Did You Know...

**Written by Doug Powers

Steven Chu is gone, but his initiatives and re-initiatives live on:

With few options available for financing his clean-energy ambitions, President Obama on Friday proposed diverting $2 billion in revenue from federal oil and gas leases over the next decade to pay for research on advanced vehicles.

Mr. Obama visited the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago to tour its state-of-the-art research facilities and to promote his idea, first proposed in last month’s State of the Union address, to use oil and gas money to find ways to replace hydrocarbons as the primary fuel for the nation’s cars, trucks and buses.

The idea enjoys some bipartisan and business support, but is likely to encounter strong resistance from Congressional Republicans, who will portray it as a tax on energy producers. The White House says the money will come from growth in drilling revenue from leases on public lands and waters over the next decade and is not a new tax.

Mr. Obama presented the proposal as part of his “all-of-the-above energy strategy,” which includes an increase in oil and gas development; support for nonpolluting sources like wind, solar and geothermal energy; loan guarantees for new nuclear plants; and research into long-term alternatives to fossil fuels.

Forget about diverting oil and gas lease revenue — if the Obama administration would cancel White House tours for the next 520 years but put that money on the books now this baby pays for itself!

As much money as they’ve poured into these programs our cars should be powered by kumquats, solar rays and hamster flatulence by now:

His administration pumped $90 billion in economic stimulus funds into clean energy and “green jobs” projects, helping to dramatically expand renewable energy production in America.

But some projects failed, including a California solar panel maker called Solyndra that had received $527 million in a government loan.

Another $2 billion should put it over the top.

**Written by Doug Powers

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