CFACT research and commentary published in major newspapers.
Big Green’s untold billions
Behemoth Big Green outstrips Big Oil in expendable revenue by orders of magnitude — if you know how to follow the money.
Abengoa Solar combines taxpayer dollars and deceptive practices to succeed
With key players like former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and former Vice President Al Gore on board, no wonder Spanish-based Abengoa Solar was able to garner $2.8 billion in federal loan guarantees plus a $818 million federal grant to help it compete with other energy suppliers. But recently, the firm has been under investigation for immigration and employment fraud, using outdated technology, and making dangerous design decisions. But will California bestow a major contract on this lawless firm on May 7? Stay tuned.
Secure property rights: Hold government to the law
The Bundy ranch standoff illustrates the tension between land rights and an ever more expansive federal bureaucracy. Could ranchers find the law on their side?
The 2014 state of wind energy
Ever since the wind power Production Tax Credit expired last year, the lobbying to restore the costly, wasteful tax credit has been intense. Recently, 26 Senators and 118 House members signed a letter urgning its restoration -- but whether they will succeed is an entirely different matter. As a result, even GE's Jeffrey Immelt is talking about "a world that's unsubsidized."
Was stopping Nevada’s fracking rush behind the Bundy Showdown?
There are a lot of theories as to the real reason the Bureau of Land Management has chosen this time to try to seize Cliven Bundy's cattle and shut down his ranch. The most easily disproven theory is that the cattle are threatening the desert tortoise. Others suggest that Senator Harry Reid, whose lieutenant now runs the BLM, has a secret deal with the Chinese to build a huge solar array on the property. Marita Noon believes she has uncovered a third possibility -- that the BLM wants to control the mineral rights to oil and natural gas in the area.
If the goal is “energy independence,” what issues should be a priority in America?
Marita Noon rates the value of the options listed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for achieving U.S. energy independence, and then lists several options that might really make a difference.
Big Green’s “sue-and-settle” strategy draws pushback from states, Congress
When the lesser prairie chicken was listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a threatened species, it was the last straw for Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt. The State of Oklahoma, and likely several other states, has filed a lawsuit against the Interior Department for collusion in violating federal law. Meanwhile, four separate bills have been filed in Congress to limit attorney fees for endangered species litigants and address three other ESA concerns.
Clouds on the solar horizon: Scams, fraud are rampant
Marita Noon reports on some of the vagaries faced by buyers of rooftop solar panels. Florida purchasers were stuck with bills of up to $40,000 for systems that may be unusable or unsafe installed by now-bankrupt companies who will not honor warranties. Elsewhere, firefighters have discussed the risks (electrocution is just one) from fighting fires in buildings with rooftop solar installations. Other solar companies mislead customers or even take their money and disappear.
Carbon benefits trump costs by up to 500 to 1!
EPA assumes zero benefits from the burning of fossil fuels while proclaiming heavy costs from increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Now, as Greens push for increasing the alleged "social cost of carbon" from the current 36/ton (up from $22/ton back in 2010) to an astonishing $43/ton, Roger Bezdek and Paul Driessen show that EPA is violating federal law (including Executive Order 12866) by ignoring the massive benefits to society (some $70 trillion in the U.S. alone) from fossil fuels use.
It’s time to move forward on Keystone XL
The truly important decision is President Obama’s. Will Mr. Obama cut through the red tape, and help put our nation back to work? Will there finally be real hope and change, or just more hype and rhetoric? America is waiting.
Mexican President Pena Nieto understands energy policy
What with national oil and gas revenues in decline, and the lack of incentives for exploration by the state-owned company Pemex, Mexico's new President Enrique Pena Nieto has pushed through legislation that will allow profit- and production-sharing contracts and licenses to find and develop new oil and gas reserves in the nation to our south. Mexico has traditionally relied on oil and gas revenues for a third of its federal budget -- and yet many Mexicans are fearful of the new arrangement that promises to lower energy prices and create jobs and economic growth. Coupled with reforms in energy policy, these changes could signal a major expansion of the Mexican economy -- if the President can win the political battle to bring these reforms from paper to production.
The Polar Vortex: Climate alarmism blows hot and cold
Larry Bell once again states the obvious: that polar vortices have been with us for a very long time -- and that the latest cold temperatures are NOT a sign of global warming, as some would have us believe.
Ask the climate alarmists: “Where are the 200 million climate refugees?”
Marita Noon demonstrates from history and the modern record the absurdity of claims by climate scientist Richard Somerville that low-lying areas are under immediate threat from CO2-induced sea level rise and that increasing CO2 is threatening agricultural production. She presenrts evidence showing that sea levels in Roman and Medieval periods were significantly higher than those today, and that the weather today is not as extreme as television forecasters and news anchors would like us to think. Nonetheless, there is a climate threat today -- the Obama-Podesta climate policy agenda.
Is this any way to treat the job creators?
Energy expert Marita Noon notes that the U.S. economy has an awful record for jobs creation under President Obama, and gives "kudos" to the President and the U.S. Forest Service for their work in keeping people out of work -- whether it is the long-delayed Keystone Pipeline project or the FInley Basin Exploration Projecty in Montana, the strategy is delay, delay, delay -- so they cannot be blamed for saying No but will never say Yes.
If you like your light bulb, you can’t keep your light bulb
The U.S. used to be the "land of the free, the home of the brave." Today, government more and more tells us what we can and cannot do. We MUST purchase health insurance that we do not want or need or pay an increasingly large fine. We CANNOT purchase incandescent light bulbs -- period. Did Washington outlaw horses in order to usher in the automobile era? Did Washington outlaw the manual typewriter to encourage people to purchase computers? So why must Washington turn ordinary citizens into criminals for merely wanting to use their old technologies? Maybe somebody is making a profit?