Day: July 9, 2009

Obama stimulus slows renewable projects

President Obama’s stimulus package is slowing the development of so-called “renewable energy” projects as developers shun private capital in hopes of getting better deals from the government.

The problem is that,

None of these incentives has yet been defined with specific rules and none of the programs are yet accepting applications…

And the rentseekers aren’t happy.

Matt Cheney, chief executive of Renewable Ventures, the U.S. subsidiary of Fotowatio SL, a Spanish developer of renewable-energy projects said of Obama’s stimulus program,

“It artificially slowed the recovery.”

Keshav Prasad, vice president of business development at Signet Solar Inc. added,

“We will not close on anything until we finally hear from the DOE on the loan guarantee.”

Bureaucracy thwarts rentseeking!

Senate version of Waxman-Markey imminent

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is “days” away from releasing a Senate version of the Waxman-Markey bill that just passed the House, according to Carbon Control News.

Based on comments from Sen. John Kerry made at a July 8 hearing, the Senate version will “revise” [read “water down”] the Waxman-Markey imposition of tariffs on goods from countries that don’t reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Click here for a new GAO report on trade options for climate legislation.

Unions won’t be happy about a retreat on tariffs…

De-desalination: Greens oppose Calif. plans

From today’s Wall Street Journal:

Early next year, the Southern California town of Carlsbad will break ground on a plant that each day will turn 50 million gallons of seawater into fresh drinking water…

Government agencies have opposed desalination because of the process’s energy consumption. The desalination plant would use nearly twice as much energy as a wastewater-treatment plant available in Orange County. Environmental groups also object because fish and other organisms are likely to be sucked into the facility.

“Eventually, people will have to realize, it’s either fish or children,” Mr. Lewis said…

Officials in Carlsbad began discussing desalination in 1998 and planned to open the plant this year. But opposition was fierce.

The Surfrider Foundation and San Diego Coastkeeper — two local environmental groups — argue the plant would be disastrous for marine life, “killing everything that floats” near the plant’s intake, said Surfrider’s Joe Geever.

The permitting process continued for six years, and included 14 public hearings that ran a total of 170 hours and included five revisions to the plan…

Pickens scraps wind scam

“In a sign of the difficulties facing the development of wind energy, T. Boone Pickens, the legendary Texas oilman, is suspending plans to build the world’s largest wind farm,” reports reports the New York Times.

We are proud to have helped expose the Pickens Plan for the scam that it was.

This is quite the embarrassing legacy for the “legendary Texas oilman.”