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According to The President’s energy blueprint, the Obama Administration is calling on Congress to establish a $2 billion Energy Security Trust to invest in breakthrough research into technologies, such as advanced electric vehicles, homegrown biofuels, fuel cells, and domestically produced natural gas. The funds would come from oil and gas royalty revenues generated from development in Federal waters off the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Other highlights of the blueprint include: Making the renewable energy Production Tax Credit permanent and refundable; A new $25 million prize for the first, natural gas combined cycle power plant to integrate carbon capture and storage;… [more]
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President Obama has announced his choices to replace the outgoing energy and environment Cabinet members: Ernest Moniz, Director of the MIT Energy Initiative, has been nominated as Secretary of Energy; Gina McCarthy as head of the EPA, where she is currently the assistant administrator for air and radiation; and Sally Jewell, CEO of REI, for Interior Secretary. If confirmed, how would you expect these new officials to approach major policy issues from domestic oil and gas exploration to hydro-fracturing to climate change to nuclear energy, and more, both absolutely and in comparison to their predecessors? What would you recommend for… [more]
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Update: See a video recording of the event here OurEneryPolicy.org’s high-level panel discussion, moderated by Chief National Correspondent for the Fox News Channel Jim Angle, and featuring James Connaughton, General James L. Jones, and Timothy Wirth, had an overall tone of optimism for energy policy for next four years and beyond. Here are some event highlights: The panelists saw hydraulic fracturing as presenting an economic, energy security, and emissions reduction opportunity, but agreed that smaller “mom and pop” operations engaging in substandard industry practices could turn public opinion against fracking. However, there is an opportunity for industry leaders, such as… [more]
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2012 brought into stark relief the ways in which energy influences U.S. foreign policy. Decisions on trade sanctions in Iran, natural gas exports, and drilling for oil in the arctic are good examples of scenarios in which domestic policy goals and U.S. foreign interests were deliberated by the current administration, and a course for the country’s energy and foreign policy future was laid out. Hillary Clinton, in speaking recently at Georgetown University, highlighted the ways in which energy development and consumption will continue to be an issue facing the U.S. and its foreign policy efforts, even as the U.S. continues to… [more]
View InsightIn the second presidential debate of 2012 an attendee asked President Obama, “Your energy secretary, Steven Chu, has now been on record three times stating ‘It’s not policy of this department to help lower gas prices.’ Do you agree with Secretary Chu, that this is not the job of the Energy Department?” The question went essentially unanswered as both candidates took the opportunity instead to promote their energy platforms. The answer to this question may be simple, as OurEnergyPolicy.org Expert Joel Brown explains in a tweet: “The unanswered question answered: the DOE does NOT have the charge to lower gasoline… [more]
View InsightBoth the Democratic and Republican parties have released their platforms, each offering a vision of the American energy landscape in the coming years. Both parties promote distinct visions of an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy. The end goal for both parties is U.S. energy independence, with the GOP’s vision seeming to rely primarily on the development of America’s fossil fuel resources and a business-friendly regulatory regime, while the Democrats’ platform promotes a “move towards a sustainable energy-independent future” that would allocate resources between fossil fuel and renewables development, alongside to a variety of “green” initiatives. GOP Democrats Fossil Fuels Supports “new, state-of-the-art coal-fired… [more]
View InsightAs part of the Better Buildings Initiative, the Obama Administration announced a Presidential Memorandum on December 2, 2011 directing “nearly $4 billion in combined federal and private sector energy upgrades to buildings over the next 2 years.” The Administration’s announcement states that these “investments will save billions in energy costs, promote energy independence, and, according to independent estimates, create tens of thousands of jobs in the hard-hit construction sector.” $2 billion comes from private and non-Federal commitments, from companies such as 3M, GE and Alcoa, and state and local governments such as the State of Minnesota, the District of Columbia,… [more]
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