Institute for Energy Research

The Oil From Ipanema

WASHINGTON- Now that gas prices are topping $4 per gallon, President Obama is touting the benefits of increased oil exploration and production . . . in Brazil. While his administration works to decrease American energy production, President Obama encouraged Brazilians to become a “new, stable source of energy” for the U.S. In response, Daniel Kish, vice president of policy at the Institute for Energy Research, issued the following statement:

It’s Deja vu All Over Again

WASHINGTON- The rising price of gasoline has triggered a rite of passage in Washington – cries of excessive speculation and price gouging. Yesterday, Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) proposed setting federal price caps on gasoline. Today, a group of Democrat lawmakers put forward a proposal to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. In response, Thomas Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, issued the following statement:

Mr. President, Stop Misleading the American People

WASHINGTON- In today’s press conference, the President boasted of record high domestic oil production. Once again, President Obama is spinning the facts in order to deflect the blame for the rising price at the pump. In response, Thomas Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, issued the following statements:

Tilting at Turbines

Obama Administration Pushes Electric Vehicles

"We can break our dependence on oil...and become the first country to have one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015," President Obama said in his January 2011 State of the Union address. Is the Obama Administration's goal of one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015 a way to break our dependence on oil? Is it a worthy goal? Is it doable? To get to the target, the Obama Administration wants to change the current $7,500 tax credit to an up-front rebate to entice consumers to purchase these vehicles. However, even with these huge rebates, electric vehicles are more expensive than gasoline and diesel-fueled vehicles due to expensive batteries that have yet to become cost competitive and due to vehicle characteristics that are subpar due to low vehicle mile range between charges, space limitations, and lack of infrastructure to recharge.

Geithner Unwittingly Makes Case for Drill Baby Drill

It is not often that we agree with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, but he was exactly right in his remarks on the global energy situation. After meeting with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, Geithner sought to reassure the public by saying that "major producers of oil" and the "major developed economies" had adequate reserves to counteract any supply disruptions from the unrest in Libya.

Malthus Lives on With Peak Oil Alarmists

The 18th century British scholar Thomas Malthus believed human population growth was unsustainable because he thought that population growth was exponential (2-4-16) while the food supply only grew arithmetically (2-3-4). Malthus argued that this relationship between population and food supply was a recipe for social catastrophe.

China is Awash in New Vehicle Sales and Is Investing in North American Oil Projects

In 2011, China is expected to lead the world in car sales for the third straight year. Its sales in 2011 are expected to be near 20 million vehicles compared to less than 13 million vehicles for the United States. And, these vehicles will be mainly run on oil-based fuels. China's oil consumption increased 12.9 percent in 2010, hitting the 10 million-barrel-per-day mark in November, and its oil imports have risen 17.5 percent. Recognizing the need for oil resources, its state-owned oil companies are buying oil and gas assets around the world.

Virginia is Not for Ethanol Lovers

The Virginia House of Delegates – lead by Delegate Bob Marshall (R-Manassas) – has provided some sound advice for the Federal government: re-think federal ethanol policy.

Pelosi’s Fake Committee Hearing on Fake Green Job Creation

On Monday minority House leader Nancy Pelosi held a fake committee hearing on green jobs. We say "fake" because, according to Greenwire (subscription required), the affair was simply a meeting of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, as opposed to a genuine Congressional hearing.

Girlie Man Energy

Move over Al Gore. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the new public face of climate alarmism and government-driven energy transformation. But what the irony! When it comes to energy, Arnold is pushing bloat over muscle when he speaks of wind and solar (“green” energy) displacing oil, gas, and coal. Politically correct renewables are dilute and resource intensive compared to the muscular energies found in the ground. Seen another way, the flow of solar (including the wind) is BTU-impoverished versus the sun’s work over the many millions of year. It is not even a beach fight.

Permit? What Permit?

Michael R. Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), announced this week that the agency is at last granting one solitary deepwater drilling permit in the Gulf of Mexico. Could it be that the Administration is finally softening its position of maintaining a “permitorium” against all offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico?

Secretary Salazar Heads to the Hill to Beg for Bureaucratic Bucks

WASHINGTON – On Wednesday and Thursday of this week, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will appear before the House Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to defend his department’s inaction on offshore permits. In addition, Secretary Salazar will be making the case for a $358 million budget, fifty percent more than was allocated in fiscal year 2010. In anticipation of these hearings, Thomas Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, issued the following statement:

Deathbed Conversion

WASHINGTON- In reaction to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement issuing the first permit for deepwater drilling since the Deepwater Horizon accident, Thomas J. Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, issued the following statement:

Natural Gas could Power Europe into the Future

For those dreaming of wind and solar energy powering the future, natural gas could be a nightmare — especially in Europe. Yesterday, the New York Times writes:

U.S. Government Shuts Out Increased Alaskan Oil Production

In the 1970s, the United States built the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) to provide greater access to large reserves of domestic oil in Alaska. Built at a cost of $8 billion (equal to over $39 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars), TAPS moves oil 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope to Valdez, a southern port in Alaska.(i) Thirty-three years after start-up in 1977, the pipeline, originally designed to move 2.1 million barrels per day, has a current flow of only 0.68 million barrels per day[ii], less than a third of its capacity due to the production decline at oil fields in Prudhoe Bay and other North Slope areas. There are far more domestic oil resources that could flow through the pipeline, but the federal government continues to deny Americans access to these energy resources.

Kish: Obama Admin Is Causing Our Energy Problems, Not Solving Them

WASHINGTON – In response to the price of crude oil hitting $100 per barrel today and the continued unrest in Libya, IER Senior Vice President for Policy, Dan Kish, released the following comments:

Energy Forecasts Agree on Global Fossil Fuel Domination

Fossil fuels are dominating the world’s energy market—a trend that will last for at least the next 20 to 25 years, the leading energy forecasters contend. According to these forecasters, it does not matter whether policies remain the same or whether anti-fossil fuel policies are enacted—fossil fuels will continue to produce 75 to 80 percent of the world’s energy by 2030.

Obama’s Budget: Central Planning the Nation’s Energy Sources

In American political discourse, everyone pays lip service to the virtues of free-market capitalism, and everyone recognizes the disaster of outright socialism. Yet through its massive power to tax, spend, and regulate, the federal government can achieve backdoor central planning, where federal officials pick winners and losers. We see this pattern all too clearly in President Obama's recent budget proposal and its impact on the American energy sector.

Everybody’s Got One: Obama, Salazar Running Out of Excuses

WASHINGTON--Two major developments this week spell trouble for the Obama Administration's war on affordable energy. Energy majors ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, and Shell announced the completion of a state-of-the-art Marine Well Containment System (MWCS) capable of controlling catastrophic spills like the Deepwater Horizon accident this past spring. In addition, Federal Judge Martin Feldman granted Ensco Offshore an injunction, ordering Secretary Salazar to act on five deepwater permits within thirty days. Thomas Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, released the following statement in response: