Red tape is strangling America's energy supply

As loudly as American families are demanding refuge from economic burdens like high gas prices, small businesses are now chiming in as well. Persistently high energy costs are forcing owners to reduce hiring and cut back on employee hours.

According to the National Federation for Independent Business, one in 10 business owners says energy is his or her single greatest cost, ranking it ahead of wages, materials and other investments that help companies thrive. Another 25 percent claim it as the second or third biggest expense.

Congress should be looking for ways to provide relief from the burden of high energy costs with policies that promote development of all available energy sources. By expanding access to traditional domestic resources, as well as promoting exploration of innovative energy resources, we can help reduce energy costs and ensure abundant American resources for years to come.

CONTINUE:  http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/2012/05/red-tape-strangling-americas-energy-supply/583416

Boat completes first solar-powered trip around world! Really?

The multi-million dollar solar powered yacht  pictured below has completed circling the world, taking 585 days to complete the voyage. 

Meanwhile, this past January, 2012, another "solar powered" yacht completed the voyage in a record 46 days, averaging almost 30 miles per hour.  http://www.worldrecordsacademy.org/travel/fastest_yacht_voyage_around_the_world_Yachting_crew_sets_%20world_record_112674.html

That vessel was powered by sails.  Such is the  primitive state of solar powered technology in 2012.

The MS Turanor PlanetSolar, the world's largest solar boat ever built, arrives in the harbour of Monaco after it has achieved the first around-the-world journey using solar energy in 585 days, Friday, May 4, 2012.

The five sailors are : Raphael Domjan of Switzerland, founder and expedition leader, Patrick Marchesseau of France, Erwann le Rouzic of France, Jens Langwasser of Germany and Christian Oechsenbeim of Switzerland. (AP Photo/Bruno Bebert)...

more:   http://ca.news.yahoo.com/photos/boat-completes-first-solar-powered-trip-around-world-1337092553-slideshow/solar-power-boat-photo-1337092428.html#crsl=%252Fphotos%252Fboat-completes-first-solar-powered-trip-around-world-slideshow%252Fsolar-power-boat-photo-1337092428.html

Red tape is strangling America's energy supply

The Examiner
View Original Article HERE


As loudly as American families are demanding refuge from economic burdens like high gas prices, small businesses are now chiming in as well. Persistently high energy costs are forcing owners to reduce hiring and cut back on employee hours.
According to the National Federation for Independent Business, one in 10 business owners says energy is his or her single greatest cost, ranking it ahead of wages, materials and other investments that help companies thrive. Another 25 percent claim it as the second or third biggest expense.
Congress should be looking for ways to provide relief from the burden of high energy costs with policies that promote development of all available energy sources. By expanding access to traditional domestic resources, as well as promoting exploration of innovative energy resources, we can help reduce energy costs and ensure abundant American resources for years to come.  MORE.......................

Delaware's national park efforts advance

Delaware Online by Mike Chalmers
View Original Article HERE

Will Delaware have a national park in time for next year's 375th anniversary of the arrival of Swedish settlers on the Kalmar Nyckel?
It could happen, said Sen. Tom Carper, who has been pushing Congress for almost a decade to create a national park in Delaware, the only state without one.
"I'd love to be able to do that," Carper said. "I think it will happen this year. It's not out of the realm of possibility."
Carper's bill is on the Senate's legislative calendar, which means the next step is for the chamber to vote on it, said Alan Spears, legislative representative for the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association, which supports the legislation.  MORE..........................

EPA Official on Non-Compliant Companies: ‘Hit Them as Hard as You Can’ & ‘Make Examples Out of Them,’ Cites Crucifixion

The Blaze by Becket Adams
View Original Article HERE

Are you familiar with a certain Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official named Al Armendariz?
Chances are you’ve never heard of him. We suspect most Americans haven’t. However, with the recent unearthing of the video below, that could change very soon.
Thanks to a little digging by the staff of Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), attention has been brought to a 2010 video that seems to confirm what many conservatives have long suspected: that the EPA is at war with the oil and gas industries.
“[O]il and gas is an enforcement priority, it’s one of seven, so we are going to spend a fair amount of time looking at oil and gas production,” Armendariz says in the video.  MORE..................

"If I wanted America to fail"

Summertime Blues

Human Events by Audrey Hudson
View Original Article HERE

Planning a vacation this summer to Miami’s Biscayne Bay for a little fishing?

Think again, because the National Park Service wants to set aside a large swath of the pristine area as a marine reserve zone, so you might have to leave the fishing poles at home. And the boat.

Perhaps horseback riding is more your speed and the family plans to ride through California’s Sequoia or Kings Canyon National Parks? Sorry, but all of the permits were pulled for those activities this summer.

Or maybe you just want to lounge on the soft sands of North Carolina’s Outer Banks and read a novel, fly a kite with the kids, toss a Frisbee to the dog, and watch dad catch some fish?  MORE.....................

India Struggles to Deliver Enough Power

The New York Times by Vikas Bajaj
View Original Article HERE

NELLORE, India — India has long struggled to provide enough electricity to light its homes and power its industry around the clock. In recent years, the government and private sector sought to change that by building scores of new power plants.
 But that campaign is now running into difficulties because the country cannot get enough fuel — principally coal — to run the plants. Clumsy policies, poor management and environmental concerns have hampered the country’s efforts to dig up fuel fast enough to keep up with its growing need for power.
A complex system of subsidies and price controls has limited investment, particularly in resources like coal and natural gas. It has also created anomalies, like retail electricity prices that are lower than the cost of producing power, which lead to big losses at state-owned utilities. An unsettled debate about how much of its forests India should turn over to mining has also limited coal production.  MORE.................