During the course of the Obama Administration under Energy Secretary Steven Chu, the Department of Energy has almost totally abdicated its responsibility to the day-to-day consumers of energy, be it gasoline, heating oil, diesel and on. From the inception of the Obama administration the price of oil (and in turn gasoline, heating oil, etc.) has skyrocketed from $33/barrel (for West Texas Intermediate) in February 2009 to well over $100/barrel a few weeks ago, with barely any comment about these real-time distortions from the Department of Energy; nor has it come forward with any policy initiative to forestall this dramatic rise.
On the contrary, the Department of Energy is shackled with the mindset and outlook of its Chairman, Nobel Physicist Laureate Steven Chu, who continues to live in the aerie of academia. This, while seemingly divorced from the hard day-to-day tussle of the oil marketplace and its pilfering manipulation through the restraints imposed by the OPEC cartel, the distortions brought about by speculation, and manipulation on the commodity exchanges -- all costing American consumers billions upon billions of dollars more than if the market were a true reflection of supply and demand.
Chu and the Dept. of Energy's commitment to meaningful vigilance of the oil market's excess can best be demonstrated by the Chairman's own words (quickly modified after they hit home, but core to Department's inaction over the past years): "OPEC is going to do what they are going to do based on their own interests. I quite frankly don't focus on what OPEC should do, I focus on what we should do."
This in stark contrast to previous Secretaries of Energy, such as Bill Richardson, who did not hesitate to pick up the phone and call the OPEC nabobs to comment on their ongoing machinations and how it would impact the United States and its economy, to be roundly chastised:
In the forty year history of OPEC there has never been the case of the secretary of energy calling OPEC in the middle of an OPEC meeting... we are very upset and disappointed at external pressure, we don't like it.
As though fixing quotas to manipulate prices had become a divine right. Words that then Energy Secretary Bill Richardson could share with pride for having made those calls.
And of course Chu's fateful interview with the Wall Street Journal in 2008: "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels of Europe."
Since retracted, but troubling evidence of his mindset, raising the issue of how and why, given the direction of his thinking, was he ever named Chairman of the Energy Department? It's a bit analogous to someone being named Secretary of Labor after being quoted "I don't much give a damn about labor unions," thereafter retracted or otherwise.
Or Chu's reply to Rep. Alan Nunnelee in Congressional hearings this February that, "No, the overall goal is to decrease our dependency on oil, to build and strengthen our economy"; as if the here and now, with frozen homes in Maine and family budgets being ripped apart was not a core issue of his Department's mandate.
Even his battle to "decrease our dependency on oil" has been deeply flawed, as with the $500 million plus guarantees his Department misguidedly extended to the highly questionable Solyndra project, a tab that would be picked up at the nation's cost. And while the Dept. of Energy staff was busy considering the likes of the Solyndra project, Chu was busy moonlighting on such issues of "profound" relevance to the oil patch and alternative energy, by publishing highly dense papers titled "Subnanometre single-molecule localization registration and distance measurements" in such learned journals as Nature. With these digressions, focusing on what the likes of OPEC does or doesn't do, or how Solyndra was meant to make do, could well have become too much of a distraction.
But now, and unless I am missing something, comes an announcement whose timing is of such egregious inappropriateness that it appears to be mind-boggling. As though living in some far off island unencumbered by current events and political tensions, the Energy Department brazenly announced just days ago, almost on the eve of the scheduled nuclear talks with Iran in Moscow, that it would help the ailing the United States Enrichment Corporation finish its development work at its Portsmouth, Ohio facility. "Under the new agreement we will be able to move forward with critical research...while ensuring strong protections for the American taxpayer" Secretary Chu was quoted. A statement immediately to be taken to task by Rep. Edward J. Markey, (D.-Mass), "The real risk of this nuclear bailout is for taxpayers, who will be on the hook for questionable government handouts..."
Ominously the "rescue" is also being pegged as "vital to maintaining nuclear weapons and national security" almost concurrent to the nuclear talks that now seem to be going nowhere, where the point of contention is the very issue being highlighted by the Department of Energy's program, that of nuclear weaponry.
The Department of Energy's announcement and especially its timing now smacks of hubris or stupidity or both, as it may have weighed on the negotiations with Iran, reducing the chances for a peaceful outcome through the willingness of Iran to halt its own nuclear enrichment program. If that is the case, Mr. Chu has a great deal to answer for.
Follow Raymond J. Learsy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/raymondLearsy
Any intelligent human being holding the position of Energy Secretary in the U.S. at this point in time should have one single goal: to remove Big Oil from power and switch this country to solar and wind-generated energy. You don't have to graduate from Harvard to know that one single truth.
When Walter and Luis Alvarez proposed the giant impact theory of mass extinction scientists came out of the wood work laying heavy criticism to which he referred to as "stamp collectors".
You have my permission to note Dr. Chu as nothing more than a highly skilled stenographer.
U.S. Now an Oil Exporter
Spain Sets Wind Power Generation Record
Price of Wind Lower Than Gas, Hydro in Brazil Auction | Renewable Energy News Article
Top 10 for 2011: Wind power achieves many milestones this year | American Wind Energy Association
PSR: Cost of Wind Power Far Lower Than Cost of Damaging Health Effects From Coal | PSR
Value of Solar Power Far Exceeds the Electricity | john-farrell-ilsr
Solar is the Fastest-Growing Industry in the US
Ethanol Reduced Gas Prices Per Gallon in 2011
How Wall Street Drives Food Prices | Growth Energy
Obama realizes that there are 315 million citizens in this country, not just oil and coal companies.
- In Canada, lower oil prices and lower gas prices are already reducing investments.
Going from $55-billion last year to an estimated $47-billion in 2012, will constitute the weakest rate of investment since 2005.
- In the U.S. at $68 a barrel, 51.6% of independent U.S. oil producers would cut drilling.
According to The American Oil & Gas Reporter’s annual Survey, for crude oil, 25.8% of survey respondents would trim their drilling programs at a WTI spot price of $72 a barrel.
Keystone XL: State Department cleared of conflict, not ineptness - latimes.com
People on SS are having trouble because Republicans have blocked cost of living increases and are trying to privatize the program, and trying to raise retirement age. The price of gas is not set by the President. Even Oil Companies Know That Oil Prices Are Rigged - Benzinga Insights - - Forbes
The one government institution that could help is the CONGRESS of the USA.
And they are owned by big oil,pharma, a few billionaires,and the banksters.
So do not expect us to be independent anytime soon.
DOE Mission Statement
The mission of the Department of Energy is to assure America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions.
We now know that we have abundant oil supplies, more than the Saudi's ever had and we could turn our country into a large oil exporter,creating good jobs and wealth in the process, not to mention our foreign trade deficit.
It is time to give the Dept. of Energy a mandate. Get the job done now, or we shut you down.
Much of the defense budget does not go through the Pentagon to make the military budget look smaller.
Chu, and Obama love nuclear technology generally - the amount of money wasted on Solyndra pales in comparison to the amount being lavished on the nuclear power industry.
Well, then do the Keystone Pipeline
Don't waste my money on failed companies like Solyndra
and get the price of gasoline down to $3.00 in California....
The Democrats drive up the price by their energy policies and then when it goes down a few cents, they go back to sleep not realizing how hard it is on the middle class.
Obama - it takes more than just talk; it takes action and working with both sides - both Democrats and Republicans and also Independents. 100 games of golf does not help anyone.
Justice not politics is the goal right?