Green Joblessness: Hundreds of Energy Projects Stalled Indefinitely in Regulatory Limbo

True, the situation in the Middle East is troubling, especially when it comes to oil prices. Thankfully, all of those Green Energy Projects™ promised by the Obama Democrats should pick up the slack.

The Chamber of Commerce released a report Thursday that found 351 energy projects around the country were in regulatory limbo last year because of regulations, environmental protests, or lawsuits... None of them include drilling for oil or gas and remarkably, almost half of the delayed projects involved renewable energy.

"There are hundreds of laws with thousands of provisions, all of which can stop a project," said William Kovacs of the Chamber’s Environment, Technology & Regulatory Affairs Division... [and the] delays are costing the economy dearly... the stalled projects cost the economy $1.1 trillion in economic activity last year and would have provided 1.9 million jobs in each year of construction.

The report said that once constructed, the projects would have supplied some 791,000 jobs per year over 20 years and added $3.4 trillion to the GDP, and that’s without taking into account lower energy prices that could result from the completed projects.

Kovacs said the purpose of the report is to urge a more rational permitting process, such as a 180 day statute of limitation for protests similar to the process used in federal determinations on highway projects.

...A partial list from the report shows the stalled or delayed proposals included 22 nuclear projects, 1 nuclear disposal site, 21 transmission projects, 38 gas and platform projects and 111 coal projects... [and] renewable energy isn’t exempt from the slowdowns either. Included are 140 renewable energy projects, notably 89 wind, four wave, 10 solar, seven hydropower, 29 ethanol/biomass and one geothermal project.

In fact, Pociask, the study’s author, said that of the projects studied, 45 percent were renewable energy projects... “We would think that if we want cleaner energy, the process should be working for it,” Pociask said. “What we demonstrate in the study is that it is broken for everyone."

Gallup reports that the average American consumer believes gas prices will soon rise to $4.36 a gallon.

That could be a best-case scenario now that we're seeing "the Obama Doctrine" (i.e., voting present) spread to Saudi Arabia.


Hat tip: D&S. Linked by: Weasel Zippers. Thanks!