June 20, 2013

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And you thought Solyndra was bad…here comes Bloom Energy

February 28, 2013 By Carol Greenberg

We’ve had a bunch of “green energy” companies bite the dust which have been funded with U.S. taxpayer money. The list seems endless. Solyndra, A123 Systems, Ener1.

Now enter Bloom Energy, a company which manufactures “clean energy” has found a new way to bilk the taxpayers.

They bussed 14 Mexicans up to Silicon Valley to work for them. Put them up in decent hotels while they were being trained. Gave them a $50 per day food allowance. Sounds good so far. Right?

But in order to avoid government and taxpayer scrutiny of how little they were paying the workers, a measly $2.66 per hour, they paid them in pesos by wiring the funds to a bank in Chihuahua. 

Fuel cell manufacturer Bloom Energy received two awards totaling $15.1 million from the 1603 Treasury Program to support installations for a variety of commercial customers. The company recently quadrupled the size of its manufacturing facility in Sunnyvale, Calif. The total estimated value of the fuel cell projects is approximately $50 million.

And that’s not all.

The Treasury Department has awarded the firm more than $70 million as of October 2012, according to the latest records. It is unclear if those funds have been fully disbursed or if the Treasury Department has suspended future payments. The department did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Hopefully readers are outraged but nothing seems to surprise anyone any more. But as predicted enter a whistleblower which triggered an investigation.

A U.S. district judge has ordered Bloom to pay $31,922 in back wages and $6,160 in penalties. A pittance for a company worth almost $2.7 billion.

Interesting that former Secretary of State Colin Powell is on the Board of Directors.

Crossposted at Unified Patriots and Grumpy Opinions

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Filed Under green energy, green energy corruption Tagged With Bloom Energy, Colin Powell, fuel cell, green energy, green energy corruption

Salazar locks up most of Alaska NPR-A from drilling

February 22, 2013 By Carol Greenberg

Despite the encouraging picture at the right of Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar moving “forward” he is actually moving us “backward.” Very quickly.

Last week I reported Obama had “cherry-picked” items he included in his faux energy policy in his 2013 State of the Union address, and to add more fuel to the firestorm he and his administration have created in blocking domestic fossil fuel production, he has now banned energy production in half of our petroleum reserve in Alaska.

Of the 23 million acres in reserve on Alaska’s north slope, energy production will be allowed on an nearly 12 million acres believed to hold 549 million barrels of oil – a small percentage of what the U.S. Geological Survey estimates the entire reserve holds — nearly three billion barrels of recoverable oil.

According to the USGS there are over 2.7 billion barrels of oil and 114.36 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the NPR-A. Senior VP of Policy Dan Kish of the Institute for Energy Research speaks with Special Report about opening vast federal lands to energy development which could produce $14.4 trillion in GDP over the next 37 years:

So as you compare Obama’s statements at SOTU with his actual policies the two sure are at odds with one another.

Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee released this statement:

“As gasoline prices continue to increase for the 34th day in a row, the Obama Administration has responded by locking up a majority of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which Congress specifically established for oil and natural gas production,” said Chairman Hastings. “Only in President Obama’s backwards worldview of anti-energy policies does it make sense to prohibit energy production in a place specifically set aside for energy production at a time when gasoline prices are skyrocketing and federal oil and natural gas production is declining.”

Congress set up this tract of land 90 years ago, which is the size of Indiana, for drilling purposes. But DOI and Obama have once again caved to the environmentalists like Sierra Club and Greenpeace.

Crossposted at Unified Patriots 

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Filed Under environmentalism, oil drilling Tagged With 2013 State of the Union, Alaska, Dan Kish, Dept. of the Interior, DOI Chairman Ken Salazar, Greenpeace, Institute for Energy Research, NRP-A, oil, Rep. Doc Hastings, Sierra Club

Obama #SOTUfail: Cherry-picks items on energy policy

February 19, 2013 By Carol Greenberg

Well, this is awkward. A report from an energy organization that President Obama cited in last week’s State of the Union address called for expanded offshore and ANWR drilling as part of its recommendations for American energy independence. The problem? Obama has consistently opposed both measures despite claiming to back an ‘all of the above’ strategy.

From the Washington Free Beacon:

“A report cited by President Obama during this week’s State of the Union address as a possible basis for national energy policy also calls for increased offshore drilling and oil production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)—two policies the administration has opposed.

So, what exactly did Obama cherry-pick from the report?

“President Obama proposed establishing an “energy security trust” during his speech and referred to the report by Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE). ‘If a nonpartisan coalition of CEOs and retired generals and admirals can get behind this idea, then so can we,’ Obama said. ‘Let’s take their advice and free our families and businesses from the painful spikes in gas prices we’ve put up with for far too long.’”

But what else does the SAFE report call for? A realistic approach to securing American energy independence, and an honest assessment of Obama’s policies thus far:

“‘While it remains critical to balance environmental preservation and energy extraction, [the Department of the] Interior’s current approach falls short of striking such a balance,’ the SAFE report states. ‘Operating in the wake of a serious industry failure, DOI has essentially locked the nation into a Gulf-centric approach to offshore development that unnecessarily constrains access to potentially promising resources elsewhere.’ ‘Significant oil and natural gas resources on federal lands, both onshore and offshore, remain unavailable for development due to statutory restrictions and bureaucratic inertia,’ the report also states.”

It doesn’t work that way, Mr. President, you can’t use one sentence from a report that largely contradicts your policies. What’s more, President Obama used the campaign trail to tout the oil production spike since he took office, but over 95 percent of that has come from private land which he has no control over, as he’s closed off federal lands to oil exploration. With gas prices rising again, Obama should face renewed questions about why he is endangering the country’s energy supply to appease fringe activists and Hollywood celebrities.

As a reminder President Obama, below is a map of the offshore areas you have BLOCKED for drilling.

Crossposted at Unified Patriots and Grumpy Opinions

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Filed Under Obama energy policy, State of the Union 2013 Tagged With 2013 SOTU, ANWR, drill moratorium, energy policy, Obama

Kennedy Curse continues: 2 arrested at Keystone protest

February 15, 2013 By Carol Greenberg

Image at right from AP.

Conor Kennedy has been having a really bad year.

First Taylor Swift dumps him and then yesterday he, his father Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., civil rights activist Julian Bond, Daryl Hannah, two prominent members of the Sierra Club and about 40 others were arrested in front of the White House after chaining themselves to a fence. The purpose was to protest the building of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Also arrested was former NASA climate activist James Hansen.

A couple weeks ago I reported the Sierra Club intended to go *lawless* and create “civil disobedience” on February 17 at a huge rally in D.C. billed as the “largest climate change rally in history.”

But for whatever reason a group decided to show on Valentine’s Day instead but it seems it turned out to be the “smallest climate change rally in history.”

Democracy Now has an 11 minute video interview of some of the miscreants, but I won’t subject you to it in its entirety but instead pull out a few salient remarks.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is confident Obama will kill Keystone because:

Because I think it’s the right thing to do, and I think he knows that. And I think he—you know, I think he has a strong moral core, and I think John Kerry does, too. And I think, ultimately, he would not do something that is—that is this catastrophic and irresponsible and reckless.

Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune had this to say:

And it might sound a little surprising that an organization like the Sierra Club, that’s been around for so long and has been a part of so many important fights, that it’s the first time we do civil disobedience. But we look at this project, the tar sands pipeline, and it’s a boondoggle. It’s such a—it would contribute to such a climate disaster that we realize we have to use every single tool of democracy in order to fight this thing. We’ll fight it in the courts. We’ll fight it in statehouses and here in the Beltway, in the streets. But we realize that we have to do every single thing that we can to make sure that instead of putting $7 billion into a dirty oil pipeline, that we’re investing in clean energy instead.

And not to be outdone by the others Julian Bond remarked:

This is a decision that affects all Americans, and we want to make sure he does the right thing, which is to say no to the pipeline. It’s a great deal for Canada, great deal for Mexico; doesn’t do much for the United States.

Of course no mention of all the jobs the pipeline would create or that Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman recently approved the new route of the pipeline through his state.

But not to worry: Connor and his dad escaped jail time and got off with just a $100 fine.

The Kennedy Curse may get them into troubles, but some how it always manages to get them out of troubles.

But Sierra Club vows as/of the writing of this article the “biggest climate change rally in history” will still go on February 17.

Crossposted at Unified Patriots and Grumpy Opinions.

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Filed Under environmental protests, Keystone Pipeline Project Tagged With Conor Kennedy, Daryl Hannah, Julian Bond, Keystone protests, Keystone XL Pipeline, Michael Brune, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Sierra Club

Xena, *Warrior Princess* turns pirate to stop Shell drilling

February 8, 2013 By Carol Greenberg

For those who may remember the “Xena Warrior Princess” series, Warrior Princesses aren’t above the law after all. Lucy Lawless (yes, that’s her real name) was sentenced to community service for trespassing to protest Arctic drilling.

Lawless turned the Pirates of the Caribbean film into “Pirates of the South Pacific” when she and several other Greenpeace protesters illegally boarded one of Shell’s drill ships in New Zealand in an attempt to stop their drilling in the Arctic.

Today in New Zealand Lawless was sentenced to 120 hours of community service and fined close to $5,000 for damages to the drill ship Noble Discoverer. Lawless had this to say outside the courtroom after her sentencing:

“We are proud to have taken part in our attempt to stop Shell’s reckless plans to drill for oil in the pristine Arctic.Since we occupied the Noble Discoverer, it has become evident to everyone watching, from the millions who have signed Greenpeace petitions to the U.S. Government now examining Shell’s plans, that it can never be safe to drill in the Arctic.”

For those wishing to watch a short news report from New Zealand it can be found here, sorry no embed code.

And according to Lawless’ twit feed this wasn’t the greatest day for her to *face the law*:

Oh well Lucy. I’m guessing “Lawless” is probably desperate for attention given her low profile over the past decade or so but maybe she should learn the facts about drilling and the jobs and domestic energy it will create, while keeping the environment safe rather than becoming the latest celebrity to fall for radical talking points. Although we must say, 77 hours as a pirate is a warrior’s dedication.

This isn’t the first time Greenpeace has tried to interrupt Shell’s drilling. Last summer they sent submersibles, drones and ice-class ships steaming towards Alaska but NOAA was notified by Congressional representatives and asked to head them off.

Crossposted at Unified Patriots

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Filed Under environmental protests Tagged With environmental protests, Greenpeace, Lucy Lawless, Noble Discoverer, Shell Oil, Xena Warrior Princess