More from Newt's call to video action:

Well, one cannot argue with the cuteness factor, but make sure to watch all three finalists before you vote.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 07:43 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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One of the three finalists in Newt's contest for videos that promost domestic petroleum/natural gas production:

So go vote!

Posted by: Attila Girl at 07:38 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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. . . is in Santa Monica today and tomorrow. It looks like I'll probably be going tomorrow, since I have an energy conference today, and then I have to to to court to fix a "fixit" ticket.

The alt-car people don't list flex-fuel vehicles; I hope that was just an error, since I still think that alcohol-based fuels such as ethanol and methanol could play some role in the future of energy—and no one in his/her right mind would buy a vehicle that only ran on methanol/ethanol right now. (Unless they lived near a race track, and could get methanol locally: race-car drivers use methanol, of course.)

It could be that we will be transitioning to increased use of electric in the future, which would also work, if we can start transporting it more effectively.

Glenn Reynolds points out that the performance is so excellent on the VW diesel that the next step might be a diesel/electric hybrid.

I like those neighborhood electric vehicles that look like futuristic golf carts (the Chrysler GEM being the most popular) though since most of them are open on the side one wouldn't want to use 'em on a chilly evening. Also, they don't go over 25 mph, because they don't have airbags. Their virtues: street-legal in a lot of communities, and they're available with either a bit of cargo space or a second row of seats, so you can take your friends with you on your errands.

Of course, the SmartForTwo is closed-up and will go freeway speeds. Unlike NEWs, however, one is limited to two seats.

GEM has a new NEV that is closed-up an looks very, very cool. I do not know whether it meets the "Joy psuedo-golf cart" minimum speed, however: I'd need one that goes 35-40 mph, even to go to the grocery store five blocks away. Because, um, I can't drive 25.

The perfect NEV-related beast? I vote for the Zap Xebra, which

• Is closed-in, for rainy days;
• Does meet the Little Miss Attila 40 mph threshold;
• Is available as a four-seater;
• Functions as a plug-in, and uses solar panels (these can either be detached, and gather energy while you zip around town, or can stay on top of the vehicle, where they create a slight wind drag, but nonetheless extend your range before you need to charge up again);
• Is legally classified as a motorcycle, but can be driven with a regular car driver's license;
• Has only three wheels, and hovers around the same cuteness level as the Smart Car;
• Is available with a zebra-stripe paint job right from the factory. Who can resist that?

Posted by: Attila Girl at 05:01 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Even though both the House and the Senate are letting the moratoria expire on offshore drilling, Reid is still trying to insert language into non-energy-related bills that will prohibit the harvesting of shale oil in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah.

Charming. Read the article at Flopping Aces, and call your Senator right away.

The fact that no one in the media seems to have clued into is that energy independence in the United States rests upon having energy production (whether it's the old-fashioned fossil fuels we hope to phase out in 10-20 years, or the renewables we're in the process of developing now) rests on energy production in as many regions of the country as possible. Oil wells in the Gulf shut down when a hurricane is on its way; drilling on the North Slope of Alaska is only permitted five months out of the year. The Atlantic is no stranger to storms, and even the Pacific Ocean isn't invulnerable to extraordinary weather.

Shale oil has to be part of our Phase 1 (petroleum/natural gas/clean coal) strategy. That will buy us time to get Phase II (more versatile means of producing electricity, and innovative liquid fuels such as ethanol and methanol) off the ground.

Again—call your Senator. Explain that there are new technologies for extracting petroleum products from shale, and that you want to see this resource handled in an environmentally responsible manner, but that is a question for the engineers—rather than overzealous legislators who want to take this option off the table entirely.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 06:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Two of 'em just lead us back into economic quicksand:

1) The Pelosi House plan, 1434, which she is trying to ramrod through today. This would raise taxes, and effectively prevent any new drilling, via a) forcing oil companies to develop the leases they now have on non-productive land, and increase their losses therefrom, before they are permitted to drill in areas that have oil; b) setting the default for platforms and rigs at 100 miles offshore, where the oil isn't, and creating a dis-incentive for states to cut that in half, by denying them any share in revenue from said platforms and rigs; c) taking the Eastern Gulf of Mexico off the table. In addition, it contains an earmark for public transportation in the state of New York, which might or might not be a worthy cause, but certainly isn't being approached in anything like a democratic fashion. (Ah; after releasing the bill at 9:30 last night, they may allow three hours of debate on it today before attempting to railroad it again. Classy.)

2) Then, we have the "Gang of 20" Senate proposal co-sponsored by ten nominally GOP Senators (Dole [NC], Collins [ME], Graham [SC], Thune [SD], Corker [TN], Isakson [GA], Chambliss [GA], Sununu [NH], Warner [VA] and Coleman [MN]). This is slightly less crappy, in that it would permit some drilling 50 miles off off Florida's West Coast (in the Eastern Gulf), but still bans drilling off of the Pacific Coast. It allows states to share in the income from domestic fossil-fuel development, so that 100 miles could turn into 50 miles. But it still limits us to the Eastern Gulf and some parts of the Atlantic, so we'll still have shutdowns during hurricane season.

3) Then we have House and Senate versions of comprehensive energy reform, which are being blocked by Nancy "I Need a Big Jet" Pelosi, and Harry Reid, respectively.

And our legislators wonder why they collectively "enjoy" a 9% approval rating from their constituents.

If we can't do any better than (1) and (2), they shouldn't pass anything with the word "energy" in it at all. They should wait two more weeks, and let the clock run out on the existing moratoria. If the government has to shut down briefly, they should cite the embattled economy and the ongoing energy crisis, and point to the Democratic hijinks as the reason.

UPDATE: Margaret Thorning of the American Council for Capital Formation discusses the economic ramifications of energy development in a podcast here below.

She believes that that opening more areas for drilling would have send a signal to the market very quickly, and exert rapid downward pressure on oil prices. So we might get some immediate relief from a decent energy bill, and we would certainly be helping ourselves in the medium-term. (Long-term relief, of course, requires that the new technologies become viable—and they will. We have engineers working on electric, hybrid and flex-fuel vehicles now, and researching alcohol-based liquid fuels, better batteries, hydrogen possibilities, and the generation of cleaner electricity. This is all happening around the clock; it's just that we just don't know which alternatives will become most cost-effective, and when they will become practical. We need to let that race go on with as little interference as possible.)

h/t on the "Gang of 20" names: Double-Plus Undead, via Ace.

Here's the podcast:

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:29 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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". . . It didn't go down the way McCain says it did. My felony violation of the Logan Act unfolded in an entirely different fashion."

What a relief.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:17 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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They release it last night in the middle of the night; 270 pages or so. They're trying to force a vote on their faux energy bill in the House, while Pelosi continues to block a vote on the "all of the above" bill that might actually get something done on this issue (6566).

Rep Hastings from Washington state is talking about how not only does the fake bill effectively take most of the U.S. petro reserves off the table, but even as it subsidizes some renewables, it discriminates against hydro-power.

I love the fact that the opposition wants to establish timelines for inventions in regard to renewables, when in fact there is a race going on to make the breakthroughs necessary to make biofuels, solar, wind, geothermal and hydro-power cost-effective.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 09:55 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Florida has spoken.

The dolphins and pelicans that swim just off Caladesi Island's linen-white sands along Florida's western coast help draw almost 80 million visitors and $57 billion to the ``Sunshine State'' each year.

As few as 50 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico, energy companies say an even bigger prize waits to be taken from the seabed: oil and natural gas that might wean the U.S. off its costly dependence on resources from potentially unfriendly or unstable countries.

After opposing offshore drilling for a quarter century as a threat to their lucrative coastline, a majority of Floridians now favor it, polls show. Four-dollar-a-gallon gasoline has hit voters' pocketbooks and psyches, even as the U.S. government says offshore drilling would have a negligible effect on oil supply and price.

At a Hess gas station on the mainland near Caladesi, Gerald Walker says he used to be against extracting oil off Florida, until prices soared. ``Drilling? At $3.64 a gallon, I'm all for it,'' says the 60-year-old accountant.

``Drill, baby, drill!'' is the Republican Party's rallying cry, and presidential hopeful Senator John McCain of Arizona is gaining traction with it, even in this coastal swing state. An increasing number of Floridians side with him when told he advocates expanded drilling to drive down prices, says Brad Coker of Washington-based Mason-Dixon Polling and Research Inc. Mason-Dixon's is one of several polls conducted this summer that showed at least 6 in 10 Floridians now support drilling.

National Security

``It's become a national-security issue because of wars in the Mideast and Russia's newfound bravado and aggression,'' Coker says.

McCain, 72, was 7 percentage points ahead of his Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, 47, of Illinois, in a Florida poll released Sept. 11 by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in Hamden, Connecticut.

In the 2004 election, President George W. Bush beat Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts by 5 percentage points in Florida. Voters in Pinellas County, home to Caladesi and nearby St. Petersburg, split 50-50 between the two men.

The U.S. burns through about 21 million barrels of oil a day. Almost 60 percent is imported, mainly from Africa, the Persian Gulf and Latin America. Some of the sellers are openly hostile; Venezuela expelled the U.S. ambassador last week. Oil industries in other countries, including Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, have been targets of violence.

I don't think anyone wants drilling done off of either of Florida's coasts in that will diminish its beauty of have deleterious effects on its wildlife. But if I hear that figure one more time about how we have "only 3%" of the world's petroleum reserves, I think I'm going to scream, because 1) it isn't accurate [it's based on old surveys done with outdated technology], and 2) it's not a question of how much we have "in reserve," in the ground, but rather how much we are developing now during this critical 10-20-year period as we race to the finish line on nonrenewables. We just need to buy more time as we perfect biofuels, clean coal, electric/flex fuel cars, and make better use of natural gas.

Anyway, despite the drumbeat of "it won't help, it won't help" coming from the left, Florida seems to "get it," and McCain is ahead further now in the Sunshine State than G.W. was in 2004.

Three thoughts, Florida:

1) No matter what the media say, or whom they call it for, vote this November. I don't want anyone in the panhandle staying home because of anything they hear from the MSM;

2) Whenever you hear the phrase "50 miles," remember that it only takes 12-13 miles for an oil rig or platform to be invisible from shore. Instead of huge arbitrary miileage figures, it would be better to simply have all platforms and rigs kept out of sight of the beaches, and placed so that they do not interfere with boating, fishing, and diving industries, and do not have an adverse impact on marine life;

3) Hang tough. Every dollar we don't send to "our friends, the Saudis" buys us more time to get our renewables" act together. And it's one less dollar that might find its way to a suicide bomber with his or her eye on Orlando.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 09:12 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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. . . from the API:

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) is collecting comments on its next five-year offshore leasing plan. The MMS--the federal agency responsible for administering the offshore oil and natural gas program--considers the size, timing, and location of the areas to be considered for federal leasing, and it bases its recommendations on the publicÂ’s comments. The plan is reviewed by Congress and approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

MMS is accepting public comments on its 2010-2015 plan until next Monday, September 15th. Apparently several anti-drilling groups have called on their members to flood MMS with comments. Therefore, the majority of comments oppose new leases. Numerous national polls have shown Americans support increased drilling; their comments do not reflect the nationÂ’s sentiments.

Showing support for drilling via MMS can have an immediate impact on the next leasing plan and can send a message to lawmakers.

That is a great idea; it sounds like the anti-drilling people are stacking the deck.

Comment here.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:51 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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When in doubt, run the clock outon OCS drilling and shale oil. Three more weeks is all we need.

Certainly don't accept any bill that places the Pacific Ocean off-limits, or significant parts of the Gulf—or large stretches of the Atlantic, either. Fifty miles from shore (any shore), BTW, is too far; it's several times what's needed to preserve the aesthetic appeal of our beaches.

And don't vote on anything that places ANWR off-limits long-term in any irrevocable way. We can start with the OCS and Wyoming, but I left my heart in the bleak tundra near Prudhoe Bay.

Meanwhile, I want all the other goodies: nuclear power, wind, geothermal, ethanol and methanol. Conservation. Importing of sugar-beet ethanol from Brazil. Superior production of methanol from non-food sources, such as switch-grass and algae. And immediate transfer of our best ethanol-makin' recipes to underdeveloped countries, where it might help them to grow nonedible material that can be made into alcohol-based fuels.

But not at the expense of developing petroleum-based sources to bridge the gap, while we figure out what our best sources of liquid fuel and electricity will be in the future, and how to keep optimizing car batteries for hybrids (and expanding the range for plug-ins).

So don't take a bunch of money away from the oil companies; I want them to build rigs. Lots of rigs. And pipelines. And refineries.

And of course we need flex-fuel vehicles, Joy of Joy's Desiring, that will accept gasoline, ethanol, or methanol.

This is going to take a while; don't get talked into half-measures by the Gang of Ten/Gang of 14.

They'll bargain—they will if they've been looking at the polls. If McCain and Palin have any coattails at all—and they continue to push energy in their speeches—the Democrats will get reasonable in a hurry.

"Drill, Baby—Drill."

Otherwise, let the government shut down. Hey--what have they done for us, lately?

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:10 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Every time there is a hurricane in the Gulf, the oil rigs therein have to be evacuated 48 hours ahead of time. Production is actually shut down until the danger has passed, and this all has to be done before it's entirely clear whether/when any given storm will gain hurricane force, or hit a given area at all.

Drilling the OCS would help, particularly in the Pacific (I know that very often the Gulf Storm affect the Atlantic as well, so from that POV the Pacific might be a safer bet).

And shale oil from Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado would allow us to hedge our economic bets even further until our renawables become cost-effective. As would illing-dray in Anwar-Yay.

It's also worth noting that after Hurricane Katrina, the standards for Gulf Oil rigs were raised even higher, but despite the damage to the rigs, there were not any significant oil spills resulting from a direct hit during the worst natural disaster in this country since at least 1906.

Bottom line: we need petro-based fuels, and alcohol-based fuels, and wind, and solar, and conservation, and geothermal, and nuclear. We need clean-burning coal, and enhanced use of natural gas. And we need to lift tariffs that keep us from importing ethanol from countries like Brazil. We need more hybrids, and more plug-in vehicles, and more Smart Cars, and a lot more flex-fuel vehicles.

We need, in short, to become a nation of energy sluts.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:19 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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