“The continued reliance on ‘clean’ energy tax credits is a political crutch…. Those who have introduced this legislation … should be working to phase out these subsidies more quickly, not doubling down on them.” – Tom Pyle, AEA president (below)
A recent press release by the American Energy Alliance (the advocacy arm of the Institute for Energy Research) called it an “Election-Year Betrayal to Reinstate Wind and Solar Subsidies.” For two energies touting their affordability for consumers, this is disingenuous. Socializing the cost-premium to taxpayers, and unnecessarily industrializing the pristine landscape (real ecologists, please stand up) is bad public policy. And with more than a dozen extensions of the “temporary tax credits” (15 for solar, 14 for wind), the mirage of competitiveness by an infant industry (not) is exposed.…
Continue Reading“The Wall Street Journal should hire reporters who understand the technical side of the energy industries and can cut through political agendas and narratives. A more competent editorial staff can identify and correct shortsighted reporting too.”
“Energy companies are accelerating searches for new oil-and-gas prospects outside the Middle East amid war and high prices,” reported the Wall Street Journal. While this surface take sounds reasonable, it is misleading and beneath what should be expected from an informed energy journalist.
Collin Eaton’s Big Oil Plows Billions into Far-Flung Drilling Sites to Escape Iran Turmoil” (April 19) needs correction. Major oil companies do not undertake major international exploration efforts without serious research and planning. That does not happen in days or weeks–even a few months.
“Far Flung” Places?
Writing about many oil company projects in “far flung” places, Eaton fails to note that they were preplanned and in highly prospective/active oil-producing locations.…
Continue Reading“Congress now has an opportunity—and an obligation—to correct this flawed process by requiring rigorous, upfront, full-footprint review of radar impacts on air safety and national security before any further offshore wind projects proceed to construction or operation.”
The Biden administration positioned large-scale offshore wind development as the centerpiece of its national decarbonization strategy. Under this mandate, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) conducted extensive multi-agency reviews, examining impacts on marine ecology, commercial fishing, and cultural resources. In rapid succession, it issued Findings of No Significant Impact and greenlit thirteen massive projects from Massachusetts to Virginia.
However, one critical risk category—radar interference—presents direct and unresolved implications for civilian air safety and national security.
1. The Technical Reality: A Problem Without a “Silver Bullet”
Offshore wind turbines create a documented technical hazard: the massive rotating blades generate Doppler returns that primary radar systems often misinterpret as real targets.…
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