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Playing the Fool: Obama's Heather Zichal Goes Hydrocarbon

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 8, 2012

Greenwire (Energy & Environmental News) ran a piece (excerpted below) that further portrays Obama faking hydrocarbon affection during a tough election year where jobs are scarce and natural gas is a leading job creator.

The article profiles Heather Zichal, Obama’s deputy assistant for energy and climate change, who has just started the job of building bridges between the Administration and the natural gas industry.

With the Administration’s environmental allies throwing natural gas under the bus, and going all out to stop drilling where natural economics dictates, the industry has learned its lesson about coalescing with the enemy.

OR, let’s hope so. After all, the industry holds the high ground in that

  1. Energy is the master resource.
  2. Consumers want oil and gas (and coal), not inferior substitutes such as ethanol, (on-grid) solar, and wind.

Wind Wipe Out? (Worst feared at AWEA convention)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 6, 2012

No Jay Leno this year at the annual confab of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Instead of celebration and jokes (all at the expense of taxpayers and ratepayers), there is doom and gloom.

Bill Opalka reports at EnergyBiz:

Failure to extend the production tax credit would devastate the domestic wind energy supply chain and virtually wipe out wind power development next year, officials stressed during the June 4 opening of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) annual conference in Atlanta.

But the public is catching on to the industrial wind ruse.  The lead comment (7:48 AM) on Opalka’s article says much about how fatigue has set in to this ancient, postmodernistic energy source:

Will this desire to feed at the public trough never end? The mere fact that wind needs the PTCs to survive tells us very loudly and clearly it is not a competitive power technology at this time.

Texas's Solyndra: Will CREZ Launch Cruz to the U.S. Senate? ($7 billion wind transmission project a defining intra-Republican issue)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 1, 2012

“The state’s Public Utility Commission, or PUC, approved the CREZ concept in 2008 in response to a directive [mandate] from the [Texas] Legislature in 2005.”

– Kate Galbraith, “Texas’ Wind Transmission Project Keeps Rolling,” The Texas Tribune, September 8, 2010

“Lt. Governor David Dewhurst was the largest recipient of [CREZ] contractor funds with $419,250 from January 2005 through February 2010. …. The CREZ project has turned out to be a money-making opportunity for many politicians and companies.”

– Dan Byfield, “The Politics of Transmission Lines.”  San Angelo Standard Times, June 29, 2010.

A political fight of national import is on in Texas for the U.S. Senate between Tea Party favorite Ted Cruz and Republican-establishment favorite David Dewhurst. Voting this week has put these two in a runoff come July 31st for the Republican nomination.

Professor Hicks's Business Ethics Course (Loyola Chicago's MBA class in for a real treat)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 24, 2012

American Products. American Power. (new website on petroleum's consumer bounty)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 22, 2012

'Offshore Oil Guide': Are You Ready for Some Real Free-market Jobs, Anyone Anywhere?

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 21, 2012

Real World Economics (key to understanding real-world energy)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 18, 2012

Expanding 'Depletable' Resources: Solving a Paradox

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 9, 2012

'Cato University' 2012: Big-Picture Political Economy

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 4, 2012

Alarmism or Not? Joe Romm and the 'Crying Wolf' Dilemma

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 1, 2012