Peter C. Glover

Time, Newsweek Bury Keystone

Energy has become a hot button election issue. President Obama's State of the Union address and his decision to reject TransCanada's application to build the Keystone pipeline crystallized the fact. The language of the GOP presidential candidates post-Keystone was suitably pithy. Gingrich intoned it "a stunningly stupid thing to do"; Romney cited the move as "shocking" and "revealing". But just as the GOP candidate race is turning into a drawn out war of attrition, the mainstream media mood music has changed.

Super-Fracking and the Next Shale Gale

The shale gas and oil production is the energy story of the last decades; the technological advances of hydraulic fracturing (fracking in the recent vernacular) its chief sub-text. But, as when you‚'ve read the first part of Stieg Larsson‚'s 'The Girl With...‚' trilogy, or any good thriller series, you are left wondering what drama is coming next. Well the technological ingenuity of the American 'authors‚' of fracking does not disappoint. Part II--Super-fracking--already has the markets abuzz with anticipation.

The Covert ‘War’ In Iran

The assassination of another Iranian nuclear scientist on the streets of Tehran immediately cast suspicion on the obvious and usual suspects, the Israelis and America's CIA. But Israeli writer Caroline Glick posits a third equally credible suspect: Iran's internal opposition party, the Green Movement (no connection with an eco-movement). And when the facts are more closely examined the assertion that a campaign of sabotage, in which the Green Movement is at least complicit, has traction.

Europe’s Doomed Flight of Decarbonizing Fancy

Green taxes are soaring. To be precise, to 30,000 feet as the EU’s new carbon tax on airlines for all flights to or from Europe kicked in on January 1. While the levies involved will push profit margins to the limit for some, with ETS carbon permits trading at pathetically low levels and expected to stay that way through 2012, the pain in the first year for airlines may not be as much as the €1.1 billion initially projected. Even so, letting the plane take the carbon strain represents seriously poor long-term strategic planning for Europe given the looming global trade war it is about to ignite.

Lies, Damned Lies & Enviro-Fraud

"The greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda". The late science writer Michael Crichton certainly put his finger on the spirit of our age.

The Twelve Days of Durban

The 12 days of the Durban climate bash proved to be the political damp squib widely predicted. Pre-summit statements from major economies--the United States, India, China and Brazil--all dumping on the Kyoto agenda saw to that. However, whilst will take political elites time to realise it, the climate alarmist goose has been clearly been stuffed and cooked.

Occupy Durban: The Greatest Sham on Earth

If you have a phobia about high concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) then you should avoid Durban, South Africa between November 28 and December 9. That's where the world's political and celebrity elites, as well as miscellaneous thousands are flying in, mostly in private jets, to prognosticate and pontificate as to how the rest of us are duty bound to stop running up ... er...high concentrations of carbon dioxide.

Emission Controls: The Exodus Begins

Rio Tinto Alcan is closing its Northumberland aluminium smelting plant in north-east England--a direct result of EU climate legislation. The closure of the decades old smelting plant is devastating for an area with already high unemployment. It is also a poignant closure for me personally.

Fracking & Quakes: Not a Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On

There's not a whole lotta shakin' goin' on due to shale gas fracking--official. Except, that is, in the global energy markets. But the 'whatever-it-is-I'm-against-it' Marxist (Groucho, that is) eco-activists, together with the constant alarmists in the media, persist in attempting to send tremors through public opinion over shale gas extraction.

Israel-Iran: Reaching Critical Mass?

A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) due on November 8 could well prove the decisive factor in triggering an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities--no matter whether the Obama administration gives its backing.

Climategate II: Won’t Get Fooled Again?

"For the clueless or cynical diehards who deny global warming, it's getting awfully cold out there." So wrote Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson on October 24. Unfortunately for Robinson, he was right about it "getting awfully cold out there", though not as he contended for climate sceptics.

Carbon Jihad, iPads & the Jevons Paradox

It was John Lennon who famously remarked, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”. So too, market forces is “what happens” while bureaucrats are busy planning strategies. According to a new study, government anti-carbon emission initiatives are being undermined by the boom in sales of electronic gadgetry and devices.

Spying Iran’s Nuclear End Game

As John le Carré's Cold War spy movie Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy opens to rave reviews in London, so the story of Iran's nuclear program is taking on a dark le Carré-esque 'keep-em-guessing' undercurrent. Probably how Teheran's 'cloak and dagger' regime prefers it. The question is: whose intelligence (pun intended) would it fool?

Goodnight, Irene

There was something faintly amusing about the rash of media reporters roaming the empty wet and windy streets of New York and Long Island at the weekend. While directors back at base repeatedly ran the same shot of the wooden shed being tossed by waves off Long Island, for the frontline reporters, it must have felt like somebody had, quite literally, stolen their broadcasting thunder.

The Green Subsidy-Job Loss Nexus

There comes a point when even how to save the planet boils down to hard economics--what can we afford? Bottom line: the green refrain "whatever it costs" won't do in the real world. Whichever side of the Atlantic we live on, the economic indicators are all registering in the red 'critical' zone when it comes to the destructive impact of diverting precious economic resources into green subsidies, particularly on real jobs.

Iran’s Army Chief: Next OPEC President?

Former Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander Rostam Ghasemi is one of four names on a list submitted to the Iranian Parliament for approval as the country's new oil minister--a position that also includes the presidency of OPEC.

Anders Breivik is Not a Christian. Period.

I have just witnessed Bill O'Reilly of Fox News and Washington Post resident leftie Sally Quinn who edits WPs 'On Faith' section - I can't think of anyone intellectually less qualified on the issue of faith from what I have heard from her - over whether Anders Breivik would be called a Christian. Thus, as the New York Times would have it Breivik must be a "Christian Terrorist”, much as we feel able to use the term “Muslim Terrorist”.

No Global Warming: Due to China Burning “Extra Coal”!

As a superb bronze of Ronald Reagan was being unveiled in the gardens of London's U.S. Embassy on July 4, a new study into why global temperatures stalled back in the mid-1990s was making headlines. According to the study's lead author Robert Kaufmann the "lack of global warming" may well be due ... to the Chinese burning "extra coal". So there it is. Hot off the presses is the suggestion that not only is man's burning of coal a chief cause of global warming, man's burning of even more coal, at least temporarily, may also be responsible for cooling global temperatures, too.

The Need for Public Ownership of the Carbon “Idea”

"If in the long run we are the makers of our own fate, in the short run we are the captives of the ideas we have created". These words of economist and political philosopher Friedrich Hayek's today resonate loudly in the carbon "idea"--that the West should fast-track a low-carbon economy no matter what the socio-economic cost.

Emission Control, We Have a Problem

Unlike the CAU--Climate Alarmists' Union--I don't major in defending the immutable prophetic utterance of the computer modelling gods. Still, the faith of those in the rush to decarbonisation at any cost it seems remains unabated, even though all the evidence pointing to spiralling electricity bills resulting in loss of industrial competitiveness--not to mention jobs--will be the direct result. But what is truly disturbing is how little credence our political leaders appear to grant to this self-inflicted 'foot wound'.