Posts

How Rick Perry Can Free up US Energy from Government Favoritism

/0 Comments/in , /by

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry recently had his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

If confirmed, Perry should work with Congress to reduce the size and scope of the agency’s intrusive reach into energy markets. Here are three priorities:

1. Stop and eliminate taxpayer-backed loans and loan guarantees.

On his way out the door, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz has announced a conditional loan guarantee for a fossil fuel project—a blatant, taxpayer-backed subsidy of up to $2 billion for Lake Charles Methanol, LLC. Such federal government meddling in the energy sector is the exact wrong approach to America’s energy policy.

The Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program provides taxpayer-backed loans to politically favored clean technologies that are “typically unable to obtain conventional private financing due to high technology risks.” Lake Charles Methanol, for example, is building the world’s first methanol plant using carbon capture technology for enhanced oil recovery.

Too much risk is often a reason why projects do not receive financial backing. Or, companies may have better options for their investment dollars. Regardless of why projects fail to secure private investment funds, it’s not a legitimate function of government to fill the void by financing projects on the backs of taxpayers.

The Department of Energy’s loan programs are a double-edged sword for the American economy. Either the government subsidizes likely-to-fail projects, thus throwing away taxpayer dollars, or it provides corporate welfare, keeping politically favored activities alive while diminishing the innovative role of the entrepreneur and private investment.

It’s a lose-lose proposition.

2. Eliminate spending on applied research and technology commercialization.

The Department of Energy spends billions of dollars annually to drive specific energy technologies to the market. As with the loan guarantee programs, commercially viable energy sources do not need support from the taxpayer.

Eliminating such wasteful spending will remove government intervention that diverts capital from the private sector to government-supported projects.

Instead of spending taxpayer dollars on a variety of politically preferred energy technologies and hoping for the next energy revolution to come through government planning, the federal government should recognize how successful free enterprise has been in driving energy transformations and meeting consumer demand.

In conjunction with eliminating spending on technological development in the energy sector in the presidential budget, President Donald Trump should appoint an undersecretary for the sole purpose of phasing out the applied offices within the Department of Energy.

Eliminating these offices will send a strong message that the government does not need to intervene in energy markets, whether it is for conventional fuels or renewable ones.

Proper reform will produce a more effective, flexible national laboratory system that is focused less on serving members of Congress’ pet projects and more on the country’s national priorities focused on basic research and scientific discovery and exploration.

3. Refrain from issuing new energy efficiency standards, and urge Congress to repeal the old energy conservation standards.

The secretary should order the Department of Energy not to implement or revise any new efficiency standards and recommend that Congress pass legislation eliminating all efficiency standards, leaving it to the states unless state regulations violate interstate commerce.

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act, as amended, authorizes the Department of Energy to develop and implement maximum energy-use standards for appliances and equipment.

The department currently regulates energy use from more than 60 appliances and products, including refrigerators, air conditioners, furnaces, televisions, showerheads, ovens, toilets, and light bulbs, and whatever the secretary determines or is petitioned to test.

Efficiency regulations are more about cronyism and controlling consumer choice than improving the environment. In fact, the department’s projected environmental benefits to Americans from reducing greenhouse gas emissions are a paltry one percent of the benefits projected from efficiency regulations.

In promulgating efficiency regulations, the Department of Energy prioritizes energy efficiency over other preferences customers have. For instance, the purchaser of a washing machine may prefer a faster cycle time than a slower one that saves water.

Moreover, the market generates efficiency without government intervention. The incentive for families and businesses to save money drives innovation to decrease prices and improve performance and efficiency.

The successful implementation of these priorities will go a long way to reforming American energy policy. Assuming Perry is confirmed by the Senate, he should make these three items the top of his agenda. (For more from the author of “How Rick Perry Can Free up US Energy from Government Favoritism” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Climate Squish? Rick Perry Vows to Follow ‘Sound Science’ on Climate Change

/0 Comments/in , /by

Despite previous statements questioning human activity’s role in climate change, former Texas Governor Rick Perry assured Senate Democrats in his confirmation hearing to be Secretary of Energy that he believes the “climate is changing.”

“I believe some of it is naturally occurring, but some of it is caused by manmade activity,” Perry told the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Thursday, reassuring skeptics that he will follow “sound science” as energy secretary.

Perry also strongly repudiated a controversial climate change questionnaire from the Trump transition team that circulated the Energy Department, which the transition team later disavowed. “I didn’t approve it. I don’t approve of it. I don’t need that information. I don’t want that information,” Perry told the committee, in no uncertain terms. (For more from the author of “Climate Squish? Rick Perry Vows to Follow ‘Sound Science’ on Climate Change” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Rick Perry Once Wanted to Cut the Department of Energy. Now Trump Wants Him to Lead It

/0 Comments/in , /by

More Trump transition team news broke late Monday night, as Fox News’ Bret Baier reported that “an informed source” close to the transition team claimed President-elect Donald Trump will nominate former Texas Governor Rick Perry to lead the government agency responsible for unleashing a trans-dimensional man-eating beast on an unsuspecting Indiana town — err, the Department of Energy.

As the former governor of Texas — one of the nation’s largest oil producing states — Rick Perry makes sense to lead the department in charge of overseeing energy production, energy conservation, and related research and development. The U.S. Department of Energy is also responsible for America’s nuclear weapons program and nuclear energy.

Observers quickly noted, however, that the DOE was one that then-presidential candidate Perry forgot in his pledge to eliminate three federal agencies during a 2012 Republican primary debate. That “oops” moment more or less ended his 2012 presidential campaign.

But Perry was right, there is certainly plenty to cut. President Obama has funneled billions of dollars into the department to subsidize black-hole green energy projects that would never be sustainable otherwise, without the cronyist backing.

Remember Solyndra? American taxpayers lost as much as $850 million to the green-project boondoggle at President Obama’s direction. But Solyndra, of course, is but one example in the rigged, ideologically driven market.

It is not the role of the federal government to step into the marketplace and aid an industry that cannot compete on a level playing field. Perry can go a long way toward ending the green-energy crony capitalism so prevalent under the Obama administration.

If the former Texas governor indeed becomes the secretary of energy, he also has the opportunity to end Obama’s war on nuclear power. The Obama administration proposed defunding the Savannah River plutonium mixed oxide recycling plant in its 2017 fiscal year budget, while increasing funding for green energy investment. Rick Perry as secretary of energy could redirect the department’s resources away from wasteful projects, and toward clean nuclear power. (For more from the author of “Rick Perry Once Wanted to Cut the Department of Energy. Now Trump Wants Him to Lead It” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Perry to Hillary: Fix Your Own State Before You Attack Texas

/1 Comment/in , /by

By Pam Key. Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” former Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) reacted to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton accusing Republicans of intentionally attempting to disenfranchise voters based on race, age and poverty level and said she insulted the people of Texas who overwhelmingly supported the law.

Perry said, “Well, I think it’s way outside the norm of ridiculous, if you want to know the truth of the matter, to call out the people of the state of Texas, that’s what she did, I just happened to be the governor that signed that legislation and support it, and the vast majority of the people of Texas support it, and what Secretary Clinton did was saying the state of Texas didn’t.” (Read more from “Perry to Hillary: Fix Your Own State Before You Attack Texas” HERE)

_______________________________________________________

Rick Perry Promises to Take on Wall Street in 2016

By Rebecca Kaplan. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry has a message for Wall Street during his second campaign that could just as easily come from a progressive candidate on the left: No special treatment from Washington.

“There is nothing too big to fail from my perspective when it comes to banks, or when it comes to big corporate entities. And I think Americans are fed up. I am,” Perry said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. ” We’re fed up by seeing Wall Street get treated specially. And you can’t even get a loan from your community bank because of Dodd-Frank banking regulations. All that has to change.”

In practice, he said that means regulations for Wall Street banks – something that is not always popular among the GOP.

“If they make bad decisions, let them live with those bad decisions. Don’t bail them out,” he said.

That doesn’t mean he supports the Dodd-Frank financial regulation legislation signed into law in 2010. That law, he said, “is killing the community banks” because they can’t make loans to small businesses. (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Rick Perry to Announce Presidential Run Next Month

/0 Comments/in , /by

rickperry_5Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry has chosen Dallas to officially declare his second run for the Republican presidential nomination on June 4.

For months, Perry has said that he would announce his decision in May or June. But his constant travel to the early contest states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida has left little doubt of his intentions . . .

Unlike four years ago, when he rushed into the contest after seeing he could raise quick money and was leading in polls, Perry enters this contest as an underdog.

He is polling in single digits, but again unlike his last run, he has spent more than a year in preparation. He has consulted weekly with conservative experts on foreign relations and economic policy. He has assembled advisers and campaign teams in the early states and has even taken tutoring in public speaking . . .

In the 2016 contest, he will begin from behind, not only trying to push his message through the similar-sounding policies advanced by a large pack of candidates, but he also must erase memories of his previous debate flops and campaign stumbles. (Read more from “Rick Perry to Announce Presidential Run Next Month” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Texas Judge Allows Felony Case Against Governor Perry To Proceed

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

A state district judge refused to throw out the criminal charges against Gov. Rick Perry, ruling Tuesday that special prosecutor Michael McCrum had been properly appointed to the case.

Perry’s legal team argued that the charges must be voided because special prosecutor Michael McCrum did not properly take his oath of office when he began working on the governor’s case, negating every act performed over the past 15 months — including the indictment accusing Perry of abusing the powers of his office.

Senior District Judge Bert Richardson disagreed.

“This court concludes that Mr. McCrum’s authority was not voided by procedural irregularities in how and when the oath of office … was administered,” Richardson’s order said. . .

A Travis County grand jury indicted Perry in August on felony charges of abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant. The indictment resulted from his threat last year to Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to resign after her April 2013 drunken driving conviction or lose $7.5 million for the Public Integrity Unit housed in her office.

Read more from this story HERE.

WHOA! Rick Perry Has Tough Words for Radical Islam

/9 Comments/in , /by

Texas Governor Rick Perry is already a conservative superstar and is a likely 2016 Presidential candidate. But at a private meeting with the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean in London, Perry explained his foreign policy positions and just how serious the radical Islam threat is.

In addition, he described how dangerous the creeping “Islamification” of Britain is. He called for moral clarity in this ongoing global battle against terrorism.

Speaking on the dangers of radical Islam, Governor Perry chose not to follow the form of U.S. President Barack Obama or UK Prime Minister David Cameron by insisting that Islamic terrorists are “not Muslim,” a convenient dodge recently described as a “reassuring assertion, and one that almost everyone, including the vast majority of Muslims, would desperately like to believe”, but ultimately “wishful thinking.”

Instead, Perry asserted the moralistic strength of Western culture, and that of ISIS a “falsehood”: “Their twisted version of Islam amounts to a creed of human cruelty – pure sadism, and nothing more.”

He pulled no punches when describing in graphic detail the ISIS advance: “The enslavement, the beheadings, the crucifixions, the mass executions, the forced conversions. And all of this, of course, by men who tell themselves they are doing God’s work on this earth.” Criticising those who assert “quite plainly, that the Middle East is ultimately no concern of ours” Perry opposed moral relativism in the face of the barbarity of the Islamic State: “we have every right to judge, and every reason to act.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Gov. Perry Indicted: Everything's Big in Texas, Even this B.S.

/0 Comments/in , /by

RickPerry4274By Sarah Palin.

Remember Barack Obama telling his followers to always “bring a gun to a knife fight”? Like good subjects do, his supporters in Texas obeyed. Friday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry was indicted on two counts of abuse of power.

This ridiculous politically motivated “indictment” of Governor Rick Perry stems from the ugly thug tactics of the “politics of personal destruction” that the left is known for. They draw blood and leave scars on conservatives who threaten their political power, hoping the threat retreats and hoping his or her base of support remains silent in fear of becoming collateral damage.

Thankfully, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and those of us with scars to prove it can help others learn from things like this Texas-sized political drama.

This ridiculous politically motivated “indictment” of Governor Rick Perry stems from the ugly thug tactics of the “politics of personal destruction” that the left is known for.

First and foremost, today’s liberals have no shame. Case in point: Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg.

Read more from this story HERE.

____________________________________________

Photo Credit: TONY GUTIERREZ / AP

Photo Credit: TONY GUTIERREZ / AP

Perry blasts felony indictment as ‘outrageous’

By Dave Montgomery.

A defiant Rick Perry went on the offensive Saturday, a day after being indicted on accusations of abusing his power with a controversial veto, denouncing the charges as “outrageous” political theatrics and predicting he will prevail over “those who would erode our state’s constitution and laws purely for political purposes.”

“I wholeheartedly and unequivocally stand behind my veto and will continue to defend this lawful action of my executive authority as governor,” Perry told reporters at a packed six-minute news conference near his office on the second floor of the Capitol.

“We don’t settle political differences with indictments in this country.”

The indictment, returned Friday by a Travis County grand jury, made Perry the first sitting Texas governor in nearly a century to be indicted, abruptly threw uncertainty over his potential presidential candidacy in 2016 and triggered state and national repercussions that Democrats hope will spill into this year’s gubernatorial race to choose his successor.

Democrats at the state and national levels escalated their demands for Perry to resign, but the state’s longest-tenured governor served notice that he plans to stay in office till the end of his term and vowed that he will ultimately beat the legal charges.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rick Perry Calls for National Guard to Defend the Border

/4 Comments/in , , /by

Photo Credit: Gage SkidmoreThe situation at the Texas border is getting worse by the day, and the federal government, who should be providing adequate resources to solve the issue is nowhere to be found.

Texas has seen an astronomical increase in unaccompanied children flooding across the border since October. Emergency stations have been converted to house the kids and resources to provide care are starting to dwindle.

In response to the situation, Texas created their own border security patrol units that have been working tirelessly to prevent illegals from coming across the border, but more help is needed.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is calling on the government to send National Guard troops down to the border to militarize the area in order to reduce the number of illegals entering the country.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rick Perry: Feds Gobble Up Available Rooms for Illegal Children — Nothing Left for Texans

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Washington Examiner Texas Gov. Rick Perry said that the federal government has taken up every bit of spare available space in his state to house the tens of thousands of illegal children flooding over the U.S. border, leaving him with no rooms for Texans who might be left homeless in a natural disaster like a hurricane.

“Were we to have a major event, I literally would not have places to house our citizens because of this influx from Mexico,” he warned at a media luncheon hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

“I am greatly concerned about the huge catastrophe that could occur with those two events happening simultaneously,” he said of the potential for a hurricane hitting as the federal government continues to embrace illegal youths instead of sending them home.

Federal authorities are housing the youths in hotels and even military bases while they search for relatives to turn them over to.

Read more from this story HERE.