Our Stupid Energy Policy Is Killing Us

We are a ridiculously unrealistic country when it comes to energy. First, the focus: Even after all of the things that Tyson (TSN - commentary - Cramer's Take) and General Mills (GIS - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Heinz (HNZ - commentary - Cramer's Take) and ConAgra (CAG - commentary - Cramer's Take) have said about 30% of the corn being diverted to make 3% of the gasoline, the ethanol lobby remains supreme and no one in power is doing a thing.

Meanwhile, we make nothing but trouble for the real hopes to the issue: natural gas, nuclear, and now clean coal.

Nuclear is a local issue unless the government wants to build plants. It will never happen. Our country does not have the stomach for the fuel. I heard Obama trash it this weekend, and I knew we were goners, because he is spouting exactly what is needed to get elected. McCain's more comfortable with it, but he is in the same camp as all the nuke bulls -- "We should approve it faster." As if there is a "we" out there. There isn't. There is a big cost issue, no place to put the waste because we refuse simply to adopt the French vitreous solution, and we don't offer any guarantees to anyone to do it. DEAD, DEAD, DEAD.

Natural gas? Anyone who listened to the Devon (DVN - commentary - Cramer's Take), Apache (APA - commentary - Cramer's Take), Anadarko (APC - commentary - Cramer's Take) calls or the El Paso (EP - commentary - Cramer's Take) call this morning knows that natural gas is in plentiful supply, and we should be switching to encourage natural gas plants to be built right now and for clean autos to use natural gas. Nah, it's an out-of-favor fuel still viewed as being unreliable and now viewed as expensive, for heaven's sake. It is historically so much cheaper than oil, it is amazing.

Now it's coal that's an issue. The blip that caused Foster Wheeler (FWLT - commentary - Cramer's Take) to go down yesterday was deeply linked to management saying that the clean coal plants that are on the agenda could be hurt by a holdup in coal environmental laws and municipal issues involving financings. This is really amazing. The last hope to the energy crisis is clean coal, and the best solution isn't even being built because the politicians can't agree on coal and because the muni market's been crushed by the credit crisis!

Sure, I believe that solar and wind can be big, and I reiterate that I think the world of First Solar (FSLR - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Quanta (PWR - commentary - Cramer's Take), and Trinity (TRN - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Otter Tail (OTTR - commentary - Cramer's Take) and now Broadwind (BWEN - commentary - Cramer's Take) (coming down, getting ready to buy??) and Owens Corning (OC - commentary - Cramer's Take).

But the bad news on clean coal, the lack of encouragement from the government for drilling and supporting natural gas (the coasts are full of the stuff) and the endless belief in the most unrealistic clean fuel imaginable -- corn-based ethanol (I believe in sugar-based) -- makes us a worldwide laughingstock. We have so much natural gas in the Rockies and Wyoming, but it is thwarted by environmentalists endlessly. I am a true environmentalist and have worked hard and given a lot of land to land preservation. Yet I cannot stomach the endless defenses of animal habitats that have to be suspended for now until we fix this situation. And ANWR? I have fought this one forever, but I now concede it can't be fought anymore. It has to be drilled. We have to get this stuff moving right now.

We are truly pathetic about energy. No help for clean coal, no support for natural gas. Nothing. We are our own worst enemy.

Random musings: Colfax is new tech, that's the kind of stock I like, the new ipo CFX. ... I can't believe how good El Paso is. Much higher. Going much higher. ... Wal-Mart (WMT - commentary - Cramer's Take) remains a great holding until $60. ... I still think Alcoa (AA - commentary - Cramer's Take) will not be public this time next year (a long-standing prediction, though). ... NYSE Euronext (NYX - commentary - Cramer's Take) had a great futures quarter and the Financial Times article should be read from this morning. ... Level Three (LVLT - commentary - Cramer's Take) keeps sneaking up. That was the first good quarter. Sorry, but after that track record, I need another before I can get behind it. ... BHP (BHP - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Freeport-McMoRan (FCX - commentary - Cramer's Take) have been great tells of the action of late, as had been US Steel (X - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Deere (DE - commentary - Cramer's Take). ... Caterpillar's (CAT - commentary - Cramer's Take) too low and can still be bought. ... Altria (MO - commentary - Cramer's Take) is finally breaking out of its stupid slump. No options pressure there yet for next week. I think clear run to $22.50. Philip Morris International (PM - commentary - Cramer's Take) is worth at least $55 on dollar alone!

At the time of publication, Cramer was long Altria, Foster Wheeler, Philip Morris International and El Paso.

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