Big Energy Has All The Money It Needs To Buy Any Politician It Needs To-- In America And In California

Manchin

According to Pulitzer Prize winner Barton Gellman, author of Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency, Cheney grabbed the Energy portfolio even before the Supreme Court halted the recount and handed the presidency to him and Bush. Since 1990, Big Energy has poured $445,583,154 directly into the campaign coffers of congressmen and congressional candidates-- $303,699,712 of it to Republicans. Last cycle alone, they spent over $60,000,000 on congressional campaigns and their top dozen bribees (just last year) were:

• House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)- $1,326,916
• defeated Senate candidate Denny Rehberg (R-MT)- $846,892
• defeated Senate candidate Rick Berg (R-ND)- $820,470
• Senate Energy Committee member Joe Manchin (R-WV)- $745,400
• Senate majority Leader Mitcch McConnell (R-KY)- $684,599
• Senate Energy Committee member John Barrasso (R-WY)- $678,247
• House Energy Committee Chair Fred Upton (R-MI)- $675,758
• defeated Senator Scott Brown (R-MA)- $643,210
• Senate Energy Committee member Dean Heller (R-NV)- $640,876
• Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT)- $635,818
• House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)- $577,044
• House Energy Committee member David McKinley (R-WV)- $533,325

Since 1990 the Big Energy bribes to Boehner have amounted to $3,151,403, and to McConnell, $2,967,191. Big Oil and Big Coal know who they're buying. And it's worked out very well for them. Even when the Obama Administration goes around Congress to do the right thing on pollution... it's kind of half-assed and tentative. Yesterday Matt Yglesias looked advocated for a real war on coal.

Today the Environmental Protection Agency is going to roll out new regulations on new coal- and gas-fired power plants. Specifically, new gas-fired plants will be limited to 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per megawatt hour while new coal plants will be given the more generous limitation of 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour. The difference, however, is that existing technology makes it reasonably easy for gas-fired plants to comply with that rule while it's extremely doubtful that any new coal-fired power plants will be built under this regulation.

Since these rules are bad for the coal-extraction industry, there's going to be a revival of talk around the idea of a "war on coal" and the Obama administration will naturally deny that it's waging one.

The truth, however, is that a war on coal is a good idea.

Here's an analogy. I live down the block from Le Diplomate, a popular newish restaurant in DC. This restaurant, in the course of doing its business, generates a lot of trash. And by District law, like other commercial establishments it needs to pay a garbage company to haul that trash away. It would, of course, be cheaper for them to just leave the trash in the alley rather than paying for cleanup. But this wouldn't be a real efficiency gain of any kind. It's just that the cost of trash disposal would be shifted off the shoulders of Le Diplomate's owner (who conveniently lives in Philadelphia) and onto the shoulders of those of us who live on the block.

  That's the basic business model of coal-fired power plants-- huge costs are borne by people who use the air rather than by the people who burn the coal.

The "war on coal" consists of beginning to ask coal-burners to actually bear the costs of burning coal. A restaurant that's only going to be profitable if it's allowed to dump garbage in the alley rather than haul it away ought to be shut down. Obama is in fact taking a much more timid step of saying that existing restaurants can keep dumping trash in the alley, but new ones won't be able to open unless they agree to pay to have the trash hauled. The coal industry believes that it won't be economically viable if it has to comply with those rules. If true, that's a damning indictment of their underlying business model not of the Obama administration.

Recall that list of congressional crooks above taking bribes from Big Energy. There was only one Democrat on it-- Joe Manchin. This week, Manchin tanked Obama's nominee to head FERC, the Federal Energy Regulator Commission, an independent regulatory agency with authority over interstate electricity sales, oil and natural gas pipelines, and other energy-related matters. Republicans, of course, oppose Ron Binz but Democrats control the Senate so it shouldn't matter. But it does if they can win over a conservative Democrat on the Energy Committee. And Manchin was easy-peazy. Obama nominated Binz, who headed Colorado's Public Utility Commission from 2007-2011, in June and the Senate hearing was Tuesday. The Dems haven't rounded up a single Republican on the committee and Manchin's announcement that he's voting NO, will kill the nomination.

Manchin’s stance was hardly surprising after his statements in Tuesday’s confirmation hearing, when he lamented that Obama’s coal policies were beating the “living crap” out of West Virginia, a major coal-producing state.

...Binz’s odds could grow even longer if Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) comes out in opposition. It has been widely speculated that Landrieu, who represents a conservative state and faces a tough reelection battle next year, may join Manchin in opposing Binz to distance herself from the president.

If the committee reaches a tie vote, it could still send Binz to the Senate floor by reporting on his nomination without a recommendation, but such an action is uncommon.

Another hurdle is Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who announced his opposition Thursday afternoon and said he would “work to defeat” the nomination.

According to Benjamin Cole, communications director for the American Energy Alliance, an industry group opposed to Binz’s nomination, Manchin and McConnell’s announcments mean that Binz is already a “dead nominee.”

...The battle over Binz fits into a broader struggle that began in June when Obama proposed new efforts to fight climate change and reduce U.S. carbon emissions.

FERC, ordinarily an obscure agency, has become a major battleground, with conservatives arguing that Binz’s confirmation would enable the Obama administration to further a “war on coal” and unfairly promote green energy interests at the expense of traditional fossil fuels.

And even in a blue state with green consciousness like California, Big Energy knows who to bribe and how to get its way. This from RL Miller, chair of the California Democratic Party’s environmental caucus: Expect a whole lotta frackin’ this fall and into next year-- a good explanation of the symbiotic relationship between corrupt Democrats and Big Oil in California.