$4 billion — in tax subsidies, tax giveaways, to the oil companies

give a little pork barreling to solar, wind and other renewables .... you can have your fat and eat it too ...  => US Congress

It's amazing what a little efficiency can do for you --- make you an energy exporter!!!

The U.S. exported more gasoline, diesel and other fuels than it imported in 2011 for the first time since 1949, the Energy Department said today. 

Shipments abroad of petroleum products exceeded imports by 439,000 barrels a day, the department said in the Petroleum Supply Monthly report. In 2010, daily net imports averaged 269,000 barrels. U.S. refiners exported record amounts of gasoline, heating oil and diesel to meet higher global fuel demand while U.S. fuel consumption sank.

Illinois & Wind Energy = PTC renewals => Common Sense

We need your help.  In the next two weeks, the US House of Representatives will vote on legislation to extend the payroll tax holiday, and it is vital that Congress also include an extension of the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) in that bill. But they will only include the PTC if they believe their constituents support it. 

That's where you come in. You know that the loss of the PTC would dramatically slow wind energy installations in Illinois and other states. So help us tell the Illinois Congressional Delegation that the PTC must be included in the pending tax legislation. Specifically, Congressmen Bob Dold (R-Libertyville) and Bobby Schilling (R-Moline) will play a great role in determining whether or not the PTC is extended in the next few weeks, and we need you to let them and the rest of Illinois' Representatives know how important this economic instrument is to creating certainty in your market.

US Energy Independence within our GRASP!!!

The U.S. has reversed a two-decade-long decline in energy independence, increasing the proportion of demand met from domestic sources over the last six years to an estimated 81 percent through the first 10 months of 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from the U.S. Department of Energy. That would be the highest level since 1992.


“For 40 years, only politicians and the occasional author in Popular Mechanics magazine talked about achieving energy independence,” said Adam Sieminski, who has been nominated by President Barack Obama to head the U.S. Energy Information Administration. “Now it doesn’t seem such an outlandish idea.”
The transformation, which could see the country become the world’s top energy producer by 2020, has implications for the economy and national security -- boosting household incomes, jobs and government revenue; cutting the trade deficit; enhancing manufacturers’ competitiveness; and allowing greater flexibility in dealing with unrest in the Middle East.