Energy and Resources

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Energy and Resources

Wyoming has a history steeped in energy and miming and it has served to create jobs, government benefit programs and fundamental infrastructure for our economic possibilities in our state. We must work to facilitate growth, balanced regulations and opportunity for utilizing resources to foment prosperity balanced with land development and...

Clean Power Plan: The Supreme Court's Surprise

Saturday, 20 February 2016

Energy and Resources

On Tuesday, February 9, the Supreme Court stayed the Clean Power Plan (CPP), much to everyone's surprise. The Supreme Court issued a terse order, less than a page long. It gave no explanation and no indication of the thinking of the five Justices who voted for the stay. The Supreme Court has never before granted a stay of any federal regulation whi...

Reliability and the Clean Power Plan

Monday, 25 January 2016

Energy and Resources

Such is the stuff of unicorns and leprechauns.– FERC Commissioner Tony Clark One aspect of the Clean Power Plan (CPP) we have not yet discussed in this series of blogs on the Clean Power Plan is the reliability of America's electric power generation in 2030. The recent winter storm Jonas on the east coast should remind us of how much we have come t...

Solar Powering the World

Tuesday, 29 December 2015

Energy and Resources

A meme has been going around Facebook asking, "Did you know that it would take an area of just 254 kilometres squared filled with solar panels to power the entire world?" No sources, no calculations from known data, nothing. Just a bald faced assertion. Really? Let's see if someone with a degree in philosophy, not in engineering, can do a quick bac...

Environmental Effects of the Clean Power Plan

Friday, 18 December 2015

Energy and Resources

What will the environmental effects of the Clean Power Plan (CPP) be? Recall that the stated media driven, post-Kyoto Protocol (to which the US did not subscribe), goalis to reduce the Earth's temperature increase between now and 2100 to less than 2 ℃. The short answer is: zilch. NERA Economic Consulting estimates that CPP by 2030 will reduce the g...

EPA's Clean Power Plan

Thursday, 10 December 2015

Energy and Resources

What is the EPA's Clean Power Plan (CPP)? It is a cap and trade scheme intended to reduce emissions from existing power generators such as coal generators. It was proposed by the EPA in June, 2014, and the final rule was unveiled by President Obama on August 15, 2015. The final version of the plan aims to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from ...

Leave Risky Business to Private Investors

Monday, 20 April 2015

Energy and Resources

Have you ever wondered whether government should buy coal or natural gas, convert it to a higher valued product and then sell that product in the open market? If this sounds like a bad idea to you, you'd be right. Private companies have already invested their own money in this type of scheme and lost big. It is unlikely government would do better w...

Coal Alchemy and Corporate Welfare

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

Energy and Resources

A Wyoming love story For thousands of years, alchemists tried to change base metals into gold. Today, this lofty goal rests unachieved, but its legacy remains. Now, instead of changing lead to gold, crafty alchemists look to change money from the pockets of taxpayers to their own, and governments seem happy to assist. High on the alchemy hit list i...

Fracking or Golfing: Who Needs More Water?

Wednesday, 20 August 2014

Energy and Resources Timeless Topics

Among the many myths being spread around about fracking, the one about water consumption may be the most audacious one. Anti-fracking activists keep insisting that the process of hydraulic fracturing is threatening the water supplies in the West. This myth may grow legs in a drought-stricken state like California, but that does not mean it is true....

Removing Coal from the Energy Mix

Thursday, 24 July 2014

Energy and Resources Timeless Topics

The consequence for your electricity bill. In 2013, President Obama's Climate Action Plan laid out a plan to make the U.S. a leader in the effort to address global climate change. In June 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgated rules for cutting carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants. One option the EPA would allow ...

Data Center Electricity Demand

Tuesday, 10 June 2014

Energy and Resources Timeless Topics

Will it leave citizens freezing in the dark? Back in 2012, Wyoming Governor Matt Mead announced that Microsoft would build a $112 million data center in Cheyenne. Since then, Microsoft announced two data center expansions, for a total investment of about $450 million. Sounds great, but is it? Data centers move here because, in addition to taxpayer-...

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