Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
First, there's electricity. From William Tucker, writing today at the American Spectator:
After spending a year failing to pass cap-and-trade, the Administration has doubled down with the Environmental Protection Agency, turning it loose on the nation's coal plants. The Sierra Club just celebrated the closing of the 100th coal boiler, with more to come. Just what this will mean for the reliability of the electric grid will be revealed this summer when electrical demand peaks. Last August, with temperatures at 110 degrees, Texas consumed a record 68,000 megawatts of electricity with only 76,000 MW of generating capacity on hand. Since then, the EPA has demanded the closure of 10,000 MW of Texas coal. The state has dodged the bullet only by going to court. Industrial states from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin are facing the same dilemma. If the region starts suffering power shortages this summer, will George Bush be there to take the blame?
Then there's oil, on which this graphic from the House's Republican Study Committee (click on the image to read the fine print) is instructive:
The president, of course, protests that there's little he can do to bring down energy prices. That's a curious observation given how adept he seems to be at driving them up.
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Nov '11
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
I forget who made the comment, but the best reaction to the president's arguments in regards to oil is this: President Obama is trying to make us believe that increasing supply to meet increased demand won't drop prices. He's wrong.
Aug '11
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
I've determined that the Obamadministration's energy policy is simply this: "No energy for anyone!"
See, for another example, this.
As you learn in the linked article, it's all based on junk science, but once again you see a loss of energy resources all in the name of . . . what, exactly? Greenist nonsense?
Nov '11
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
DrewInWisconsin: I've determined that the Obamadministration's energy policy is simply this: "No energy for anyone!"
See, for another example, this
12 minutes ago
It's Greenist nonsense only if they also ban fishing, otherwise I suspect there's an avid fisherman who's willing to donate a huge amount of money to the Obama campaign in the area (I'm a notorious cynic regarding Obama's Department of the Interior however). But I wouldn't put it past them
Jun '10
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
Sep '10
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
You should ask Richard about this topic in the next podcast. He posted on oil prices a couple of weeks ago and lays very little blame at the feet of Obama.
Dec '10
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
I get to experience the scarcity first hand when I fill up on the way to my caucus tomorrow.
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
Deindustrialization is gaining momentum. Google for yourself. Just yesterday:
Leap day also yielded a substantial harvest for our Luddite friends:
The Sierra Club enthusiastically reports that 100 coal power plants have thrown in the towel since January 2010. Oh happy day.
At least we can replace the high-CO2 coal with an endless supply of clean hydrofracked natural gas, right? Not so fast. Environmentalists like gas but hate getting it out of the ground.
Good luck charging your electric car.
Aug '11
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
I'm adding the word "deindustrialization" to my lexicon. It's really the most appropriate term for what we see happening. Thanks, George.
Dec '10
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
Salmon and steelhead don't donate to Obama's reelection campaign, but then again, neither do the farmers, ranchers and residents in the Klamath River basin.
Sierra Club members and Friends of the Earth members, on the other hand, do.
Jul '11
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
A wonderful graphic. I'll be sure to share it.
-E
May '10
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
When Texas threatened to ban TSA patdowns lacking probable cause, the TSA responded by threatening to shut down all air traffic to and from our state. Just imagine what the threats would be if we told the EPA to go to Hell.
I'm willing to find out.
Dec '10
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
One point to remember is that cars, electric or otherwise, are part of the target set of the environmental Left. Cars mean personal freedom: the freedom to choose on one's own where to live, where to work and where and how to enjoy recreation.
Their desire to destroy personal transportation is disguised in the rhetoric of "fighting sprawl." Sprawl is the label the environmental Left attaches to the actions of free citizens choosing where and how to live based on their preferences and personal means. Getting rid of personal transportation is a big step in skewing those free choices.
Dec '10
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
The truth.
Jun '10
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
I was attempting to come up with a new word for the president's policy when I discovered that Neo-Luddism is already part of the lexicon. It's amazing how reactionary co-called progressives can be. It pains to even think about it.
Sep '11
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
And just when you thought the hits couldn't keep coming:
Three oil refineries in the Philadelphia area, half the refining capacity in the Northeast U.S., are set to close. Taking 3,500 union manufacturing jobs with them, threatening availability of gasoline and diesel fuel, and driving prices even higher.
The Obama Administration did nothing overtly to cause these refineries to close. On the other hand, it has also done nothing at all to increase new refinery capacity anywhere. Not part of the Big Picture.
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
Opening new refineries in the United States is made impossible by EPA regulation (the last significant new refinery came online in 1977, not long after birth of the EPA itself). The reason is simple: refineries produce an undifferentiated commodity--you literally could not care less where petroleum products are made--and so are extremely cost-sensitive. Existing refineries are grandfathered from exposure to the worst of EPA's utopian fantasies; not so with new plants. Who will invest billions of dollars in a plant guaranteed to be uneconomic as compared to existing plants (the only difference being all of this environmentally wonderful equipment that nobody can afford to install)?
Feb '11
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
A saving grace is that more power plants powered by natural gas are coming on line. Brother out in California tells that older plants there are being switch over to gas.
He say that is why California has not had power shortage for over a decade.
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
Actually, the California brownouts and blackouts a decade back were the result of a botched government scheme to lower electric power rates. The dysfunctional, profoundly brainless regulatory regime enacted--unfortunately termed "deregulation," with all the awful PR consequences--led directly to power shortages, Enron-engineered price spikes and, eventually, the recall of Governor Gray Davis.
"Deregulation" California-style included the following elements: 1) continued control of the retail price of electricity by various public utility commissions; 2) complete decontrol of the wholesale price of electricity; 3) separation of power generation from electric distribution, with power companies forced to sell-off all their generating facilities; 4) a ban on power companies signing long-term supply contracts with the firms acquiring the divested assets (customary in such divestitures for reasons obvious to anyone with a working brain apart from California's Democratic politicians, who feared that these contracts would lock customers into artificially expensive electric rates.
Low retail rates, uncontrolled wholesale rates, strong economic growth, unscrupulous electricity traders, and no owned-assets to supply baseload. Another government-engineered market failure.
Edited on March 3, 2012 at 12:14amRe: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
After the bankruptcy of Pacific Gas & Electric, mindless regulation was dropped overboard in favor of a less terminally stupid rulebook (still pretty dumb: PG&E today earns only a fixed amount of money each year, creating powerful incentives not to sell electricity and not to perform maintenance, the latter a contributor to a massive 2010 gas line explosion in San Bruno, CA, the former a key reason for marginal retail electricity prices four-plus times the national average).
Edited on March 3, 2012 at 12:23amFeb '11
Re: Obama's Forced Energy Scarcity
George Savage
Actually, the California brownouts and blackouts a decade back were the result of a botched government scheme to lower electric power rates. The dysfunctional, profoundly brainless regulatory regime enacted--unfortunately termed "deregulation," with all the awful PR consequences--led directly to power shortages, Enron-engineered price spikes and, eventually, the recall of Governor Gray Davis
No argument. Just saying that gas powered power plants are now an important part of the California energy generation. A simple web search came up with many examples.