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FULLSERVICE Head in the sand T THE SOURCE FOR PETROLEUM AND CONVENIENCE MARKETERS Obama administration has more formally declared war on coal in a speech the president gave at Georgetown University on June 25. I say more formally since the president made his views known on coal before he was elected in 2008 and has consistently (but not necessarily publicly and with little media scrutiny) worked toward that goal. Now he certainly is not trying to hide his efforts and is pushing them front and center as a major policy position for the remainder of his term in office. Climate change with its underlying layer of global and national wealth distribution and dire warnings of a global warming apocalypse was the focus of the speech. As was the need to continue the heavy subsidizing of wind and solar and the punishing of "dirty" fossil fuels of which coal was the most prominent – but oil is never far behind. His goal to kill the Keystone pipeline was in play as well. He did generously acknowledge natural gas as an interim solution. On the state of climate science the president stated: "… I don't have much patience for anyone who denies that this challenge is real. We don't have time for a meeting of the Flat Earth Society. Sticking your head in the sand might make you feel safer, but it's not going to protect you from the coming storm." And yet, if the president himself does not have his head stuck in the sand on this issue it is certainly stuck somewhere else. The models that so many dire predictions were based upon appear to have broken down. Most notably, temperatures have not risen in the past 15 years like the models predicted. As the German climate scientist Hans von Storch, professor at the Meteorological Institute of the University of Hamburg and director of the Institute for Coastal Research at the Helmholtz Research Centre, noted in a recent interview in the German magazine Der Spiegel: "So far, no one has been able to provide a compelling answer to why climate change seems to be taking a break. We're facing a puzzle. Recent CO2 emissions have actually risen even more steeply than we feared. As a result, according to most climate models, we should have seen temperatures rise by around 0.25 degrees Celsius (0.45 degrees Fahrenheit) over the past 10 years. That hasn't happened. In fact, the increase over the last 15 years was just 0.06 degrees Celsius (0.11 degrees Fahrenheit) – a value very close to zero. This is a serious scientific problem that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will have to confront when it presents its next Assessment Report late next year." Empty statements about his green solutions being economically viable, job creating and self sustaining without government input were abundant. Sounding more like he was elected to be the president of the world instead of the United States, he noted: "…as the world's largest economy and second-largest carbon emitter, as a country with unsurpassed ability to drive innovation and scientific breakthroughs, as the country that people around the world continue to look to in times of crisis, we've got a vital role to play. We can't stand on the sidelines. We've got a unique responsibility. And the steps that I've outlined today prove that we're willing to meet that responsibility." One thing is for certain. If this policy moves ahead it will impact jobs, productivity, the cost of energy and America's overall economic viability. But common sense and history – both recent and longer term – firmly state it will not be in the manner the president suggests. n he Editorial office List Rental/REPRINTS EDITORIAL STAFF cnaughton@specialtyim.com 1030 W. Higgins, Suite 230 Park Ridge, IL 60068 Cheryl Naughton Phone: (678) 292-6054 Fax: (360) 294-6054 Editor-in-Chief Keith Reid Corporate Office kreid@specialtyim.com 1030 W. 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Postmaster: Send address changes to National Petroleum News, PO Box 4290, Port Jervis, NY 12771. Keith Reid EDITOR-IN-CHIEF kreid@specialtyim.com 4 JULY/AUGUSt 2013 NPN Magazine n www.npnweb.com