McCain's VP pick: Sarah Palin - energy governor!

Energy is one of the two industries in Alaska. Your ordinary Alaskan walking around on the street knows more about oil companies, oil production and environmental issues (remember Valdez) than just about anyone in Washington who does not specialize in the subject. A big chunk of income for all Alaskans comes from oil revenue.

Palin has specialized in energy, first heading the state board in charge of oil concerns and then as Governor - a governor that got a $30 billion with a pipeline to carry natural gas to Canada through, one that Alaska has been trying to build for 30 or so years.


More on energy from Sarah Palin:

What, on a real practical level here, the GOP has got to do, though, between now and the election, is to convince Americans that it is our energy policy that is best for our nation and the nation's future, that if we are to become energy independent and if we are to become a more secure nation then we had better start supplying our very, very hungry markets across the nation with American supplies of energy. And up here in Alaska we're sitting on billions of barrels of oil. We're sitting on hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of natural gas onshore and offshore. And it seems to be only the Republicans who understand that companies should be competing for the right to tap those resources, and get that energy source flowing into these hungry markets so that we will be less reliant on foreign sources of energy. In a volatile world, relying on foreign regimes that are not friendly to Americans, asking them to ramp up resource production for our benefit, that's nonsensical.

The GOP agenda to ramp up domestic supplies of energy is the only way that we are going to become energy independent, the only way that we are going to become a more secure nation. And I say this, of course, knowing the situation we are in right now — at war, not knowing what the plan is to ever end the war we are engaged in, understanding that Americans are seeking solutions and are seeking resolution in this war effort. So energy supplies and being able to produce and supply domestically is going to be a big part of that. And the GOP agenda is the right agenda in that respect, but the GOP is going to have to prove to Americans in following weeks that we can safely, responsibly and ethically develop these resources. That, of course, has been a problem for the GOP. And a problem up here in Alaska. We have state lawmakers serving time in prison right now... other lawmakers whom the FBI is probing right now... because they have been found, some, to be corrupt in oil and gas issues, having taken bribes. That does not bode well for the GOP. And that's gotta change.

With her selection she reminds us that the American political system was set up by our founders to be run by ordinary citizens who aren't necessarily professional politicians.

Candidates' Energy Solutions Crucial to Vote

Sixty-nine percent of Americans say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports establishing tax incentives to encourage energy conservation.

Heat fusing geothermal pipes

Geothermal GSHP advantages

The great advantage to geothermal ground source heat pumps is they can be used in many locations. Even snowy regions such as Norway and Sweden see efficient results when using ground source heat pumps.

A geothermal heat pump can be very efficient in providing your home with a source of low cost hot water. The use of a ground source heat pump with a backup boiler allows your boiler to use less energy to heat the water than it would have previously. This can save you significant amounts of money on energy bills for your home or business.

It's really all about the oil (this time)...

In May 2005 democratically-elected Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvilli, along with the Azerbaijan Republic, Turkey and Kazakhstan inaugurated the Caspian BP Pipeline transporting one million barrels per day. This is (was?) the only pipeline bypassing Russia's control bringing fuel to Europe.

The BTC pipeline project cost an estimated $3.7 billion, with BP as operator. The pipeline was officially inaugurated at the Sangachal terminal, near Baku, by President Ilham Aliyev of the Azerbaijan Republic, President Mikhail Saakashvilli of Georgia and President Ahmet Sezer of Turkey, joined by President Nursaltan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan on 25 May 2005.

UPDATES from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia.

Americans Join GOP on House Floor for Ongoing Energy Protest

Americans are sick and tired and not going to take it anymore!

"It was very inspiring," Steven Paull of New Mexico told CNSNews.com of the time he spent on the floor of the House chamber. "There definitely is an energy crisis, and I think it's affecting every American. “It's a shame (Pelosi) is out promoting her book and taking a vacation when there are a lot of her colleagues here trying to hold the flame ... and bring the message to the American people that we do have an energy crisis and we have to do something about it," he said.

Paull was in Washington to meet his daughter, Mary, who is wrapping up a summer internship. She told CNSNews.com that she thinks the Republican call for Pelosi to reconvene the House is not out of line.

"I think it's a really reasonable request, given that (the House) wasn't even supposed to adjourn until Aug. 11, and it just seems rather suspicious that she's out going on a book tour," Mary said. "As long as we can just have some debate, let them vote – I think that's a rather reasonable message."

Mae Milton of North Carolina brought her 14-year-old son to Washington so that he could see how government works. She told CNSNews.com that the protest was a surprise, but a good experience for her son. She added that she thinks Congress should pass a comprehensive energy plan that includes offshore drilling and developing domestic energy resources."

Absolutely," Milton said. "We don't need to depend on anyone else (for energy resources.)"

14 Massachusetts communities invest in wind

Wind turbines atop a mountain in the Berkshires could soon help four area communities meet their power needs.

Municipal utilities in Ipswich, Marblehead, Peabody, and Wakefield, along with those in 10 other communities, recently teamed with a nonprofit corporation to acquire the assets of a planned 15-megawatt wind farm on the summit of Brodie Mountain in the western Massachusetts town of Hancock.

The wind farm, the first in the state to be owned collectively by a group of municipal utilities, would provide enough power to supply 6,000 homes, according to the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co., the nonprofit that is partnering with the local utilities.

Home heating crisis looms in Massachusetts

According to the Boston Globe, oil prices have nearly doubled since last year, and

natural gas rates have also increased since last year, the most dramatic hike has been in the cost of heating oil, which is up 81 percent. Of the country's 8 million households that heat with oil, 1 million are in Massachusetts.

McCain says we need geothermal!

Patriots display guts in Congress

While the Democrats are off on their 5-week vacation (a luxury ill-afforded to the average American) the Republicans are ignoring Nancy Pelosi's stubborn refusal to take up a comprehensive energy bill by staging a protest, and now the Democrats, including Mr. Obama are on the defensive.

Meeting Monday in the Capitol by the Will Rogers statue, the American humorist who ridiculed Congress as bumblers and bunglers, they plotted a week of protests on the House floor where Republicans are blasting the Democrats for skipping town without taking up a pending energy bill.

The Democrats have "shuttered the U.S. House of Representatives for a five-week vacation while ignoring the No. 1 issue weighing down our economy and the budgets of American families — high gas prices," said Republican Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri.
And it wasn't just the Pelosi Democrats who found themselves under a barrage of political fire on the issue. Barack Obama was being pounded this week by John McCain for not demanding that his party return to take up an "all of the above" energy bill that would reduce oil prices and lower the cost of gas here at home.

That means encouraging alternative energies like wind, solar, biofuels and geothermal, Mr. McCain lectured the freshman senator. But it also means "we need more nuclear power. It means we need clean coal technology. And that means we need to offshore-drill for oil and natural gas. We need to drill here and we need to drill now," the Arizonan said Monday.

"And anybody who says that we can achieve energy independence without using and increasing these existing energy resources either doesn't have the experience to understand the challenge we face or isn't giving the American people some straight talk," he said.

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