Today is the last day to place a bid on the currently idle 108 MGY (Million Gallons per Year) capacity Cascade Grain Products ethanol plant in Clatskanie, OR.
Good luck and happy bidding!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Saving the World in Style! Danish Limo Operators Can't Keep Up With Demand Ahead of Copenhagen Conference
The Telegraph is estimating that this week's Climate Conference in Copenhagen will see approximately 1,200 limousines and 140 private planes converging on the Danish capital:
On a normal day, Majken Friss Jorgensen, managing director of Copenhagen's biggest limousine company, says her firm has twelve vehicles on the road. During the "summit to save the world", which opens here tomorrow, she will have 200.
"We thought they were not going to have many cars, due to it being a climate convention," she says.
Guess again!
Ms Jorgensen reckons that between her and her rivals the total number of limos in Copenhagen next week has already broken the 1,200 barrier. The French alone rang up on Thursday and ordered another 42. "We haven't got enough limos in the country to fulfil the demand," she says. "We're having to drive them in hundreds of miles from Germany and Sweden."
And the total number of electric cars or hybrids among that number?
"Five," says Ms Jorgensen.
"The government has some alternative fuel cars but the rest will be petrol or diesel. We don't have any hybrids in Denmark, unfortunately, due to the extreme taxes on those cars. It makes no sense at all, but it's very Danish."
The airport says it is expecting up to 140 extra private jets during the peak period alone, so far over its capacity that the planes will have to fly off to regional airports – or to Sweden – to park, returning to Copenhagen to pick up their VIP passengers.
So we learn that hybrid cars are cost-prohibitve in the nation that's hosting the summit that's supposed to save the world.
I also wouldn't be the least bit surprised to learn all these government and UN representatives will see to it that they will get to keep their private planes, limousines and town cars while hectoring and browbeating anybody who dares use their own vehicle instead of carpooling or taking public transit.
On a normal day, Majken Friss Jorgensen, managing director of Copenhagen's biggest limousine company, says her firm has twelve vehicles on the road. During the "summit to save the world", which opens here tomorrow, she will have 200.
"We thought they were not going to have many cars, due to it being a climate convention," she says.
Guess again!
Ms Jorgensen reckons that between her and her rivals the total number of limos in Copenhagen next week has already broken the 1,200 barrier. The French alone rang up on Thursday and ordered another 42. "We haven't got enough limos in the country to fulfil the demand," she says. "We're having to drive them in hundreds of miles from Germany and Sweden."
And the total number of electric cars or hybrids among that number?
"Five," says Ms Jorgensen.
"The government has some alternative fuel cars but the rest will be petrol or diesel. We don't have any hybrids in Denmark, unfortunately, due to the extreme taxes on those cars. It makes no sense at all, but it's very Danish."
The airport says it is expecting up to 140 extra private jets during the peak period alone, so far over its capacity that the planes will have to fly off to regional airports – or to Sweden – to park, returning to Copenhagen to pick up their VIP passengers.
So we learn that hybrid cars are cost-prohibitve in the nation that's hosting the summit that's supposed to save the world.
I also wouldn't be the least bit surprised to learn all these government and UN representatives will see to it that they will get to keep their private planes, limousines and town cars while hectoring and browbeating anybody who dares use their own vehicle instead of carpooling or taking public transit.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Rural Nevada- Good Enough to Dump Nuclear Waste In, But Not Good Enough to Build Coal-Fired Power Plant?
While doing a bit of online research for a post on my other blog yesterday, I came across this press release from earlier this year.
NV Energy Postpones Construction of Coal Power Facility in Nevada:
NV Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NVE) today announced that it has postponed its plans to construct a coal-fired power plant in eastern Nevada due to increasing environmental and economic uncertainties surrounding its development. The company will not move forward with construction of the coal plant until the technologies that will capture and store greenhouse gasses are commercially feasible, which is not likely before the end of the next decade.
So...nuclear waste is going to be dumped in the DOE's Yucca Mountain facility whether the sparsely populated state wants it or not, but should they want to build a coal-fired power plant for their own energy needs, well....that's just too freakin' bad.
NV Energy Postpones Construction of Coal Power Facility in Nevada:
NV Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NVE) today announced that it has postponed its plans to construct a coal-fired power plant in eastern Nevada due to increasing environmental and economic uncertainties surrounding its development. The company will not move forward with construction of the coal plant until the technologies that will capture and store greenhouse gasses are commercially feasible, which is not likely before the end of the next decade.
So...nuclear waste is going to be dumped in the DOE's Yucca Mountain facility whether the sparsely populated state wants it or not, but should they want to build a coal-fired power plant for their own energy needs, well....that's just too freakin' bad.
Australia's Senate Defeats Carbon-Trading Bill.
Diggers Dump Dodgy Deal:
SYDNEY - Australia’s Senate yesterday defeated the government’s plan to implement a carbon pollution trading system to fight global warming, dashing hopes of setting an example for other nations at UN climate change talks next week.
The scuttled proposal would have placed Australia alongside the European Union and a handful of other places that have, or are considering, “cap-and-trade’’ systems to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and burnished Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s international reputation as a leader on the issue.
...[snip] “Today the climate change extremists and deniers in the Liberal party have stopped this nation from taking decisive action on climate change,’’ acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard told reporters in the capital, Canberra.
Why is it anybody who points out the devastating real-world economic fallout from these 'cap and trade' policies is automatically deemed an 'extremist' who's in the pockets of Big Oil, Big Coal, the Tar Barons or whatever lighting-a-cigar-with-a-$1000-bill capitalist strawman is fashionable that week?
UPDATE: The Guardian's Fred Pierce urges Australia to 'silence skeptics':
If Australia does not silence its sceptics and reduce its emissions there is a real risk of the nation becoming uninhabitable
SYDNEY - Australia’s Senate yesterday defeated the government’s plan to implement a carbon pollution trading system to fight global warming, dashing hopes of setting an example for other nations at UN climate change talks next week.
The scuttled proposal would have placed Australia alongside the European Union and a handful of other places that have, or are considering, “cap-and-trade’’ systems to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and burnished Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s international reputation as a leader on the issue.
...[snip] “Today the climate change extremists and deniers in the Liberal party have stopped this nation from taking decisive action on climate change,’’ acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard told reporters in the capital, Canberra.
Why is it anybody who points out the devastating real-world economic fallout from these 'cap and trade' policies is automatically deemed an 'extremist' who's in the pockets of Big Oil, Big Coal, the Tar Barons or whatever lighting-a-cigar-with-a-$1000-bill capitalist strawman is fashionable that week?
UPDATE: The Guardian's Fred Pierce urges Australia to 'silence skeptics':
If Australia does not silence its sceptics and reduce its emissions there is a real risk of the nation becoming uninhabitable
'Thuggish Petro-state' of Canada in Crosshairs of Self-Righteous AGW Alarmists in Leadup to Copenhagen Conference
Patron Saint of the frothing, sanctimonious climate change scaremongers George Monbiot excoriates the Canucks for having the audacity to access their own natural resources.
Just like the hopenhagen.org page that this blog derives its name from, Monbiot's article had all the earmarks of brilliant satire. Only it turns out Monbiot was being as serious as a heart attack. Which makes his screed even funnier.
So amazingly destructive has Canada become, and so insistent have my Canadian friends been that I weigh into this fight, that I've broken my self-imposed ban on flying and come to Toronto.
"Heeeere I come to save the Day! Mighty Monbiot to save the daaaaay!".
It's as though his 'self imposed ban' on flying is supposed to be as sacrosanct as Batman's 'no-kill' policy, the steely lone hero deciding that the situation at hand is so dire that he has to break on of his long-standing promises on a life-or-death matter. And the end result of Monbiot's going back on his promise to never fly again? Shaking his fist at the Parliament building in Ottawa? Calling PM Stephen Harper a big stinky doody-head? This Guardian column?
And make no mistake about it- if Monbiot had his way, his 'self-imposed ban' on flying would be a self-imposed ban on all of us flying. Except maybe some of the elite and super-rich who can't bear to part with their vacation homes on the French Riviera and will throw money into a poorly-regulated 'carbon offset fund'. The rest of us will just have to walk.
In 2006 the new Canadian government announced it was abandoning its targets to cut greenhouse gases under the Kyoto protocol. [snip....]
It is now clear that Canada will refuse to be sanctioned for abandoning its legal obligations. The Kyoto protocol can be enforced only through goodwill: countries must agree to accept punitive future obligations if they miss their current targets.
Huh? So if the Kyoto protocol can only be enforced through goodwill, how come China, Brazil, Russia or India aren't being held accountable? Or were they never on board with that particular ponzi scheme to begin with?
Or maybe Canada reversed it's stance on Kyoto because.....oh....I dunno...somebody did the math and realized that complying with the guidelines set forth in Kyoto would kneecap the country's economy? I'm not talking the energy industry either- agriculture, timber, mining, fishing, manufacturing, transportation, utilities.....all cut off at the knees. Sort of like cap and trade in the USA.
Canada's image lies in tatters. It is now to climate what Japan is to whaling.
Canada is a cultured, peaceful nation, which every so often allows a band of Neanderthals to trample over it. Timber firms were licensed to log the old-growth forest in Clayaquot Sound; fishing companies were permitted to destroy the Grand Banks: in both cases these get-rich-quick schemes impoverished Canada and its reputation. But this is much worse, as it affects the whole world.
After several indignant, foamy paragraphs, this is what the article boils down to. Canada should stop all fishing, energy exploration and timber harvesting because continuing to utilize those natural resources affects how Monbiot and other AGW alarmists FEEL about Canada.
This is vintage, prototypical left-wing thinking (right down to the 'Tar Barons' strawman and relentless browbeating):
Never mind the real-world implications of what we're proposing: It's all about how people should FEEL about it.
UPDATE: Heather Mallick Prostrates herself before Saint Monbiot of the Frothy Indignation in this embarrassingly puffy and fluffy 'rebuttal'. And in the process, makes it clear that it's all about politics.
Monbiot, a hero of mine, had earlier written a toned down piece for the leaden opinion page of Canada's dullest newspaper, the Globe and Mail.
What? There's a shortage of role-models up there? What about Jimmy Doohan- Scotty from Star Trek? He stormed the beaches of Normandy with the Canadian Army on D-Day. Or Terry Fox? Sure, he didn't make it all the way across Canada, but 'E' for effort. Or any one of the Ice Road Truckers....I mean....talk about chutzpah and moxie! Oh wait- driving carbon-spewing 18-wheelers across the tundra, frozen lakes and even the Arctic Ocean each winter kind of puts lie to the claim that the world is ending, the ice is melting and the seas are rising thanks to things like......exhaust from Alex Debagorski's Peterbilt.
Or is your idea of a hero only somebody who advocates that other people make sacrifices and forfeit their freedom of choice and money to unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats who lord over them? And would likely be exempt from such sacrifices themselves....
We love the Kyoto protocol, we want to prostrate ourselves in Copenhagen next month, but until we make our mind up about whether to make Michael Ignatieff prime minister, we can't.
May I humbly beg for patience with my country, which is stuck like a beaver in a dam of its own making.
Harper is determined to turn Canada into America-lite. He doesn't mean the America of Obama. He means the America of Ronald Reagan and George Bush, with its private affluence and public squalor.
Good thing- granted it's only 10 months, but the 'America of Obama' doesn't seem to be working out too well so far.
Don't forget the double-digit unemployment! Oh...wait....that too is the 'America of Obama'. Or Carter.
Hell- I'd settle for Harper turning Canada into the America of Clinton. And if Harper does indeed succeed in sabotaging the Copenhagen conference like all the frothy, self-righteous greens insist, I'll be the first to buy a Labatt and raise it in a toast to PM Harper before singing The Maple Leaf Forever.
Just like the hopenhagen.org page that this blog derives its name from, Monbiot's article had all the earmarks of brilliant satire. Only it turns out Monbiot was being as serious as a heart attack. Which makes his screed even funnier.
So amazingly destructive has Canada become, and so insistent have my Canadian friends been that I weigh into this fight, that I've broken my self-imposed ban on flying and come to Toronto.
"Heeeere I come to save the Day! Mighty Monbiot to save the daaaaay!".
It's as though his 'self imposed ban' on flying is supposed to be as sacrosanct as Batman's 'no-kill' policy, the steely lone hero deciding that the situation at hand is so dire that he has to break on of his long-standing promises on a life-or-death matter. And the end result of Monbiot's going back on his promise to never fly again? Shaking his fist at the Parliament building in Ottawa? Calling PM Stephen Harper a big stinky doody-head? This Guardian column?
And make no mistake about it- if Monbiot had his way, his 'self-imposed ban' on flying would be a self-imposed ban on all of us flying. Except maybe some of the elite and super-rich who can't bear to part with their vacation homes on the French Riviera and will throw money into a poorly-regulated 'carbon offset fund'. The rest of us will just have to walk.
In 2006 the new Canadian government announced it was abandoning its targets to cut greenhouse gases under the Kyoto protocol. [snip....]
It is now clear that Canada will refuse to be sanctioned for abandoning its legal obligations. The Kyoto protocol can be enforced only through goodwill: countries must agree to accept punitive future obligations if they miss their current targets.
Huh? So if the Kyoto protocol can only be enforced through goodwill, how come China, Brazil, Russia or India aren't being held accountable? Or were they never on board with that particular ponzi scheme to begin with?
Or maybe Canada reversed it's stance on Kyoto because.....oh....I dunno...somebody did the math and realized that complying with the guidelines set forth in Kyoto would kneecap the country's economy? I'm not talking the energy industry either- agriculture, timber, mining, fishing, manufacturing, transportation, utilities.....all cut off at the knees. Sort of like cap and trade in the USA.
Canada's image lies in tatters. It is now to climate what Japan is to whaling.
Canada is a cultured, peaceful nation, which every so often allows a band of Neanderthals to trample over it. Timber firms were licensed to log the old-growth forest in Clayaquot Sound; fishing companies were permitted to destroy the Grand Banks: in both cases these get-rich-quick schemes impoverished Canada and its reputation. But this is much worse, as it affects the whole world.
After several indignant, foamy paragraphs, this is what the article boils down to. Canada should stop all fishing, energy exploration and timber harvesting because continuing to utilize those natural resources affects how Monbiot and other AGW alarmists FEEL about Canada.
This is vintage, prototypical left-wing thinking (right down to the 'Tar Barons' strawman and relentless browbeating):
Never mind the real-world implications of what we're proposing: It's all about how people should FEEL about it.
UPDATE: Heather Mallick Prostrates herself before Saint Monbiot of the Frothy Indignation in this embarrassingly puffy and fluffy 'rebuttal'. And in the process, makes it clear that it's all about politics.
Monbiot, a hero of mine, had earlier written a toned down piece for the leaden opinion page of Canada's dullest newspaper, the Globe and Mail.
What? There's a shortage of role-models up there? What about Jimmy Doohan- Scotty from Star Trek? He stormed the beaches of Normandy with the Canadian Army on D-Day. Or Terry Fox? Sure, he didn't make it all the way across Canada, but 'E' for effort. Or any one of the Ice Road Truckers....I mean....talk about chutzpah and moxie! Oh wait- driving carbon-spewing 18-wheelers across the tundra, frozen lakes and even the Arctic Ocean each winter kind of puts lie to the claim that the world is ending, the ice is melting and the seas are rising thanks to things like......exhaust from Alex Debagorski's Peterbilt.
Or is your idea of a hero only somebody who advocates that other people make sacrifices and forfeit their freedom of choice and money to unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats who lord over them? And would likely be exempt from such sacrifices themselves....
We love the Kyoto protocol, we want to prostrate ourselves in Copenhagen next month, but until we make our mind up about whether to make Michael Ignatieff prime minister, we can't.
May I humbly beg for patience with my country, which is stuck like a beaver in a dam of its own making.
Harper is determined to turn Canada into America-lite. He doesn't mean the America of Obama. He means the America of Ronald Reagan and George Bush, with its private affluence and public squalor.
Good thing- granted it's only 10 months, but the 'America of Obama' doesn't seem to be working out too well so far.
Don't forget the double-digit unemployment! Oh...wait....that too is the 'America of Obama'. Or Carter.
Hell- I'd settle for Harper turning Canada into the America of Clinton. And if Harper does indeed succeed in sabotaging the Copenhagen conference like all the frothy, self-righteous greens insist, I'll be the first to buy a Labatt and raise it in a toast to PM Harper before singing The Maple Leaf Forever.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Denmark to Pay Tribute to Tom Cruise, 'Minority Report' With Pre-Crime Legislation
Recently-Passed Danish Law Allows for 'pre-emptive' Arrest and Detention:
In a move that environmental activists and civil libertarians are describing as "deeply worrying", the Danish parliament yesterday passed legislation that gives police the power of 'pre-emptive arrest' ahead of the UN climate talks which begin in Copenhagen on December 7. The new measures will allow officers to arrest and detain anyone for up to 12 hours who they believe is liable to break the law in the near future.
Hmm....now if the world is supposed to be saved at Copenhagen and a new era of peace, civility and unicorns is supposed to be ushered in by the industrialized nations forfeiting their sovereignty this month, what dastardly, black-hearted villain could be opposed to the Danes giving police the power to pre-emptively arrest?
Maybe groups like Climate Justice Action, who fear that the Copenhagen Conference won't do enough to cripple the developed and developing nations.
In a move that environmental activists and civil libertarians are describing as "deeply worrying", the Danish parliament yesterday passed legislation that gives police the power of 'pre-emptive arrest' ahead of the UN climate talks which begin in Copenhagen on December 7. The new measures will allow officers to arrest and detain anyone for up to 12 hours who they believe is liable to break the law in the near future.
Hmm....now if the world is supposed to be saved at Copenhagen and a new era of peace, civility and unicorns is supposed to be ushered in by the industrialized nations forfeiting their sovereignty this month, what dastardly, black-hearted villain could be opposed to the Danes giving police the power to pre-emptively arrest?
Maybe groups like Climate Justice Action, who fear that the Copenhagen Conference won't do enough to cripple the developed and developing nations.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Psst......Hey Buddy- Wanna Buy An Ethanol Plant?
The $185 million Cascade Grain Products ethanol plant in Clatskanie, OR is up for sale in a bankruptcy auction. Interested parties have until December 9th to submit their bids.
The facility is accessable by barge via the Columbia River, truck via US Highway 30 and rail via the Portland & Western's Astoria Branch.
This doesn't really bode well for the whole 'ethanol boom' if ethanol's already recieving considerably generous subsidies and plants are already going bankrupt after less than a year of operation.
Do not mistake this for schadenfreude- employment numbers in that part of the country are mostly dependent on lumber and forestry products which- like every other industry- is still hurting right now and I'm sure the plant provided decent jobs and wages for the eight months it was operational.
But subsidies or not, the ethanol boom has clearly hit a wall.
The facility is accessable by barge via the Columbia River, truck via US Highway 30 and rail via the Portland & Western's Astoria Branch.
This doesn't really bode well for the whole 'ethanol boom' if ethanol's already recieving considerably generous subsidies and plants are already going bankrupt after less than a year of operation.
Do not mistake this for schadenfreude- employment numbers in that part of the country are mostly dependent on lumber and forestry products which- like every other industry- is still hurting right now and I'm sure the plant provided decent jobs and wages for the eight months it was operational.
But subsidies or not, the ethanol boom has clearly hit a wall.
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