Pelosi and the Big Wind Boone-doggle

House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi recently

called congressional Republicans who want up-or-down
drilling votes "handmaidens
of the oil companies." Let`s call Pelosi what
she is: House girl of the Big Wind boondogglers.

Though she seemingly backtracked on labeling drilling
a "hoax" this week, Pelosi refuses to consider
GOP energy proposals that don`t include massive
government subsidies for so-called eco-alternatives that
have never panned out.

Which brings us to Madame Speaker`s 2007 financial
disclosure form. Schedule III lists "Assets and
`Unearned Income`" of between $100,001-$250,000 from
Clean Energy Fuels Corp.—Public
Common Stock. Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (CLNE) is a
natural gas provider founded by T. Boone Pickens. Yep,
that T. Boone Pickens—former

oilman turned
wind-power evangelist whose ads touting a national
wind campaign are now as ubiquitous as Viagra promos.

Pickens and Pelosi share the same talking points
downplaying the need to drill and open up more access to
American oil. Instead, the Pickens pie-in-the-sky plan
proposes to replace natural gas with wind power in power
generation and theoretically free up natural gas for
America`s transportation needs.

All well and good in la-la land, but let`s be real
about the limitations and costs of wind power. Past and
ongoing experience demonstrates the unreliability of
wind and the miserably low operating capacity of wind
power facilities here and around the world. Depending on
wind requires supplemental fossil fuel plants as backup
to be turned on and off to compensate for wind power
supply shortfalls—nullifying any reductions in carbon
dioxide emissions, which are minuscule, according to the
National Academy of Sciences.

Not to mention the thousands of sliced-up birds and
other wildlife that have become wind power casualties—a
problem scientists say would be solved by "repowering"
old turbines at a cost of untold billions.

Fittingly, the environmental mascot of the Democratic
National Convention—the showcase of their alternative
energy approach—is an eastern Colorado wind turbine
propped up with Democratic carbon-credit funds that has
never produced any substantial energy because of its
chronic equipment malfunctions.

But I digress.

Naturally, the Pickens Big Wind plan is proudly
endorsed by Do-Nothing Pelosi`s friends at the
obstructionist Sierra Club. Through another company,
Mesa Power, Pickens has committed upward of $12 billion
in wind farms on the Texas panhandle. CLNE and Mesa
Power are separate entities, but what benefits one piece
of the Pickens puzzle benefits them all. The wind
venture, as Pickens himself acknowledges, depends on
permanent federal subsidies.

Pickens is banking on `em. And Pelosi is banking on
him.

As reported on

dontgomovement.com , Speaker Pelosi bought between
$50,000 and $100,000 worth of stock in Pickens` CLNE
Corp. in May 2007 on the day of the initial public
offering:

"She, and other
investors, stand to gain a substantial return on their
investment if gasoline prices stay high, and municipal,
state and even the Federal governments start using
natural gas as their primary fuel source. If gasoline
prices fall? Alternative fuels and the cost to convert
fleets over to them become less and less attractive."

CLNE also happens to be the sponsor of

Proposition 10, a ballot initiative in Pelosi`s home
state of California to dole out a combined $10 billion
in state and federal funds for renewable energy
incentives—namely, natural gas and wind.

Follow the money. Or, to put it in economist`s terms
as energy analyst

Kenneth Medlock III did in

an interview with The Dallas Morning News about
the Pickens multibillion dollar wind farm investment:
"A lot of what he`s trying to do is add value to a
stranded asset … he`s obviously got millions of dollars
on the line."

And so, potentially, does the Democratic Speaker of
the House—all the while wagging her finger at the
financial motivation of others.

COPYRIGHT

CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.

Michelle Malkin [email
her] is author of

Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists,
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