Is Rep. Barton (R-TX) Confused by Plate Tectonics?
The nonsense coming out of Congress lately on climate and energy policy continued on Wednesday when Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), the ranking member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, apparently failed to grasp the concept of plate tectonics in a hearing with Energy Secretary (and Nobel Prize in Physics recipient) Steven Chu.
Congressman Barton, after an exchange (copied below) with Secretary Chu, sent out a twitter message stating:
Tweet 1: Participating n climate change hearing. I asked energy secretary where oil in alaska came from. answer puzzles-from continental plate shift
Tweet 2: I seemed to have baffled the Energy Sec with basic question – Where does oil come from? Check out the video: http://bit.ly/O4m0p #tcot
Here is a video of the testimony. While Barton is right that Chu was baffled, it seems to have more to do with the inanity of his question rather than its complexity.
And a transcript:
Barton: Dr. Chu, I don’t wanna leave you out, you’re our… you’re our scientist. I have one simple question for you in the last six seconds. How did all the oil and gas get to Alaska and under the Arctic Ocean?
Chu: [Nervous-sounding laughter] This is… this is a complicated story, but, but oil and gas is the result of hundreds of millions of years of geology, and in that time also the plates have moved around, and so it’s the combination of where the sources of the oil and gas are…
Barton (interrupting): Well, I mean, isn’t it obvious that at one time it was a lot warmer in Alaska and on the north pole? It wasn’t a big pipeline that we created in Texas and shipped it up there and put it underground so we could now pump it out and ship it back.
Chu: No. There are… there’s continental plates that have been drifting around throughout the geological ages…
Barton (interrupting): So it just drifted up there?
Chu: That’s certainly what happened. And so it’s the result of things like that.
Transcripts via ScienceBlogs
Northern Ireland Environmental Minister Bans Climate Change Ad
Reminding us that “leadership” is a flexible word that is often more synonymous with “ignorance” than its traditional meaning, Northern Ireland’s environmental minister on Monday announced that he is blocking an ad on climate change because it claims the problem is man-made, instead of a god-made. This shining example of rational thought is named Sammy Wilson and is a hard-line protestant and leading member of the Democratic Unionist Party.
The banned advertisement is part of the British “Act on CO2” campaign that encourages the public to reduce the use of electricity and fossil fuels.
[Note: the above ad is just one from the Act on CO2 campaign.]
In 2007, 75% of Renewable Tax Benefits Went To Corn-Based Ethanol Industry
Generally, the two biggest criticisms of corn-based ethanol have been that it is actually bad for the environment and increases pressure on the world’s food supplies. However, in spite of these facts, U.S. renewable energy policy has been skewed greatly in-favor of ethanol.
Highlighting this fact, Environmental Working Group (EWG) recently released an analysis of U.S. ethanol policy that finds the following incredible conclusions (among others):
- Corn-based ethanol has accounted for fully three-quarters of the tax benefits and two-thirds of all federal subsidies allotted for renewable energy sources in 2007.
Not a Drop to Drink… But Plenty to Use For Drilling and Mining
Foreshadowing the impending conflicts of the 21st century, a battle is heating up in the American West between water and oil interests. On the one side are those in favor of exploiting the massive oil shale reserves under the Rocky Mountains. These reserves are one of the biggest remaining oil resources in the world– containing three times as much oil as that remaining in Saudi Arabia.
Although oil shale extraction is extremely costly, energy intensive, and polluting, it is the massive amount of water that it consumes that is really bringing out the political opposition. Opponents worry that the Colorado River, which is already being taxed to its limits, can not support the enormous draw that would be required for wide scale shale mining in the region. READ MORE
Will Schumer be the Dingell of the farm industry?
Eighteen percent of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide come from livestock. Direct emissions from methane released from cow belching, farting, and manure, as well as indirect, from the cutting of forests and growing of feed to support livestock, are a massive problem for the environment. Recently, there have been rumors that the EPA might be considering a proposal to impose a fee on some of these emissions.
Although the EPA denies that it is proposing such a regulation, the farm lobby and its supporters in Congress are already gearing up for a fight. READ MORE
Out of the dark comes a light rail project for Detroit
At a time when Detroit is dominating the headlines for its association with GM, Ford, Chrysler, and even the Lions football team (owned by the Ford Family), a nice piece of good news came to the city on Thursday when the state Senate approved plans to build a light rail line along the city’s main artery.
The public rail line is proposed to run along Woodward Avenue, which travels through the heart of the city. The plan would use $103 million in private money to build the above-ground light rail, which would loop between Hart Plaza and Grand Blvd. It is proposed that the line would have 12 stations, including stops in the business and theatre districts, the ballpark, museums, and hospitals.
Ironically, if it is built, a public rail line would have the potential to spark a renaissance in Detroit, which would be widely welcomed if the automotive woes continue.
CEOs trying to “save an industry” drive themselves to Washington
The AP reports that Ford CEO Alan Mulally and GM CEO Rick Wagoner planned to drive to Washington to ask Congress a second time for a bailout. Chrysler says CEO Robert Nardelli will not travel by corporate jet, but won’t disclose his arrangements due to “security reasons.”
While we’re not huge fans of the bailout, and even less fans of the CEOs of these companies, we still think the private jet fiasco was overblown. Now, instead of spending their time trying to right their sinking ships, the CEOs are driving their cars to Washington. Really?
Our only concern is– we’d feel more comfortable defending the CEOs’s use of private jets during this crisis if we were confident that they were actually spending all of their time working to fix their companies. However, given the sad state of their companies and the public relations nightmares they’ve allowed to occur under their watches, who knows how hard they are actually working? How capable can these guys be if they think driving from Detroit to Washington is a good idea? If they can’t fly private, how about commercial? It still must be faster than driving.
One thing is for sure though– they will now spend a good portion of their time this week driving to and from Washington instead of in the office. Is it naïve to think they at least hired a driver so they could work in the backseat?
Breaking with CEO, members of GM’s board consider bankruptcy a possible option
In a major break with CEO Rick Wagoner, members of GM’s board of directors have indicated that bankruptcy for the company might be an acceptable option (sub req.).
Having recently insisted to Congress that bankruptcy was not a viable option for his sinking company, Wagoner may face a tougher time trying to convince lawmakers to bail him out given these new developments. If the board thinks bankruptcy might be acceptable, this could discredit Wagoner’s arguments to the contrary.
Media misses the mark on CEO private jet story.
It was widely reported by the media and bloggers today that the CEO’s from the Big Three automakers flew to their appearances before Congress on private jets. While we are in no way sympathetic to the management of the automakers (in fact, we think each of them should be fired as a part of any potential bailout), the criticism leveled at them over the private jets is off the mark.
Despite GM and Ford’s absurd justification that their CEOs are required to fly private jets for “security” reasons, there are in fact legitimate reasons for them to fly private. That is, they should be spending 100% of the available time in their days figuring out how to fix their companies. They shouldn’t be sitting in airport terminals and on tarmacs with the rest of the poor souls who have to fly the unfriendly commercial skies.
Yes, private jets are terrible for the environment, and yes, they are extremely expensive, but this is an emergency situation and these CEO’s time is hopefully better spent in the office than at an airport lounge.
With that said, we have zero sympathy for these guys. It was their mismanagement, incompetence, naked self-interest, and greed that drove their companies into the ditch where they now lie. Flying private jets at this time is not wrong, in and of itself, but it is illustrative of the poor judgment and misunderstanding of the real world that these CEOs thoroughly possess. That is the real story.
Iowa senators and ethanol industry want piece of auto bailout: Is Iowa the new Detroit?
With the automakers on the ropes, and the government getting ready to write a big check, and possibly attach some strings to it, the ethanol industry wants to make sure that they are at the end of those strings.
Of course, merely trying to attach efficiency requirements to any bailout of Detroit is not inherently wrong. In fact, if we do bailout the automakers, there should absolutely be a strict commitment that they must make their cars significantly more fuel efficient going forward.
However, with that said, what the ethanol industry and their local senators are trying to do is just more of the same behavior that got the auto industry into the situation they face today. That is, government policy being influenced by self-interested commercial industry groups that are supported by hometown politicians. READ MORE
Detroit’s protector, Rep. Dingell, being challenged for his chairmanship
Unsurprisingly, the Detroit Free Press endorsed current House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman, Rep. John Dingell, over Rep. Henry Waxman, who is challenging Dingell for this powerful committee position. Citing Waxman’s support of stricter CAFE standards as a negative, the Free Press joins the likes of Michigan’s congressional delegation, automaker lobbyists, and even Sean Hannity in blaming allegedly too stringent efficiency laws for Detroit’s problems. (As if these laws prevented them from betting their companies on gas guzzlers regardless?)
As we noted earlier today, Tom Friedman insightfully notes in the NYTimes, it was Congress’s failure to impose efficiency standards that allowed Detroit to get itself into the mess it is in today. Friedman singles Dingell out, noting that no one has done more to help the automakers get themselves into this bind than John Dingell, “who is more responsible for protecting Detroit to death than any single legislator.”
Brooks: we need a National Mobility Project, not an ineffective ‘stimulus package’
NYT’s David Brooks proposes that instead of a sure-to-be-ineffective stimulus package, the next president should put forth a National Mobility Project. Brooks notes that the impending stimulus package (most money will be misdirected), plan to bail out the automakers (subsidizing bad management), plan to issue rebate checks (will be saved instead of spent), and one-time tax credits to small businesses that are hiring (which would go to healthy companies), are going to be ineffective at best, and distorting of the market at worst. READ MORE
Leading protector of coal in the Senate faces tough election at home
The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell (KY) is facing a tough election back at home this November. McConnell, who (along with Sen Byrd (D-WV)) is responsible for ensuring that the symbolic coal fired Capitol Power Plant remains dirty, has been accused of being an abuser of pork barrel spending. He has also been a major obstacle in the way of any real energy policy coming out of the Senate.
Although McConnell’s opponent Bruce Lunsford is still trailing in the polls, the race is much closer than would have been imagined. If McConnell loses, it would be a major step forward for the prospects of real environmental and energy policy progress in the coming years.
Frontline ‘Heat’ a good primer on causes of climate change and potential solutions
The Frontline special Heat, on PBS, takes an in-depth look at the causes of climate change, the shameful attempts to avoid action and an introduction to some of the possible solutions. The program can be replayed on PBS’s website anytime.
While Heat didn’t seem to be breaking any revolutionary ground (given the already widely reported nature of the problem), it does provide a very useful survey of the overall issue. Many of the topics covered will be familiar to ForceChange readers, including things like the old 1950′s video on global warming, the lobbying of Patrick Moore, and the $25 billion bailout loan to Detroit automakers. READ MORE
Frontline special ‘Heat’ to air Tues night on PBS at 9pm
The Frontline special “Heat” airs Tuesday night on PBS. Frontline, which consistently puts together fantastic in-depth programming, is looking at the causes and responses to climate change from both the public and private sectors.
Here is the official description of the program: READ MORE
