Among the many lies told by the Left, one of the biggest is the myth of man-made global warming.
You may have heard recently that the Arctic ice cap is melting more
than at any time in the past 30 years, or that man-made global warming
is causing an increase in “extreme” weather.
What you aren’t likely to hear is that the Antarctic ice cap is thicker than at any time in decades and continues to grow.
Read the rest of the story here.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Friday, September 21, 2012
Freakonomics: The Cost of Environmental Regulations
From the Freakonomics blog:
The environment has taken a back seat to the economy this election season. But timely new research looks at the intersection of politics, economics and the environment: the actual cost of environmental regulations.
Read the rest of the post and let us know what you think.
The environment has taken a back seat to the economy this election season. But timely new research looks at the intersection of politics, economics and the environment: the actual cost of environmental regulations.
Read the rest of the post and let us know what you think.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
PBS Attacked for Allowing Global Warming Skeptic to Speak
You'll want to read more about this, click here for the whole story, complete with video.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
WSJ: Puff, the Magic Drag on the Economy
Time to let the pernicious production tax credit for wind power blow away.
By Lamar Alexander And Mike Pompeo - In the WSJ on Wednesday.
As Congress works to reduce spending and avert a debt crisis, lawmakers will have to decide which government projects are truly national priorities, and which are wasteful. A prime example of the latter is the production tax credit for wind power. It is set to expire on Dec. 31—but may be extended yet again, for the seventh time.
This special provision in the tax code was first enacted in 1992 as a temporary subsidy to enable a struggling industry to become competitive. Today the provision provides a credit against taxes of $22 per megawatt hour of wind energy generated.
From 2009 to 2013, federal revenues lost to wind-power developers are estimated to be $14 billion—$6 billion from the production tax credit, plus $8 billion courtesy of an alternative-energy subsidy in the stimulus package—according to the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Treasury Department. If Congress were to extend the production tax credit, it would mean an additional $12 billion cost to taxpayers over the next 10 years.
There are many reasons to let this giveaway expire, including wind energy's inherent unreliability and its inability to stand on its own two feet after 20 years. But one of the most compelling reasons is provided in a study released Sept. 14 by the NorthBridge Group, an energy consultancy. The study discusses a government-created economic distortion called "negative pricing.
There are many reasons to let this giveaway expire, including wind energy's inherent unreliability and its inability to stand on its own two feet after 20 years. But one of the most compelling reasons is provided in a study released Sept. 14 by the NorthBridge Group, an energy consultancy. The study discusses a government-created economic distortion called "negative pricing.
"This is how it works. Coal- and nuclear-fired plants provide a reliable supply of electricity when the demand is high, as on a hot summer day. They generate at lower levels when the demand is low, such as at night.
But wind producers collect a tax credit for every kilowatt hour they generate, whether utilities need the electricity or not. If the wind is blowing, they keep cranking the windmills.
Why? The NorthBridge Group's report ("Negative Electricity Prices and the Production Tax Credit") finds that government largess is so great that wind producers can actually pay the electrical grid to take their power when demand is low and still turn a profit by collecting the credit—and they are increasingly doing so. The wind pretax subsidy is actually higher than the average price for electricity in many of the wholesale markets tracked by the Energy Information Administration.
This practice drives the price of electricity down in the short run. Wind-energy supporters say that's a good thing. But it is hazardous to the economy's health in the long run.
Temporarily lower energy prices driven by wind-power's negative pricing will cripple clean-coal and nuclear-power companies. But running coal and nuclear out of business is not good for the U.S. economy. There is no way a country like this one—which uses 20% to 25% of all the electricity in the world—can operate with generators that turn only when the wind blows.
The Obama administration and other advocates of wind power argue that the subsidy provided by the tax credit allows the wind industry to sustain American jobs. But they are jobs that exist only because of the subsidy. Keeping a weak technology alive that can't make it on its own won't create nearly as many jobs as the private sector could create if it had the kind of low-cost, reliable, clean electricity that wind power simply can't generate.
While the cost of renewable energy has declined over the years, it is still far more expensive than conventional sources. And even the administration's secretary of energy, Steven Chu, calls wind "a mature technology," which should mean it is sufficiently advanced to compete in a free market without government subsidies. If wind power cannot compete on its own after 20 years without costly special privileges, it never will.
But wind producers collect a tax credit for every kilowatt hour they generate, whether utilities need the electricity or not. If the wind is blowing, they keep cranking the windmills.
Why? The NorthBridge Group's report ("Negative Electricity Prices and the Production Tax Credit") finds that government largess is so great that wind producers can actually pay the electrical grid to take their power when demand is low and still turn a profit by collecting the credit—and they are increasingly doing so. The wind pretax subsidy is actually higher than the average price for electricity in many of the wholesale markets tracked by the Energy Information Administration.
This practice drives the price of electricity down in the short run. Wind-energy supporters say that's a good thing. But it is hazardous to the economy's health in the long run.
Temporarily lower energy prices driven by wind-power's negative pricing will cripple clean-coal and nuclear-power companies. But running coal and nuclear out of business is not good for the U.S. economy. There is no way a country like this one—which uses 20% to 25% of all the electricity in the world—can operate with generators that turn only when the wind blows.
The Obama administration and other advocates of wind power argue that the subsidy provided by the tax credit allows the wind industry to sustain American jobs. But they are jobs that exist only because of the subsidy. Keeping a weak technology alive that can't make it on its own won't create nearly as many jobs as the private sector could create if it had the kind of low-cost, reliable, clean electricity that wind power simply can't generate.
While the cost of renewable energy has declined over the years, it is still far more expensive than conventional sources. And even the administration's secretary of energy, Steven Chu, calls wind "a mature technology," which should mean it is sufficiently advanced to compete in a free market without government subsidies. If wind power cannot compete on its own after 20 years without costly special privileges, it never will.
Mr. Alexander is a Republican senator from Tennessee. Mr. Pompeo is a Republican congressman from Kansas.
A version of this article appeared September 19, 2012, on page A13 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Puff, the Magic Drag on the Economy.
Antarctic Sea Ice Sets Another Record
From Forbes:
Antarctic sea ice set another record this past week, with the most amount of ice ever recorded on day 256 of the calendar year (September 12 of this leap year). Please, nobody tell the mainstream media or they might have to retract some stories and admit they are misrepresenting scientific data.
National Public Radio (NPR) published an article on its website last month claiming, “Ten years ago, a piece of ice the size of Rhode Island disintegrated and melted in the waters off Antarctica. Two other massive ice shelves along the Antarctic Peninsula had suffered similar fates a few years before. The events became poster children for the effects of global warming. … There’s no question that unusually warm air triggered the final demise of these huge chunks of ice.”
NPR failed to mention anywhere in its article that Antarctic sea ice has been growing since satellites first began measuring the ice 33 years ago and the sea ice has been above the 33-year average throughout 2012.
Read the rest of the article here.
Antarctic sea ice set another record this past week, with the most amount of ice ever recorded on day 256 of the calendar year (September 12 of this leap year). Please, nobody tell the mainstream media or they might have to retract some stories and admit they are misrepresenting scientific data.
National Public Radio (NPR) published an article on its website last month claiming, “Ten years ago, a piece of ice the size of Rhode Island disintegrated and melted in the waters off Antarctica. Two other massive ice shelves along the Antarctic Peninsula had suffered similar fates a few years before. The events became poster children for the effects of global warming. … There’s no question that unusually warm air triggered the final demise of these huge chunks of ice.”
NPR failed to mention anywhere in its article that Antarctic sea ice has been growing since satellites first began measuring the ice 33 years ago and the sea ice has been above the 33-year average throughout 2012.
Read the rest of the article here.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Fracks of life – & death – for NY pol
From the New York Post (editor comments in green):
One of the state Legislature’s leading backers of “hydrofracking’’ for natural gas has received death threats from what he believes are environmental radicals opposed to the controversial drilling technique, The Post has learned.
“There have been repeated threats to me of bodily harm,’’ Deputy Senate Majority Leader Thomas Libous (R-Binghamton) angrily told The Post.
“There have been calls saying, ‘We know where you live,’ ‘We’ll come to your house’ — that kind of stuff,’’ Libous continued.
Libous said he had notified law enforcement of the threats. (surely they'll get right on this)
Libous also alleged that environmental activists have been making personal and political threats against local officials throughout the Southern Tier region along the Pennsylvania border, where huge deposits of natural gas are located.
Gov. Cuomo signaled while running for office two years ago that he favored fracking, as long as the process can be conducted safely.
Cuomo administration insiders say a final decision may not come until after the November election. (conveniently enough)
“There have been repeated threats to me of bodily harm,’’ Deputy Senate Majority Leader Thomas Libous (R-Binghamton) angrily told The Post.
“There have been calls saying, ‘We know where you live,’ ‘We’ll come to your house’ — that kind of stuff,’’ Libous continued.
Libous said he had notified law enforcement of the threats. (surely they'll get right on this)
Libous also alleged that environmental activists have been making personal and political threats against local officials throughout the Southern Tier region along the Pennsylvania border, where huge deposits of natural gas are located.
Gov. Cuomo signaled while running for office two years ago that he favored fracking, as long as the process can be conducted safely.
Cuomo administration insiders say a final decision may not come until after the November election. (conveniently enough)
Just because this is reported, does not make it true. However, this is how the radical wing of the environmental often operate, look at the Occupy Wall Street crowd for exhibit A. This is why conservatives need to be in this debate, because the debate has been controlled by the far left for far too long.
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Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Climate Change Is A Hoax, Obama, Like Your Presidency
This scathing piece by Investor's Business Daily is worth reading in its entirety.
In Charlotte, N.C., the president noted that we have "a hundred-year supply of natural gas that's right beneath our feet." He did not say the Environmental Protection Agency and environmentalists have opposed fracking and the natural gas boom is being led by private companies on private or state-owned land.
Climate change is a hoax, and so is the president's energy policy. China has passed us as the world's largest carbon emitter and builds the equivalent of a coal-fired power plant big enough to power a city the size of San Diego every seven to 10 days.Read the rest of the column here.
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