“I think the best way to get people to be early adopters and broaden the deployment of these vehicles is to bring the cost down.” - Former State Representative Thad Balkman

Mr. Balkman, who is now the Vice President of External Relations & General Counsel for Phoenix Motorcars, was quoted yesterday in this CNN Money.com article. Balkman was in Washington to testify before the Senate Energy Committee. Here is an excerpt from the CNN piece:

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The surest way to spur the widespread development of plug-in electric vehicles in the United States is to offer the consumer tax credits that have been proposed in Congress, makers of plug-in cars told a Senate committee Tuesday. The proposed tax incentives would lead to a spike in demand, allowing manufacturers to invest profits for further development of plug-in technology, industry officials told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Pending Senate legislation that would extend a wide range of expiring tax cuts would provide a tax credit of $3,000 for the purchase of qualified plug-in vehicles. While tax credits have long been available for the purchase of hybrid cars that use a combination of gasoline engines and electric batteries, the new tax credit is designed to spur the market entry of electric-only cars.

Related:

Video: Mary Fallin Rejects Pelosi “No Energy” Proposal

Hat tip: aweintz

Happy Birthday Rep. Dorman!

I have to start my column off this week by thanking all those who have wished me a happy birthday. I turn 38 on September 18th and I have to say it’s been a great year.

We are seeing the the interim studies at the Capitol finally being scheduled. I have a study with several other legislators regarding autism coverage for children that will meet this week. This will look at possible solutions for assistance for families that are affected by autism and what can be done to help. We will have speakers discuss successes in other states, along with attempts that failed, and also bring in families who might have suggestions on changes in the law where assistance can be provided efficiently.

On Friday, I have my forum regarding alternative energy policies. I hope those of you interested in alternative energy sources and the possibility of the reduction of dependence on foreign oil will have the opportunity to make it up for this meeting. We have a great variety of guest speakers, ranging for the Oklahoma Secretary of Energy to businesses that have shifted to using CNG vehicles for their fleets. This should provide a great outlook on future trends and possible policies we can implement to help our nation. This will occur in the Senate Chamber in the Capitol from 9 AM to noon. Read more…

From Stan Geiger - An Oklahoma blog

There is a public discourse underway, focused mainly on the generation of electricity. Windmills, nuclear and solar are all options on the table. But the fact of the matter is, most of our oil consumption goes to transportation. We burn oil fueling planes, trains and automobiles. If we are to shed our dependence on imported oil, we must come up with a new transportation fuel. Ethanol from corn isn’t the answer. There is an answer, however, lying right under our feet. It would be good if someone started paying attention to it.

Boone Pickens is right about one thing: we can’t drill our way out of this problem. At the same time, he’s wrong about nat gas being the solution.

Currently, domestic nat gas production barely keeps up with demand. If we start fueling rolling stock with the stuff, it won’t be long before we find ourselves in the same position with nat gas that we are currently in with oil: we will be dependent on foreign sources. Tulsa’s own super billionaire, George Kaiser, has reportedly made heavy investments in the liquid natural gas biz of late, if that tells you anything.

While the U.S. can’t become energy independent relative to oil and natural gas, it can become energy independent through the use of coal. The U.S. is the undisputed king of coal. We have, far and away, more coal reserves than any nation on the planet. China is a distant second. Read more….

Related:

OKPNS 5/17/08 Environmentalist Wackos in OK; The Heck With the Planet, Someone Save the Humans!

Muskogee Phoenix’s Dave Gerard: “So why are we suspicious of oil and gas companies?”

There has been quite a bit of discussion around the State Capitol the past couple of months in regards to energy policy. Back in August, I unveiled a bill to incentivize local gas stations to put in fueling ports for CNG and other alternative fuels. Following that release, Speaker Benge held a press conference to discuss this and other policies, such as creating classes in the career tech system to teach students how to build and repair equipment for these ports and also for continued work on wind energy turbines. T. Boone Pickens has also unveiled a plan called “The Pickens Plan” that hopes to break our addiction to foreign oil and develop local alternatives.

I’m hoping this discussion will continue, along with ways to bring down the current gas prices. In order to help this along, I’m holding an energy forum at the State Capitol on Friday, September 19th to discuss the upcoming bills and possible solutions that other states have pursued. I have invited several experts in the various energy and tax fields to present to the legislators in attendance and also those in the public that wish to attend. The meeting will begin at 9:00 A.M. in the State Senate Chamber and if you could, please RSVP to my office to let them know so we can prepare enough seating. Read more…

As predicted, the political news cycle changed remarkably in the last 72 hours as Hurricane Gustav slammed into the Gulf Coast.

Besides the potential for devastation to the Gulf Coast, the aftermath of the hurricane threatens to radically impact the presidential election, including altering the energy markets.  Undoubtedly, there will be shameless exploitation, including unjustified price run-ups (which started as early as Monday August 25th) by the energy industry, who although they fear him, appear to be doing all they can to elect Barack Obama with their tone-deaf handling of energy prices. But early indications are the energy traders are being cautious, since a huge price run-up would help Obama, but that situation will be volatile for several days, even weeks.

Looks like President Bush and the Administration put the lessons they learned from Katrina into effect. Another New Orleans disaster would have meant essentially an early inauguration for Sen Obama.

First, let’s start with Thursday’s prescient edition of News9’s Your Vote Counts, where the team predicted what would happen to the news cycle.  It’s no wonder why the show and its Internet version have become the most insightful political television in Oklahoma.  Rumors continue to swirl that the trio is headed for a full-fledged broadcast version, but in the meantime, watch how they foretold precisely what is happening right now. 

And with loss of life, damage to our economy and other tragedy looming, some wacky Democrats allowed themselves to look like idiots as Gustav bore down on the Gulf Coast.

T. Boone Pickens talks about energy on the Talk Radio News Radio Row at the DNC Convention.

Daily Kos: T. Boone Pickens’ Fancy Sales Pitch

“Devilstower and I just went to a talk here at the DNC featuring T. Boone Pickens. Everyone was under the impression that the event would involve an actual discussion (as in, a Q & A session, like nearly all of the other Big Tent special topic sessions). We had a really energetic live blog thread going, where all of you were submitting questions.

Sorry, guys. Apparently, the whole thing was just a sales pitch. T. Boone hightailed it out of there before anyone could even raise their hand.”

Hat tip: OklahomaHorizonTV

The Hotline: Pickens On Decline In Price Of Oil: “It’ll Go Up Again”

Right On!: Can we drill your BRAINS!?

Denise Bode: Strengthened Dollar Forces Crude Decline

We’ve been documenting the beanie propellers and compressed natural gas snake oil job that T. Boone Pickens has been peddling to the American people.

In Oklahoma and Texas, he’s bought influence by giving away money he’d otherwise have to pay in taxes, thus rendering many legislative and business leaders, and of course the MSM, deaf, dumb and blind.

Other parts of the country are not so intoxicated from freshly printed money/feedlot smell that emanates from the confidence job being sold by the former greenmail pirate gone “philanthropist.”

So it seems there are two types of people who are buying Picken’s folly: those he buys and those who are idiots. Some, it seems, wouldn’t know a renewable resource from an oil field sludge pit. Read about one of those poor ignorant souls here.

All we have to say is, “Pray for America.” With the clueless leadership we’ve had, we’re going to need a lot of Divine intervention to survive.

Related:

Republican.Senate.Gov: Dems Pick Pickens To Headline Energy Summit Despite His Opposition To Their Energy Plans

Video: T. Boone Pickens: “I Say Drill, Drill, Drill”

OKPNS: Hot Air About Wind Power

By Ernest Istook

The visuals are terrific. Imagine the Empire State Building with a windmill on top rather than King Kong. That’s how the New York Post depicted Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s latest idea. Another illustrator adorned the Brooklyn Bridge with windmills atop its towers.

It’s all because Bloomberg proposed that the Big Apple should blossom with windmills to provide at least one-tenth of its power.

What if his idea caught on? Why not mandate that every building taller than a few stories sport a rooftop windmill? We could include the Washington Monument. And every TV and radio antenna. And every hilltop and mountain, including those in national parks.

Don Quixote would be proud. But had Bloomberg done the math, he’d know that even if Manhattan were topped by a solid block of windmills, they wouldn’t come close to meeting the city’s power consumption.

Wind power has its place as a power source, but it’s not a place at the top. It provides less than one-tenth of 1 percent of U.S. electricity because it costs more to produce. The wind may be free, but the equipment is expensive.

The costs are even dearer if you follow Bloomberg’s other suggestion, namely floating windmills in the middle of the ocean.

How many windmills does it take to meet the power needs of a typical city, much less New York City?

At www.scitizen.com, Kurt Cobb worked the numbers. Generously, he presumed the windmills would use 5-megawatt turbines – generating three times the output of a typical 1.5-megawatt turbine. He compared that with a 500-megawatt fossil-fuel (coal) power plant needed to power a city of 300,000 people. A typical power plant, he noted, would cover 300 acres, but use only 30 of those for the actual facility.

Cobb calculated it would take 233 5-megawatt wind turbines to equal the coal plant’s output, since the wind doesn’t blow constantly. Each would need to be spaced 2,065 feet away from the others (five times the diameter of their 413-foot rotors). Adding the rotor diameters to the spacing requirement equates to a 110-mile long line of windmills, half a mile in width.

It comes to 55 square miles. That’s to provide electricity for a town of 300,000 people. Read more…

Related:

CleanSkies.Org’s Denise Bode: Bloomberg Backs Off

WSJ: Pelosi Investment Shows Unlikely Energy Alliance

Looks like somebody has stopped drinking the Kool-Aid!

We’ve told you about the opportunistic energy con jobs being foisted on the public by snake oil salesmen.  The “wind power and natural gas will save the world” con is pretty easy to figure out if you separate the emotion from the equation, and today’s editorial in the Oklahoman of all places shows there is hope.  Take note of the line about how coal must be used in the national quest for energy.

The bottom line is: if the Oklahoman can figure out the con, anybody can!