Dr. Blanchard will not be pleased.

From the “Credit Where Credit Is Due” Department, I note that Governor Dennis Daugaard is at least consistent in his expressed desire to expand energy jobs. Last week he cosigned a letter on behalf of the National Governors Association urging Congress to extend the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind energy.

Governors are pursuing a wide variety of strategies to promote job creation and economic development in their states. Continued development of renewable energy resources and manufacturing is an important component of these efforts. Renewable energy provides Americans with high-tech manufacturing jobs, secure sources of energy, and our states with crucial economic development opportunities.

To supplement state efforts, governors support the continuation of the production tax credit (PTC) for wind and renewable energy and the investment tax credit (ITC) for wind as well as the recent legislative proposal to institute ITC’s for the first 3,000 megawatts of offshore wind facilities placed into service. Such measures can help promote environmentally responsible, efficient, and secure affordable energy to fuel America’s future [Governors Dannel P. Malloy and Dennis Daugaard, letter to Congressional leaders, National Governors Association, 2012.04.04].

Even though the governors’ statement undermines her and Daugaard’s prior contention that government doesn’t create jobs, Rep. Kristi Noem has shown support for extending the PTC. Senator Tim Johnson backs PTC. So does Senator John Thune… even though some conservatives call the PTC pure corporate welfare. The wind industry says it was catching up in price competitiveness until gas prices plummeted; they say extending the PTC would help them sustain jobs and development through their current recessionary period and not have to start over from scratch when the gas bubble bursts in a few years.

The State Department’s report to Congress on its decision to deny TransCanada its permit for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline makes clear that nixing this pipeline now ”is unlikely to have a substantial impact on U.S. employment, economic activity, trade, energy security, or foreign policy over the longer term.”

One reason Keystone XL doesn’t amount to a hill of beans for America’s national energy security may be found in a new analysis from British Petroleum that projects North America will enjoy an energy surplus by 2030. Compared to peak consumption in 2005, the U.S. will use just under 5% less energy, and North America will use 20% less oil.

We don’t need Keystone XL to reduce our dependence on oil from the sheiks or Hugo Chavez or whatever other bogeyman the Republicans care to wave in effigy at us. (We do need fracking and other dangerous business, but hey! one problem at a time….)

So who does need Keystone XL? China:

China, on the other hand, is likely to become much more dependent on imports as demand growth outpaces domestic supply. [BP chief economist Christof] Ruehl said that by 2030 it would have to import 80 per cent of its oil, 42 per cent of its gas, and considerable amounts of coal.

That could have huge implications for the global geopolitical balance. China will become just as concerned as the US now is about ensuring the steady, unrestricted flow of oil exports from the Middle East. “The whole discussion about energy security will shift eastwards,” Mr Ruehl said in an interview [Guy Chazan, "U.S. on Path to Energy Self-Sufficiency," Financial Times, 2012.01.18].

As it stands, the U.S. has a lock on the Great White North’s black gold, gobbling up 97% of Canada’s oil exports. That oil provides the U.S. with energy security and price stability. Keystone XL would drain that security and stability to the benefit of China, our major competitor.

Now let’s play Civilization for a moment. Why would any patriotic American who wants to win the game and rule the world fight for a project that weakens our position and strengthens the biggest economic and military opponent on the board?

President Obama was right to reject Keystone XL, for more reasons than he’s willing to state. If Congressional Republicans insist on overturning the Executive Branch’s authority over such foreign policy decisions, they will be serving China’s national interest, not America’s.

Related: If Republicans in Congress really want to create jobs, they should revisit cap and trade. A cap-and-trade policy on greenhouse gases in Massachusetts has created 3,800 jobs and $500 million in economic activity since 2008.

Whoo-hoo! The EPA offers a new searchable map of greenhouse gas emissions from big facilities across the nation. Now you can track down who in your county is heating the planet… and tell them to switch those emissions back on so we can get back to those glorious January 60-degree temps we had Tuesday.

Here are the 29 big emitters reported in South Dakota, listed in descending order of total emissions (the figures for emissions are all in metric tons):

The Big Stone power plant alone emits more greenhouse gases than all 28 of the other major emitters on South Dakota’s roster.

The data for this map comes from industry reports mandated by a 2008 law signed by President George W. Bush. No word yet from Rep. Kristi Noem’s office on how many jobs President Bush killed with this legislation.

Big Oil lapdog Mike McDowell says that, in my opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, I’m in league with sheiks and dictators. He throws around his same stale wishful thinking that increased oil prices from Keystone XL are “not a certainty.” He even celebrates (in a Daniel Yergin commentary completely cut and pasted into McDowell’s blog post) all the extra fossil fuels we can blast surfaceward by fracking.

My breakfast responses:

1. Sheiks hate me. I advocate getting us off our oil addiction completely by focusing on alternative energy and conservation. You’ve heard of those things, haven’t you, Mike? Those are the ways the Rural Learning Center cut energy bills for its new Maroney Center in half. Such savings reduce consumption, lower energy prices, and extend our domestic supplies. Sheiks hate all that. (They also hate infidels like me.)
2. Additionally, Mike and I have already discussed this: not one drop of Keystone XL is going to be used in America. TransCanada’s honchos refuse to guarantee that it will.
3. Keystone XL will raise oil prices. TransCanada and everyone in the market is counting on that.
4. Fracking: oh, yeah, that thing that the EPA just announced may pollute groundwater. You bet, Mike. Crank open that spigot. Destroying our water supply is so much more intelligent than using less energy.

Time to clear the queue! Here are some energy and environment notes from all the tabs crowding the top of my browser:

1. If we can get rid of direct payments to farmers, surely we can get rid of $24 billion in corporate welfare handed to rich and successful energy companies.
2. Solar panels on every family’s roof in America would save us all $144 billion in electric bills each year. That would free up a lot of cash to buy groceries.
3. The South Dakota Water Alliance is raising red flags about proposals for increased rare-earths mining in the Bear Lodge Mountains, just across the border from Spearfish.
4. In response to industry efforts to protect hazy skies and corporate profit through environmental externalities from EPA regulation, a whole bunch of our environmentally minded neighbors are launching “Health Not Haze.” Remember, reducing emissions from our western coal plants isn’t just good for the eyes; it’s good for the lungs!

Michele Bachmann was right! The effort to phase out incandescent light bulbs really is a Communist plot… Chinese Communist!

China announced Friday it will phase out incandescent light bulbs within five years in an attempt to make the world’s most polluting nation more energy efficient.

China will ban imports and sales of 100-watt and higher incandescent bulbs from Oct. 1, 2012, the country’s main planning agency said.

…The planning agency said China will save 48 billion kilowatt hours of power per year and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 48 million tons annually once the bulbs are phased out ["China to Phase out Energy-Inefficient Light Bulbs," AP via Google, 2011.11.04].

Bachmann, Noem, and other wild-eyed Republicans failed to stop America’s fluourescently lit march toward Marxism last July.

Related: Science funded by the Koch brothers in an effort to debunk climate change and rationalize infinite consumption of finite resources has turned out to support the vast consensus of the scientific world. Skeptic champion Richard Muller finds the data that the ClimateGate criers said was wrong turns out to be right: our planet is getting warmer.

The Environmental Protection Agency lists 598 partner businesses, schools, and governmental entities that meet 100% of their electricity needs by buying green power. Funny to see businesses listed there as partners of the EPA; my Congresswoman told me that the EPA “out to do us all in… and close all our businesses.” I guess businesses like Kohl’s, HSBC, Nokia, and North Face are really just Marxist dupes seeking their own destruction.

No South Dakota-based businesses or organizations make this list, despite the fact that we live in the Saudi Arabia of wind power (but then so are lots of other places). Market uncertainty and lack of transmission lines has caused NextEra to put two major South Dakota wind power projects on hold this year. South Dakota businesses could still use on-site generation or Renewable Energy Certificates to green their electricity needs. Alas, no big takers in South Dakota.

Here are the EPA’s top 50 100% green power purchasers by total annual kilowatt-hours:

Hey! Jerry Heckenliable! If you’re still torqued about Madison’s high electric rates, you should get on this committee!

At tonight’s meeting, the Madison City Commission will consider creating an “Energy Advisory Committee.” The proposed committee’s portfolio would include the following tasks:

1. to review, analyze and recommend alternatives regarding the implementation of an energy management/conservation plan for the City of Madison,
2. to establish policies regarding reserves held by the City to include operating capital, capital improvements and replacements, and contingency reserves,
3. in coordination with the Superintendent to review new technology and methods of operations that may increase productivity or reduce costs to the City of Madison’s Electric Department, including but not limited to Load Management and Smart Metering System,
4. to review and monitor the City of Madison’s contracts and rates for the purchase or sale of electricity.

Did you catch that last one, Jerry?

If this resolution passes, the mayor will nominate and the commission approve five members to have conversations on these topics at least four times a year and make recommendations to the city. There’s no money in the gig (at least not a salary, although the city may pay some expenses for committee members), but it would be a good chance for residents to help the city find ways to save money, improve energy efficiency, and maybe even promote a little local energy self-sufficiency.