Guest post by David Middleton
19 January 2012
Obama clean energy ad airing in Va.
A new ad from President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign that touts his energy and ethics record began airing in Virginia this week even as Republican blasted him over a decision to reject a permit for a proposed oil pipeline from Canada.
The 30-second spot (see below) makes a case that Obama’s policies have promoted clean energy jobs and reduced the nation’s dependence on foreign oil while enduring unfounded attacks funded by wealthy energy industry officials.
[…]
This campaign ad is nothing but a collection of falsehoods.
Falsehood #1: “Secretive oil billionaires attacking President Obama”… The Koch brothers (and the oil & gas industry in general) have been anything but secretive in their attacks on President Obama.
Falsehood #2: The ad implies that President Obama has created 2.7 million “clean energy industry” jobs.
The 2.7 million figure is purportedly cited from a Brookings report. The report said that there currently are 2.7 million jobs in America that “produce goods and services with an environmental benefit.”
The clean economy, which employs some 2.7 million workers, encompasses a signifi cant number of jobs in establishments spread across a diverse group of industries. (Page 4)
The report says that the “clean economy establishments added half a million jobs between 2003 and 2010.” So… Obama didn’t even “create” half a million “clean energy jobs.” He didn’t even create half a million clean economy jobs. The Brookings report refers to “clean economy” not “clean energy” jobs. The vast majority of the “clean economy” jobs are not in energy… And almost all of those jobs were created before Obama took office.
More than 82% of the “clean economy” jobs listed in the report have nothing to do with energy production…
Waste Management & Treatment … 386,116 … 14%
Public Mass Transit … 350,547 … 13%
Conservation … 314,983 … 12%
Energy Saving Building Materials … 161,896 … 6%
Regulation & Compliance … 141,890 … 5%
Professional Environmental Services … 141,046 … 5%
Organic Food & Farming … 129,956 … 5%
Recycling & Reuse … 129,252 … 5%
Green Consumer Products … 77,264 … 3%
Green Building Materials … 76,577 … 3%
HVAC … 73,600 … 3%
Sustainable Forestry Products … 61,054 … 2%
Recycled Content Products … 59,712 … 2%
Green Architecture … 56,190 … 2%
Air & Water Purification … 24,930 … 1%
Green Chemical Products … 22,622 … 1%
Total … 2,207,635 … 82%
Falsehood #3: The ad implies that President Obama somehow played a role in the increase in US domestic oil production over the last few years… That is beyond ridiculous! The plays and prospects from which the production growth was derived were worked up, leased, drilled and plumbed-up for production over the last decade or more. The effects of Obama’s disastrous anti-drilling policies won’t show up in production data for quite some time.
Obama’s anti-drilling policies began in 2009 and were ramped up in 2010. This is either the most amazingly arrogant lie to ever come out of this President’s mouth or an example of his incredible ignorance of the oil & gas industry and energy in general.
The increase in US oil production has come from two main sources:
1) Shale plays like the Bakken.
The Bakken shale play has mostly been developed on private property. Very little of the shale plays have been developed on Federal lands – And the Obama administration has actively sought to further restrict development on Federal lands. Apart from the EPA, regulation and obstruction of these sorts of plays are mostly in the hands of State gov’ts.
2) Deepwater Gulf of Mexico discoveries.
The deepwater discoveries that have been brought on line over the last three years were discovered long before Obama took office… Many were discovered while Clinton was still in office. Construction and installation of the production facilities began long before Obama took office. On top of that, much of the increase in production was the result of the ongoing recovery from hurricanes Rita (2005), Katrina (2005) and Ike (2008).
Over the last two years, the Obama administration has almost paralyzed operations in the Gulf of Mexico with an unlawful permitorium and has aggressively tried to hamper the shale plays with fraudulent EPA attacks on fracking and unlawful efforts to make BLM lands unavailable…
This is all anyone ever needs to know about President Obama’s views on energy…
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To those who object to the political aspect of this post… My deepest apologies. The last thing I want to do is to degrade the best science blog in the known universe.
However, I posted this because energy and energy policy has been a frequent topic on WUWT. The blatant falsehoods in this campaign ad screamed for a rebuttal; so I wrote one. I thought it would be of interest to WUWT readers.
I would not be offended in the least if Anthony deleted this post, if he thought that it was in the best interest of WUWT.
I note that there wasn’t nearly as much complaining when UK and Australian politics were covered here. Fair and balanced means just that. Get a grip folks.
REPLY: Thanks, Nor was there much complaining when I went dark last week to protest SOPA/PIPA, a political issue also. For a dose of pure science, see Robert Brown’s new top post Refutation of Stable Thermal Equilibrium Lapse Rates
– Anthony
Brad says:
January 24, 2012 at 5:42 am
Here we go into full blown election season, don’t trust this site or any advert. They are all lying. Politifact might be OK, but in general do your own research and use non-afiliated and unbiased sites.
Make me wonder what sites Brad usually goes to? Generally if a site’s feeding me a line of crap, I don’t go back. I’ve been visiting Anthony for seven years. He hasn’t steered me wrong.
It’s interesting that Brad doesn’t bother to clear up the issue, rebut with facts or figures, point out what’s right or wrong.
He just gets his knickers in a twist because his boy is getting bruised.
Thanks for the warning, Brad. I’ll give it the attention it deserves.
/note to self:
Stay clear of Politifact.
Interesting article on an economic blog:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/obama-puppetmaster-warren-buffett-biggest-winner-keystone-pipeline-rejection
Environmental science is tied to politics and not in a good way. To ignore the politics is to have no scientific response to the fraud being exerted by the left to strip the US of efficient energy production and use.
Pamela Gray says:
January 24, 2012 at 6:25 am
This President is the worst mistake I’VE ever made!
Ah, ha – so it’s your fault!
Seriously, don’t beat yourself up so much Pamala – Obama made a lot of great sounding promises that he not only hasn’t kept but doubtfully even intended to. Anything to get elected – going from “change you could believe in” to not only “more of the same”, but sometimes even worse “more of the same”.
A lot of folks were deceived. At least you recognize that you were, and that is worth something, I’d say.
RE: the nature of this post on this site. I appreciate the factual counterpoints, and especially the inarguable proof of Falsehood #2. Comments are more in danger of wandering off the road with partisan politics, though. But demonstrably (a key aspect) false political claims of green energy success in any part of the world have never been off topic here so far as I can see.
David Middleton says:
January 24, 2012 at 6:29 am
To those who object to the political aspect of this post… My deepest apologies. The last thing I want to do is to degrade the best science blog in the known universe.
However, I posted this because energy and energy policy has been a frequent topic on WUWT. The blatant falsehoods in this campaign ad screamed for a rebuttal; so I wrote one. I thought it would be of interest to WUWT readers.
I doubt if we would be doing anything but the usual “talking about the weather” if it weren’t for the political and economic aspects of “climate change”. You’ve just shown one more facet of the results of distortions of the science surrounding the topic.
Why do any of us care what some self-proclaimed “climate scientist” says about an ever changing climate system? We care because of the political and economic ramifications that result from said self-proclaimed “climate scientist’s” proclamation. The interest on climate would be minimal on this site otherwise.
Since we had a net loss of jobs since Obama took over, it’s arguable that his policies have created any jobs.
~More Soylent Green!
An excellent article, Mr Middleton, and I for one hope to seem more like this one. Such as some more numbers on the origins and amounts of money going towards the environmental industry….? Jess thinkin’.
Anyway, the “a-political” complainers either fail to understand, or perhaps they understand too well, that this issue has always been primarily about politics, not the science. We can trace its origins and its success as a series of ideological, financial and political goals and acts, with large interests including corporations, institutions, governmets and the UN playing prominent roles. Science…and quite a bit of pseudoscience…serves as a secondary gimmick to provide the glitter and the authority towards achieving what are undeniably political goals. No matter how well the AGW “science” may be challenged here and elsewhere, and how valid or self-evident the facts and the truths may be, they’ll make very little difference if the political reality is not addressed head-on. It’s deficit that needs correcting.
miket says:
January 24, 2012 at 3:40 am
Actually (if it was the BBC R4 Today program I heard) the last word went to Nigel Lawson of The Global Warming Policy Foundation – but not until the Greenloon had made his riduclous point several times.
Er, I meant ridiculous!
We need an edit facility, Anthony.
REPLY: For the ten gazillionth time, I cannot put a comment edit function into wordpress.com hosted blogs. I’ve asked, pleaded and begged, and they simply refuse to allow this plug in saying it is a security risk to do so. The only way I can do it is to move to a private hosted server, but then I have to do server management, backups, load balancing, and all of the other stuff that plagued Climate Audit for years until we moved that blog to wordpress.com hosting also.
What we need are more careful commenters that don’t expect moderators to clean up their spelling errors and formatting messes. Just this morning I’ve cleaned up several requests like yours, and I’m not going to do any more. – Anthony
Solyndra mon amour!
You mean the president lies?
Character matters.
Unprecedented ethics? True – the most corrupt regime in this countries history. Cut domestic oil demand by 50% True – at $3.50+ a gallon, who can afford to drive these days.
I’m counting the days.
Hilariously bad.
His record on ethics is unprecedented? His own supporters in the white house press corps HATE his administration because of their unprecedented restrictions on freedom of the press. What about all his promises to roll back executive powers which he has done nothing on?
I’ll say his record is unprecedented. He turned into Isildur, son of Elendil as soon as the ring of power was handed to him.
When science has been hijacked for political purposes, it is in the best interest of everyone to stop the hijacking. This means exposing the lies of the so called “scientists” and the politicians! Therefore it is perfectly acceptable, and actually a public responsibility, for any website or blog having the necessary expertise to challenge and refute the false claims of those so called “scientists” and politicians to do so.
Just re-read my earlier post, and it seems rather stronger than I intended.
There is, of course, a strong political element to AGW, and lying politicians do need to be brought to book (although as many have said it is actually quite difficult to find a politician anywhere on the planet who doesn’t lie through their teeth).
My concern was simply that partisan mud slinging is best avoided. I don’t think David’s post crosses that line, highlighting as it does the obvious shortcomings in the truth department in this particular aspect of this particular campaign.
Anyway dear colonialists, we can only wish you good luck in November. Right now it seems to me that the extra box on the ballot paper that I would like to see all over the world should be made available; the one that says ‘None of the above’.
I’ll leave you with this thought from the late Douglas Adams: “Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”
I think world events will soon simplify politics, as the world becomes increasingly reactive.
On Monday, IMF chief Christine Lagarde warned the global economy could fall into an economic spiral reminiscent of the 1930s unless action was taken on the eurozone crisis.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16699807
We have been running fast to stay in front of a ravenous bear. Running from a bear is most often wrong. Sooner or later the bear must be confronted. GK
There is political science! The subject is undoubtedly one of, if not the most puzzling thing in our lives the world over. There is nothing to apologize about. This is one most important things people need to learn more about from a good source. I’m confident that the intelligent minds here do a better job of working out the truth than most purely political media outlets.
tomjtx
January 24, 2012 at 2:59 am
This site is veering offtrack, IMHO. Please stick to science and leave the political bashing to others.
###
Says the Marxist.
Great post “evil” David Middleton. Who would have thought the process of exploration to discovery and finally to production in the oil industry could be squeezed into 2 short “Obama” years. Guess he deserves a second term just for slowing down time.
David Middleton says:
January 24, 2012 at 6:29 am
To those who object to the political aspect of this post… My deepest apologies. The last thing I want to do is to degrade the best science blog in the known universe.
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Mr Middleton, No one was offended that didn’t choose to be offended.
Your post is most important as surely our energy output will grind to a halt if Obama is re-elected.
I’m glad that you have the “hobby” that you do !!!
Climategate I and II have shown that “Climate Science” is 100% politics now
I think this deserves a political Cartoon by Josh!
I envisage the Cruise Ship U.S.A Economy sailing close to an island of Eco-Activists. At the helm, B.O. stands proudly waving to the unbridled applause of the Environmentalists on the Island. Meanwhile there are two big hungry economic sharks circling in the water; Asia and India.
“What we need are more careful commenters that don’t expect moderators to clean up their spelling errors and formatting messes. Just this morning I’ve cleaned up several requests like yours, and I’m not going to do any more. – Anthony”
Good on ‘ya Anthony. 🙂 You’re not anybody’s nanny, or English teacher, and I appreciate that. 🙂