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Page added on January 19, 2014
Coal, Oil, and Natural Gas Are Winning Issues
As Americans celebrate the idea that the United States is now the number one producer of natural gas and oil, some congressional Democrats are still very hostile toward all fuel fossils. Democrat Congressman Henry Waxman, who was a co-sponsor of cap-and-trade legislation, recently said “Many of us believe that (Keystone) pipeline will lock us into a 50 to 100 years of dependence on the dirtiest source of oil.”[1] Earlier this year, former Congressman Maurice Hinchey joined environmentalists to protest hydraulic fracturing and advocate for a moratorium on tapping into natural gas at the New York side of the Marcellus Shale.[2] Most notably, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid once said “Coal makes us sick, oil makes us sick, it’s ruining our country, it’s ruining our world.”[3] Thankfully, few other Democrats have been outspoken against natural gas, oil, or coal. However, many of them quietly vote against enhancing American competitiveness, becoming energy independent, and creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs. Not only are the facts on our side, but so is public opinion.
Instead of listening to misinformed environmentalists led by Josh Fox, they should listen to the facts on fracking for natural gas and oil. Firstly, there is no “proven case where the fracking process itself has affected water,”[4] Obama administration EPA Director Lisa Jackson once said. Other officials in the Obama administration have confirmed this notion. Secondly, natural gas is the safest fossil fuel by far, emitting half as much carbon emissions as coal and emitting thirty percent less than oil. Anyone who opposes natural gas essentially opposes all fossil fuels. Thirdly, the United States is now the number one producer of natural gas and oil, recently surpassing Russia.[5] Yet, we have only started to drill for natural gas a few years ago. While New York stubbornly maintains a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, other blue states like California and Illinois have passed laws in 2013 that regulates it instead of endorsing Josh Fox’s idea of instituting a moratorium on the practice.[6] Despite the fact that Democrats control two-thirds of the California state legislature, they passed such a law over the objections of environmentalists.[7] Based on all of these facts, hydraulic fracturing should be a bipartisan issue.
Congress needs to pass a law allowing the Keystone Pipeline XL. The opponents of it have little, if any, merit. Waxman and other progressives oppose it simply because they oppose all fossil fuels. In January 2012, President Barack Obama single-handedly rejected the permit for the pipeline, saying “This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people.”[8] However, the state department, led by then-Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, had several months to review and approve it. To this day they the Obama administration has not approved it, likely because of political threats by environmentalists, most notably billionaire Tom Steyer.[9] Lawmakers should ignore these threats and look at the facts. The pipeline is safe, will create thousands of new jobs, and has broad bipartisan support. The labor unions, led by the AFL-CIO, endorsed the construction of the pipeline saying “there’s nothing environmentally unsound about the pipeline.”[10]
Finally, the United States should promote clean coal as part of an all-of-the-above energy approach to public policy. We are the number two producer of coal in the world, behind China, despite the fact that we have more coal reserves than China does. Currently, about half of the states, led by Wyoming, produce coal.[11] Thirty-nine percent of America’s electricity comes from coal, a higher percentage than oil and natural gas, and forty-eight states use coal for electricity.[12] Unfortunately, the coal industry has declined dramatically over the past few decades because of the lobbying by environmentalists, excessive regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency, and Obama’s new policy of regulating greenhouse gases. Despite new clean coal technologies, few coal plants have been built in recent years and hundreds of closed down, depressing the economy of the Appalachian Region. One rare exception is the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center, built by Dominion Resources in Wise County, Virginia, which was finished in September 2012 despite vehement opposition from environmentalists.[13] Republican Governor Bob McDonnell praised it as the most environmentally friendly coal-fired power plant in the world. Dominion Chairman, President, and CEO Thomas F. Farrell II said the plant “is literally the cleanest coal plant in the whole world.” This country needs more clean coal plants as part of a diversified energy portfolio.[14]
Finally, fossil fuels have support from the public. Opinion polls from Rasmussen Reports[15], Bloomberg News[16], and Pew Research[17] show that an overwhelming majority of Americans support the Keystone Pipeline. In addition, polls from Rasmussen Reports[18], Public Policy Polling[19], and Pew Research[20] show majority support for offshore oil drilling. A poll conducted the Robert Morris University Polling Institute found that 54% of Americans support fracking in their hometown, 56% support fracking generally, 60% believe the United States should export natural gas, 74% see new fracking technologies as enhancing American competitiveness, and 80% agree fracking has the potential to help the national economy.[21] Oil, natural gas, and coal still have public opinion and the facts on their side. For Republicans, an all-of-the-approach is a winning political issue.
7 Comments on "Coal, Oil, and Natural Gas Are Winning Issues"
eugene on Sun, 19th Jan 2014 1:08 am
My god, number one producer. What magic!! Unless my figures are way, way off, we are the number one producer of bullshit.
Matthew R. Carroll, Ph.D. on Sun, 19th Jan 2014 3:30 am
Please see the items below,Gas first, then Coal:
“Chesapeake Energy has not only reduced drilling, but sold off hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of assets to cover unsustainable debt loads. BP has been forced to write off nearly two billion dollars in assets. Rex Tillerson, the CEO of ExxonMobil, told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City in June 2012, “We’re losing our shirts [on shale gas production]. We’re making no money. It’s all in the red.”
“In a New York Times investigative article (“After the Boom in Natural Gas,” October 20, 2012), Clifford Krauss and Eric Lipton wrote, “Like the recent credit bubble, the boom and bust in gas were driven in large part by tens of billions of dollars in creative financing engineered by investment banks like Goldman Sachs, Barclays and Jefferies & Company.” The article details how this “creative financing” forced drillers to keep drilling even when each new well represented a financial loss.30”
( Richard Heinberg, SNAKE OIL: Chapter 5 – The Economics of Fracking: Who Benefits?,
“ . . . energy giant Royal Dutch Shell shocked Wall Street by taking a whopping $2 billion write-down in the value of its North American shale assets”
Philly.com, Pa. fracking boom goes bust, September 12, 2013, WILL BUNCH, Daily News Staff Writer bunchw@phillynews.com, 215-854-2957
http://articles.philly.com/2013-09-12/news/41974274_1_fracking-boom-penn-state-marcellus-center-marcellus-shale
“North American oil and gas deals, including shale assets, plunged 52 percent to $26 billion in the first six months from $54 billion in the year-ago period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. During the drilling frenzy of 2009 through 2012, energy companies spent more than $461 billion buying North American oil and gas properties, the data show.”
Claire Thompson, Fracking frenzy slows as oil and gas assets plummet in price, 20 Aug 2013
http://grist.org/news/fracking-frenzy-slows-as-oil-and-gas-assets-plummet/
“Free cash flow of Continental Resources, a big player in the Bakken, has dropped from a loss of ($430M) to a loss of ($2.4B) since 2010. And Continental is not the only one. Devon Energy’s free cash flow has dropped from ($1.2B) to a significant ($3.5B) over the same time frame. Range Resources, who are drilling primarily in the Marcellus, booked a negative free cash flow of ($556M) in 2010 and this has deteriorated to ($1.0B). Kodiak Oil and Gas, another Bakken player, had negative free cash flow in 2010 of ($170M). It has now deteriorated to ($1.0B). Chesapeake is interesting because its free cash flow for 2012 ($3.3B) is now roughly equivalent to its level in 2010, ($3.4B). But over the last two years Chesapeake has liquidated approximately $13 billion in assets with no commensurate gain to free cash flow. Management still needs to move outside the company to generate cash to continue operations. And yet, shareholders have had their underlying assets disappear to the tune of $13B to pay down debt.”
JOHN WARD, ANALYSIS: How Fracking hype disguises the sector’s dangerous financial losses to date, AUGUST 21, 2013, (Quote from Energy Policy Forum),
COAL
US Coal Companies are Experiencing Serious Financial Distress and an Uncertain Future
Top US coal companies are in serious financial distress, with many coal companies reporting large losses in the last several years. Many US coal companies are carrying large amounts of debt that greatly exceed their market value and are paying interest rates in excess of 6%. (See Part 5)
_ The legendary investor Warren Buffett, has written off over $1.3 billion in investment in the heavily coal-dependent Energy Future Holdings of Texas. _ AES Eastern lost several hundred million
dollars when two New York coal plants went bankrupt and were sold to bond holders for $240 million while their original cost was approximately $550 million.
_ The decision by First Energy to idle the huge Sammis coal plant in Ohio after investing over $1.8 billion in pollution upgrades.
_ The decision by Energy Capital Partners to close the 1500 MW Brayton Point coal plant in Massachusetts despite a recent investment of over $1 billion on upgrades.
_ The decision by Xcel Energy to invest approximately $1 billion in a new coal plant in Pueblo, Colorado that was intended to operate until 2069 without first assessing long term coal supplies and which could become a stranded asset long before 2069.
http://cleanenergyaction.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/warning-faulty-reporting-us-coal-reserves.pdf
WARNING: FAULTY REPORTING OF US COAL RESERVES – Why Reports of a “200 Year Supply” of Cheap US Coal Are Faulty and The Imperative of Repowering the United States
A Report by Clean Energy Action, Leslie Glustrom, Director of Research and Policy, October 2013
J-Gav on Sun, 19th Jan 2014 10:02 am
This article puts the stu in stupid.
Ghung on Sun, 19th Jan 2014 3:01 pm
From the source sie:
“Our Mission
Turning Point USA starts conversations among young people, by educating students about fiscal responsibility, free markets, and capitalism. Through non-partisan debate, dialogue, and discussion, Turning Point USA believes that every young person can be enlightened to true free market values,”
Indoctrinate’em while they’re still young, eh?
cusano on Sun, 19th Jan 2014 6:35 pm
“..the United States should promote clean coal..”
That’s a great idea..unfortunately there is no such thing as clean coal..period.
..plus we have the cleanest coal plant in the whole world. Does this mean that there is an excellent maintenance crew working there?..because if clean refers to coal emissions..well, that doesn’t exist either.
Articles like this make folks feel good about things they should be quite concerned about. The author should be ashamed of himself.
Makati1 on Mon, 20th Jan 2014 9:15 am
Ghung, I’m glad I am not the only one who looks at sources. Yes, Capitalist indoctrination is needed to keep the serfs in line. Religions like this would have died out long ago if they had to wait until children were old enough to reason before they were told about god(s).
Bob Owens on Mon, 20th Jan 2014 9:08 pm
I can’t stand it! We Environmentalists have shut down Big Coal! If only we could. We spent decades trying to get Big Auto to increase CAFE standards with no success. Only when Big Auto saw the writing on the wall that they would be out of business without oil did they decide that better fuel economy and smaller cars were what America really wanted! Such is the power the Green Environmental people have.