Two energy sources with Oklahoman subsidies battle each other
May 23, 2016 7:56 AM Subscribe
Oil blames wind for Oklahoma's budget woes This story does a good job digging into the specifics of oil's access to powerful people in Oklahoma, the budget troubles there and the larger political fight around renewables on the Great Plains.
Why don't the moron oil companies just start expanding into renewables? Even having to ask the question baffles me.
Because that requires R&D, people, investment, innovation, new competitors. Companies don't want to compete. They want to extract rent.
posted by Talez at 8:45 AM on May 23, 2016 [16 favorites]
Because that requires R&D, people, investment, innovation, new competitors. Companies don't want to compete. They want to extract rent.
posted by Talez at 8:45 AM on May 23, 2016 [16 favorites]
Those advertisements are everywhere. They drive me crazy every time I see them.
posted by Quonab at 9:31 AM on May 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Quonab at 9:31 AM on May 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
In 2014, in the era of $100-a-barrel oil, the legislature cut production taxes on new wells from 7 percent to 2 percent, after three oil companies, including Hamm’s, threatened to haul up their rigs and drill elsewhere.
I've never understood why people (meaning politicians) who claim to believe in economics and free enterprise don't recognize this as a transparent ruse. If there's a penny to be made, someone will come in and make it. It doesn't matter who it is. Oil is fungible but so are capitalists.
Shit, they could avoid the problem altogether by nationalizing the industry, but I'll expect the second coming before that happens.
posted by klanawa at 9:38 AM on May 23, 2016 [4 favorites]
I've never understood why people (meaning politicians) who claim to believe in economics and free enterprise don't recognize this as a transparent ruse. If there's a penny to be made, someone will come in and make it. It doesn't matter who it is. Oil is fungible but so are capitalists.
Shit, they could avoid the problem altogether by nationalizing the industry, but I'll expect the second coming before that happens.
posted by klanawa at 9:38 AM on May 23, 2016 [4 favorites]
Why don't the moron oil companies just start expanding into renewables? Even having to ask the question baffles me.
I think this is probably true for the much larger companies, as I know that BP does have a wind power division (or at least did - my dad interviewed for a position there). My dad's career kind of tracks the evolution of energy in the U.S. He grew up in Virginia coal company and as a summer job during high school, would climb into box cars with a sledge hammer to pound out the coal that wouldn't simply fall out of the car after delivery. After a detour into law, he went to work for a coal company, but then moved into cogeneration - I think at that point which used natural gas - and then entirely into natural gas up until Enron destroyed all the capital investment for his company. He then found himself working for a wind power company, which develops and sells wind plants for the likes of a variety of buyers, including IKEA. I think he's very happy working in renewable energy and a fair amount of his labor is involved in establishing the contracts with land owners and communities that result in the payments. In one Texas town, part of the contract required the construction of a community center, even.
The old utilities and energy developers, though, are in a bit of a death spiral, at least with the world that they knew existed for the past seventy decades or longer. Rather than accept the fact that the world as it is now is moving away from the traditional models, they are doing their darnest to impede and stop the inevitable. It's like utilities convincing cities or states to ban solar panels for homes, but ultimately, it's going to happen. These older companies will fall to the wayside, lame for choosing to resist rather than embrace the future.
posted by Atreides at 10:55 AM on May 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
I think this is probably true for the much larger companies, as I know that BP does have a wind power division (or at least did - my dad interviewed for a position there). My dad's career kind of tracks the evolution of energy in the U.S. He grew up in Virginia coal company and as a summer job during high school, would climb into box cars with a sledge hammer to pound out the coal that wouldn't simply fall out of the car after delivery. After a detour into law, he went to work for a coal company, but then moved into cogeneration - I think at that point which used natural gas - and then entirely into natural gas up until Enron destroyed all the capital investment for his company. He then found himself working for a wind power company, which develops and sells wind plants for the likes of a variety of buyers, including IKEA. I think he's very happy working in renewable energy and a fair amount of his labor is involved in establishing the contracts with land owners and communities that result in the payments. In one Texas town, part of the contract required the construction of a community center, even.
The old utilities and energy developers, though, are in a bit of a death spiral, at least with the world that they knew existed for the past seventy decades or longer. Rather than accept the fact that the world as it is now is moving away from the traditional models, they are doing their darnest to impede and stop the inevitable. It's like utilities convincing cities or states to ban solar panels for homes, but ultimately, it's going to happen. These older companies will fall to the wayside, lame for choosing to resist rather than embrace the future.
posted by Atreides at 10:55 AM on May 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
Why don't the moron oil companies just start expanding into renewables?
Some do. The leading example around Oklahoma is T. Boone Pickens, who finds the time to fight for wind power in the middle of his other activities, such as drowning OSU Athletics in a tub of money, or donating to political causes like the Swift Vets for Truth. In other words, be careful what you wish for.
posted by suckerpunch at 11:21 AM on May 23, 2016
Some do. The leading example around Oklahoma is T. Boone Pickens, who finds the time to fight for wind power in the middle of his other activities, such as drowning OSU Athletics in a tub of money, or donating to political causes like the Swift Vets for Truth. In other words, be careful what you wish for.
posted by suckerpunch at 11:21 AM on May 23, 2016
Wasn't T. Boone Pickens' wind thing mainly about getting water rights for the aquifer under the wind generation farms? I.e., he was/is going to get the real money by pumping the Ogallala dry.
posted by tavella at 11:35 AM on May 23, 2016
posted by tavella at 11:35 AM on May 23, 2016
I love how the GOP and big oil obsess about green energy "subsidies". Like Exxon doesn't pay a penny of taxes on the billions of dollars they declare as profits each quarter?
posted by Bee'sWing at 12:52 PM on May 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Bee'sWing at 12:52 PM on May 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
There is a big pushback in Oklahoma from landowners against wind power. Some landowners are installing turf runways, then registering them as private airstrips with the FAA to keep wind farms away.
posted by Dr. Zira at 6:54 PM on May 23, 2016
posted by Dr. Zira at 6:54 PM on May 23, 2016
It'll be interesting to see whether the guy with the oil leases changes his mind if the oil lease expires.
posted by Mitheral at 10:06 PM on May 23, 2016
posted by Mitheral at 10:06 PM on May 23, 2016
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posted by Devils Rancher at 8:26 AM on May 23, 2016 [4 favorites]