Energy

TIME:

How out of touch is Barack Obama? He's so out of touch that he suggested that if all Americans inflated their tires properly and took their cars for regular tune-ups, they could save as much oil as new offshore drilling would produce. Gleeful Republicans have made this their daily talking point; Rush Limbaugh is having a field day; and the Republican National Committee is sending tire gauges labeled "Barack Obama's Energy Plan" to Washington reporters.

But who's really out of touch? The Bush Administration estimates that expanded offshore drilling could increase oil production by 200,000 bbl. per day by 2030. We use about 20 million bbl. per day, so that would meet about 1% of our demand two decades from now. Meanwhile, efficiency experts say that keeping tires inflated can improve gas mileage 3%, and regular maintenance can add another 4%. Many drivers already follow their advice, but if everyone did, we could immediately reduce demand several percentage points. In other words: Obama is right. [...]

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From the Union of Concerned Scientists:

An overwhelming majority of voters in seven Western states are concerned that gas prices will continue to rise unless urgent action is taken to reduce oil consumption and global warming emissions, according to a survey released by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) presented today at the last public stakeholder meeting of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) in San Diego, CA. [...]

Even if the price of gasoline drops in the short term, 95 percent of voters surveyed in Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington say that immediate action is needed to avoid a future crisis, and 91 percent say it is critical to end U.S. dependence on oil. Meanwhile, 83 percent of the respondents say that gas prices are going to rise over the long run unless we take action to make our cars and trucks run on less gas, alternative fuels or electricity.

"Voters are demanding that their state leaders move further and faster to reduce our dependence on oil and the global warming emissions that dependency produces," said Patricia Monahan, deputy director for UCS' Clean Vehicles, who will present the poll results and urge policymakers to include transportation solutions under the region's pending plan to reduce global warming pollution. "Our survey found that Westerners astutely understand the need to transition from oil to clean, renewable fuels to avoid a future crisis triggered by escalating gas prices."

Unlike the Republican Party with its many ideological schisms (neocons vs. isolationists, corporate cons vs. nativists, theocons vs. corporate cons, etc.), there are few ideological divides within the Democratic Party. Mostly, what's good for one Democratic constituency is good for the rest too.

However, there is one area of friction in the Democratic coalition — environmentalists vs. union workers in industries like logging and coal mining. (Remember the spotted owl?) That's why it's great to see the Teamsters union "go green" (teamster.org):

"We are not going to drill our way out of the energy problems we are facing — not here and not in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," [Teamsters President Jim] Hoffa told labor and environmental activists at an Oakland, Calif., summit on good jobs and clean air. "We must find a long-term approach that breaks our dependence on foreign oil by investing in the development of alternate energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal power."

Hoffa then announced the union's withdrawal from the ANWR coalition, citing the need to build a green economy that fosters the development of alternative energy sources and creates good union jobs — instead of lining the pockets of big oil tycoons.

Hoffa also said that by investing in green energy solutions, the nation will reap the benefits of curbing its dependence on oil through a revitalized economy with the creation of millions of new jobs in a rapidly growing industry.

Al Gore on Meet the Press with host Tom Brokaw:

MR. BROKAW: This is how The Boston Globe described your audacious plan to change the way that we get electricity in this country: "Gore challenged Americans to switch all of the nation's electricity production to wind, solar, and other carbon-free sources within 10 years, a goal that he said would solve global warming as well as economic and natural security crises caused by dependence on fossil fuels."

The reaction was pretty quick and not all of it was favorable, even from those who are aligned with you in thinking that we have to do something about climate change. [...] What you have outlined, in fact, is a goal that may not be achievable.

VICE PRES. GORE: I think it is achievable, and I think it's important that we achieve it, Tom. There were also many other reactions from people who said this is the right goal because we need to reset the bar and change the debate. Our current course is completely unsustainable. We are being told by scientists around the world, particularly the international group that is charged with studying this and reporting to world leaders, that we may have less than 10 years in order to make dramatic changes lest we lose the chance to, to avoid catastrophic results from the climate crisis. We're building up CO₂ so rapidly

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From the website of Congressman Nick Rahall (D-WV), chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources:

In an effort to compel oil and gas companies to produce on the 68 million acres of federal lands, both onshore and offshore, that are leased but sitting idle, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall (D-WV) today introduced legislation that gives Big Oil one option — either "use it or lose it." [...]

The Responsible Federal Oil and Gas Lease Act of 2008 (H.R. 6251) is a direct response to the facts outlined in the recent House Natural Resources Committee Majority Staff report, "The Truth About America's Energy: Big Oil Stockpiles Supplies and Pockets Profits," that illustrate how energy companies are not using the federal lands and waters that are already open to drilling. [...]

The 68 million acres of leased but inactive federal land have the potential to produce an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day. This would nearly double total U.S. oil production, and increase natural gas production by 75 percent. It would also cut U.S. oil imports by more than one-third, reducing America's dependency on foreign oil.

From KHOU in Houston:

It's now been a decade since Texas lawmakers deregulated the electricity industry, and we've been tracking it ever since, hearing your complaints about sky-high bills and confusing contracts. Where do things stand now?

Average monthly bills for summertime usage have made a steady climb and are now at about $220 in Houston. Compare that to the national average for the same usage: about $160. That means electricity in Houston is 38 percent more expensive. Consumer advocates call the difference startling. [...]

The consumer group Public Citizen found that, nationwide, power companies have made $4 billion more in profits by being unregulated. "Texas companies are literally almost able to charge whatever price they want," [consumer advocate Tyson] Slocum said.

It's the magic of the free market.

CNN:

At a time when gas prices are at an all-time high, Americans have curtailed their driving at a historic rate. Americans are not driving as much as they did a year ago as gas prices skyrocket. The Department of Transportation said figures from March show the steepest decrease in driving ever recorded.

Compared with March a year earlier, Americans drove an estimated 4.3 percent less — that's 11 billion fewer miles, the DOT's Federal Highway Administration said Monday, calling it "the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history." Records have been kept since 1942. [...]

Some Americans have turned to public transportation. Ridership increased by 2.1 percent in 2007, in part because of rising gas prices, according to the American Public Transportation Association.

I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Kriston Capps at The American Prospect:

In 1970, artist Robert Smithson rejected the gleaming white gallery spaces and "canonical" minimalism of the New York art scene in search of an entirely different setting for his sculpture. After several exploratory trips, he selected a spot more than 2,000 miles from the Big Apple: Utah's Great Salt Lake. Rozel Point, on the northeast end of the lake's Gunnison Bay, would become the home of his most important piece of sculpture: Spiral Jetty, a 1,500-foot-long, 15-foot-wide, 6,650-ton coil of black basalt rock and mounded earth extending counterclockwise into the pinkish water of the lake. The site was remote but not virgin territory. Oil seeped from the ground, and scattered around the lake were the derelict instruments from prior efforts to extract that oil. [...]

[Nancy] Holt, Smithson's widow, first got word that Spiral Jetty was in danger from Lynn DeFreitas, executive director of Friends of the Great Salt Lake, an organization primarily charged with safeguarding the lake's watershed. On Jan. 7, 2008, Pearl Exploration and Production Ltd., a Canadian oil and gas company, applied for permission to establish two exploratory wells on its land leases in Gunnison Bay, some five miles southwest from Rozel Point's shore.

[...] Smithson's writings, even when he was at his most mercurial, don't suggest that

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The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the cumulative cost of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be between $1.2 trillion and $1.7 trillion by 2017. The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board responds:

From these numbers, we draw the conclusion that U.S. national security would be better served by winding down the Asian wars as quickly as possible and concentrating the
money now being spent there on developing renewable energy sources that will reduce U.S. dependency on foreign oil. It may be cheaper to develop alternatives to oil than to fight for it in Asia. [...]

[G]iven the costs of the war in Iraq and the price of oil, the huge numbers that are often quoted for developing renewable energy in the United States do not look so daunting. For example, the editors of Scientific American magazine estimate that the U.S. government would have to invest about $450 billion to help build solar arrays in the Southwest that could produce 69 percent of the nation's electric power and 35 percent of its total energy needs by 2050. That would cut both oil consumption and carbon emissions that contribute to global warming by roughly one-third.

In the context of the Asian wars, that looks like a bargain.

Salt Lake Tribune:

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committed released a scathing report on Thursday laying blame for the tragedy also on the Mine Safety and Health Administration for missing "significant flaws" in engineering analysis of the mine and ignoring several red flags, including an earlier cave-in that the report says should have been more thoroughly probed.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., says the report shows a need for a full, criminal investigation by the Department of Justice.

"The committee's investigation has revealed that the owner of Crandall Canyon mine, Murray Energy, disregarded dangerous conditions at the mine, failed to tell federal regulators about these dangers, conducted unauthorized mining and — as a result — exposed its miners to serious risks," Kennedy said in a statement. "MSHA also unconscionably failed to protect miners by hastily rubber-stamping the plan. This is a clear case of callous disregard for the law and for safety standards, and hardworking miners lost their lives."