via Exxon Mobil: $908 M awarded in Venezuela dispute – Yahoo! Finance.

Under President Jimmy Carter, The ‘Department of Energy’ was instituted on August 4, 1977. Its purpose was to lessen U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

Imports: In 1977, 8,565,000 barrels of oil (net) per day, or 37.3%.  For 2009, 9,667,000 barrels per day, or 51%

Domestic production has declined. The U.S. produced 3 billion barrels of oil in 1977. By 2009, that was reduced to 1.95 billion, according to the EIA.

Oil consumption in the U.S. is up, not down. In 1977, the U.S.consumed 18.4 million barrels of oil per day. In 2009, we consumed 18.77 million barrels per day, making the U.S. the world’s largest petroleum consumer.

Gasoline usage has grown significantly. In 1977, the U.S. utilized 7.1 million barrels/day of gasoline. In 2009, Americans used 8,997,000 barrels/day, or 378 million gallons/day.

Gasoline prices have continued to rise. In 1979, the average price of gasoline in the U.S. was $0.58 per gallon, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Adjusted for inflation, that is the equivalent of $1.85 in 2010 dollars. In 2009, the average price of gasoline in the United States was $2.88 per gallon. During 2008, oil prices reached a record high of $145 a barrel, with gasoline prices of more than $4 per gallon throughout much of the nation.

A huge federal bureaucracy was created. The Department of Energy brought together under one Cabinet secretary more than 50 agencies that dealt with energy, including the Atomic Energy Commission. Upon its creation in 1977, according to official estimates, the new DOE employed a total of 20,000 people. Today, the Department of Energy has 16,000 permanent employees and 100,000 contract employees around the nation.

The agency’s budget, meanwhile, has ballooned from $8.4 billion in Fiscal Year 1980 to $26.5 billion in FY2010.

Good intentions do not necessarily translate to good results, especially where the federal government is concerned. Matter of fact, the Dept. of Energy and the Dept. of Education (both DOE’s) should be the first to go in cutting government waste.

H/T Political Vel Craft

All the studies of the pipeline are done. Our Canadian neighbors are not happy that Obama chose to delay his decision on the pipeline until after the 2012 election. Senate bill S.1932 is Republican’s attempt to force the president’s hand before the election, calling for a decision from the Sec. of State within 60 days.

The bill would:

1. Establish congressional affirmation that Keystone XL is good for job creation, economic growth, and national security;
2. Require the President, through the Secretary of State, to issue a permit within 60 days to allow the Keystone XL project to move ahead, unless he finds that it’s not in the national interest;
3. Require the permit for Keystone XL to contain strong and specific environmental protections and protect states’ rights;
4. Require the federal permit to recognize an alternative route approved by Nebraska, protecting their ability to shift the route of the pipeline to avoid the Sand Hills area, while not holding up construction elsewhere;
5. Concludes more than three years of federal review by deeming the Final Environmental Impact Statement to be adequate.

Where President Obama is concerned, his re-election takes precedent over the national interest. Because if he were to approve the pipeline, he would alienate his environmental base and risk losing their campaign contributions. If he rejects it before the election, he puts BIG LABOR (labor unions are in favor of the pipeline) on the ropes and risks losing their support.  To him, putting off the decision until after the election is his way of voting present and doesn’t risk a dime of campaign contributions or support from either the environmental or labor union special interests.

If he rejects it, how could he explain to the American people why the nation doesn’t need 700,000 barrels a day of Canadian crude and 140,000 high-paying jobs? After all the green-energy bankruptcy scandals (BrightSource, Solyndra, etc.), he can’t say with a straight face how green energy is the answer to today’s energy problems. His own Energy Information Administration . . .

projects that most petroleum-based and non-petroleum based liquid fuels — including those derived from fuels such as coal, biomass, and natural gas — will continue to be used for transportation over the next two decades.

At a time when our economy is struggling and real unemployment is north of 11 percent, a truly shovel ready project like this means over a hundred thousand jobs nationwide. 14,000 in Oklahoma alone according to Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), ranking Republican on the Senate Environment Committee.

In my state of Oklahoma alone, we’d be creating 14,000 jobs with the Keystone pipeline. Existing pipeline infrastructure can’t accommodate the current volume of crude oil, which makes us more dependent on imports and vulnerable to increasing prices. The Keystone pipeline will improve both the inbound and outbound flow of crude oil at Cushing, OK.

Speaking to the President’s speeches of lessening U.S. dependence on Middle East oil and creating jobs, Inhofe continues . . .

There’s not one piece of legislation in the House or Senate right now that would do more to achieve both of these goals than this Keystone bill that we are introducing today.

If you think we don’t have an energy problem, consider this. Bill Clinton opposed ANWR exploration because, he said, it would take 10 years to get anything out of it. That was nearly 20 years ago and ANWR is still closed. As recent as five years ago, people in the Northeast United States were suffering from a lack of heating oil. (84 percent of heating in the NE comes from oil.) Back then, Joe Kennedy’s oil company accepted discounted heating oil from the hemisphere’s idiot, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, to ostensibly ‘help’ poor people in the United States. A political move to give then President Bush a slap in the face.

All the green energy talk and environmental lobbies have managed to do to solve the NE problem is . . . nothing. Five years later and we have headlines like this one, ‘Northeast states cut heating aid to poor.’

If there ever was a case to increase oil production, I think people going without heat or food would make a compelling case. Even though these are the people Obama champions on the campaign trail, he officially ignores them in The White House.

National security meets foreign policy

While we’re on the subject of oil independence, let’s take a look back to the Carter administration and the long lines at the pump, the gas rationing, and OPEC’s embargo that caused it all.

Jimmy Carter was forced into getting a spine and came up with the Carter Doctrine. It was supposed to ensure protection of Middle East oil. Carter declared that the United States would consider any attempt by an outside force to gain control of the gulf region an assault on U.S. vital interests, and would be considered an act of war that would be repelled by military force if necessary. Carter also invented the Cabinet position of the Department of Energy which, thanks to environmentalists and big government statists, was and is a dismal failure.

Today, the Iranian situation is still volatile. They are making threats via military exercises to close the Strait of Hormuz to oil traffic. With the Keystone Pipeline project on the table, and people in the Northeast  being left in the cold, and Iran threatening to cut off oil to most of the world, how does him voting present on the Keystone Pipeline work for you?

So far, except for ‘social justice,’ there is no Obama Doctrine.

News of the transaction is also noteworthy. You have the headline-grabbing union-busting Huffington Post putting a happy face on the deal. But when you follow the link to the story, youll see evidence that this is yet another waste of taxpayer money in the name of green jobs. Apparently, the thieves at the Huffington post dont even read the stories they steal, let alone give credit to Jaclyn Trop, the writer of the story.

In reading the story, the economic growth stimulus money will be used in the Southeast Michigan Advanced Energy Storage Systems Initiative. Batteries. Great idea when you consider that Michigan is home to more than 35 advanced battery companies and suppliers for battery systems and electric vehicles, more than any other state, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

Sounds like a good investment of taxpayer money. Except for the fact that, once again, markets exist when there is demand for a product. Lacking demand, there is no market, no business. According to the article, this is a product that nobody wants. What is the point of boosting manufacturing of a product that is already over supplied and without market demand sufficient to stay in business and effictively compete with China?

Michigan has given solar and lithium-ion battery manufacturers tens of millions of dollar in state tax incentives in recent years, but both industries are building more products than there is demand for, according to industry reports.

OK, that was the ‘good’ news. The bad news is . . .

The worldwide manufacturing capacity of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles will greatly exceed supply unless demand by automakers increases significantly in the short run, according to a September report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

and

Energy Conversion Devices Inc., the Auburn Hills maker of solar panels and lithium-ion batteries, has been trying to sell its battery operation. And its losses grow since demand for solar panels in Europe has dried up and Chinese companies have offered lower-priced alternatives.

Given the circumstances in the marketplace, I’m not anticipating this government spending will have a different result than Solyndra. Meanwhile, keep a sharp eye out for all the new jobs, business, and exports for Southeast Michigan.

If Solyndra’s bankruptcy was not a sign of no market in this industry, all you have to do is to look at BrightSource Energy’s registration statement for going public. In their own words, without government money, they can not survive.

We depend heavily on government policies that support renewable energy and enhance the economic feasibility of developing solar energy projects.

They can’t even say that what they want to do can even be done.

Our proprietary technology has a limited history and may perform below expectations when implemented on utility-scale projects.

We use proprietary technology that has not been previously implemented on utility-scale projects of the size and complexity of the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, or Ivanpah, and Ivanpah may experience technological problems that neither we nor any of the third-party independent engineers that have reviewed our projects are able to foresee. The systems that we will implement on utility-scale projects include a solar field with heliostats controlled by advanced software systems that concentrate sunlight onto a receiver to produce high-temperature steam. If the implementation of our proprietary technology is unsuccessful, it could negatively impact the successful operation of projects using our systems and may result in additional payments, deductions or defaults under key project documents, including our PPAs or other financing arrangements.

The company’s registration statement is as dismal as anyone could imagine. Scaring away any private-sector investor with no expectation of a government bailout. Except for Robert F. Kennedy, Jrs. venture capital company,  VantagePoint Partners, the largest investor in BrightSource Energy. BrightSource received a $1.4 Billion loan guarantee from Obama’s Department of Energy.

The lesson to learn is that just because it sounds like a good idea, doesn’t make it worth throwing good money after bad. Regardless of the size of political contributions made to the administration. That, and government can not create a market because it wants to. Markets are created when companies make something they can sell at a profit that customers want.

Contrary to what Obama may think, he is not creating jobs in this country (China , yes) by gambling with the taxpayers money on green energy. With every dollar Obama removes from the private sector, he is killing them.

With his regulations and drilling moratorium, and pipeline rejection, he is killing even more jobs. Kind of makes you wonder about President Obama’s priority. Is it jobs in a free-market economy or jobs in a government controlled economy?

Another Obama Scandal In the Making

After addressing that issue today at the National Press Club’s luncheon, it seems to me that Cain knocked it out of the park as a non-issue. Not only did he knock that one out, but he explained his plans for his administration regarding the economy, foreign relations, and everything else very well.

That said, here is Cain’s date with the National Press Club. For walking into the media’s house and answering all the tough questions squarely, I think he handled himself and his campaign chances very well.

As for the actions of Politico, they are just showing their colors.

So if you are a black American, Massa Sharpton says you need to get in line on the ideological plantation. Show up Saturday, 10 a.m. at the Lincoln Memorial and demand a job.

I think their time would be better spent if they went to The White House instead.

Well, the race to The White House is over for Gov. John Huntsman. Did you know as Utah governor he was the chief architect of the Western Climate Initiative, a regional cap-and-trade program? And that he was part of a group that pushed Congress to pass cap-and-trade legislation?

His story now is that ‘economic circumstances have changed so it’s no longer relevant.’

Sorry Gov. Huntsman, what has not changed is your view that climate change is due to man, and that man can change the climate. That necessarily makes you no longer relevant.

This could be the shortest hold-up ever.

Old news that is coming around again is the Fisker Automotive  (now Tesla Motors) luxury electric sports car that Vice President Al Gore invested in. That company got a half billion dollars for so-called green jobs. It is an electric car. It is a luxury car with a 50 mile range in total electric mode. Big investment for no market. But it did create jobs, in Britain and Finland.

The Fisker Karma sedan is priced at $87,400, with buyers eligible for a $7,500 credit on their Federal income tax returns.

Want one? Call them up and put down your $25,000 deposit. They’ll let you know when it is ready. Sell price? $87,400 to over $109,000.

So we subsidize a car company whose target market is “millionaires and billionaires,” then we give them $7,500 more of our tax dollars to incentivize them to buy it. All that from the guy that calls himself a ‘warrior for the middle class.’

Then there is the Solyndra scandal (Solar-Gate?) that wasted another half billion taxpayer dollars. That solar panel company declared bankruptcy not long after receiving your half billion dollars. Another big investment in an industry where there is no market. Officers of that company are big-time campaign fundraising bundlers for President Obama. Now those green jobs went directly to China. And Solyndra’s execs are pleading the 5th in Congressional hearings about it.

Are you seeing a pattern here of connected democrats and Big Labor being on the receiving end of millions and billions of your (and your grandkid’s) tax dollars? All in the name of stimulus and green jobs.

When I think about building roads, asphalt comes to mind. I’m not a chemist or anything but my guess is that asphalt requires hydrocarbons (oil) to produce.

For as long as President Obama has been talking about building and rebuilding road and highway infrastructure, the number of road miles ought to be right on the tip of his tongue. He’s just that smart.

Since he knows that, he ought to also know how much it would cost to do whatever it is he plans on doing, if he got everything he wanted.

I wonder how much money could be saved in the very same project if the price of oil were as low as it would be if we ever got serious at developing our own energy production, becoming an oil-producing country, a seller of oil, like those countries who we currently buy from, instead of an oil buyer.

My guess is that the saving would be substantial. And why on earth, especially in todays economic climate, wouldn’t we want to reduce the cost of oil and save. It would be a big saving for ‘working people,’ to borrow the Left’s class warfare term. Actually, everybody would save. What a novel idea.