November 11, 2010

With a bruising national election out of the way, and Republicans and Democrats showing little inclination to embrace, how will a national energy policy emerge?

Will renewable portfolio standards continue to be cobbled together state by state, as has been the case for a number of years? About 30 states now embraced such standards.

November 04, 2010

Two days after an historic mid-term election, a huge pall is hanging over the White House. The same angst that swept President Obama into office two years ago is now working to clean house in Congress, literally.

Republicans, though, should not misconstrue the voters' message. The overarching issue, no doubt, is about jobs and the economy. And no longer will the electorate tolerate the partisan bickering that serves only to divide the American people. It, instead, wants cooperation - leadership that will result in rejuvenation of the national spirit. To that end, a mutually-derived energy policy would help inspire that dream.

October 30, 2010 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Kathleen Gray Detroit Free Press

DTE Energy has filed a request with the Michigan Public Service Commission for a $253-million rate hike that would cost an average electric customer about $5 more a month.

The hike is needed, company officials said, to comply with federally-mandated environmental improvements to reduce emissions from coal-fired plants, make up for a decline in demand for electricity from commercial and industrial users and the rising cost of health care for the utility's employees.

November 01, 2010 - The road to the clean energy economy is getting a little bumpy as one of its most prominent champions said China is using illegal subsidies to export solar panels and wind turbines. The United Steelworkers of America wants the government to file a trade case before an international body and has a 5,800-page document to bolster its claims.

If the United States doesn't build a clean energy economy, the Chinese gladly will. That's treated like gospel in the Obama administration, and among renewable energy trade groups. Take one look at the plummeting cost of solar panels and increased Chinese market share, for instance, and you can see why.

October 19, 2010

It's not exactly "Drill Baby Drill." But it's now okay to start looking again for oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico. The Obama administration has removed the ban on deepwater drilling, saying that BP-like disasters are far less likely.

With the November mid-term elections right around the corner, some want to turn this into a political move - a decision to try and win-over voters concerned about jobs. But what is forgotten in this whole mess - literally - is that the Obama administration has said from get-go that it would configure a comprehensive off-shore energy policy involving oil and gas exploration as well as more wind farms.