A Free-Market Energy Blog

Money from Dead Eagles: Audubon Society on the Take

By Jim Wiegand -- November 17, 2015

“Paying the Audubon Society $10,500 per MW for repowered turbines and up to $5 million for this environmental disaster also does not reduce eagle mortality. It simply persuades Audubon to keep silent about the slaughter. The truth is in the higher carcass counts and mortality numbers at Altamont.”

Altamont, the U.S. wind industry’s most controversial area, has been in the news a great deal lately. Amid the controversy, developers are seeking public support for the huge new turbines to be installed there.

One of the major selling points for these turbines is that they will reduce eagle mortality. However, carefully hidden facts say otherwise. Although Altamont, the media, and Audubon Society are reporting a substantial decline in eagle mortality, the fact is that eagle carcass counts and other body counts have increased significantly at this “green” industrial slaughterhouse.…

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Time for Congress to End the Wind Production Tax Credit (again)

By Rand Stowell -- November 16, 2015

“With the Department of Energy and the American Wind Energy Association regularly crowing that wind is cost-competitive with (or more competitive than) conventional generation sources, there is no justification for further subsidies. The wind training wheels have been on the bike since 1992. They have done their job and it is now time to remove them.”

As winter approaches, Congress is being overrun by wind industry lobbyists (again). Their annual year-end money dance has become routine as we have seen the 1992 energy production tax credit die more deaths than the proverbial nine-lived cat.

Just as routinely, we have become accustomed to picking up the newspaper on New Year’s Day to read that in the cold, dark holiday night, Congress has revived the production tax credit (again).

Over time, Congress has supported throwing additional taxpayer money at the expired or expiring production tax credit, often at the eleventh hour.…

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‘Too much energy, too soon, a hazard’ (Obama’s Science Advisor living his dream)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- November 12, 2015

“Mounting evidence suggests that the United States is approaching (if not beyond) the level where further energy growth costs more than it is worth.”

– John Holdren. “Too Much Energy, Too Soon, a Hazard.” Windsor Star, August 11, 1975.

John Holdren in 1975 was assistant professor of energy and resources at the University of California, Berkeley. Forty years later, he is in his seventh year as the science advisor to President Obama.

What has not changed is an his anti-energy philosophy, as evidenced by this long-forgotten 1975 essay. It is reproduced in its entirely to add to the Holdren record, one that he has chosen not to renounce or demote in his present capacity.

The United States is threatened far more by the hazards of too much energy, too soon, than by the hazards of too little, too late.

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Wind Power Destruction in New York State: ‘Clean’ Power Plan Problem

By Mary Kay Barton -- November 11, 2015
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Obama’s Keystone XL Rejection: $260 million Annually for Koch Industries?

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- November 10, 2015
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Charles Koch: An Entrepreneur for Liberty

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- November 9, 2015
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Obama Strong Arms on Climate

By James Rust -- November 5, 2015
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Wind Energy vs. Bald Eagles: Bad News from Altamont Pass

By Gabriela Quiros -- November 4, 2015
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‘Hot Rocks’ Advanced Geothermal: A Reality Check

By Donn Dears -- November 3, 2015
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Halloween Hangover: Hansen, Holdren, and McKibben (spooky science on display)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- November 2, 2015
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