In The News
Government Report: America's Combined Energy Resources Largest on Earth
Far larger than those of Saudi Arabia, China, and Canada combined
Friday March 11, 2011
Washington, D.C. - Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, today released an updated government report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) showing America's combined recoverable oil, natural gas, and coal endowment is the largest on Earth. America's recoverable resources are far larger than those of Saudi Arabia (3rd), China (4th), and Canada (6th) combined. And that's not including America's immense oil shale and methane hydrates deposits.
Inhofe: Ending the Obama Administration's Attack on Affordable Energy
Thursday March 10, 2011
Mr. President, when President Obama took office, the national average price for regular gasoline was $1.84 per gallon. Today, the average price is $3.52 per gallon - a 91 percent increase. Prices have already topped $4.00 in some parts of the country.
There are many reasons for this - Middle East conflict and rapid growth in developing countries are two examples. But what I call the Obama Administration's cap-and-trade agenda is also playing a major role in pushing prices higher - and not just for gasoline. This agenda hurts families, truckers, and farmers-basically, anyone who drives, uses diesel, or flips a light switch. In a word: everyone.
My message today is simply this: higher gas prices - indeed, higher prices for the energy we use - are an explicit policy goal of the Obama Administration. Let me put it another way: the Obama Administration is attacking affordable energy.
How do I know this? Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy, told the Wall Street Journal in 2008 that "[s]omehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." That's interesting. Just what are those "levels" in Europe?
There are many reasons for this - Middle East conflict and rapid growth in developing countries are two examples. But what I call the Obama Administration's cap-and-trade agenda is also playing a major role in pushing prices higher - and not just for gasoline. This agenda hurts families, truckers, and farmers-basically, anyone who drives, uses diesel, or flips a light switch. In a word: everyone.
My message today is simply this: higher gas prices - indeed, higher prices for the energy we use - are an explicit policy goal of the Obama Administration. Let me put it another way: the Obama Administration is attacking affordable energy.
How do I know this? Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy, told the Wall Street Journal in 2008 that "[s]omehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." That's interesting. Just what are those "levels" in Europe?
In the News... EPA Haze Plan Costly for Oklahoma
Thursday March 10, 2011
The result could be a hefty increase in electric rates if utilities are forced to install expensive scrubbers to their oldest power plants. An industrial consumers group in November estimated Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. customers could see their rates rise more than 15 percent. The EPA on Monday proposed its own plan to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide by about 95 percent over the next three years at three coal-fired power plants in Oklahoma. The plants have helped power the state since the late 1970s. ...OG&E; has estimated installing scrubbers at its coal plants in Red Rock and Muskogee could cost as much as $1.5 billion, plus another $150 million a year for operations and maintenance. PSO officials estimated it would cost about $800 million for scrubbers at its plant northeast of Tulsa. Bud Ground, the company's manager of governmental and environmental affairs, said the EPA's timetable for cutting emissions is "unreasonable." Ground said further study of the EPA's 122-page proposal will help state officials decide how to proceed. "We think they're wrong, but we don't know just yet what their assumptions were to get to that point," he said.
Tulsa World: Inhofe questions EPA process for beefing up ozone standards
Wednesday March 9, 2011
WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe accused a federal agency on Tuesday of violating its own process on a much-anticipated revision of ozone standards that could put Tulsa County and others in the state on the so-called dirty-air list.
In a letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, the Oklahoma Republican joined a key House member in expressing concern that the EPA's scientific advisers are using information outside the evidence used to set the current standards.
"This is difficult to square with EPA's assertion that it is basing the reconsideration solely on the 2008 record," stated Inhofe and Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
In what appeared to be an effort to ensure a fair process, the two lawmakers asked Jackson whether the EPA plans to give others, including states, a chance to comment on any new information her agency is compiling.
The EPA announced late last year that it once again was delaying its decision on beefing up ozone standards.
In a letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, the Oklahoma Republican joined a key House member in expressing concern that the EPA's scientific advisers are using information outside the evidence used to set the current standards.
"This is difficult to square with EPA's assertion that it is basing the reconsideration solely on the 2008 record," stated Inhofe and Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
In what appeared to be an effort to ensure a fair process, the two lawmakers asked Jackson whether the EPA plans to give others, including states, a chance to comment on any new information her agency is compiling.
The EPA announced late last year that it once again was delaying its decision on beefing up ozone standards.
In the News... More Questions Raised Over Climategate
Wednesday March 9, 2011
Watts Up With That?: To Serve Mann - Sources confirm that a federal inspector has questioned Eugene Wahl and Wahl has confirmed that Mann asked him to delete emails. Wahl has also informed the inspector that he did delete emails as the result of this request. There are times during the course of Climategate when you feel like you are in a twilight zone episode, especially the kind where the ambiguous meaning of terms plays a critical role, like "To Serve Man". ...Two years later, someone does notice. It's May 24th 2008, Steve McIntyre, climate science puzzle solver, is reading the reviewer comments to chapter 6 of AR4 written in 2006. In the course of reviewing Briffa's replies to him, McIntyre notes something peculiar. Briffa's replies, written in 2006, seemed to plagiarize an unpublished paper by Casper Amman and Eugene Wahl published in 2007. That is, in 2006 Briffa was repeating the argument of a paper that was not published until 2007. How could Briffa plagiarize an article that hadn't been published? Why would he repeat the arguments almost word for word? Who was feeding Briffa his arguments? How was Briffa doing this if all communication with the authors had to be part of the official record?
Watch/Read: Newsmax Interview: Inhofe: Obama Trying to Kill Oil and Gas, Force Green
Wednesday March 9, 2011
Sen. Jim Inhofe tells Newsmax that the Obama administration is "trying to kill oil and gas" by refusing to allow the United States to exploit its abundant natural resources in an effort to drive the country toward green energy.
The Oklahoma Republican also says that calls for tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve are a "copout" to divert attention from that refusal.
And he asserts that there is "no doubt in anyone's mind" that Republicans will take control of the Senate in 2012.
Sen. Inhofe is the Ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and a steadfast critic of manmade global warming alarmists. His new book "The Hoax" is due out in August.
The Oklahoma Republican also says that calls for tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve are a "copout" to divert attention from that refusal.
And he asserts that there is "no doubt in anyone's mind" that Republicans will take control of the Senate in 2012.
Sen. Inhofe is the Ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and a steadfast critic of manmade global warming alarmists. His new book "The Hoax" is due out in August.
THE MYTH OF CO2 AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Tuesday March 8, 2011
"The Clean Air Act is one of the best public health success stories of the past four decades...” True enough. This success should continue. But it won’t by making knowingly false claims about carbon dioxide emissions and public health.
Exhibit A is Earth Justice. It opposes the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011, which would stop EPA from issuing job-destroying carbon dioxide regulations. This is fair game. But denouncing the bill for allowing “the nation's biggest polluters a way out of limits to their carbon dioxide pollution that's likely to exacerbate asthma and lung diseases by worsening smog,” is not. That’s because it’s a myth.
This myth is predicated on a ridiculously attenuated argument, which goes as follows: the Energy Tax Prevention Act will allow more carbon into the air; more carbon into the air will cause higher greenhouse gas concentrations; higher greenhouse gas concentrations will cause higher temperatures; higher temperatures will cause more ozone; more ozone will cause more asthma.
Exhibit A is Earth Justice. It opposes the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011, which would stop EPA from issuing job-destroying carbon dioxide regulations. This is fair game. But denouncing the bill for allowing “the nation's biggest polluters a way out of limits to their carbon dioxide pollution that's likely to exacerbate asthma and lung diseases by worsening smog,” is not. That’s because it’s a myth.
This myth is predicated on a ridiculously attenuated argument, which goes as follows: the Energy Tax Prevention Act will allow more carbon into the air; more carbon into the air will cause higher greenhouse gas concentrations; higher greenhouse gas concentrations will cause higher temperatures; higher temperatures will cause more ozone; more ozone will cause more asthma.
PoliticoPro: New tests: No abnormal radiation in Pennsylvania wells
Monday March 7, 2011
Water samples from seven Pennsylvania rivers have found no signs of abnormal radiation, state regulators said Monday, a week after The New York Times warned that natural-gas drilling could be putting radiation-laced waste into public drinking water supplies.
The tests were conducted in November and December at sites downstream of wastewater treatment plants that accept waste from gas drilling and fracking operations in the Marcellus Shale, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection reported.
While the tests were conducted months before the stories appeared last week in the Times, Travis Windle, a natural-gas industry spokesman, said the results should allay some of the concerns the newspaper raised.
The tests were conducted in November and December at sites downstream of wastewater treatment plants that accept waste from gas drilling and fracking operations in the Marcellus Shale, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection reported.
While the tests were conducted months before the stories appeared last week in the Times, Travis Windle, a natural-gas industry spokesman, said the results should allay some of the concerns the newspaper raised.
Boxer-Inhofe To Hold Hearing on Ethanol in April
Monday March 7, 2011
It's been a rough season for corn ethanol on Capitol Hill.
A winter that began with a tougher-than-expected battle to win congressional approval for a one-year extension of the ethanol blenders' tax credit is delivering more harsh doses of reality to an industry that benefits from notable government support. With a House Republican majority newly emboldened to trim ethanol mandates and a bipartisan Senate majority eyeing subsidy reform, the political obstacles facing conventional biofuels appear steeper than ever.
Even corn ethanol's strongest allies acknowledge that the 45-cent-per-gallon tax credit, the 54-cent tariff on imported biofuels and a federal renewable fuel standard (RFS) that calls for 36 million gallons of production by 2022 merit scrutiny -- particularly in the current political moment, when fiscal austerity is a watchword.
A winter that began with a tougher-than-expected battle to win congressional approval for a one-year extension of the ethanol blenders' tax credit is delivering more harsh doses of reality to an industry that benefits from notable government support. With a House Republican majority newly emboldened to trim ethanol mandates and a bipartisan Senate majority eyeing subsidy reform, the political obstacles facing conventional biofuels appear steeper than ever.
Even corn ethanol's strongest allies acknowledge that the 45-cent-per-gallon tax credit, the 54-cent tariff on imported biofuels and a federal renewable fuel standard (RFS) that calls for 36 million gallons of production by 2022 merit scrutiny -- particularly in the current political moment, when fiscal austerity is a watchword.
Wash.Times: Is Inhofe "Cool"?
Monday March 7, 2011
Catching up on items that should not have gone unnoticed.... On March 2, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Freedom Action honored Sen. James M. Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican, with what they called the "Coolest Head Award," for keeping his wits and his cool amidst all the hot air coming from global warming alarmists. Back in 2003, when Global Warming Enthusiasm was on the march as almost an official religion of the cognoscenti, Sen. Inhofe took over the Environment and Public Works Committee and started what seemed like a very lonely, one-man, rear-guard action against cap-and-trade legislation that was expected to eventually make it into law with all the inevitability as the McCain-Feingold campaign finance legislation that had enjoyed similar cachet with "all the right people." Marshalling actual facts and cogent arguments, what he accomplished, according to CEI's statement, was that "he won every debate and every vote in the Senate on cap-and-trade legislation-on the Lieberman-McCain bill in 2003; on the McCain-Lieberman bill in 2005; and on the Lieberman-Warner bill in 2008. In the 111th Congress, Senator Inhofe's opposition was so effective that Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer failed even to bring their cap-and-trade bill to the floor for a vote."
