I can't give you a good reason, but I did get a good weatherization loan for a commercial building from the state DOE in 1995.

"We're limited in our resources," said Anthony Buckley, who manages the Energy Department's tax credit approvals. "Having staff spend an inordinate amount of time, or having someone challenge us on separate and distinct when they came in to final, that could hamper our ability to process the other 2,000 applications."

Hell, even Reagan said, "Trust, but verify." -- I'd suggest that we need the U. S. Attorney to step in because the state A.G. is either on the take or totally incompetent. But we all no nothing will happen, no one will be indicted, know one will be fired. And the conveyor belt carrying taxpayer funds to the carpetbaggers will continue.

1) Someone has to pass out the money.

2) Keeps Cylvia from bugging John 24 hours a day.

"Some will rob you with a six-gun, others with a fountain pen."

The Energy Department grant programs reduce gun violence by making white collar crime more profitable than the armed robbery these criminals would otherwise have to resort to, having no talent for honest work.

Lobbying for creation of a federal energy department in 1977 Jimmy Carter said,

Because we are now running out of gas and oil, we must prepare quickly for a third change, to strict conservation and to the use of coal and permanent renewable energy sources, like solar power.

They, like other energy departments - even BPA - only ADD multiples to the cost of US energy. Think of Oregon's DOE and the federal DOE as the world's most expensive extension cord. And of course that forms the basis for the biggest lie: these bureaucrats are working to hold down the cost of energy for the poor. Water from the federal dams on the Columbia should cost so little an average power bill would be $40, at most. Instead they are 5 times that to feed the Washington and Salem fat cats.

Like Bill Cosby wondered, "Why is there air?" And, "to blow up basketballs."

I expect the (regional) Energy Dept.s are the framework of the regulatory oversight enacted of Nixon's EPA.

And somebody's got to supply delegates or delegations for the demanding schedule of energizing conferences and seminars. There goes one now:

Registration open: Global Energy Systems - June 26-28 2013

Posted March 1, 2013

Topic: Miscellaneous

Tags: conference, economics, edinburgh, electricity, energy, fossil fuels, global energy systems, nuclear, renewable electricity, shale oil, unconventional.

Our energy system is evolving due to depletion of cheap fossil fuels and the need for carbon emission constraints. Government and business are under pressure to tackle the energy challenges of rising energy costs, energy security, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We witness rapid changes across countries as this evolution takes place, steered both by markets (investment decisions) and government (policy decisions).

It is essential for energy professionals to stay well informed with the latest insights in this evolving world. For this reason, Euan Mearns of The Oil Drum, myself and several others, are organizing the first three-day Global Energy Systems conference,[ GlobalEnergySystemsConference.com ] which will take place in Edinburgh, United Kingdom from June 26 - 28 2013. The conference is meant to deliver key updates on the most pressing energy issues and challenges facing our energy system, as well as providing a forum for exchange of substantially different viewpoints. It is supported by several universities and research institutes including University of Aberdeen, University of Edinburgh, Oxford Research Group, Chatham House and others.
[more] ...

They, like other energy departments - even BPA - only ADD multiples to the cost of US energy. Think of Oregon's DOE

At least the BPA does something (among other more worthless things that BPA does, BPA does own, operate and maintain the northwestern transmission grid.)

The Oregon DOE doesn't generate power, market power, transport power, distribute power...it doesn't even regulate electric utilities (that's the PUC's job).

If you call and ask, they will tell you that you may not want to buy the alternative energy they are overseeing because it does not price out.

The BPA owns the transmission grid. Why? It doesn't own the dams.

But the dams are useless without a transmission grid. And the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers don't own any transmission grids, anywhere. If the grid should be operated by someone else, that's fine, but the BPA owns them, so at least that gives the BPA some purpose.

ODOE? Nothing.

Just like energy, the department can neither be created nor destroyed...

In an effort to be responsive to the question, Why does Oregon even have an "energy department"?

A: The same reason as the Federal government DOE. The goal is to build the bureaucratic empire to justify their very existence.

Oregon has an "Energy Department" because calling it the "Scam Department" sounded too tacky (and too true).

Nolo:

I can't give you a good reason

Me:

There's more justification for numerous state rather than a national department, but that's still not saying much.

Nolo:

but I did get a good weatherization loan for a commercial building from the state DOE in 1995.

Me:

But of course no state energy department is needed for such loans to be given out.

Old Zeb:

Hell, even Reagan said, "Trust, but verify."

Me:

"Even Reagan" ? Different issue. On that one you need to compare Reagan and others on his side to those who believed in unilateral disarmament as a way to show Cold War opponents how nice we were, and assume that they would reduce or eliminate their own arsenals without any system of verification, or any concern for that matter.

ltjd:

The same reason as the Federal government DOE. The goal is to build the bureaucratic empire to justify their very existence.

Me:

In the 1930s FDR created the Bureau of Rural Electrification, but even though we are long past the time when the any rural American who wanted to be on the grid was able to get on it, that agency has somehow remained and gives out numerous loans for assorted projects or something (unless it was gotten rid of when I wasn't paying attention)

A better example of something that outlived its time might be that telephone tax that was implemented in 1898 to help pay for the Spanish-American War and which was finally ended about 15 or so years ago. When it started, only "the rich", and businesses, had phones, so "sticking it" to them led to sticking everyone for about a century.

Hell, even Reagan said, "Trust, but verify."

He also said the closest thing to eternal life is a government agency.

Bob - you are correct. I got a nice rate (at the time) for a subsidized loan, compliments of the citizens of Oregon. And I still don't know why the DOE exists.

Hell, even Reagan said, "Trust, but verify."

He also said the closest thing to eternal life is a government agency.

He also said, "I don't remember."

Bob Tiernan, yeah you weren't paying attention when your guy Won'tGetW'dAgain pulled the plug on the $50 million Rural Electrification annual budget, and shifted that spending over to pay for another 36 minutes of a 2 Billion dollars a day militarism addiction. Figure that the 3 hours a day while oxygen thief LarsLarson is in air his military protection blows through a quarter-Billion bucks so he'll be safe and won't be scared of the world, little baby nothing's gonna harm you. (If you took a minute to read that slur, that's another one-and-a-half MILLION money right there *poof* wasted.) 'Fire and forget' -- that's what the USmilitary murderers in the Middle East say to each other nowadays, and it's the spine-chilling title of one story in a collection from Iraq-returnees and low-info rotters ... someone should have told them nine-eleven op was a USG hoax so there wasn't and isn't any call, or use, to go chasing camels in sandstorms. Our mortal enemies are domestic, electeds.

And everyone, Bonneville Dam cost $2 Billion (1 day's militarism, unless the junkies are holding back telling us how much they're out -- maybe militarism is spending FOUR Billion a day), and all the electric power sales over the years has only paid the interest (on bonds?) for the dam and has NOT paid a penny of the principal of Bonneville Dam.

Jack: You're a libertarian at heart, who somehow can't escape the bonds of your liberal Democrat persona. Whether it's the Portland "planners", Tri-Met, or the State Energy Department, Leviathan will never be as efficient or wise in allocating resources as free individuals making individual decisions as to how they wish to do so. You can't tinker around the edges or hope endlessly to "reform" the State. If power corrupts and absolute power absolutely, the only solution is to limit the reach of the State to those things which only it can do. An "Energy" Department is not one of them.

Tenskwatawa:

yeah you weren't paying attention when your guy Won'tGetW'dAgain pulled the plug on the $50 million Rural Electrification annual budget, and shifted that...

Me:

Gosh, if it was only that easy to end an agency that shouldn't have survived more than a couple of decades. There must have been something left out of your story for I doubt that the agency was kerplunked that easily. Defunding is one thing, because that could be temporary. Or maybe it survives as the Bureau of Electrical Rurafication.

Bob Tiernan
Portland