Keystone XL vs. Solyndra? Boring as hell you say? Maybe. But you've got a lot at stake in this one.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / November 29, 2011

Keystone XL vs. Solyndra? What could be more boring?. Sounds like a pilot for a serial starring Super Schmuck Arnold Schwarzeneggar.

But this is a big deal. Too bad the mash media never got interested in it. Oh, but they were interested. They just understood how this would rattle Obama's cage on the one hand, and take a positive step toward U.S. energy independence on the other. They didn't want either one of these options.

To a writer, NCPA -- National Center for Policy Analysis -- is a great resource. Solid research and analysis on critical issues, clearly presented. I like and respect it. So I was impressed by NCPA's coverage of this blockbuster feature on Keystone XL vs. Solyndra. Game of the Week? Whatever. Read on.

NCPA / November 28, 2011

Keystone XL vs. Solyndra

The two big energy stories of the moment are the Obama administration's announcement that it will wait another year before making a final decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, and the continued pummeling of the Department of Energy and Energy Secretary Steven Chu for their handling of the $529 million loan guarantee to Solyndra. 

A comparison of these two projects, in the context of the Obama administration's decision to fund one and delay the other, is enlightening: it allows the American public to understand the priorities of the president and the motivations for his policies, says Robert Bryce, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

• The Keystone XL is a $13 billion project that doesn't depend on federal loan guarantees or production tax credits from the federal government.
• Keystone could create about 13,000 construction jobs in the United States, along with 7,000 manufacturing jobs -- this contrasts strongly with the 1,100 workers who lost their jobs with the Solyndra bankruptcy.
• Keystone would have supplied 700,000 barrels of oil each day towards the nation's energy mix (which is 37 percent oil).

In these terms, it becomes bewildering that the Keystone XL pipeline is being subjected to another year's worth of scrutiny despite its numerous benefits, while Solyndra was able to receive a public loan without a thorough look at its ability to compete in an international marketplace.  The egregiousness of this pair of decisions becomes even more serious when discussing each project's contribution to national energy.

• The Keystone's 700,000 barrels of oil each day, at 1.64 megawatt-hours per barrel, would have generated 380,000 megawatt-hours of electricity per day.
• Meanwhile, all of America's solar panel and wind turbine production for the last year amounted to 94.6 million megawatt-hours, translating to 260,000 megawatt-hours of electricity per day.
• Therefore, the Keystone project would have generated 46 percent more energy each day than the entire country's solar and wind output.

Source: Robert Bryce, "Energy Smackdown: Keystone XL vs. Solyndra," National Review, November 21, 2011.


NEWSMAX: BOEHNER SAYS SOLYNDRA PROBE WILL BE 'RELENTLESS'

Wednesday, 09 Nov 2011 06:38 PM

By Jim Meyers and David A. Patten

House Speaker John Boehner vows that Congress will be “relentless” in its probe into the role the Obama administration played in awarding solar energy firm Solyndra with $535 million in loan guarantees before it went bankrupt.

“They’re making the mistake that every White House makes — slow down the development of the documents, decide they’re not going to comply, redact the documents to no end,” Boehner tells Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview.

“And all they’re going to do is drag this out.

“We are not going to turn our heads or turn a blind eye to what appears to be some incredibly horrible decisions. So the Congress will be relentless in our pursuit of the truth.

“All we want to do is get to the bottom of this. Because when we get to the bottom of it we provide the constitutional oversight that the Congress is there to provide. We teach our government lessons about what is doable and what isn’t doable.”

Boehner says he gets along with the president fine but admits that his relationship with Obama has been “frosty” in the last few weeks “as the president has decided to shirk his responsibilities to be a leader and gone out and decided to campaign full-time.

“It’s been a bit disappointing to me, and I haven’t talked with the president much during this period.”

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/boehner-solyndra-obama-issa/2011/11/08/id/417322#