“From a fuel-efficiency point, trucks deliver over 140 times the cargo as a car, but they do that while only burning about 3.5 times the amount of fuel. That would appear to be a notable achievement.”
“The trucking industry is already harnessed with the increased operating costs from new highway safety rules reducing the number of hours drivers can work each day and in a week. Increased capital investment costs will further squeeze trucking company profitability…. [P]repare for higher costs of all those products you purchase.”
The Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has proposed regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty trucks, requiring that their fuel economy increase up to 40 percent by 2027 compared to baseline 2010 actuals. This is the next step in heavy-duty vehicle fuel economy efforts begun in 2011.…
“Rhode Island Department of Health, the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) director Janet Coit met with and expressed sympathy for the pipeline protestors’ cause. Remember, this is the state that will be hosting the first offshore wind energy project that will have the highest cost electricity in the continental United States at 24.4 cents per kilowatt-hour.”
“The governors of the states seem to have awakened to the economic benefits of utilizing more clean-burning, low-cost natural gas. Let’s hope they don’t cave into the politically expedience of bowing to more high-cost renewable energy.”
New England’s just-ended abnormally cold winter sent electricity and heating demand skyward, bringing into focus the battle over expanding natural gas pipeline capacity to the region. While there are two significant proposed pipeline expansions seeking FERC approval, environmentalists have become more militant.…
“To demonstrate the challenge offshore wind is having, 12 companies qualified to bid but only two submitted bids. Although the four leases were in the heart of some of the windiest areas of the U.S., they are further south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Island. But being in deeper water than the stymied Cape Wind project located to the north, their development and operating costs will be considerably greater.”
In furtherance of the wind power push, the administration has been working to expand wind-favorable regions for development. One region receiving a high-level of attention is offshore the East Coast. In addition to the advertised push to develop offshore wind power as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the governors of several of the East Coast states foresaw an opportunity to build a new industry that would employ thousands of residents.…