ICECAP

Mar 09, 2011

Welcome To The New Green Dark Age

People in the UK will soon have an exciting new game to play at home. It’s called “Powerless” and promises to be fun for the whole family.

As Britain embraces the future of renewable energy, notably wind and solar, the boring old days of flipping a switch and being rewarded with instant, reliable energy are over. The wind doesn’t blow all the time and solar power only works in, well, sunlight. This means green energy generation is unreliable:

“...blackouts could become a feature of power systems that replace reliable coal plants with wind turbines in order to meet greenhouse gas targets.”

That’s a quote from Steve Holliday, CEO of the UK National Grid. But don’t worry, because the government has a plan:

Under the so-called “smart grid” that the UK is developing, the government-regulated utility will be able to decide when and where power should be delivered, to ensure that it meets the highest social purpose. Governments may, for example, decide that the needs of key industries take precedence over others, or that the needs of industry trump that of residential consumers. Governments would also be able to price power prohibitively if it is used for non-essential purposes.

In the near future, Brits enjoying their favorite TV show in front of the electric fire when the power goes out will be able to take solace in the knowledge that somewhere there is a higher social purpose that needs the precious power more than they do. They can make a nice cup of tea and wait, unless a kettle is needed. Oops.

Families can look forward to exciting games like ‘what’s in that sandwich Mom made in the dark?’ and ‘where’s the remote, oh wait it doesn’t matter we’ve got no bloody power again.’ British people did so well during the Blitz years of WWII that there will be no problems adjusting to the new reality of living in the occasional stone age.

The green dark age might test even the stiffest of upper lips, but there is no alternative if Gaia is to be saved. Oh wait, nuclear power you say? No emissions and clean, reliable and affordable energy for all, on demand. What a remarkable idea. Not quite as remarkable as the notion of a government determining what counts as a non-essential use of electricity, but close.

Britain’s future is green. Miserable, cold and much like the 19th century without the excuses, but green.

Mar 08, 2011

The Silent Killer of America’s Economy

By Marita Noon, Energy Tribune

The Middle East and the Midwest unrests occupy the nightly news. The unintelligible rants of Muammar Gadhafi and Charlie Sheen fascinate the public. Meanwhile a silent killer is moving behind the scenes - virtually undetected.

Perhaps a bit melodramatic but energy use and America’s economy go hand-in-hand. So, any efforts to reduce energy availability or increase costs serve to kill a recovery that is barely clinging to life. Such campaigns are pulsating throughout the country.

This silent killer is the RPS - or Renewable Portfolio Standard. “Silent” because few, even within the energy industry, are aware of its presence or impact -let alone the consumer. With little media or public attention, 29 states have enacted an RPS and seven more have agreed to voluntary goals.

The RPS is a legislated mandate requiring a certain percentage of a state’s electricity “portfolio” to come from renewable energy (typically referring to wind and solar) by set dates - most states are 10 percent by 2010, 15 percent by 2015 and 20 percent by 2020. In his State of the Union Address, President Obama announced that he’d like to see 80 percent clean energy by 2035. Renewable energy is known to be more expensive for the consumer than electricity generated from traditional sources - even with subsidies of about $24 per megawatt hour. In support of regulations aimed at increasing the use of renewables, a proponent stated, “The reason for Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) is because renewables are more expensive. No one would choose them if it wasn’t required.”

Despite the high cost and intermittent availability, renewable energy is touted as the savior and environmental groups lobby legislators to push for mandates - or higher mandates (as in California and Colorado) when they’ve already voted in the RPS. But, from what is renewable energy “saving” us?

The need for renewables is based on two lies. The first is that we “need” to get off of oil. Yes, we do need to get off of our dependence on oil from regimes that hate America, but we have plenty of oil here. There is no shortage. Access shortage, yes - oil shortage, no. (Plus, insignificant amount of electricity comes from oil.) The second lie is that we must use “clean” energy - meaning one that does not produce CO2. This premise is based on the theory that CO2 causes global warming, global warming is human-caused, and stopping CO2 emissions will save the planet.

Based on these fallacies, states - and even the federal government - are knowingly mandating more expensive energy. Senator Bingaman, Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has repeatedly advocated a national RPS of 15 percent called a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES). Several states are looking at enacting an RPS or increasing what they already have. (All of this, while support for climate change legislation and/or regulation is waning. Many states have bills that will reverse, reduce or modify their RPS. Promise of a potential repeal was part of Governor Kasich’s successful campaign. New Hampshire is the first state to pull out of their participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.)

Regardless of whether state or federal, a new study reveals that these mandated renewable energy requirements will deliver a “devastating blow” to the economy. The American Traditions Institute (ATI) has analyzed the potential for a national standard at various percentages and the existing RPS from several states. Though the exact numbers differ, the results were the same. Energy prices will increase for both individual citizens and industry. Jobs will be lost and household expenses will climb.

At a time when cities and states are facing record budget shortfalls, the RPS will also inflate their costs. A 2010 report card on Renewable Portfolio Standards by State reveals that the cents per kilowatt-hour are generally higher with states with an RPS - and this is before they meet their ultimate goals. Local governments pay for the lights, heating and cooling, elevators, and computers in government buildings. They pay to keep the streets lit. Leaving cities in the dark will cause crime to rise.

According to the American Legislative Exchange Council, 18 states currently have legislation proposed or pending, 44 bills, relating to the RPS. Yet, no one seems to know what an RPS is. Fewer are aware of the potentially lethal impact the RPS, or RES, could have on America. It is not that renewable energy is wrong. There are many cases when wind or solar are the best option. But mandates that raise costs could add fatal pressure to the American economy. Renewable Portfolio Standards are the silent killer. Post.

Marita Noon is the Executive Director at Energy Makes America Great Inc. the advocacy arm of the Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy. Find out more at www.EnergyMakesAmericaGreat.org.

Mar 07, 2011

Democrats attack Republican candidate’s children

UPDATE: See this update by Dr. Robinson here.

By Dr. Art Robinson

In an effort to do my part in rescuing our country from the out-of-control Obama administration, last year I ran for Congress in Oregon’s 4th District against 12-term incumbent, far-left Democrat Peter DeFazio, co-founder of the House Progressive Caucus.

Although I won the nominations of the Republican, Independent and Constitution Parties and the endorsement of the Libertarian Party, a massive media smear campaign by DeFazio, paid for with money raised by MoveOn.org and from special interests favored by DeFazio in Washington, resulted in a 54.5 percent to 43.6 percent victory for DeFazio in a race that was expected to be much closer.

Although I had never run for public office before, I immediately announced my candidacy for Congress again in 2012.

However, when you take a stand for what’s right, sometimes there is retribution.

On Nov. 4, 2010, as soon as the election results were in and they were sure their candidate had won, faculty administrators at Oregon State University gave new meaning to the term “political payback.”

They initiated an attack on my three children - Joshua, Bethany and Matthew - for the purpose of throwing them all out of the OSU graduate school, despite their outstanding academic and research accomplishments. OSU is a liberal socialist Democrat stronghold in Oregon that received a reported $27 million in earmark funding from my opponent, Peter DeFazio, and his Democrat colleagues during the last legislative session.

Thus, Democrat activist David Hamby and militant feminist and chairman of the nuclear engineering department Kathryn Higley are expelling four-year Ph.D. student Joshua Robinson from OSU at the end of the current academic quarter and turning over the prompt neutron activation analysis facility Joshua built for his thesis work and all of his work in progress to Higley’s husband, Steven Reese. Reese, an instructor in the department, has stated that he will use these things for his own professional gain. Joshua’s apparatus, which he built and added to the OSU nuclear reactor with the guidance and ideas of his mentor, Michael Hartman, earned Joshua the award for best Masters of Nuclear Engineering thesis at OSU and has been widely complimented by scientists at prominent U.S. nuclear facilities.

Meanwhile, faculty member Todd Palmer notified four-year Ph.D. student Bethany Robinson (OSU grade point average 3.89) that he was terminating her thesis work and taking all of her work in progress for himself. Some of Bethany’s graduate work has already been used, without credit to Bethany, in the thesis of another favored student now recently hired on the department faculty.

Palmer, until recently married to a member of the OSU psychology faculty, is now married to former OSU student Camille Lodwick. They are both faculty members in the nuclear engineering department.

It is also rumored that Higley, a long-time associate of Palmer’s and who is adamant that Bethany leave OSU, may dislike Bethany because of criticism Higley received when department students complained of sexual assault at wild drunken parties of OSU nuclear engineering students during taxpayer-financed trips to scientific meetings. These incidents may have been more likely because Higley had failed to report to OSU authorities an earlier instance of milder sexual harassment against Bethany, probably because Bethany – a brilliant but very mild-mannered, conservative, homeschooled Christian young lady - does not share Higley’s views.

My children and I attempted to counter all these actions against us as they unfolded, but were initially uncertain as to their ultimate intent. All became clear, however, when OSU faculty administrators abruptly took a further and very serious prejudicial action toward Joshua. At that point, OSU Professor of Nuclear Engineering Jack Higginbotham, who was privy to all of the meetings and actions, warned us and came to our defense.

Professor Higginbotham, who also serves as president of the OSU Faculty Senate and director of the Oregon NASA Space Science Consortium, has been a member of the OSU faculty for 24 years. He has held many responsible positions in the university and has received numerous professional awards. Moreover, he is very widely admired for the many instances in which he has given special help to students at OSU. This is a man who thinks always of his students and never of himself.

Professor Higginbotham warned us that faculty administrators at OSU were working to make certain that Joshua, his sister Bethany and, if possible, his brother Matthew never receive Ph.D. degrees in nuclear engineering from OSU, regardless of their examination, academic and research performance. Professor Higginbotham then reviewed with us the details of the plan to destroy the education of these students and advised me to do anything I could to protect my children.

Since November, a remarkable battle has been raging within OSU. I considered an immediate public exposure of this plot and warned the faculty of this possibility, but instead my family and I decided to try to prevent a scandal at OSU and save the students within the confines of OSU. We fought these unprincipled academics on their own ground and held them off for four months. That effort is, however, now failing, and Joshua and Bethany are both slated for dismissal from the department of nuclear engineering very soon. Also, unless action is taken immediately, Professor Higginbotham’s career will be completely destroyed.

Indeed, in retribution for Professor Higginbotham’s efforts to protect the Robinson students from these unprincipled attacks, he personally has become the target of a campaign of defamation, vilification, persecution, Star-Chamber humiliation and other career-destroying actions orchestrated by Higley and the other people who are attacking us.

Now nearing success is a disgraceful effort to strip Professor Higginbotham of his faculty position and his research grants. His career now potentially in ruins, he is fighting back in hopes of saving himself and the positions of the students and staff who depend upon him at OSU and who may also lose their careers as collateral damage in these astonishing events.

The attack on Professor Higginbotham, if not stopped, may also destroy the graduate work of his student, Matthew Robinson. Matthew (OSU grade point average 3.91) passed up a $57,000 per year offer from the MIT graduate school so he could join his brother and sister at OSU two years ago.

Demonstrating unanimity with the DeFazio cause, both responsible OSU deans and the president of OSU, Edward Ray, have so far failed to halt these dishonorable and illegal actions. Ray, a supporter of DeFazio on the campus, has refused even to meet with me or my son Joshua concerning these events. Knowledgeable observers have concluded that orders for the attacks on the Robinson students are coming from sources far above Ray in the Democrat political machine.

The department of nuclear engineering attracted the Robinson students to OSU during a better day when it was directed by distinguished nuclear engineer José Reyes, who has now moved to NuScale Power. The department was in the hands of a group of very outstanding nuclear engineers. The ranks of these engineers have unfortunately been thinned by retirements and departure to other universities, including Michael Hartman now at the University of Michigan, but still mentoring Joshua. The engineers no longer control the department.

The department is now controlled by ideologues, most of whom do not have Ph.D.s in nuclear engineering. Nepotistic husband-and-wife combinations and new hires of their own graduate students have brought the department under the control of unprincipled people who have enthusiastically participated in the attacks on the Robinson students and Professor Higginbotham - attacks that have violated numerous OSU academic rules, several laws and the most basic professional ethics.

Professor Higginbotham, Joshua, Bethany and Matthew Robinson can still be rescued - but only by immediate, intense public pressure.

OSU administrators think they can violate ethical academic standards of professional conduct, break formal OSU rules and regulations, and even violate U.S. laws with impunity because, in any resulting litigation, they would be defended by lawyers from the Oregon Department of Justice, assuring that only students with huge sums of money and many years to invest in litigation can oppose them. The Robinsons do not have those huge sums of money, and, moreover, they want to complete their education - not receive money in exchange for the destruction of their education and opportunities.

If these people succeed, a delighted Peter DeFazio will be able to brag to the voters that the Robinson children were thrown out of Oregon State University. Why else but to favor DeFazio would the OSU administration condone seemingly irrational actions that are potentially so damaging to the reputation of the university? OSU dances to the tune of the Democrat machine, and DeFazio controls that machine.

As things stand today, Jack Higginbotham and his students and staff, along with Joshua Robinson are in immediate danger. Bethany Robinson is slated for dismissal soon after and without the Ph.D. that she has nearly completed. The dismissal of Matthew Robinson may not be far behind. And the danger to Professor Higginbotham’s other students is likewise very high.

Please don’t let this happen!

Please notify OSU of your interest in this matter and urge the university to stop its destructive actions against Joshua, Bethany and Matthew Robinson and against Professor Jack Higginbotham, the remarkable president of the OSU faculty senate who has risked his career to help them!