Wednesday, February 29, 2012

An Inconvenient Truth -- Wow, Is It Ever!

President Barack Obama's Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu uttered the kind of Washington gaffe that consists of telling the truth when inconvenient. According to Politico, Chu admitted to a House committee that the administration is not interested in lowering gas prices

Chu, along with the Obama administration, regards the spike in gas prices as a feature rather than a bug. High gas prices provide an incentive for alternate energy technology, a priority for the White House, and a decrease in reliance on oil for energy. 

The Heritage Foundation points out that hammering the American consumer with high gas prices to make electric and hybrid cars more appealing is consistent with Obama administration policy and Chu's philosophy. That explains the refusal to allow the building of the Keystone XL pipeline and to allow drilling in wide areas of the U.S. and offshore areas. 

The consequences of the policy are not likely to be of benefit to the Obama administration. The Republican National Committee has already issued a video highlighting the spike in gas prices and the failure of the administration to address the issue.
Another lost decade. 

4 comments:

  1. Keystone Oil Pipeline Seen Raising Gas Prices in Midwest: Energy

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-01/keystone-oil-pipeline-seen-raising-gas-prices-in-midwest-energy.html

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  2. Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu may be a very intelligent person winning a Nobel prize.

    However he is a prime example of being over educated beyond his ability. Somewhere, with all that education his feet left solid ground and he now resides in a bubble of la la land, disconnected from any practical application of thought. Like a child in a make believe world. Very dangerous type of person to have in a position of power with regards to the energy security of our country.

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  3. You are so correct; I saw a lot of these types when I was at "headquarters" jobs in the USAF. Some folks began to take themselves too seriously, figuring they were the smartest folks in the room, and having no time for others. If they are correct, they can have major positive effect, but if wrong, they are tragically wrong.

    I think that's what happened here. They didn't run the numbers: there is not enough AVAILABLE land in the world for all the solar panels that would be needed; wind marginally better, but now we see there are no redeeming features for wind turbines -- killing migratory birds; destroying photographic vistas; not as maintenance free as we were led to believe; increased pressure on conventional utilities as backup when the turbines don't turn (no wind), etc., etc.

    Wow, as I write that, all I see is Don Quixote jousting with those wind turbines. Chu is probably starting to look a lot like the withered Don.

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