The president’s energy agenda took a hit on Thursday, as yet another stimulus-backed energy company filed for bankruptcy. Videos have surfaced since then showing both Obama and Vice President Biden praising the company’s promise, drawing the attention of congressional investigators. As Scribe reported yesterday, Ener1 submitted a pre-packaged bankruptcy plan as part of a refinancing agreement after suffering numerous setbacks late last year. Ener1 subsidiary EnerDel received a $118 million grant from the Energy Department to produce its lithium ion battery technology. The president singled out EnerDel for praise during a speech …
“If you build it, they will come,” an ominous voice called out to Kevin Costner’s character, Ray Kinsella, in the movie Field of Dreams. For Kinsella, the “it” was a baseball field in the middle of a farm in Iowa—and despite all the naysayers, the starry-eyed young father put his family’s fortunes on the line in pursuit of his crazy dream. Eventually, “they” came—the ghosts of the disgraced 1919 Chicago White Sox team and carloads of fans from miles away—and Kinsella’s “knight of faith” reliance on the mysterious voice paid …
Liberals have spent the past two weeks asking Congress to write a blank check for federal disaster funding. They’ve concentrated their attacks on House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) for seeking offsets in other areas of the budget to cover the additional aid. They’ve portrayed Cantor as a callous conservative, suggesting that his stance is extreme and hypocritical. The facts tell another story. The Wall Street Journal reveals that it’s actually congressional Democrats, not Cantor, standing in the way of additional disaster funding. House Republicans have offered a plan that …
The City of Los Angeles is offering $2,000 rebates toward home chargers for electric cars. Once again, the government is actively choosing winners and losers and skewing the free market. If the electric car is viable, and it very well could be, the government would not need to offer rebates to buy the cars or the charging infrastructure. Charging infrastructure is a necessary market hurdle for electric vehicles to overcome, and the government has no role in overcoming that hurdle with other peoples’ money. Los Angeles is planning on handing out …
As gas prices in the United States continue to soar, policymakers in Washington are eager to point fingers and offer solutions. Most of the ideas are not new, and some are certainly much better than others, but they will inevitably be part of the debate. As legislators turn their attention to gas prices, here’s a straightforward list of what not to do. 1. Don’t increase subsidies for biofuels. The most popular subsidized biofuel, ethanol, produces less energy per unit volume than does gasoline, contributes to food price increases, costs taxpayers …
Last week, The Washington Post pointed out one near-fatal flaw to Obama’s plans for subsidizing green energy and electric cars: snowstorms. On Wednesday a snowstorm hit D.C. commuters harder than usual, causing gridlock on the road and dragging a normally 20-minute commute into, in some cases, over six hours as people crowded the roads struggling to get home. With current technology, electric cars typically have much shorter battery lives, especially in cold weather. In an instance where a regular combustion engine car would keep its occupants safe and warm while …
President Barack Obama famously believes that all of his policies are supported by “facts and science,” while opposition to his policies comes only from “fear and frustration.” As The Washington Post documented twice last weekend, that is just plain false. First Charles Lane reports: The Obama Energy Department has suggested that, with the help of federal money, manufacturers can ramp up mass production and bring the price of electric-car battery packs down 70 percent by 2014 – thus rendering the cars more affordable. But J.D. Power is skeptical. “Declines of …
You can buy a lot of car for $41,000. A BMW. A Mustang GT convertible. Even a Mercedes. Or you could shell out for a brand-spanking-new electric-powered Chevy Volt and do your part to “save the environment.” Government-owned General Motors is counting on the government to encourage you to do the latter. According to a New York Times report, GM spokesman Greg Martin said in an e-mail: Policy makers can do their part to speed the market acceptance of these vehicles as part of a much broader energy policy that …
