Americans deserve policies that free us from fossil fuels and give us better choices that will bring down our energy costs, make our air cleaner, and help solve global warming."
Al Gore, sensing the political shift towards fossil fuels, generated national headlines last week when he called for all of the nation’s electricity to be produced by renewable energy sources in 10 years. “The idea that we can drill our way out of this is just so absurd,” Gore told the annual meeting of the yearly gathering of left-wing activists, Netroots Nation.
It’s tragic that key corporate giants are on the wrong side of the energy debate. Rather than recognize that our current economy is dependent on fossil fuels, too many CEOs have been seduced by the notion that corporate responsibility is defined by Al Gore’s view of climate science.
“Green” CEOs naively believed that they could navigate the social and political terrain and benefit financially by advocating for federal control of greenhouse gas emissions. Over 20 corporations participated in the United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) – a lobbying coalition of industry and environmental special interest groups that sought cap-and-trade legislation to address global warming. The USCAP lobbying effort produced Lieberman-Warner – a cap-and-trade bill that, had it been adopted, would have increased energy prices, reduced economic growth.
But many of the USCAP members were unhappy with details of the legislation, so by the time Lieberman-Warner approached the Senate floor for a vote, business support for climate legislation had waned. Only six USCAP corporate members ultimately supported the bill. USCAP membership had promised its corporate members a “seat at the table,” that is, a role in the development of climate change policy, but when every climate policy on that table raised energy prices and hurt the bottom line, to many CEOs the seat must suddenly have seemed less appealing.
Some CEOs may have learned their lesson and will steer clear of coalitions like USCAP in the future, but not all will.
General Electric is among the latter. GE stubbornly adheres to climate change alarmism because it has placed a huge financial bet on carbon-free energy sources, such as wind, that are threatened by domestic oil production. Climate change fears and tight oil supplies are the driving force for renewable energy. Increasing the supply of oil will reduce its price, making wind power even less competitive, even with generous government subsidies.
GE CEO Jeff Immelt, already in hot water for poor stock performance, can’t afford to lose his gamble on renewable energy.
Faced with this threat, Immelt is shrewdly using his NBC news empire to promote climate change fears and wind turbines as a sound energy alternative.
Al Gore was the featured guest on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on July 20. For almost the entire program, Gore spoke about climate change, bashed oil exploration and touted his idea to generate the country’s electricity needs from carbon-free sources, including wind turbines. Gore did support the use of coal, but only if it was associated with carbon capture and sequestration – another GE technology.
GE’s cable business channel CNBC has also promoted wind energy in its news programming. T. Boone Pickens was given air time on “Squawk Box,” CNBC’s early morning news program, to present his energy plan. A major thrust of the Pickens plan involves a significant increase in the use of natural gas and wind – two areas in which Pickens has major investments. Indeed, Pickens is building the world’s largest wind farm in Texas, and his company recently ordered about $2 billion worth of GE turbines.
While Pickens has said he is for all forms of domestic energy, including oil exploration, the imagery in his TV ad campaign – burning oil fields contrasting with wind turbines on green fields – clearly denigrates oil. During the commercial, Pickens says “I'm T. Boone Pickens. I've been an oil man my whole life, but this is one emergency we can't drill our way out of. And I have a plan.”
The scheming of Immelt and Gore undermine our national interest. For economic and national security reasons Americans desperately need natural resource development in our own backyard.
Good morning..take a look at today’s Washington Times website..umder..Voices/Commentary, there’s a piece about Gore, and a pic that I think must have come from a Freep...do we know who’s holding the sign..
That does not belie the fact that we must make use of all possible energy sources.
However, I believe that liberals like Gore are trying to undermine domestic drilling for a malicious agenda that is not good for America.
We need to drill and drill right now because tomorrow may be to late.
The liberals must at all costs keep the prices high on energy to help force the Environ-Mentals malicious agenda towards the average American.
To radical liberals the end justifies the means even if those means are astronomical taxes, a defenseless America and millions of American citizens living in squalid third world conditions.
I will vote for McCain because he is against abortion but others who do not care about that issue should be voting against Obama because he and his supporters will destroy America.
The last AWEA -the wind lobby- conference was held in Houston. Windenergy and most photovoltaic had to be constantly backed up, and the only power stations that can vary their production so rapidly are gas powered ones, and this ones use the gas turbine technology only General Electric and a few other companies can offer.
Behind those green you have the same oil and gas companies that you find behind the pump at your gas station.
IMHO electricity must be decoupled from hidrocarbons. Nuclear and coal can met most of the demand.
Why can't the dems ever, ever stop the rhetoric? Disagree on policy but talk about facts, issues, not personal insults.
I am so very, very sick of the constant negativity and plain bitchiness from the dems. Kennedy, Pelosi, Reid, Clintons, they just whine and bitch and insult.
I'm so very tired of it.
There, fixed it.
Time for GE to dump the fraud Immelt...noticed GE is going through reorganization...get that POS CEO out!
Too bad the media chooses to remain silent. I wonder what's in it for them.....
I have stopped buying and GE products. I recently had to replace my microwave and I bought a Sharp
It's really a shame, but I'll have to do the same. It's too bad because I've grown to trust GE's CFL bulbs over those many 'off-brand' bulbs sold at Home DEpot and Lowe's. Then again, there's Phillips and a couple of other trustworthy names out there from which to choose.
(nothing new here...move along!)
It’s an oil economy, stupid!
“Kas”, don’t you ever sleep? LOL
Excellent piece. Thanks for posting.
“The scheming of Immelt and Gore undermine our national interest. For economic and national security reasons Americans desperately need natural resource development in our own backyard.”
‘Nuff said!
GE isn’t as green as this article tends to paint them. The article doesn’t mention that GE is very big in nuclear. Note: I think nuclear is green, but that’s just me.
http://www.ge-energy.com/prod_serv/products/nuclear_energy/en/index.htm
I am sure GE stands to make much more money on nukes than on wind power, especially if we start building them again.
GE is however way back in second place. Westinghouse/Toshiba has the upper hand
GE is Algore’s new Enron.
A couple of weeks ago I heard Bill O’Reilly say that in spite of America’s policy, GE was still doing business with Iran. He said he was going to keep hammering them until they cease and desist. He read letters on the air from people who wrote in to say that they were selling their GE stock and boycotting GE products.
Like Rush says: follow the money...
certainly immelt’s recent press releases don’t read like the sorts of things sane CEO’s would be expected to say; they read much more like leftwing talking points.
It's a gamble "I Melt" will lose.
Historically, GE made a lot of money from fossil fuel projects and has a HUGE investment in this technology. Turning their back on real energy solutions for wind and other "renewable solutions" might gain them a share of that market, but it cuts very deeply in their traditional energy businesses.
Immelts support for "green" energy by encouraging "cap and trade" is politically crushing their BIG $$ fossil steam and gas turbine market.
Immelt has been a disaster for GE.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
