Photo | Salem Massachusetts Witch Trial
Inquisition -- During most of the 16th and 17th centuries, fear of heretics spreading teachings and opinions that contradicted the Bible dominated the Catholic Church. They persecuted scientists who formed theories the Church deemed heretical and forbade people from reading any books on those subjects by placing the books on the Index of Prohibited Books. A type of war between science and religion was in play but there would be more casualties on the side of science.
John's weekly update on graft, corruption and waste in clean energy.
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If Climate Skeptics Can Be Prosecuted, So Can The Alarmists
If Democratic attorneys general can pursue climate change skeptics for fraud, then also at risk of prosecution are climate alarmists whose predictions of global doom have failed to materialize. The “cuts both ways” argument was among those raised by 13 Republican attorneys general in a letter urging their Democratic counterparts to stop using their law enforcement power against fossil fuel companies and others that challenge the climate change catastrophe narrative.
Consider carefully the legal precedent and threat to free speech, said the state prosecutors in their letter this week, headed by Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange.
“If it is possible to minimize the risks of climate change, then the same goes for exaggeration,” said the letter. “If minimization is fraud, exaggeration is fraud.”
MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL JOINS GLOBAL WARMING WITCH HUNT
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is now the latest state prosecutor to start investigating conservative groups with supposed ties to ExxonMobil, after she issued a subpoena for 40 years of internal company documents and communications with a handful of think tanks.
Healey’s office subpoenaed Exxon as part of a multi-state effort among liberal attorneys general to investigate Exxon for allegedly trying to cover up global warming science.
Schneiderman, [NY AG], hosted a conference in March with other AGs, including Healey and Walker, where it was announced that more prosecutors would probe Exxon and fight back against Republican attacks on federal environmental regulations.
Former Vice President Al Gore attended the event, as did a group of environmental activists — though Schneiderman’s office tried to cover up eco-activists’ involvement. At the event, Schneiderman even suggested global warming skeptics should be put in jail.
Exxon has also filed a complaint against Healey, alleging her investigation is nothing more than a predetermined political stunt.
Exxon’s complaint even notes how Maura basically announced the results of her investigation before she even sent her subpoena to the company.
“We can all see today the troubling disconnect between what Exxon knew, what industry folks knew, and what the company and industry chose to share with investors and with the American public,” Healey charged at the March event hosted by Schneiderman.
“Remarkably, she also announced, in advance, the findings of her investigation weeks before she even issued the [civil investigative demand],” Exxon’s lawyers wrote in their complaint, a copy of which was obtained by TheDCNF.
Maura Healey's Remarks at NECA Renewables Converence 2015
What follows is a copy of Attorney General Maura Healey’s prepared remarks to the NECA Renewables Conference minus her introductory statement.
Today, I would like to talk to you about my vision for a clean energy future and my plan to serve as a 21st Century ratepayer advocate.
The clean energy sector is now a $10 billion dollar industry in Massachusetts, employing 88,000 workers in 6,000 firms, primarily in the renewable energy and energy efficiency fields. Between 2013 and 2014, clean energy employment grew by 10.5 percent—that is eight times faster than the state’s overall job growth rate. This year, clean energy employers expect to add another 11,700 jobs. These are good, quality, long‐term jobs.
The clean energy sector is vitally important to our future. This dynamic growth was driven in part by smart state policies—such as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Green Jobs Act, renewable portfolio standard, Global Warming Solutions Act, and Green Communities Act.
Al Gore And Coalition Of AG's Team Up To Combat Global Warming
NEW YORK – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today joined Attorneys General from across the nation to announce an unprecedented coalition of top law enforcement officials committed to aggressively protecting and building upon the recent progress the United States has made in combatting climate change.
Attorneys General Schneiderman, William Sorrell of Vermont, George Jepsen of Connecticut, Brian E. Frosh of Maryland, Maura Healey of Massachusetts, Mark Herring of Virginia, and Claude Walker of the US Virgin Islands were joined by former Vice President Al Gore for the announcement in New York City. Today’s announcement took place during a one-day Attorneys General climate change conference, co-sponsored by Schneiderman and Sorrell.
Maura Healey Has Some Real Scientific Frauds To Address
For the second time in recent years, prosecutors across Massachusetts are confronting the possibility that thousands of drug investigations may have been built on flawed scientific ground — raising the specter of convictions being thrown out.
That potential emerged amid disclosures that a former chemist at a Department of Public Health lab in Amherst was regularly high on the job and dipped into the lab’s stash of drugs for her own use. Those revelations have cast doubt upon tests performed at the now-shuttered lab.
Kids Climate Crusade Keeps Rollin Through The Courts
During the year 1212 A.D. about 30,000 French children assembled in bands and marched through the towns and villages, carrying banners, candles, and crosses and singing, "Lord God, exalt Christianity. Lord God, restore to us the true cross. The French children, set out from the place of rendezvous for Marseilles. Those that sailed from that port were betrayed, and sold as slaves in Alexandria and other Mohammedan slave markets. (Source)
In another surprising victory for children suing the government over climate change, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court last Friday found in favor of four youth plaintiffs against the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
The Court found that the DEP was not complying with its legal obligation to reduce the State’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and ordered the agency to “promulgate regulations that address…greenhouse gas emissions, impose a limit on emissions that may be released…and set limits that decline on an annual basis.”
This case is one of several similar cases in federal district courts in Oregon and Washington, and in the state courts of North Carolina, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Colorado.
Alex Epstein Has Recieved A Subpeona For His E-Mails from Healy: This Is His Response
Alex Epstein, who got a subpoena, posted his response on Twitter:
Former ACLU President: Abuse Of Power In AG's Probe
The demand from Healey’s office mirrors ones filed by attorneys general in New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands that press ExxonMobil on what its internal research dating back to 1976 said about climate change versus what the oil company said publicly.
Civil rights attorney Harvey Silverglate called the ExxonMobil climate-change investigations “pure harassment.”
“It is outrageous for any law enforcement official to be seeking to win this battle for minds by flexing law enforcement muscle and trying to shut up the other side,” Silverglate told the Herald. “It’s not the way scientific or factual or even political battles are settled in this country, which last I checked is still a free country.”
Huff Po: OK To Lie About Climate
So much of what drives the cult of climate fear is the rewarding affirmation that they are intellectually gifted. “Pat me on the back! Tell me how smart I am!” It fills the low-self-esteem vacuum of a B-grade brain or an untrained naive mind. It’s a sugar-hit to the undisciplined being, looking for the easy road to social acceptance and glory.
The New Nostradamus of the North has caught a Huff Po comedian Xavier Toby suggesting that “maybe we need to lie” for the climate. There is no sign of satire.
In order for us to start acting on climate change then, maybe we need to tell a few lies.
Academics Prove It's Ok To Lie About Climate Change
The debate over climate change is fraught with accusations that the other side is willfully lying about the facts in order to win. Now there are two academics out with a paper justifying lying about climate change in order to convince global governments to "do something" about it.
Fuhai Hong and Xiojian Zhao, economists at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology respectively, are publishing a paper in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics called "Information Manipulation and Climate Agreements," which argues that manipulation of information by the media will "enhance global welfare" by inducing countries to agree to environmental accords (IEAs).
We show that the exaggeration of climate change may alleviate the problem of insufficient IEA participation. When the mass media has private information on the damage caused by climate change, in equilibrium they may manipulate this information to increase pessimism regarding climate damage even though in actual fact the damage may not be that great. Consequently, more countries will be induced to participate in an IEA in this state, thereby leading to greater global welfare ex post.
The article purports to prove, with an economic model, that the urgency of climate change and the necessity of international agreement makes it okay to lie about the projected consequences of climate change.
Wind Energy News
India Owes RS 1000 Crore to Wind Developers
NEW DELHI: Wind energy developers in Maharashtra have alleged that the state power distribution utility owes them more than Rs 1,000 crore as it has stopped paying them since October last year, and said most projects are on the verge of collapse.
"We're disappointed with what is happening in Maharashtra. Wind projects there are on ventilator. All assets will soon start defaulting and the state will be responsible," said Sunil Jain, president of Wind Independent Power Producers Association.
A senior executive at a leading wind farm developer said the approach of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co (MSEDCL) has impacted huge investments in the sector. "Top global investors such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, IFC, CDC and more have put money into these projects. What will happen to their investments?" the person said.
Gamesa/Siemens To Combine Wind Turbine Business
Germany's Siemens and Spain's Gamesa announced plans to create the world's biggest builder of windfarms on Friday, seeking to combine their respective strengths in offshore wind power and developing markets.
Engineering company Siemens, which has struggled to make its wind turbine business profitable, will take a 60 percent stake in the combined company, a person with knowledge of the deal told Reuters.
In return for taking the leading role, Siemens will pay Gamesa's shareholders, which include Spanish utility Iberdrola, 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in the form of an extraordinary dividend, the source said.
Gamesa/Iberdrola/Deutsche Bank
Cause And Contributing Factors Of Wind Turbine Failure (Part 1)
The geared wind turbines continue to be plagued by numerous gearbox (more accurately the bearings within the gearbox), blade, mechanical, weather-related (e.g. lightning), design and maintenance issues. The failure of the bearings located within the gearbox is the most significant problem associated with the turbines This year, Siemens, a main manufacturer of wind turbines, reported a charge of 48 million Euros for inspecting and replacing defective main bearings in some onshore wind turbines. Structural and mechanical failures (which can result in a tower collapse) are primarily due to control system errors and lack of effective maintenance. If it was not for the government subsidizing of these systems, they would have never been built that way. This blog addresses the major causes of failure of wind turbines.
Green Jobs Hazards: Wind Energy
Wind Energy workers are exposed to hazards that can result in fatalities and serious injuries. Many incidents involving falls, severe burns from electrical shocks and arc flashes/fires, and crushing injuries have been reported to OSHA. Some examples are given below:
Windmill Catches Fire Near Palm Springs more with photo's here
Wind Project Killed in The Pocono's
NC Senate Tentatively Approve Wind Farm Restrictions
Largest US Offshore Boondoggle In The Works. Billions To Be Pissed Away.
Pattern Energy Buys Maine Development Rights From SUNE
Sun Edison Spars With Shareholders
Bankrupt SunEdison's situation amounts to "hopeless insolvency," and therefore its shareholders should not have an official committee representing them in its Chapter 11 case, the renewable energy company said in court papers.
SunEdison said in papers filed on Tuesday it faces more than $4.2 billion in prepetition claims, compared with $850 million it anticipates it can distribute after paying off its debtor-in-possession loan.
Energy Finance
Cool Futures: Worlds First Hedge Fund Aims To Pop Climate Bubble
Hedge funds generate wealth from imbalances and economic inefficiencies. The man-made global warming scare distorts information flows, misallocates capital, and feeds corruption — and these burdens are becoming a big drag on western economies. The idea that mankind should try to change the global climate with expensive electricity is a luxury of the once rich West. As the budget screws tighten, the economic damage caused by the global warming industry will only hasten its own decline.
Every year about 1.5 trillion US dollars are directed to inefficient, subsidy-dependent businesses, at the expense of consumers and real market-driven enterprises. This destroys wealth and costs jobs.
Note: This is not to imply an endorsement.
Energy Market News
Ca Governor Want To Expand Grid (Back To Enron Era)
FERC Revokes Market Based Rate Authority For Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire Hathaway Restricted in 4 Western BAA's
ISO-NE: The Challenge Of Keeping The Lights On
Read John's report from last week:
Alberta Passes Carbon Tax, Who's Next?