A p r i l V OL . 7 8 N O . 0 4
Editor's Note
E D I T O RI A L S T A F F
Editorial Office
Obama shifting
on fossil fuels
– or not?
A
President Obama's second term
gets underway, he has nominated a new EPA director and a
new Secretary of Energy. Steve Bennett
looked into the nominees and how the
industry is reacting to the news (see the
article on page 24). Obviously, there are
some political considerations behind
any public comments, but I have to
admit the industry leaders contacted are
more cautiously optimistic than I.
Nominated for the new energy secretary is Ernest Moniz, the head of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's
Energy Initiative. Moniz is ultimately in
favor of a low carbon energy policy, and
has shown at least some acceptance to
cleaner burning fossil fuels like natural
gas and nuclear as a bridge to that utopian
ideal. In fact, many on the extreme environmental left are chafing over the support
MIT's Energy Initiative has previously seen
from big oil and big gas. Moniz probably
represents about as "good" a nominee as
can be expected, though I seriously doubt
his critics from the left will end up being
all that disappointed.
Gina McCarthy, former assistant
administrator of the EPA's Office of Air
and Radiation, has been nominated to
head the EPA. McCarthy receives little, if any, criticism from the far left of
the environmental movement and was
instrumental in helping set the regulations that have, along with dramatically
reduced natural gas prices, helped gut
April 2013 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com
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the coal-fired power generation industry.
Obama's second term will provide her
with an opportunity to apply that magical
touch to numerous other sectors including
refining and natural gas production.
Industry leaders at the associations see
these picks as more of a realization that
fossil fuels cannot be casually discarded
and that the president's ultimate focus on
alternative fuels has to be grounded in some
practical path. Unfortunately, too often in
the past four years that path has involved
making alternative energy more cost competitive by damaging or hindering existing
fossil fuels.
Where Moniz is concerned, his longterm focus on a low carbon emission policy
is somewhat disturbing. While it is a laudable goal. But, the question remains—just
how low is low enough? From technology
to culture a zero-carbon future lies more in
the realm of science fiction than science.
McCarthy, as noted, is even more concerning. The current administration has
shown a willingness to bypass Congress
on a range of policy issues and use agency
regulation to accomplish goals that are difficult or even impossible on the legislative
front. The current nominee has featured
predominately in these efforts at EPA and
one might expect her to figure even more
prominently with the promotion.
We'll just have to see if I'm being too
pessimistic. I certainly have been wrong
on many things in the past and hope this
is another example.
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