Energy News

Report: Obama Planning To Cut Energy Assistance For The Poor

3:42 pm EST February 9th, 2011 | News | 11 Comments

Obama This better be a big ass joke.

President Obama’s proposed 2012 budget will cut several billion dollars from the government’s energy assistance fund for poor people, officials briefed on the subject told National Journal.

It’s the biggest domestic spending cut disclosed so far, and one that will likely generate the most heat from the president’s traditional political allies. That would satisfy the White House, which has a vested interest in convincing Americans that it is serious about budget discipline.

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, would see funding drop by about $3 billion from an authorized 2009 total of $5.1 billion. The proposed cut will not touch the program’s emergency reserve fund, about $590 million, which can be used during particularly harsh cold snaps or extended heat spells, three officials told National Journal.

I really hope this is one of those stupid ideas people float so they get roundly condemned and die a quick death, because otherwise it’s the perfect sort of thing that makes a President criticized for being too corporate-friendly look just that way.

Poor people don’t need their lives made harder, certainly not when there are tons of uber-wealthy people around who could do without one less yacht.

Topic: Barack Obama, Energy, LIHEAP

No, Obama’s Drilling Policies Aren’t To Blame For High Gas Prices

11:27 am EST January 5th, 2011 | News | 8 Comments

Conservatives would love to blame the increase in gas prices on President Obama, but the problem is – as usual – the facts don’t align with the smear.

Topic: Energy, President Obama

Obama Admin Erects Wall Between Oil Drillers & Oil Regulators

8:48 am EST August 31st, 2010 | Environment | 6 Comments

This is the kind of thing that happens when the President isn’t a bought and paid for oil man.

The Obama administration on Monday imposed an unprecedented conflict-of-interest policy on federal drilling regulators in a bid to put greater distance between inspectors and the offshore platforms and rigs they police.

The rule is aimed at strengthening oversight of the offshore drilling industry following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and reports that officials at the former Minerals Management Service – now the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement – sometimes were too cozy with energy companies.

Bureau Director Michael Bromwich announced the new policy, which takes effect immediately, in an e-mail to employees late Monday.

Topic: Energy, Oil, President Obama

China Overtakes US As Top Energy Consumer

12:22 am EST July 20th, 2010 | World | 2 Comments

Which probably means they’ll catch up in the polluting business too.

China has surpassed the United States to become the world’s top energy consumer, a report said Tuesday, citing an official at the International Energy Agency.

The Asian giant took over the top spot more quickly than expected, but still uses far less energy than the United States on a per capita basis, and is less energy-efficient, the Financial Times reported.

China consumed 2.252 billion tons of oil equivalent of energy in 2009, from sources including coal, nuclear power, natural gas and hydroelectric power — about four percent more than the United States, the IEA said.

Topic: Energy

BP Apologist Barton Still GOP’s Top Energy Man

10:42 pm EST June 23rd, 2010 | Republicans | 9 Comments

This certainly doesn’t dissuade the notion that should the GOP unfortunately take control of the House in the fall, their energy chairman will be the guy who bowed to BP.

Texas Republican Joe Barton’s apology to BP PLC for what he called a White House ‘shakedown’ to pay damage claims for the company’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill won’t cost him his ranking member seat on the House Energy and Commerce panel, Republican aides said today.

Topic: BP, Energy, Joe Barton

VIDEO: Joe Biden On Joe Barton’s BP Apology

5:03 pm EST June 18th, 2010 | Environment | 105 Comments

This is underhanded with an oversized ball right fat over home plate.

I’m just sad he didn’t say “Malarkey.”

Topic: BP, Energy, Gulf Oil Spill, Joe Barton, Joe Biden, Oil

Bill Gates & Others Call For Triple Spending On Energy Research

11:45 pm EST June 9th, 2010 | Environment | 7 Comments

YES

The United States is badly lagging in basic research on new forms of energy, deepening the nation’s dependence on dirty fuels and crippling its international competitiveness, a diverse group of business executives warn in a study to be released Thursday.

The group, which includes Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft; Jeffrey R. Immelt, chief executive of General Electric; and John Doerr, a top venture capitalist, urges the government to more than triple spending on energy research and development, to $16 billion a year. And it recommends creation of a national energy board to guide investment decisions toward radical advances in energy technology.

Topic: Energy

VIDEO: New MoveOn Ad Asks Obama To Reinstate Ban On Offshore Drilling

2:48 pm EST May 3rd, 2010 | Environment | Comments Off

Yes.

Topic: Energy

Drill Baby Drill: Louisiana Oil Spill Now 1,800 Square Miles Wide

9:38 am EST April 27th, 2010 | Environment | 39 Comments

And this, President Obama, is why we don’t effing want drilling off the coast of Maryland.

As a major oil spill in waters off Louisiana tripled in size Monday, a growing task force kept trying and failing to plug a leaking well on the seabed a mile below, damaged when a massive drilling rig sank last week into the Gulf of Mexico.

Efforts Monday remained focused on the quickest fix – using robot submarines to close valves sitting atop the well.

ARE WE CLEAR? Damn it.

Topic: Energy, Offshore Drilling, Oil

Obama Drilling Proposal A Giant Dud In Maryland

7:13 am EST April 1st, 2010 | Maryland, Politics | 21 Comments

Just a bad idea, all around.

Drilling off the Mid-Atlantic coast would not begin for years, if ever, and was part of a broader energy strategy the president outlined Wednesday at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington. But it raised the hackles of some members of Maryland’s congressional delegation and local environmental groups, who have generally supported the Obama administration’s push for developing renewable energy.

Democratic Sens. Benjamin L. Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski issued a joint statement voicing their opposition to expanded drilling off the East Coast. In an interview, Cardin said oil spills could have a devastating impact on the state’s fisheries, tourism in Ocean City and the health of the Chesapeake Bay.

Environment Maryland’s Tommy Landers said he was ‘outraged’ by the proposal.

‘There is no need to threaten our beaches, wildlife and tourism with oil spills and pollution when we have much better solutions,’ Landers said, such as fuel-efficient cars, plug-in vehicle technology and public transportation.

Cardin, a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, declined to speculate on Obama’s reasons for proposing offshore energy development off the East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. But it appeared calculated to woo Republican support for the administration’s climate-change and clean-energy initiative, which has languished in the Senate after winning approval in the House.

It won’t bring on a single GOP vote for environmental legislation, and it pushes moderate and liberal Democrats away. Fail 360.

Topic: Energy, Environment, Oil