Posts

States Threaten to Pull $600 Billion From Banks That Won’t Give Equal Service to Energy Industry

/0 Comments/in , /by

Fifteen state financial officers sent a letter to U.S. banks last week noting $600 billion in assets they pledge to take elsewhere if the financial institutions embrace corporate wokeism and prohibit financing to the fossil fuel industry.

Led by West Virginia Republican Treasurer Riley Moore, the group promised “collective action” in the form of an “economic boycott.”

“Just as each state represented in this letter is unique in its governing laws and economy, our actions will take different forms,” they wrote in the letter obtained by The Federalist. “However, the overarching objective of our actions will be the same – to protect our states’ economies, jobs, and energy independence from these unwarranted attacks on our critical industries.”

Signatories to the letter putting banks on notice include chief financial officers from Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, Alabama, Texas and Kentucky, in addition to West Virginia.

“How can we as states get dollars from severance taxes and then park it in banks that are at the same time trying to diminish those dollars by trying to boycott our industries?” Moore said in an interview with The Federalist. “This is just more of the same from these woke capitalists, globalist interests out there when it’s them trying to dictate to us the way we need to live our lives.” (Read more from “States Threaten to Pull $600 Billion From Banks That Won’t Give Equal Service to Energy Industry” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Climatologist: We Have a ‘Moral Imperative’ to Burn Fossil Fuels [+video]

/0 Comments/in , /by

christy_testifyingWe have a “moral imperative” to burn carbon dioxide-emitting fossil fuels because the energy they provide is a “liberator” of humanity, says Dr. John Christy, a climatologist and director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama, Huntsville.

“We are not morally bad people for taking carbon and turning it into the energy that offers life to humanity in a world that would otherwise be brutal,” Christy wrote in a recent oped. “On the contrary, we are good people for doing so.”

He also challenged what he says are contradictions in Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si, in which the pontiff called climate change “one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day.”

The pope’s encyclical “displays a lack of understanding of how the real world works,” Christy told CNSNews.com. According to microwave data from satellites going back to 1978, which are precise to within .08 of a degree, “very little warming is taking place,” he pointed out.

In his encyclical, Pope Francis also wrote that “a very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system…. The problem is aggravated by a model of development based on the intensive use of fossil fuels, which is at the heart of the worldwide energy system….There is an urgent need to develop policies so that, in the next few years, the emission of carbon dioxide and other highly polluting gases can be drastically reduced.” (Read more from “Climatologist: We Have a ‘Moral Imperative’ to Burn Fossil Fuels” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

IMF Agrees With Obama: End Fossil Fuel Subsidies, Tax Carbon

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: infomatique

The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday promoted ending fossil fuel subsidies and taxing carbon emissions to discourage excessive energy consumption and combat climate change.

“The link between subsidies, consumption of energy and climate change has added a new dimension to the debate on energy subsides,” David Lipton, IMF first deputy managing director, said in prepared remarks at a Washington event hosted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

President Obama’s political goals include stripping back those subsidies. The White House and congressional Democrats want to remove about $4 billion in annual tax provisions awarded to the oil-and-gas industry.

Oil-and-gas interests, and their Republican allies, say the provisions are cost-recovery mechanisms and business deductions that other industries also claim.

In 2011, nations doled out roughly $480 billion of “pre-tax” incentives, which are “when consumers pay less than supply cost of energy,” Lipton explained. They are generally found in emerging economies, according to an IMF report released Wednesday.

Read more from this story HERE.

Carbon Use And Prosperity – A Striking Relationship

/0 Comments/in , /by

photo credit: cgp greyIn his inaugural address on January 21, President Obama invoked great ideals of human dignity, equality, and most especially “progress” to justify his second-term agenda, a cornerstone of which will be a crusade to limit humanity’s use of carbon.

In fact, nothing could be more antithetical to the goal of advancing the human condition than restricting carbon consumption. A look at the relationship between living standards and humanity’s carbon utilization over the past 200 years, as shown in Figure 1, below, makes this perfectly clear.

Fig. 1 Average global GDP per capita as a function of carbon use, 1800 to 2010. GDP in 2010 dollars.

The story that Figure 1 tells is remarkable; it is, perhaps, one of the grandest stories ever told. It shows how, over the past two centuries, by using carbon in ever-increasing amounts, the human race has lifted itself out of hopeless poverty and misery to achieve a modicum of dignity and happiness. Look at that line reaching up, in direct proportion to global carbon use, from an average global income of $180 per person in 1800 to $2,200 in 1960 to $9,000 today; that is progress.

Of course, we still have a ways to go. The current $9,000 average world income is just a fifth of the $45,000 U.S. average, yet we still have some poverty here. Still, the achievement is incredible. In 1932, Franklin Roosevelt campaigned for president on the promise of “a chicken in every pot,” and millions found the offer compelling. Today, in the United States, minimum wage is $7 per hour, and chicken sells for less than $2 per pound; so, a person working at minimum wage can buy a pound of chicken with about 17 minutes’ labor. This is freedom from want, indeed, delivered not by the New Deal, but by the terrific expansion of our use of carbon.

Read more from this story HERE.

Pennsylvania and Ohio will become rich states if they vote for Romney

/2 Comments/in /by

Voters in Pennsylvania and Ohio have a unique opportunity to make themselves energy producing giants this Tuesday, if they vote for the right candidate.

As geologists and energy experts probe what’s under the ground in these two states, it is becoming apparent they are sitting on huge reserves of natural gas. In addition to gas, they already have huge reserves of other forms of fossil fuels.

But in particular, the gas is near the surface and easy to obtain. If there is willing government cooperation from Washington DC, these states will be booming due to energy production. State treasuries would be overflowing with royalties from the billions in energy sold.

Thousands of jobs would be created on exploration, recovery, pipelines, transportation and infrastructure. Long-term employment would necessarily increase as companies look for qualified employees to help in recovering & marketing these resources.

North Dakota is a prime example of what a state can do when they pursue their energy resources. With a 3% unemployment rate, they are the lowest rate in the nation.

Under the last four years of the Obama administration, there has been a concerted effort to wage war on our energy sector. One of the key Obama EPA administrators was caught saying he wanted to crucify the energy industry. One of the biggest foes of Americas fossil fuel reserves, Bill McKibben, has the Presidents ear and was said to play a key role in his rejection of the Keystone Pipeline.

See McKibben Epstein ultimate energy debate November 5, at Duke University.

For the last 4 years, the Obama administration has been quietly crucifying andhamstringing our energy sector.

The stark, easy to see result of this policy, is to pull into the gas station and fill up your car for $100.00, when it only cost $50.00 four years ago.

Governor Romney has already promised he will encourage responsible recovery of our energy resources the first day he takes control of the reins of government.

We have already seen what 4 years of Obama policies have done to our energy sector. Energy plant shut downs-Coal mine bankruptcies-Huge tracts of federally controlled land barred from energy exploration-Billions in losses on taxpayer funded green energy schemes. The next 4 years will be all of the above, but on steroids, as he will not have to answer to the voters again.

The choice is clear for the voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania. With Romney you have the opportunity to become energy rich and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs. At the same time you can help our country become energy self sufficient.

____________________________________________

Ed is the conservative columnist at IrishCentral, where he has been writing on the need for energy independence, strong self defense, secure borders, 2nd amendment, smaller government and many other issues. His articles appear in many publications throughout the USA and world. He has been a guest on Fox News and a regular guest on radio stations in the US and Europe.

On Eve of Nov. 5 Fossil Fuels Debate, Penn State Global Warming Prof Outed for Falsely Claiming to be Nobel Recipient

/1 Comment/in /by

Just days before the McKibben vs Epstein environmental debate, November 5, at Duke University, a bombshell rocked the environmental community. Read more: “Michael Mann Retracts False Nobel Prize Claims in Humiliating Climbdown.”

The Nobel Prize committee declared Penn State’s Professor, Michael Mann, has falsely claimed to be a recipient of the Nobel Prize; He never received an award from them. Both he and Penn State have been claiming for years his Nobel status to boost his scientific prestige and credibility.

To Mann, the litigious creator of the climate “Hockey Stick” graph, this is an extreme blow to any scientific credibility he may have had. The “hockey stick graph” was used by Al Gore and others to convince us we were on the verge of climate catastrophe, One critic stated: “Michael Mann is another black mark against anyone involved in “climate science.”

Penn State, still reeling from a sex scandal that threatened its accreditation, suffers another huge blow to its reputation. But the taint of Penn States scandal will now waft over the environmental movement, which has used Manns science to further its war against fossil fuels. This latest scandal throws into question the validity of the science behind the “climate change” movement.

There is a huge, well funded, well coordinated movement throughout the United States, set on the goal of completely killing our use of fossil energy. One of the main public spokesman and virulent foes of fossil energy is Bill McKibben. McKibben recently stated fossil fuel is public enemy #1 and has vowed to destroy our fossil based energy industry, source of 85% of our power.

But the fossil energy industry is not without its defenders and Alex Epstein has stepped up to the plate to defend it. He has challenged Bill McKibben to a one on one debate at Duke University November 5, where they can slug it out in the intellectual arena of ideas.

Epstein is president of the Center for Industrial Progress, a think tank that proactively champions the use of fossil energy, using real science to bolster its pro energy argument and history as a guidepost to the beneficial use of fossil fuels for mankind…Epstein is a formidable spokesman to stand toe to toe with one of the lefts most high profile foes of fossil energy.

McKibben is recognized as one of the key people influencing President Obamas decision to delay the building of the Keystone Pipeline. When he publicly states he wants to make the use of fossil fuels illegal, it is a reflection of an overall strategy to fundamentally transform our society.

In a Bill McKibben world, our energy would be supplied mainly by windmills and solar. Historically and at present technological levels, these forms of energy could not put a dent in the energy needs of our advanced society. This means civilization would have to become more primitive and a large segment of our population would revert to manual labor focused on farming.

Alex Epstein totally disagrees with this vision and had a message for McKibben and the rest of those who are out to destroy the use of fossil fuel. “The idea that fossil fuels are destroying the planet, is contrary to all evidence. All of the evidence we have is that by producing abundant affordable energy, fossil fuels have made our climate 50 times safer over the past 80 years.” ” And just on a common sense level you’d much rather be alive today, whatever happens in the climate or the weather, than you would a hundred years ago….The last time we had Bill McKibbens desired C02 emissions.”

The fossil fuel industry is highly adaptive and at the cutting edge of new technological breakthroughs that make it more efficient and cleaner. The 3 fields of energy that produce power serving billions of people; nuclear, fossil and hydro electric, are incredibly advanced, making them the progressive energy of the present and future. Windmills (technology from hundeds of years ago) and solar cannot even begin to serve the energy needs of the world and replace fossil based (carbon) energy.

The militancy of the war on fossil energy, brings a huge price tag with it. Already there are job losses in coal which is under a huge assault. Gasoline is double the price it was 4 years ago and utility rates will skyrocket as rate payers are forced to pay the subsidies given to “green energy,” which McKibben and his allies want to force on society.

Epstein says: “The last thing true scientifically is, we need to destroy our energy supply. That is the least scientific statement a human could make and is the most suicidal statement a human could make.” “Bill McKibben and his movement are free to make us an offer in the free market of ideas…. let them convince us. But they don’t have the right to force us, or give us an order.”

I asked Epstein what he hopes to accomplish in this debate: “I want people to have an appreciation and gratitude for the fact that everything they love in their lives depends on abundant, affordable energy. Their ability to get that in the future and the ability of billions of others to get it in the future, depends on the freedom to use fossil fuels, as well as other practical sources of energy. But this ability is really under attack by Bill McKibben and others who think going forward we should not use fossil fuels.”

This debate is a rare opportunity for the public to witness the clash of powerful ideas that are being used to re-shape our civilization. With professor Manns loss of stature in the scientific community, the climate change movement has a lot to answer for and we will expect answers November 5.

___________________________________________________________

Ed Farnan’s articles are also carried in:

Irish Central
Energy independence-Politics & More
Carrollstandard.com
Tea Party Cheer
Tea Party Patriots
AMAC

US: On the Verge of Earth-Shattering Change

/4 Comments/in , /by

Horizontal drilling and fracking have made oil shale and tar sands rich sources of oil and natural gas, so much so that the United States may prove to possess the largest store of fossil-fuel reserves in the world — in theory, with enough gas, oil and coal never to need any imported Middle Eastern energy again. “Peak oil” suddenly is an anachronism. Widespread American use of cheap natural gas will do more to clean the planet than thousands of Solyndras.

If the United States uses its resources, its present pathologies — massive budget and trade deficits, mounting debt, strategic vulnerability — will start to subside. These new breakthroughs in petroleum engineering are largely American phenomena, reminding us that there still is something exceptional in the American experience that periodically offers the world cutting-edge technologies and protocols — such as those pioneered by Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Starbucks and Wal-Mart.

In comparison, China is not only resource-poor but politically impoverished. For decades, we were told that Chinese totalitarianism, when mixed with laissez-faire capitalism, led to sparkling airports and bullet trains, while a litigious and indulgent America settled for a run-down Los Angeles airport and creaking Amtrak relics. But the truth is that LAX probably will look modern sooner than the Chinese will hold open elections amid a transparent society — given that free markets did not make China democratic, only more contradictory.

Even more surreal, tiny, oil-poor Israel, thanks to vast new offshore finds, has been reinvented as a potential energy giant in the Middle East. Petrodollars will change Israel as they did the Persian Gulf countries, but with one major difference. Unlike Dubai or Kuwait, Israel is democratic, economically diverse, socially stable and technologically sophisticated, suggesting that the sudden windfall will not warp Israel as it did traditional Arab autocracies, but will instead become a force multiplier of an already dynamic society. Will Europe still snub Israel when it has as much oil, gas and money as a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in the Persian Gulf?

Who would have thought that a few fracking innovators in Texas would change the world’s carbon footprint far more than did Nobel laureate Al Gore — while offering a way for the U.S. to be energy-independent? Or that Angela Merkel, not the European Union, would run Europe? Or that Arabs would be overthrowing Arabs as oil-rich Israel watched idly?

Read more from this story HERE.

Photo credit: Ecopolitologist