Force Change

Pelosi indicates willingness to lift ban on offshore drilling

Following in the footsteps of Senator Obama, House Speaker Pelosi indicated recently that she would consider legislation allowing new offshore drilling as part of an overall compromise on a new energy bill.  This comes in response to indications that the Republican support for lifting the federal ban is gaining broad support from the public, which is concerned with high gas prices. 

While we are not in favor of increased offshore drilling, per se, that is not what is so frustrating about this situation.  Instead, it is the failure of our leaders to take the opportunity presented by high fuel prices to make a truly fundamental shift in our energy policy.  Yes, high gas prices are a large burden on the public (albeit a smaller one than in many countries).  However, this short-term pain presents us with an opportunity to make material changes that will benefit us in the long-term.

It is exactly situations like this where good leaders would explain to the public that high prices are an opportunity for a fundamental change, not quick fixes.  But instead, our current “leaders” use this issue as a political game without regards to the consequences of missing this chance for action. Ironically, the only politicians who are being genuine here are the ones that don’t believe the science behind climate change. The rest are just playing short-term political games that will affect the long-term health and security of our country and the world.

Posted in Energy, General, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Los Angeles, Politics, San Francisco, Water Pollution | No Comments »

McCain and Obama miss Senate vote on extending solar and wind tax credits

The Mustache (as Grist.org has taken to calling Tom Friedman) had a column in the NY Times this week about Senator McCain’s failure to show up for all 8 of the votes in the Senate for a bill to renew the tax credits for wind and solar power.  Due to strong Republican opposition to the bill, it has stalled, and we are now facing a situation where these tax credits will expire at the end of the year.  If this happens, it will be a major setback for attempts to build a meaningful renewable energy industry in our country. 

McCain, who has faced significant criticism this year for his voting record (or lack thereof) on the environment, continues to emphasize his green credentials, even showing majestic images of windmills in his campaign commercials running this week during the Olympics.  However, as Friedman points out, not only did McCain not vote all eight times on this issue, but for one of them, “he was even in the Senate and wouldn’t leave his office to vote.”  

With that said, Senator Obama has proved only slightly more genuine on this matter, having missed the most recent vote on July 30, but making the previous three.  However, given how the candidates have been wasting their time bickering over tire pressure and off-shore drilling lately, it is funny (and sad) to see that not only are they not voting to support their positions, but their campaigns are using almost identical windmill footage to promote those “policies.”

The Mustache really puts it best by stating:

Without taxing fossil fuels so they become more expensive and giving subsidies to renewable fuels so they become more competitive - and changing regulations so more people and companies have an interest in energy efficiency - we will not get innovation in clean power at the scale we need.

That is what this election should be focusing on. Everything else is just bogus rhetoric designed by cynical candidates who think Americans are so stupid - so bloody stupid - that if you just show them wind turbines in your Olympics ad they’ll actually think you showed up and voted for such renewable power - when you didn’t.

Posted in Energy, General, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Politics | No Comments »

Cost of gas in America still relatively low compared to world

As the national average price of gas continues to hover around $4 per gallon, and our politicians continue their petty tire gauge politics over who can come up with a better proposal to lower those prices, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at how our cost of gas compares to other countries around the world.  This NY Times chart, from a little over a month ago shows that we still pay substantially less per gallon than most other countries in the world.  The source of the higher costs in other countries can generally be attributed to higher gas taxes in those nations.  Many of the countries with cheaper gas, including China and Indonesia, substantially subsidize the cost of fuel. 

Clicking on the above graphic will enlarge it.

Posted in Energy, General, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Politics, Transportation | No Comments »

Obama and McCain race to the center on off shore oil drilling

Barack Obama declared this weekend that he would not be opposed to a comprehensive energy bill that included a lifting of the ban on off-shore drilling.  The McCain campaign (and rightwing bloggers) quickly accused Obama of flip-flopping, while Obama (and leftwing bloggers) defended his actions as a pragmatic means of passing an energy bill. 

While we think lifting the ban on off-shore drilling is just ignoring the elephant in the room (our over-consumption of oil), if doing so will allow Congress to pass a meaningful energy bill, then it might be worth it.  However, at the risk of sounding too cynical, the real reason Obama probably indicated a willingness to lift the ban is because of recent movements in the polls, attributed to McCain’s support of off-shore drilling.  It is election season, and both candidates are in a race towards the center.

Photo credit.

Posted in Energy, General, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, San Francisco, Water Pollution | No Comments »

California to sue EPA over ship, jet and farm equipment emissions

California announced yesterday that it intends to lead a number of states in filing a lawsuit against the EPA for its failure to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from ships, planes and farm equipment.  The announcement, made by Attorney General Jerry Brown, comes on the heels of a series of environmental disputes between California and the federal government.  This is also not the first dispute between the parties dealing with the EPA’s stance towards greenhouse gas emissions.

An EPA spokesman responded to Jerry Brown’s announcement by stating, this “is certainly typical of the attorney general of California.  If they don’t like how we make a decision on something, they sue and hope the courts will mandate toward their position. It works sometimes, and sometimes it doesn’t work.”

Apparently, greenhouse gas emissions from the sources in dispute here (ships, off-road engines and jets), are greater than those released by every registered vehicle in the United States.  This is clearly an important issue for state governments, and could just be the beginning of these state vs. federal government disputes, depending on the results of the presidential election.

Photo credit.

Posted in Governmental Regulations, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Industrial Development, Los Angeles, New York, Politics, San Francisco, Transportation | 1 Comment »

Airline CEOs release open letter blaming oil prices on speculators

Yesterday, CEOs from some of the 12 biggest airlines in the country co-released an open letter to the public regarding the current state of fuel prices.  While the letter mentioned conservation and increased production in one sentence, the main point of their message was to encourage increased regulation of market speculators, whom the airlines assert could be responsible for as much as $30 to $60 per barrel in unnecessary increased costs. 

While market speculators have recently been a popular target for politicians looking to appear responsive to the public’s concerns over high gas prices, it is not entirely clear that speculation is a major contributor to the current state of oil prices.  T. Boone Pickens, billionaire oilman, and modern pioneer in the quest to develop renewable energy sources, asserts that investigating market speculators as the cause of the current state of oil prices is a “waste of time.”  This is because, as Pickens explains, “you have 85 million barrels a day of oil available in the global energy market and 86.4 million barrels a day of demand. So the price of oil is going to go up until you can kill demand.” 

In our opinion, regardless of whether speculators are a major factor in current oil prices, or not, the more focus that politicians and private leaders, like airline CEOs, place on them, instead of on conservation and development of alternative sources of energy, the more we miss the chance to make real changes.  Instead of blaming “market speculators,” public and private leaders should be following the lead of Pickens, and taking positive steps (like his $10 billion wind farm in Texas) to actually decrease our reliance on fossil fuels.

The text of the letter from the airlines is copied below, and was signed by the CEOs of the following airlines: Northwest Airlines, AirTran Airways, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Midwest Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways.

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Posted in Corporate Behavior, Energy, General, Governmental Regulations, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Politics, Transportation | No Comments »