T. Boone Pickens

Solar Thaw

Government lifts solar project ban on public lands - SiliconValley.com:

Companies planning to build huge solar power plants in the desert will be able to file new applications to use federal lands after the Bureau of Land Management reversed its position on the issue Tuesday.

Half Empty or Full?

Is Your Tank Half Empty or Half Full? - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com:

High gas prices have had some obvious immediate effects on Americans: Hummer sales are down, commuting by public transit is up, airlines are charging for nonessentials, like baggage. But if $4 gas (or higher) is here to stay, we can expect our lives to change in other ways, too. The Op-Ed page asked 10 writers to reflect on the consequences — unexpected, unnoticed, unrealized, good, bad or indifferent — of really expensive fuel.

Congressional Speculation

Op-Ed Columnist - Paul Krugman - Fuels on the Hill

What about those who argue that speculative excess is the only way to explain the speed with which oil prices have risen? Well, I have two words for them: iron ore.

You see, iron ore isn’t traded on a global exchange; its price is set in direct deals between producers and consumers. So there’s no easy way to speculate on ore prices. Yet the price of iron ore, like that of oil, has surged over the past year. In particular, the price Chinese steel makers pay to Australian mines has just jumped 96 percent. This suggests that growing demand from emerging economies, not speculation, is the real story behind rising prices of raw materials, oil included.

In any case, one thing is clear: the hyperventilation over oil-market speculation is distracting us from the real issues.

Hot Air Heating

Congressional Memo - An Inexhaustible Energy Source - Heated Words. But Can It Be Tapped?

Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, declared, “After today’s vote, the G.O.P. now officially stands for the Gas and Oil Party.”

Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, said: “Most Democrats still insist on trying to repeal the law of supply and demand. It’s a new economic theory. You might call it Obamanomics.”

Solar Freeze

Citing Need for Assessments, U.S. Freezes Solar Energy Projects

"The Bureau of Land Management says an extensive environmental study is needed to determine how large solar plants might affect millions of acres it oversees in six Western states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah."