Thursday, March 29, 2012
The intelligence of our space leadership must be Improved----RESTART SHUTTLE
We spent two decades and tens of billions of dollars to build the international space station,” Hall said. “I’m beyond frustrated to know that our space station program is now dependent on launch systems to do the job that NASA ought to be doing. Congress has been pretty clear that NASA is not to rely totally on these commercial proposals. I hear excuses and delay after delay for the supposedly simple act of delivering cargo to the space station. NASA has spent $1.6 billion on this effort so far and the nation doesn’t have very much to show for it.”
Hall pointed out that when NASA selected SpaceX in 2006 to develop a space station cargo ship, its first flight to the space station was expected in June 2009. Dragon ended up debuting on Dec. 9, 2010, completing a test milestone originally proposed for September 2008.
Hall pointed out that when NASA selected SpaceX in 2006 to develop a space station cargo ship, its first flight to the space station was expected in June 2009. Dragon ended up debuting on Dec. 9, 2010, completing a test milestone originally proposed for September 2008.
Better get the shuttle out of museum
US falling behind in battle for ultimate high ground — space
Pete Olson (R-Texas) - TheHill.com (Opinion)
March has been an exciting month in space exploration. The media has been abuzz with stories about future lunar missions to gather soil samples, continued development of lunar probes and record-setting numbers of rocket launches. Unfortunately, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is featured in none of these stories, which is unusual, given that the United States has long been the global leader. Sadly, these stories are all about China’s escalating ambition to eclipse the United States as the global leader in human space flight.
Film aims to keep dream alive
Pete Olson (R-Texas) - TheHill.com (Opinion)
March has been an exciting month in space exploration. The media has been abuzz with stories about future lunar missions to gather soil samples, continued development of lunar probes and record-setting numbers of rocket launches. Unfortunately, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is featured in none of these stories, which is unusual, given that the United States has long been the global leader. Sadly, these stories are all about China’s escalating ambition to eclipse the United States as the global leader in human space flight.
Film aims to keep dream alive
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
NY Board of Education banning some common words
On Lou Dobbs a few minutes ago he reported the ny board of education is banning the following words because wants kids to be comfortable :
Dinosaur
Birthdays
Dancing
Computers
Swimming
Holloween
Amazing.
Dinosaur
Birthdays
Dancing
Computers
Swimming
Holloween
Amazing.
BOEMRE slowdown costs 230000 jobs and 44 billion in GDP
← It’s Not Easy Going Green, Part IIISolar Energy Flim-Flam →
BOEMRE Slowdown Costs 230,000 Jobs, $44 Billion in GDP
Posted on July 22, 2011
A new study from IHS-CERA, one of the leading energy think tanks, projects the cost of the Department of the Interior’s ongoing regulatory slowdown and its impact on the energy industry, employment in the coastal states, and the U.S. economy in general. The study, released on Thursday, was commissioned by the Gulf Economic Survival Team (GEST).
We’re beginning to see the true cost of an energy-hostile Administration in Washington. Their policies are not just an inconvenience to a few companies. They are permanently damaging infrastructure which will be difficult to impossible to rebuild. That seems to be their intent.
From the study’s Executive Summary (.pdf link to full study):
Swift action to reduce the growing backlog of plans and increase the pace of plan and permit approvals to explore for oil and natural gas resources in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico would increase employment opportunities in almost every state, boost tax and royalty revenues for governments, and help stabilize US energy security. And these benefits could materialize rapidly. Early alignment between the capacity to properly regulate oil and natural gas activities and the pace and scale of investment opportunities would capture the largest possible share of the activity gap, which in 2012 results in
230,000 American jobs
more than $44 billion of US gross domestic product (GDP)
nearly $12 billion in tax and royalty revenues to state and federal treasuries
US oil production of more than 400,000 barrels of oil per day (bd) (equivalent to approximately 150 million barrels in the full year)
reducing the amount the United States sends to foreign governments for imported oil by around $15 billion
The employment effects would not be limited to the Gulf states. One-third of those jobs would be generated outside the Gulf region in such states as California, Florida, Illinois, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.
[Emphasis added.]
The damage done by BOEMRE now extends beyond a mere slowdown in acquiring permits. With the moratorium/permitorium well into its second year, structural damage to the industry has begun. This is affecting larger companies — the “majors” and the large independents — but it is especially damaging to the small independents and service companies. Private companies and small cap public companies have a particularly difficult time complying with new requirements and funding new bonding requirements. Many are understandably reluctant to embark on large new capital projects during a period of unprecedented hostility toward industry.
Whatever happens in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon, BOEMRE’s new regulations and aggressive regulatory posture will not threaten the futures of BP, Transocean, Halliburton or the other key players in the disaster. They have deep pockets and can afford to comply. Instead, dozens of smaller producers, service companies, boat companies, etc., none of them household names, will either be forced out of the Gulf of Mexico (some out of business entirely) because they cannot afford the cost of compliance with a myriad of regulations, few of which actually pertain to Macondo’s root causes.
Readers of Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism should be familiar with this effect: the weight of regulation always falls disproportionately on smaller companies. Ironically, the smaller companies did not create the problem, and the inherent risks of their operations are miniscule compared to Macondo’s deepwater monster.
Cross-posted at RedState.com.
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BOEMRE Slowdown Costs 230,000 Jobs, $44 Billion in GDP
Posted on July 22, 2011
A new study from IHS-CERA, one of the leading energy think tanks, projects the cost of the Department of the Interior’s ongoing regulatory slowdown and its impact on the energy industry, employment in the coastal states, and the U.S. economy in general. The study, released on Thursday, was commissioned by the Gulf Economic Survival Team (GEST).
We’re beginning to see the true cost of an energy-hostile Administration in Washington. Their policies are not just an inconvenience to a few companies. They are permanently damaging infrastructure which will be difficult to impossible to rebuild. That seems to be their intent.
From the study’s Executive Summary (.pdf link to full study):
Swift action to reduce the growing backlog of plans and increase the pace of plan and permit approvals to explore for oil and natural gas resources in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico would increase employment opportunities in almost every state, boost tax and royalty revenues for governments, and help stabilize US energy security. And these benefits could materialize rapidly. Early alignment between the capacity to properly regulate oil and natural gas activities and the pace and scale of investment opportunities would capture the largest possible share of the activity gap, which in 2012 results in
230,000 American jobs
more than $44 billion of US gross domestic product (GDP)
nearly $12 billion in tax and royalty revenues to state and federal treasuries
US oil production of more than 400,000 barrels of oil per day (bd) (equivalent to approximately 150 million barrels in the full year)
reducing the amount the United States sends to foreign governments for imported oil by around $15 billion
The employment effects would not be limited to the Gulf states. One-third of those jobs would be generated outside the Gulf region in such states as California, Florida, Illinois, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.
[Emphasis added.]
The damage done by BOEMRE now extends beyond a mere slowdown in acquiring permits. With the moratorium/permitorium well into its second year, structural damage to the industry has begun. This is affecting larger companies — the “majors” and the large independents — but it is especially damaging to the small independents and service companies. Private companies and small cap public companies have a particularly difficult time complying with new requirements and funding new bonding requirements. Many are understandably reluctant to embark on large new capital projects during a period of unprecedented hostility toward industry.
Whatever happens in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon, BOEMRE’s new regulations and aggressive regulatory posture will not threaten the futures of BP, Transocean, Halliburton or the other key players in the disaster. They have deep pockets and can afford to comply. Instead, dozens of smaller producers, service companies, boat companies, etc., none of them household names, will either be forced out of the Gulf of Mexico (some out of business entirely) because they cannot afford the cost of compliance with a myriad of regulations, few of which actually pertain to Macondo’s root causes.
Readers of Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism should be familiar with this effect: the weight of regulation always falls disproportionately on smaller companies. Ironically, the smaller companies did not create the problem, and the inherent risks of their operations are miniscule compared to Macondo’s deepwater monster.
Cross-posted at RedState.com.
Follow @VladimirRS
Share this:
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If CTL is a waste, what about solar, wind and algae??
BioFuels and Energy
07/26/2007
0 comments print
Judy Owens, of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development in Berea, Kentucky, looks back at tax incentives the state has dangled to attract big businesses. She reports that, despite a few big catches, the fishing's been poor.
By Judy Owens
Coal liquefaction plant, artist's rendering
Image: Our Hoosier State
There are lots of reasons not to like the deal that Peabody Energy Co. is cooking up to build a coal-to-liquid fuel plant in Kentucky. The incentives Peabody wants are unprecedented: $315 million in subsidies that will be on the backs of Kentucky taxpayers for the next 25 years. Worse, it's an unproven technology that will create bigger environmental problems under the guise of solving the country's energy dependence. The U.S. Senate considered similar legislation last month, and it failed. Miserably. The uber-conservative editorial staff of the Wall Street Journal, who are as pro-business as it gets, thought government funding of coal conversion was a waste of public money.
But even if Peabody Energy Co. were not a coal company, and made tennis shoes, cell phones or computers, this deal would be a bad one.
Like so many other big deal incentives have been in Kentucky, coal-to-liquid fuel will be a bad deal for the state's taxpayers, small businesses, entrepreneurs, local school districts and communities in general. Why is that? It's simple. Over the years, the incentives keep getting bigger and bigger, the toll on taxpayers worse and worse while the corporate demands grow more outrageous.
Incentives came on Kentucky's radar when the state put together a $160 million package to lure in Toyota "“ a cost that conservatively amounts to about $50,000 per employee. The incentives were controversial at the time. They became more controversial later when Toyota admitted playing Kentucky off Tennessee for a bigger incentive package, much like Peabody is doing with coal-to-liquid now, pitting Kentucky against Illinois and Indiana.
The Toyota package was approved in 1985. Kentucky never landed another Toyota, but in the years following, incentives have grown larger and the benefits are becoming more and more questionable.
In 1995 Kentucky gave Dofasco, Inc., one of Canada's largest steelmakers, and Co-Steel $140 million in aid for a 400-employee mini-mill in Gallatin County "“ at a cost of $350,000 per job. And a timber company was approved for $300 million in tax credits for 300 jobs "“ a million dollars a job?
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth rally in Louisville against tax incentives for a coal to liquid fuel plant, July 25
Photo: KFTC
Now it looks like Peabody is going for being the granddaddy of them all "“ 300 permanent plant jobs in exchange for $315 million in incentives and tax offsets. Our state will be on the hook to Peabody for the next 25 years. But how effective are incentives at making companies stick?
Sykes Enterprises is a case in point. In 1999, Sykes, a Florida-based corporation, set up two call centers, one in Hazard and one in Pikeville. After gulping down $14 million in incentives, Sykes created more than 1,000 jobs in 2000. Four years later, Sykes closed both facilities, but at the same time added jobs in El Salvador. The incentive package Sykes received even included ownership of buildings "“ improvements made with Kentucky tax dollars. When another company made a deal with Sykes for the Pike County property Sykes had abandoned, the county had to pay Sykes $167,526 to buy back an adjoining lot "“ land that was given to Sykes in 1999. Sykes recently announced a return to Hazard, with the possibility of adding 200 jobs.
Eastern Kentucky isn't the only place where Sykes cut and ran. The same story happened in Greeley, Colorado; Klamath Falls, Oregon; Milton-Freewater, Oregon; Bismark, N.D.; Manhattan, Kansas; Ada, Oklahoma and others.
The incentive packages, costly as they are, don't always reflect the total costs. For example, Kentucky made available to Wal-Mart more than $25 million in incentives for two distribution centers "“ one in London and one in Hopkinsville. That may sound cheap compared with the other deals, until the cost of publicly funded health insurance is factored in. Nationwide Wal-Mart employees are some states' largest single consumers of Medicaid and K-CHIP. Good Jobs First, a Washington, D.C., progressive think tank, estimates that Wal-Mart employees cost Kentucky $34,192,596 in Medicaid and K-CHIP 2005.
Whether a coal company, a phone center, a steel mill or a car manufacturer comes calling, there are some things that Kentucky's leaders should demand before it doing business with private companies. If incentives are offered, they should only be for forward looking jobs that pay living wages and benefits. Our legislators shouldn't cave in to pressure sales tactics, typical of "you-must-act-now" late night television commercials.
Companies should not call our state legislature to heel like a disobedient dog, dragging our lawmakers into a costly and unnecessary legislative session. And most importantly, no single employer -- certainly not one offering only 300 jobs -- should use a midnight hour incentive package as a way to dodge coal severance taxes.
These taxes - a paltry repayment to coalfield communities for the vast minerals pulled from the hills "“ have been a burr under the coal company's saddle ever since the late Harry Caudill won that hard-fought concession in 1972, when he lobbied hard and was unable to convince a single mountain legislator to vote in favor of it.
If our current legislators don't have the steel to stand up and negotiate a respectable bargain when they spend our tax money, the least they could do is keep intact the work of the our past legislators like Caudill, who wasn't afraid to drive a hard deal for the benefit of the people he was elected to serve.
07/26/2007
0 comments print
Judy Owens, of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development in Berea, Kentucky, looks back at tax incentives the state has dangled to attract big businesses. She reports that, despite a few big catches, the fishing's been poor.
By Judy Owens
Coal liquefaction plant, artist's rendering
Image: Our Hoosier State
There are lots of reasons not to like the deal that Peabody Energy Co. is cooking up to build a coal-to-liquid fuel plant in Kentucky. The incentives Peabody wants are unprecedented: $315 million in subsidies that will be on the backs of Kentucky taxpayers for the next 25 years. Worse, it's an unproven technology that will create bigger environmental problems under the guise of solving the country's energy dependence. The U.S. Senate considered similar legislation last month, and it failed. Miserably. The uber-conservative editorial staff of the Wall Street Journal, who are as pro-business as it gets, thought government funding of coal conversion was a waste of public money.
But even if Peabody Energy Co. were not a coal company, and made tennis shoes, cell phones or computers, this deal would be a bad one.
Like so many other big deal incentives have been in Kentucky, coal-to-liquid fuel will be a bad deal for the state's taxpayers, small businesses, entrepreneurs, local school districts and communities in general. Why is that? It's simple. Over the years, the incentives keep getting bigger and bigger, the toll on taxpayers worse and worse while the corporate demands grow more outrageous.
Incentives came on Kentucky's radar when the state put together a $160 million package to lure in Toyota "“ a cost that conservatively amounts to about $50,000 per employee. The incentives were controversial at the time. They became more controversial later when Toyota admitted playing Kentucky off Tennessee for a bigger incentive package, much like Peabody is doing with coal-to-liquid now, pitting Kentucky against Illinois and Indiana.
The Toyota package was approved in 1985. Kentucky never landed another Toyota, but in the years following, incentives have grown larger and the benefits are becoming more and more questionable.
In 1995 Kentucky gave Dofasco, Inc., one of Canada's largest steelmakers, and Co-Steel $140 million in aid for a 400-employee mini-mill in Gallatin County "“ at a cost of $350,000 per job. And a timber company was approved for $300 million in tax credits for 300 jobs "“ a million dollars a job?
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth rally in Louisville against tax incentives for a coal to liquid fuel plant, July 25
Photo: KFTC
Now it looks like Peabody is going for being the granddaddy of them all "“ 300 permanent plant jobs in exchange for $315 million in incentives and tax offsets. Our state will be on the hook to Peabody for the next 25 years. But how effective are incentives at making companies stick?
Sykes Enterprises is a case in point. In 1999, Sykes, a Florida-based corporation, set up two call centers, one in Hazard and one in Pikeville. After gulping down $14 million in incentives, Sykes created more than 1,000 jobs in 2000. Four years later, Sykes closed both facilities, but at the same time added jobs in El Salvador. The incentive package Sykes received even included ownership of buildings "“ improvements made with Kentucky tax dollars. When another company made a deal with Sykes for the Pike County property Sykes had abandoned, the county had to pay Sykes $167,526 to buy back an adjoining lot "“ land that was given to Sykes in 1999. Sykes recently announced a return to Hazard, with the possibility of adding 200 jobs.
Eastern Kentucky isn't the only place where Sykes cut and ran. The same story happened in Greeley, Colorado; Klamath Falls, Oregon; Milton-Freewater, Oregon; Bismark, N.D.; Manhattan, Kansas; Ada, Oklahoma and others.
The incentive packages, costly as they are, don't always reflect the total costs. For example, Kentucky made available to Wal-Mart more than $25 million in incentives for two distribution centers "“ one in London and one in Hopkinsville. That may sound cheap compared with the other deals, until the cost of publicly funded health insurance is factored in. Nationwide Wal-Mart employees are some states' largest single consumers of Medicaid and K-CHIP. Good Jobs First, a Washington, D.C., progressive think tank, estimates that Wal-Mart employees cost Kentucky $34,192,596 in Medicaid and K-CHIP 2005.
Whether a coal company, a phone center, a steel mill or a car manufacturer comes calling, there are some things that Kentucky's leaders should demand before it doing business with private companies. If incentives are offered, they should only be for forward looking jobs that pay living wages and benefits. Our legislators shouldn't cave in to pressure sales tactics, typical of "you-must-act-now" late night television commercials.
Companies should not call our state legislature to heel like a disobedient dog, dragging our lawmakers into a costly and unnecessary legislative session. And most importantly, no single employer -- certainly not one offering only 300 jobs -- should use a midnight hour incentive package as a way to dodge coal severance taxes.
These taxes - a paltry repayment to coalfield communities for the vast minerals pulled from the hills "“ have been a burr under the coal company's saddle ever since the late Harry Caudill won that hard-fought concession in 1972, when he lobbied hard and was unable to convince a single mountain legislator to vote in favor of it.
If our current legislators don't have the steel to stand up and negotiate a respectable bargain when they spend our tax money, the least they could do is keep intact the work of the our past legislators like Caudill, who wasn't afraid to drive a hard deal for the benefit of the people he was elected to serve.
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