Blythe Masters, the Queen Bee of carbon tax.
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John's weekly update on graft, corruption and waste in the energy sector.
Carbon Markets In Death Spiral As Deutsche Bank Quits
REPORT - Deutsche Bank Quits Carbon Trading
Deutsche Bank is understood to have pulled the plug on its carbon
trading desk, but will continue to operate in the European power and gas
markets. The bank is believed to be in the process of winding down its
emissions trading operations, the bulk of which operates in London.
Answering a question about the business at a press conference at the
German bank’s results announcement, Stephan Leithner, board member for
compliance, said: “We stopped emissions trading, and we have
discontinued it.” Deutsche Bank’s press office refused to comment
further on his statement, but it is understood that the desk in London
is being wound down.
REPORT - Barclays, Deutsche Bank Lose Top Carbon Analysts
LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters Point Carbon) – Investment banks Barclays and
Deutsche Bank have parted ways with their leading carbon analysts,
sources at both firms told Reuters Point Carbon on Wednesday, as banks
continue to pare back activity in the battered emissions trading market.
BUSTED: Deutsche Bank Raided In Carbon Tax Fraud
Two board members at Deutsche Bank,
including the CEO, have been drawn into a police investigation into tax evasion related to the group’s carbon trading business.
Jürgen Fitschen, co-chief executive, and Stefan Krause, a director,
are involved in the investigation that on Wednesday saw hundreds of
police and tax officials raid the bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt, as
well as private addresses in Berlin, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt.
The investigation is centred on 25 of the bank’s staff, according to
German prosecutors, and involves allegations of tax evasion, money
laundering and obstruction of justice linked to carbon trading
certificates.
About 500 police and tax officials were involved in the raids and
five staff members were arrested as part of the carbon trading
investigation.
World Bank To Launch Carbon Fund In Spring
The World Bank aims to launch a new carbon fund this spring after it
was delayed almost a year because falling carbon prices made it harder
to raise cash, a senior official at the bank told Reuters Point Carbon.
Power Chief: Carbon Markets Face Junk Bond Future
Last week, MEP’s on the European parliament’s industry (ITRE)
committee rejected a proposal to firm up carbon prices by withholding –
or ‘
backloading’ –
900 million EU allowances from the 2020 auctioning period. Analysts
expect a narrow majority for action in key votes on the parliament’s
environment committee on 19 February and, crucially, in a plenary later
this Spring.
But Hans ten Berge, secretary-general of Eurelectric, warned that “if
we choose the strategy of a lost decade then we are going for a
collapse of the carbon market and it will be impossible to achieve the
2050 decarbonisation targets.”
Carbon prices, which are supposed to entice low-carbon investments,
plunged to a record low of
just €2.81 per tonne after the ITRE committee vote, down from a peak of
€32 in April 2006. But ten Berge said that the price could yet fall
further. “Just ask investors what the value is of a bond that you would
not be able to cash before 2025,” he said. “I think that would be
called a junk bond.”
Kerry Regrets Climate Failures As Senator, To Push Agenda At State Dept
Kerry, a longtime advocate of curbing greenhouse gas emissions, has
vowed to make climate change and green energy a focus at Foggy Bottom, and the State Department’s work on the topics should give him
plenty of chances.
Among Solar Stocks - Who Has The Liquidity To Last? (Good Charts)
With solar power component prices forecasted to decrease again this
year due to continued overcapacity, investors need to assess which of
the world’s largest photovoltaic (PV) suppliers have the liquidity to
sustain additional revenue and earnings shortfalls. With the demand
cycle unlikely to rebalance until 2015, even size won’t save some
manufacturers from being forced out of the solar market.
Energy Secretary Chu To Step Down
Chu was also forced to walk back comments he made several years ago, when
he noted that
"we have to figure out a way to boost the price of gasoline to the
levels in Europe." With the average price of gas doubling over Obama's
first term, Chu's remarks were seized on by Republicans.
Obama has not yet named a successor for Chu. The confirmation
process, however, should provide Senators with a vehicle to examine the
Department's loan and grant programs for renewable energy. It is an
opportunity to ensure that better safeguards are in place to protect
taxpayer money.
GOP Senator Slams Chu Over Solyndra
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa
(R-Calif.) is bashing Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s record in the wake
of
Chu’s announcement Friday that
he’s stepping down. Issa, who has probed the Energy Department green
technology loan program that backed the ill-fated solar company
Solyndra, cleared his throat with praise for Chu before attacking him in
a Friday statement.
“While I wish Secretary Chu well in his future endeavors and respect
his contributions to his country as a scientist, the direction the
Department of Energy has taken under his leadership has been
disconcerting,” Issa said.
“While many will remember Secretary Chu for his comments about the
need to raise gas prices on American consumers and the high grades he
publicly bestowed on himself, I found taxpayer losses on projects like
Solyndra and the department’s deeply misguided effort to use taxpayer
dollars as an investment bank for unproven technologies to be the most
problematic aspects of his legacy,” he said.
Check out these clips of the fire at First Wind in Hawaii.
UPDATE - Fire At Hawaii Wind Farm Blamed On Fire Department Response
Firefighters responded to the blaze in 14 minutes, but were told by a
representative of First Wind that based on two earlier fires, the
flames were likely to die down on their own. Instead, the fire burned
for more than seven hours and completely destroyed the warehouse,
knocking the 30-megawatt wind farm offline.
Gotcher testified a surveillance camera videotaped the fire, and as a
result, 30 possible causes had been narrowed to just two – a battery
ground fault in the warehouse or some type of foreign object left in the
aisle near the battery rack system. Of the 14 energy storage systems
Xtreme Power has deployed nationwide, only the Kahuku wind farm has
experienced problems with fire, in April and May of 2011, and the fire
earlier this year.
DOJ Must Explain SELECTIVE Targeting Of Energy Industry Over Bird Deaths
Sens. David Vitter (R-La.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) asked U.S.
Attorney General![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sxG2NuN6qp68PLW5-UTgr6zbwNxvX_YGJNRT45HxPkBgtRNiexjqmxnNdNU2-VzHaofpe-PKYKgHLXqo1cYfIRmflS4gC1FbL8RVgpfVgCoK92LuHO=s0-d)
Eric Holder why he is “targeting” oil and gas companies by prosecuting
them for the unintentional death of birds. The senators said on the
Senate floor Wednesday that they
sent Holder a letter asking
him why he is prosecuting oil and gas companies for violating the
Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) by killing birds, yet he is not going
after wind energy companies.
“This is not even handed enforcement of the law,” Vitter said. “What that is, is targeting one type of energy producer.”
First Wind Takes Steps To Protect Birds
First Wind officials said Tuesday that they have started work on a
program to preserve the population of threatened or endangered Hawaiian
seabirds in West Maui, several miles from the company’s Kaheawa Wind
project. First WInd is constructing two fenced enclosures about 10
miles west of Wailuku to protect the Hawaiian petral, which is federally
endangered, and the threatened Newell’s shearwater. The enclosures,
which will encompass four to five acres, will have features to keep
predators such as rats and mongoose out.
First Wind CEO on learning from mistakes, plays the sympathy card
MY younger sister, Maureen, was born with cerebral palsy. That shaped
my view of the world, as I saw the challenges that she and my parents
had to deal with. My sister went to special schools for years. She
graduated from college and is doing well, but it made me appreciate all
she had to go through and all I had. I look at people with disabilities
personally.
Video: First Wind CEO boasts about getting expedited stimulus money.
Bill Barrett Corp Names Jim Mogg Chairman
Note: Mogg is also chaiman of First Wind and sits on many other boards
DENVER, January 7, 2013 – Bill Barrett Corporation (NYSE: BBG)
announced today that its Board of Directors has appointed R. Scot
Woodall, Chief Operating Officer, as interim Chief Executive Officer
following Fred Barrett’s decision to step down as Chairman of the Board,
Chief Executive Officer, President and a director of the Company,
effective immediately. Jim W. Mogg, lead independent director, has been
elected as non-executive Chairman of the Board, effectively immediately.
Chesapeake CEO Resigns After Scrutiny On Personal Loans
Aubrey McClendon’s agreement to resign effective April 1 culminated a
shareholder revolt by Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management
Inc.’s O. Mason Hawkins that earlier had cost the CEO the chairmanship
he’d held for more than two decades. McClendon also relinquished his
annual bonus and saw executive perks curtailed amid federal
investigations of a portfolio of personal loans that topped $840
million.
Here Is What The Analyst Who Uncovered Enron Thinks Of Chesapeake
Clever traders at Enron and El Paso Energy created many financing
tricks that in the years since have become part of the financing trade:
derivatives, synthetic credit default swaps, deals financed with little
or no equity. “Enron was the past master, but the game just
resurfaced,” says Olson, referring to wild west deal making that
inflated the
housing bubble![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sxG2NuN6qp68PLW5-UTgr6zbwNxvX_YGJNRT45HxPkBgtRNiexjqmxnNdNU2-VzHaofpe-PKYKgHLXqo1cYfIRmflS4gC1FbL8RVgpfVgCoK92LuHO=s0-d)
and led to the collapse of Lehman Bros. “They took it to a $3 trillion exposure.”
That makes him a little concerned about Chesapeake, which has long
trumpeted its active trading and hedging strategies. “You don’t know
what they have. I know that I don’t know.” “Chesapeake has valuable
assets, but they have a financial dynamic that only works in the fourth
dimension: they need $12 billion when their cash flow is just $2
billion.”
Chesapeake has outspent its cash flow every year for the past decade —
forging ahead with acquisitions of land and drilling more wells than
any operator — convinced that it will be able to find others to finance
its growth. Over the years McClendon has convinced the likes of Total,
Statoil, Cnooc, BHP Billiton Petroleum, BP, ExxonMobil and more to keep
his ship afloat by buying Chesapeake assets. But today with natural gas
prices so low, it has become a buyer’s market. And all the buyers know
that with Chesapeake on the ropes they ought to be able to extract a
good price.
Declassified: Chesapeake Wants Relief From Oklahoma Law It Helped Write
Just two years ago, Chesapeake Energy helped write a state law
mandating staggered terms for the board members of large publicly traded
Oklahoma companies. This week, the Oklahoma City-based natural gas
giant said it would seek “
relief”
from the very same law, which was designed to help prevent what’s
essentially happening now at Chesapeake: a takeover of its corporate
board.
The law requires companies incorporated in Oklahoma to have what’s
known as a “classified” board structure. That means board members are
divided into classes with staggered elections so that only one-third of
the members face a vote of shareholders each year. Such classified
structures make companies less vulnerable to board takeovers, a threat
Chesapeake now faces.
After weeks of
headlines questioning the
company’s entangled financial relationship with its CEO Aubrey
McClendon, Chesapeake this week bowed to the demands of its two largest
shareholders, which now include billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn.
The activist investor and Southeastern Asset Management will name four
new Chesapeake board members, the company
said Monday.
Chesapeake On Shaky Ground With W Va. Land Mortgages
By mortgaging properties that appear to be some of his company's
least desirable assets, Mr. McClendon can raise money off holdings that
might not otherwise be profitable. And should he default on the loans,
he would lose a stake in property that wasn't his company's best bet
anyway.
The arrangement protects Mr. McClendon from bigger personal losses
while exposing the company's shareholders to the kind of risky financial
deals that have drawn scrutiny and caused the stock price to plummet in
recent weeks.
Meanwhile, the private equity firms lending the money for the
mortgages haven't specified what research went into the properties, and
shareholders have been told little about the specific pieces of farmland
that are being used by Mr. McClendon to raise money on the promise of
future drilling.
Everything You Need To Know About Chesapeake
If you’ve been hearing a lot about Chesapeake Energy Corporation and
its CEO Aubrey McClendon as of late, you might have some questions. What
is this company? Who is McClendon and what’s the deal with his wine and
antique map collection? To tackle some of those questions and more,
StateImpact reporters in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas teamed up to
create a reading guide to Chesapeake Energy’s recent financial woes.
How Fracking Dumb Do They Think We Are
While the urban media cover the staged protests and relay the protesters’ talking points, here’s a look behind the curtain.
This link describes how the United Arab Emirates government provided funding so the movie Promised Land could be made.
Here’s one from
Vivian Krause documenting Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s “partnership
income” from competing pipeline ventures in the U.S., flowed through to
efforts by West Coast Environmental Law and Pembina Foundation to oppose
the Enbridge project.
And here’s one where
the executive director of the Sierra Club admits to accepting $26
million from Chesapeake Energy, one of the U.S.’s largest gas companies,
to run a campaign against coal. Michael Brune gamely argues that this
was before Sierra discovered the evils of fracking, and tries to make it
sound like they refused the dirty gas money, but you’ll notice they
didn’t give any of it back.
Due to the blackout at the superbowl, I present this...
The Centre for Industrial Progress plans to film impromptu interviews
with Bill McKibben et al during The Blackout Rally on February 17, 2013
in Washington DC.
The Sierra Club, 350.org, and many other self-proclaimed environmentalist groups are planning the
forward on climate rally.
To assess whether this is a good thing, you need know only two facts.
- In all of human history, there have been only three cheap,
plentiful, reliable sources of energy: fossil fuel energy, nuclear
energy, and hydroelectric energy. (Solar and wind have always been
radically inferior as they have always been expensive and unreliable.)
- The leading “forward on climate” groups seek to destroy not only
vital fossil fuel energy, but also nuclear and hydroelectric energy,
which emit no CO2.
Conclusion: This rally has nothing to do with climate, though I know
many of its participants believe it does. It is about opposing any form
of practical energy for any reason. It is a Blackout Rally. And
today’s so-called environmentalist movement is a Blackout Movement.
NOTE: The Rockefeller Fund finances 350.org
Kinder Morgan CEO Stepping Down
During Kinder Morgan Inc.'s fourth quarter earnings call on Wednesday
afternoon, President C. Park Shaper told investors he would be stepping
down at the end of March. Steve Kean, currently executive vice
president and COO, will become president and COO of the company,
effective March 31.
Shaper will continue to serve on the Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) board
of directors, but he is resigning from the boards of directors of Kinder
Morgan Management LLC, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP and El Paso
Pipeline Partners LP, all affiliated companies.
Oneok To Buy Kinder Morgan Pipelines (2007)
Oneok Partners LP agreed to buy an interstate pipeline system from Houston‐based Kinder Morgan
Oneok Shuffles Top Management
ONEOK and ONEOK Partners have generated solid earnings and announced
growth projects in the past year, but have also found themselves snared
in several thorny issues lately. The planned Bakken Crude Express
Pipeline, ONEOK's supposed entry into oil transport from the Bakken
Shale of North Dakota and Montana, was dropped last month due to a lack
of producer commitments.
Trading firm Barcas LLC, meanwhile, sued ONEOK Partners in federal
court, alleging fraud and breach of contract over efforts to secure
commitments on the Bakken Crude Express. Houston-based Barcas accused
the Tulsa leadership of trying to reap the benefits of the Bakken's
financial windfall without compensating the trading firm for its efforts
on ONEOK's behalf.
Norton was one of the executives singled out in the Barcas complaint.
He was quoted as telling the Houston company it was excluded because
one producer, Tulsa-based Samson Resource Co., would not work with
Barcas leader Kevin Foxx. Foxx was a central figure in the financial
collapse and bankruptcy of SemGroup LP four years ago.
Prized Phosphate Drives Controversial Investments In Africa (Must Read)
Last year, the Norwegian government, which has the world's largest
sovereign wealth fund, divested PotashCorp because of its purchase of
Western Saharan phosphate. Several European banks have done the same.
And the European Union last year ended a fishing agreement with Morocco,
which included Western Sahara waters, because of concerns that it
violated international law.
Other resources are still being exploited. Sand is exported to the
nearby Canary Islands, owned by Spain, to bolster beaches there. Several
international companies are exploring for oil in Western Sahara or off
its shores. Activists say the Austin, Tex.-based company Crystal
Mountain Sel Sahara is producing salt in Western Sahara. And several
European companies
as well as American company UPC Renewables
are developing wind farms in Western Sahara, with plans to export the
energy. Such investments go forward with little controversy, despite the
legal gray area.
Last Week's Green Corruption Stories...
Photos by
William Banzai7...
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