This tells you all you need to know about the state of transparency for the government’s efforts on energy and climate change:

Sometimes going green can save a firm money (when it reduces waste, increases efficiency, lowers various costs) — which is great. But the rush to change over our nation’s energy infrastructure away from efficient forms to those that are dramatically less so is not good for anyone.

Here’s one sad-if-it-weren’t-true story:

In the wake of the Copenhagen international climate agreement — which contains the binding potential of WD-40 — people worldwide are taking desperate measures to reduce emissions. In this pursuit, Danish shipping giant Maersk has adopted a peculiar business maxim: Slower is better. The company recently boasted that it’s doubling shipping times in an effort to cut emissions.

Yikes. We’re less efficient! Yay! (and probably more expensive … double yay!)

Investors Business Daily is looking at the report recently released by Sen. Jim Inhofe on an ongoing climate conspiracy, and writes:

Vast sums are being made and will be made through the sale of carbon offsets and carbon credits. Perhaps the Securities and Exchange Commission should investigate the claims of such enterprises.

Gore himself has achieved a net worth estimated by some to be in excess of $100 million by persuading investors to get involved in his enterprises. He’s been touted as possibly the world’s first “carbon billionaire.”

What if it’s all been a fraud all along? Inhofe may not get his investigation, but certainly it is well warranted.

Frankly, it’s too early to know for sure whether there’s any “there” there, but there are good questions to be asked. As they say, sunshine is the best disinfectant (and, we hear, could be the cause of all that global temperature fluctuation).

Senator Jim Inhofe’s staff has released: “Consensus‟ Exposed: The CRU Controversy

“New Climate Agency Head Tried to Suppress Data, Critics Charge”

• Reuters: Senate weighs final push to move climate bill
• “Climate alarmists feeling more heat”
• George Will: Global warming advocates ignore the boulders
• Oh, now the number of storms may be going down so we need to find a new way to freak people out
• Wall Street Journal: “Climate Change and Open Science”
• Media Research Center: “The NY Times Goes AWOL on Latest ‘Climate Change’ Revelations”
• Michael Fumento: Global warming as religion
• Pielke Jr on the policy impact of IPCC misdirection

Unions are pumped about nuclear energy because of the jobs …

“For the nation’s construction unions, President Barack Obama’s announcement of $8.3 billion in federal loan guarantees to speed the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Georgia means one thing: Jobs.
And that’s why both AFL-CIO Building Trades Department President Mark Ayers and Plumbers and Pipefitters President William Hite were enthusiastic about Obama’s Feb. 17 announcement, made at the Electrical Workers Local 26 hall in Lanham, Md.

Obama said on the campaign trail and reiterated in his State of the Union address that nuclear power should be part of the mix that helps march the U.S. towards lesser dependence on imported foreign oil.

But don’t forget, forcibly creating “green jobs” kills twice as many real jobs.

“Study claimed in 2009 that sea levels would rise by up to 82cm by the end of century – but the report’s author now says true estimate is still unknown”

Excellent:

Texas and several national industry groups on Tuesday filed separate petitions in federal court challenging the government’s authority to regulate U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

Texas, which leads U.S. states in carbon dioxide emissions due to its heavy concentration of oil refining and other industries, will see a major impact if U.S. mandatory emissions reductions take effect.

In December, the Environmental Protection Agency ruled that greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide endanger human health, opening the door for the agency to issue mandatory regulations to reduce them.

over at Shopfloor (a good read to catch up)