Environmental policy

Ethanol Blather Courtesy of the Epa and the Financial Times

Michael Giberson On Friday, the EPA announced it now believes it is safe to use fuels made with up to 15 percent ethanol in cars, SUVs and light-duty trucks manufactured between 2001 and 2006.  EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said, “Whenever sound science and the law support steps to allow more home-grown fuels in America’s vehicles, this …

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Troubles, from the Point of View of the Solar Power Industry

Michael Giberson It’s not easy out there for the solar power industry: Renewable power credits don’t provide long term security for developers… …and middlemen seem to make more money from RECs than renewable power producers do. Private homeowner association rules can frustrate desires of persons wanting to go solar. Local government zoning regulations and associated …

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More on Evergreen Solar’s Move to China

Lynne Kiesling As an addendum to Mike’s post Monday about Evergreen Solar and Ed Glaeser’s comments, note that WW at The Economist’s Democracy in America blog has also posted some remarks on the subject. In particular, he focuses on the use (or uselessness) of solar technology subsidies as social policy: If subsidies for solar-panel manufactures …

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Evergreen Solar Moves Manufacturing to China

Michael Giberson In my view most “green jobs” arguments are bunk. While such estimates may have their practical uses, for the most part they are convenient lies. Industry lies to politicians and bureaucrats to get subsidies, and politicians recycle the lies to get votes. My view is not particularly subtle. Edward Glaeser provides a subtler …

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BPA Won’t Pay Negative Prices to Get Wind Power Producers to Curtail

Michael Giberson At a December 2010 meeting, the federal Bonneville Power Agency announced that it would not pay wind power producers in its area to curtail during overgeneration events that sometimes result from the way the agency manages water flow through hydropower facilities to comply with environmental regulations. When reservoirs are full, the BPA’s dams …

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Texas Transmission Route to Avoid Crossing Scenic Canyon

Michael Giberson Last week the Texas PUC approved routes for the northwesternmost link in the CREZ transmission expansion, choosing one of the longest of several possible transmission routes in order to avoid crossing parts of Palo Duro canyon.  The canyon is the nation’s second longest and includes a state park.  None of the routes would …

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Industry Advocates: Jobs Will Be Lost if Congress Doesn’t Act

Michael Giberson My title is taken from the subtitle of a story in the Arizona Republic, the headline is: “Solar supporters link future to subsidies.” The “solar supporters” and “industry advocates” referred to are the Solar Energy Industries Association and the American Wind Energy Association, both actively lobbying Congress for extension of the so-called 1603 …

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The Rule of Capture in Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Law

Michael Giberson Via the Agricultural Law Resource and Reference Center at Pennsylvania State University, a presentation on “The rule of capture in Pennsylvania oil and gas law” (see also this summary). Among other things, the presentation clears up my question (in yesterday’s post on oil production in the state) about the current relevance of the …

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Ethanol Comments Supply Evidence That Al Gore Will Never Again Run for Office

Michael Giberson I suppose Al Gore is enjoying life and never expects to run for public office.  Clear evidence of this fact? His recent comments on ethanol: “It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for (U.S.) first generation ethanol,” said Gore, speaking at a green energy business conference in Athens sponsored …

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