Heating Oil Weekly Roundup: the Climate Bill, the Future of Energy, and Iraqi TV

Posted by Michael Hoven on October 30, 2009 at 2:45 pm

(image: edsteinink.com)

The climate bill underwent three days of debate in the Senate, and all political and environmental analysts are attempting to handicap its chances. At The New Republic, Bradford Plumer assesses the possible Republican gambit of boycotting the “markup session,” holding up the bill before it comes out of committee. For Politico’s Lisa Lerer, Max Baucus—a Democrat with reservations about the bill—is the bellwether of the Senate.

Robert Rapier talks with an algae CEO, who sees “no future” for algal fuels; the money in algae farming isn’t in biofuel but in growing algae for nutritional supplements. Rapier keeps the CEO’s name and company anonymous, which was probably a good idea since the CEO did not pull any punches.

For a more optimistic vision of the future, look to Long Island. The town of Hempstead has the first hydrogen fueling station on the island, and hopes it serves as a demonstration of the utility and safety of the alternative fuel.

Saudi Aramco’s turn away from WTI isn’t the rupture that some consider it, says Morgan Downey at the blog Scarce Whales. Rather than taking away a futures contract from NYMEX, he says, the move could lead NYMEX to establish another oil futures contract—based on the oil that Saudi Aramco uses as a benchmark—in addition to its current one.

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert may do TV satire about Iraq, but what about satire on TV in Iraq? According to Stephen Armstrong in the Guardian, satire is all over Iraq’s 47 TV channels, helping Iraqis laugh through their troubles. One of the top shows is Who Wants to Win the Oil?, in which five comedians compete to win a five-liter barrel of oil.