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Bill the climate models missed the predicted warming in the last decade significantly. They predicted much more than we actually had.

There are several numbers that are necessarily plugged into those models to calibrate them to past CO2 levels and global temperatures.

If the study in the BBC article I linked to above is to be believed that covers one of the major mysteries in why the CO2 warming models were off so much in the last decade. There are other "assumed" numbers in the models too.

Last I heard China was putting one coal fired plant a week online. China is the land of solar panel manufacturing. That indicates how worried they are about global warming and how much they are willing to sacrifice to stop it. And they have to import our coal. But it comes out even because they swap us solar panels for it.

Bobwhite have been on a decline for several decades. But fracking has only been around for ten years. Perhaps the sage grouse decline and fracking are not connected.

To clarify what I meant about elections, I'd say that neither Republicans nor Democrats at the national level have the courage or the clout to deal effectively with environmental damage. The worst culprit is coal. The Koch brothers mine and sell it, and Warren Buffet hauls it away on his rail cars. West Virginia is the future for the rest of coal- mining country. What we can clearly see anywhere we choose to look is that somebody is perfectly willing to do anything to make big bucks. Big bucks speak more loudly than we do. Jimmy Carter was ridiculed for asking the country to face up to it's energy appetite. No one since has had the gumption to face the facts.

Back to Bunkerville, note Conservative commentators are backing off support of Bundy as a disreputable citizen defying authority of government, railing against welfare while on a subsidized teat.

Not to say the issue was handled well. According to reports, he was behind a million dollars for subsidized grazing; authorities had only to place a lien and let the law take its course.

Either way, it's no help for the in-ascendancy Tea Party, and another schism to be bridged to make its way to the White House.

And, this just in on MNBC, from cleaning floors to $450,000 annually with Tea Party:

"The Washington Post said over the weekend that Tea Party groups aren�t putting their money where their mouths are. �Out of the $37.5 million spent so far by the PACs of six major tea party organizations, less than $7 million has been devoted to directly helping candidates, according to the analysis, which was based on campaign finance data provided by the Sunlight Foundation.� So where is the money going? �Roughly half of the money � nearly $18 million � has gone to pay for fundraising and direct mail, largely provided by Washington-area firms. Meanwhile, tea party leaders and their family members have been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees, while their groups have doled out large sums for airfare, a retirement plan and even interior decorating.�

"The paper goes on to add that prominent Tea Party activist Jenny Beth Martin, who headed up Tea Party Patriots, had twin salaries putting her on track �to make more than $450,000 this year, a dramatic change in lifestyle for the tea party activist, who had filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and then cleaned homes for a period of time to bring in extra money.� As we�ve said before, the next six weeks are a make-or-break time for the Tea Party. Losing the key Senate primaries in May and June will show that the Tea Party is out of juice. And this Post story doesn�t help, either."

The article from the BBC is interesting, and I hope the study is on to something. Where I live we've had so many years of drought that thousands of square miles of lodgepole and ponderosa pine are dead or dying from bark beatle infestation. This past winter leaves a good snowpack for a change ; river flows are way up. Someone earlier mentioned population and that, of course, is the elephant in the room. If there weren't so many of us, none of these problems would seem insurmountable. PS This is the best- mannered thread we've seen for a while. It's a nice change. Civility makes lots of things possible for people who can't agree on every issue.

If it's some consolation the forests in Northern Arizona appear to be bouncing back after several years of severe drought and beetle problems.
Jim

I sure agree with that.

I guess if you bury your head in MSNBC you get the idea that the TEA is not a factor in the 2014 races,of course that not the case,here are just 7 states in the senate that show otherwise;

So, what impact will the Tea Party have in the mid-term elections? Well, the Tea Party Express plans to target 25 House races and 7 to 10 Senate races�primarily races with Democratic incumbents. �The false narrative continues to be written that the Tea Party is dead and that 2014 will not be like 2010,� the Tea Party Express has said, adding that �every month we see a strong example to the contrary.

SENATE

�ALASKA: Tea Party candidate Joe Miller is expected to be one of three contenders for the Republican nomination to challenge Mark Begich, first-term Democratic incumbent. Other Republican candidates include Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and Dan Sullivan, former head of the state�s natural resources department.

�LOUISIANA: Sen. Mary Landrieu is a vulnerable Democrat, not only because Louisiana is a red state but also because of Landrieu�s support of Obamacare. Her opponent, Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, vehemently opposes the law.

�ARKANSAS: While Mark Pryor is a Democrat hoping for a third term, Republicans are rallying around Tom Cotton, a young freshman congressman who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

�KENTUCKY: Many Republicans are frustrated with Sen. Mitch McConnell. The five-term senator is facing a primary challenge from Tea Party candidate Matt Bevin and, if he survives, an Election Day challenge from Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. Campaign ads were already in place over the airwaves�eight months ahead of the primary. Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio has given his support McConnell, but the Senate Conservatives Fund, an influential political action group, has recently announced that it will support Bevin.

�GEORGIA: Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss is retiring, which will leave the race for the Republican nomination wide open. The two top candidates are Reps. Phil Gingrey and Paul Broun and they face a primary with perhaps a half-dozen other candidates. As for the Democrats, Michelle Nunn, daughter of former Georgia senator Sam Nunn, has an unobstructed path to the Democratic nomination.

�SOUTH CAROLINA: One of the most high-profile races involves Tea Party candidate, Nancy Mace, the first female graduate of The Citadel, in an attempt to unseat Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. Graham is also facing a primary challenge from Christian conservative lawyer Richard Cash and from Libertarian-minded state Sen. Lee Bright.

�NORTH CAROLINA: First-term Sen. Kay Hagan won in 2008, running on the same ticket as President Obama, who won the state. In 2008, she beat Elizabeth Dole. However, in 2012 the Tar Heel State threw its support to Mitt Romney and Hagan is now under fire for supporting Obamacare. On the Republican side, the primary battle pits state House Speaker Thom Tillis against the Rev. Mark Harris.

With a stoke of the pen, good, bad or indifferent, G.Dubya mandated 10% ethanol in pump gas. That might arguably be the single most significant bite into petroleum based fuel consumption, ever. President Bush was not ridiculed for that, he was pc acceptably ridiculed for every thing.

Another mention problem was population size. Is there an answer, and who has it. Current philosophy, free prophylactics and abortions.

If we're considering public land access and hunting, among other things that touch every corner of life, I noticed a quick news tidbit this morning. Four out of the top five years for most added regulations on the country have been by this current fellow.

Sure maybe he bought his way in, but there's gotta be someone out there that actually went into a booth and punched the ballot. I don't think it can be brushed off as 'they all do it'. I already know the Bush was a big spender line, and the bash Regan lines, and the read my lips line, but I don't believe any past or perspective R has the fortitude to take and waste at this pace.

I wonder if there was a big sigh of relief when the belittle Romney campaign got traction. It must have been frightening to some that a successful businessman might have been influencing policy.

Steve,

all three examples you use are indeed state run oil companies that for the most part subsidise the sale of energy in their countries.We here in America are of course a capitalist free market country,that said there is a ban on export of crude oil-with small exceptions-a 100-200 thousand barrels per day that goes to Canada.Refined products are exported and the US has been fortunate enough to be a large exporter to the worlds markets.
There is a good case to allow for more crude exports -like corn,wheat and other commodities that we export)it would generate additional revenue/taxes.

What drives energy pricing is the same as other commodities,demand and in our time its world demand.The price here in those country for gas for instance also has the added costs of taxes and the 14 different blends for different states.Like many business its best to let the market decide and get the government out of the way.

Here is a good read for the opening up the export of crude sale in the US.

http://www.cfr.org/oil/case-allowing-us-crude-oil-exports/p31005

Exporting energy is good for the economy. Crude oil exports could generate upward of $15 billion a year in revenue by 2017 at today's prices, according to industry estimates. Those gains would be partially offset by displacing some refined product exports, however. Today's export restrictions run the risk of dampening U.S. crude oil production over time by forcing down prices at the wellhead in some parts of the country. Letting drillers reap extra profits from selling crude oil overseas, if the market dictates, would provide greater incentives for drilling, stimulating new supply. It would also encourage investment in oil and gas production in the United States rather than abroad. In oil-producing regions, more workers would be hired for oil exploration and production, as well as for local service industries. Greater policy certainty regarding exports would also catalyze the expansion of U.S. energy infrastructure.

Same with coal world demand is increasing and we should be mining and exporting using as much as we can,coal now used to provide the majority of electricity here and will be for many decades.

I wouldn't mind if they left the crude export ban in place. Cheap energy would give the manufacturing workers here a leg up on some of their overseas and Mexican competition.

My wife wants a new Buick Enclave. In my research on them one of the things I learned is that they are made in Mexico. A crude oil export ban would offset some of the job loss caused from the elimination of tariffs and import quotas. "Globalization" is the euphemism used to describe that travesty of a policy.

In regard to DaveK's chart the ironic thing is that much of China's coal is going to come from the US. That chart is from 2008. Since then Obama's EPA managed to classify CO2 as a pollutant. This practically outlaws any new coal plants and obsoletes many existing ones. Natural gas prices have plummeted so there should be a building boom in natural gas electric generating plants. I bet the projected 2025 USA coal consumption is about one fourth of what that 2008 chart shows.