The Insanity Continues!

Benny Peiser's Global Warming Policy Foundation Reports That Shale Gas Is The Big Loser In Obama's Latest Climate Plan, and That Obama’s Green Plans Could Cripple America’s Economy

Shale Gas Is Big Loser In Obama's Latest Climate Plan - US shale gas is the unexpected loser from President Barack Obama’s climate plan, as the White House abandons its previous enthusiasm for natural gas as a cleaner alternative to coal. Last year Mr Obama called natural gas from fracking a “bridge fuel" to smooth the transition from polluting coal to emission-free renewable energy. But the shale industry was left reeling by a sudden reversal on Monday. In its landmark plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the Obama administration eliminated an earlier projection that natural gas would contribute much more electricity, and instead upped the role of renewables. --Barney Jopson, Financial Times, 3 August 2015

Obama’s Climate Push Sets Up Battle Reminiscent of Obamacare - President Barack Obama unveiled a landmark set of regulations to combat climate change in a plan that requires states to cut emissions from power plants, setting up a red-state, blue-state battle reminiscent of Obamacare. The new rules issued by the Environmental Protection Agency to set emission standards for each state drew fire from opponents even before they were announced. States such as Wyoming and Oklahoma have sued to try to block the rule, and as details of the final regulation emerged on Monday the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups said they would try to block it in the courts, too. “We will pursue all available options, including litigation if necessary, to block EPA’s regulatory power grab,” Tom Donohue, the president of the Chamber, which also led the opposition to Obamacare, said in a statement. --Mark Drajem and Angela Greiling Keane, Bloomberg, 3 August 2015

Barack Obama’s Green Plans Could Cripple America’s Economy  - With the US recovery still sluggish, President Obama is taking an enormous risk with his tough line on climate change. Low energy prices have played an important part in making American businesses competitive during the global downturn. They also helped keep living costs relatively low in a period when the real incomes of poorer Americans have been falling. Indeed much higher bills are almost inevitable now that the US is adopting EU-style policies. Higher energy costs will not only mean hikes in utility bills but will also translate into higher prices in the shops. At the same time, there could be downward pressure on wages as firms attempt to mitigate the impact. US productivity growth is also likely to be lower as the returns from investing in energy-intensive, labour-saving measures are reduced. Fuel poverty is likely to increase dramatically, as it has in the UK. --Richard Wellings, The Daily Telegraph, 3 August 2015

Renewable Energy May Be Doomed To Be Unprofitable Forever  - Another day, another billion-dollar renewable energy deal. That has been the story of the past few weeks as a raft of companies have made eye-catching solar and wind-power investments. But what if the extra-clean electricity eventually generated is doomed to make no money? Or to be more precise, not enough money to keep the companies producing it profitable without a lot more renewable subsidies? This unsettling idea has emerged from research by a German energy economist, Lion Hirth, a former renewables analyst at Swedish utility Vattenfall who now runs a Berlin energy consultancy. --Pilita Clark, Financial Times, 3 August 2015

Europe's Steel Industry Plans Great Exodus  - The EU's reform proposal for the Emissions Trading Scheme's fourth trading period from 2021 stipulates an increase in the standard values for CO2 emissions and at the same time to cut back the number of available industrial emissions rights. In addition, the EU intends to allow fewer exemptions for energy-intensive industries such as steel, cement or chemical industry. Karl-Ulrich Köhler, the European head of the Indian industry giants Tata Steel, predicts an exodus of the European steel industry if the proposals are implement. --Carsten Dierig, Die Welt, 25 July 2015

Nigel Lawson: Against Eco-Pessimism  - We live in an age of all-pervasive cultural pessimism. In one sense, this is understandable. The 18th century, the Age of Enlightenment, produced an explosion of scientific discovery as men’s minds escaped from the shackles of subservience to authority, both political and ecclesiastical. The 19th century was the great age of optimism, as technological development exploited the achievements of science, bringing inventions like the locomotive, the electric light and the telephone. That optimism dissipated in the 20th century, when two disastrous world wars exposed the dark side of mankind. Far from recovering a sense of hopefulness during the relative peace of the 21st century, gloominess has become the default position of the intellectual classes in the Western world. Ronald Bailey begs to differ. As his book demonstrates, a careful examination of the evidence shows that, at least in material terms (which is not unimportant, particularly for the world’s poor), life is getting better. The overriding reason for this, according to Mr. Bailey, is continuing technological progress, facilitated—and this is crucial—by the global triumph of market capitalism. --Nigel Lawson, The Wall Street Journal, 28 July 2015