Since the tragic explosion at the Deepwater Horizon drilling site on April 20, 2010, the public and media have been decrying the lack of leadership in finding solutions. Criticism has risen all the way up to the U.S. White House and everyone and their brother is looking for someone onto whom to pass blame. For [...]  More »

The following was written by James Coan, research associate at the Baker Institute Energy Forum In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon spill, bold proposals to reduce oil use are becoming mainstream. Felix Kramer, founder of CalCars, wants the federal government to provide tax credits and loan guarantees to retrofit millions of light trucks and [...]  More »

The following was written by James Coan, research associate at the Baker Institute Energy Forum The big energy news in Washington today is that Sen. Harry Reid wants to introduce a bill with both a cap-and-trade program and new regulations and oversight for offshore drilling. As a freestanding bill, cap-and-trade would a very low shot [...]  More »

The U.S. government suspension of offshore deepwater drilling for six months in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (including 33 deepwater exploration rigs that were currently drilling) has huge implications for future U.S. energy policy. The first estimates are in. Consultants Wood Mackenzie are projecting that the moratorium will shave 80,000 barrels a day of oil [...]  More »

The failure of BP’s attempt at a “top kill” solution to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill highlights a problem that the industry will face moving forward in deepwater drilling. It is understood that some companies use better prevention approaches than others and that prevention strategies keep improving with time, but what about technologies for [...]  More »

It is clear from the tragedy unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico that regulation of offshore drilling needs to be rethought. A simple end to all offshore drilling would certainly prevent future drilling related spills, but such a policy carries its own costs. In light of this, among other things, I am proposing an offshore [...]  More »

Declining oil markets have been focused of late on the fate of the Euro, but events in Iran may have more long term bearing. Markets shrugged off news that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps are now assuming a leadership role in the country’s oil sector. But President Ahmadinejad’s strategy of increasing the grip of the IRGC [...]  More »

It goes without saying that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is a terrible tragedy. The ecological damage that will come from this accident is, at this point, so large and so extensive that it is almost unimaginable. Once the public wraps its mind around the horrible realities of the ramifications for our Gulf of Mexico [...]  More »

Understandably, most of the climate talk on Capitol Hill today concerns Lindsay Graham’s decision to at least temporarily end his participation with Sen. Kerry and Lieberman and their “tri-partisan” attempt to craft climate change and energy legislation. The bill was scheduled to be released today. Graham wrote that he was angry that the Senate may [...]  More »

In a political twist and turn that might seem unexpected in light of the Tea Party movement, some Republican Senators, apparently with support from the oil industry, are calling for a higher gasoline tax. The tax would in effect be a sliding scale “linked fee” to the average cost of greenhouse gas permits created in [...]  More »

Prominent economist Paul Krugman dismissed the idea on Monday that oil markets experienced a bubble in 2008 as a curious misconception of the political “right.” Dr. Krugman’s quick, six sentence dismissal of the oil bubble school of thought follows on from his longer, incorrect op ed in the midst of the 2008 bubble that a [...]  More »

The question as to whether ethanol is a green fuel or greenwash has taken another turn. A few weeks ago, in its final rule for the Renewable Fuel Standard Program, the EPA concluded that corn ethanol produced using certain “advanced” technologies will reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared with regular gasoline. It tested a [...]  More »