Tournament: UNLV | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge:
Observation One is Inherency

Lack of government incentives collapses support for furthering Enhanced Oil Recovery projects – government certainty is critical to project investment
Kalter, 7/22/12
Lindsay, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners; Summer Committee Meetings, “IEA: CCS REGULATION ADVANCING ‘VERY WELL’”, Exchange Monitor Publications and Forums, http://ghgnews.com/index.cfm/iea-ccs-regulation-advancing-e28098very-welle28099/?mobileFormat=false, BJM

And, just this year the current EOR credit has ran out, destroying certainty
Bloomberg BNA, 7/30
Daily Tax Report, “IRS: Enhanced Oil Recovery Credit Phased Out Completely for 2012 Costs”, http://www.bna.com/irs-enhanced-oil-n12884910886/, BJM

Thus the plan:
The United States federal government should provide a production tax credit for carbon dioxide-enhanced oil recovery production in the United States.

1AC – Warming

Advantage 1 is Warming

C02 Causes Global Warming and the Newest Research Methods Account for the Objections of the Skeptics
ORLCF 12 (Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, 4/4/12, super-duper computing facility, http://www.olcf.ornl.gov/2012/04/04/carbon-dioxide-caused-global-warming-at-ice-ages-end-pioneering-simulation-shows/)

Global warming is real, caused by human CO2 emissions, and will cause flooding and feedback loops that causes population migrations fueling political instability, economic collapse, and failed states, escalating to nuclear war in a vicious cycle to extinction
Kaku 11 – Michio Kaku, co-creator of string field theory, a branch of string theory. He received a B.S. (summa cum laude) from Harvard University in 1968 where he came first in his physics class. He went on to the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley and received a Ph.D. in 1972. In 1973, he held a lectureship at Princeton University. Michio continues Einstein’s search for a “Theory of Everything,” seeking to unify the four fundamental forces of the universe—the strong force, the weak force, gravity and electromagnetism. He is the author of several scholarly, Ph.D. level textbooks and has had more than 70 articles published in physics journals, covering topics such as superstring theory, supergravity, supersymmetry, and hadronic physics. Professor of Physics — He holds the Henry Semat Chair and Professorship in theoretical physics at the City College of New York, where he has taught for over 25 years. He has also been a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, as well as New York University (NYU). “Physics of the Future” http://213.55.83.52/ebooks/physics/Physics%20of%20the%20Future.pdf Accessed 6/26/12 BJM

And, trends are reversible if action is taken now
Pew Center 11
(The Pew Center on Global Climate Change is as a non-profit, non-partisan, and independent organization dedicated to providing credible information, straight answers, and innovative solutions in the effort to address global climate change, “Climate Change 101: Understanding and Responding to Global Climate Change,”)

All industry experts conclude that expanding EOR significantly reduces emissions
Biello 09 (David – Associate Editor of Environment and Energy at Scientific American, 4/9/2009, Enhanced Oil Recovery: How to Make Money from Carbon Capture and Storage Today, Scientific American, p. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=enhanced-oil-recovery)

Incentivizing EOR can reverse 10-20 years worth of emissions damage
NEORI, February 2012 (National Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative, Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery: A Critical Domestic Energy, Economic, and Environmental Opportunity, p. 10)

Expanding EOR revitalizes the carbon capture industry
Gardner, 12/11/2011 (Timothy – Reuters correspondent, Using Oil to Reduce Carbon Emissions, The New York Times, p. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/business/global/12iht-green12.html)

CCS is the key bridge to a sustainable energy future
WRI 8
World Resources Institute, “CCS Overview: What Is CCS?,” http://www.wri.org/project/carbon-dioxide-capture-storage/ccs-basics

CCS is feasible and is the only way to solve warming – other energy solutions are insufficient
Cohen et al. 9 – Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Clean Air Task Force (Armond, former head of the Conservation Law Foundation's Energy Project, member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Air Act Advisory Committee; Mike Fowler, Technology Coordinator for the Coal Transition Project at the Clean Air Task Force, former New Source Review Supervisor and Enforcement Manager in the Air Quality Bureau of the New Mexico Environment Department, former Project Scientist in the Division of Applied Sciences at Harvard University; and Kurt Waltzer, Carbon Storage Development Coordinator for the Clean Air Task Force’s Coal Transition Project; May 2009, “‘NowGen’: Getting Real about Coal Carbon Capture and Sequestration,” The Electricity Journal, Volume 22, Issue 4, pp. 25-42, p. ScienceDirect)

Even if regulations aren’t likely now, the plan is key to convincing the world that emissions can be cut without economic cost – specifically key to China and India
MIT 07 – Interdisciplinary Study, The Future of Coal, http://web.mit.edu/coal/

Only the plan is modeled – BRIC countries won’t cut emissions unless they can avoid economic cost
Apt et al 7 – PhD in Physics @ MIT, Professor of Technology, Tepper School of Business and Engineering and Public Policy
Jay, “Incentives for Near-Term Carbon Dioxide Geological Sequestration,” Carnegie Mellon, http://wpweb2.tepper.cmu.edu/ceic/pdfs_other/Incentives_for_Near-Term_Carbon_Dioxide_Geological_Sequestration.pdf

Warming will be fast and cause extinction – adaptation is not possible – lowering emissions is key
Tickell 08 – (Oliver Tickell is an environmental Researcher. He is the founder of the Kyoto2 climate initiative, a researcher of the Oxford Climate Associates and specialized in international climate policy. Published August 11th, 2008 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/11/climatechange)

Unmitigated carbon emissions independently cause ocean acidification and extinction
Romm 12 – Joe Romm is a Fellow at American Progress and is the editor of Climate Progress, “Science: Ocean Acidifying So Fast It Threatens Humanity’s Ability to Feed Itself,” 3/2/2012, http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/03/02/436193/science-ocean-acidifying-so-fast-it-threatens-humanity-ability-to-feed-itself/?utm_source=feedburnerandutm_medium=emailandutm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogre

The harms of CO2 outweigh CO2 agriculture – independently it causes 5.5 billion people to starve
Strom 07 – University of Arizona planetary science emeritus professor, studied climate change for 15 years, the former Director of the Space Imagery Center at NASA Regional Planetary Image Facility (Robert, , “Hot House”, SpringerLink, p.211-216) 

Warming is an existential risk – quickening reductions is key
Mazo 10 – PhD in Paleoclimatology from UCLA
Jeffrey Mazo, Managing Editor, Survival and Research Fellow for Environmental Security and Science Policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, 3-2010, “Climate Conflict: How global warming threatens security and what to do about it,” pg. 122

There should be an extremely high standard of evidence in debates about global warming – current climate skepticism ignores peer-review, comes from unspecialized writers, cherry picks evidence and is informed by ideology – expert consensus goes aff
Somerville 11 – Professor of Oceanography @ UCSD
Richard Somerville, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Research Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, Coordinating Lead Author in Working Group I for the 2007 Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 3-8-2011, “CLIMATE SCIENCE AND EPA'S GREENHOUSE GAS REGULATIONS,” CQ Congressional Testimony, Lexis

1AC – Oil Dependence

Advantage 2 is Oil Dependence
Domestic supplies of oil are too little to fit US demand, forces increases reliance on foreign sources
Cavell 12 – Assistant Professor at the University of Bahrain (Dr. Colin Cavell, Center for Research on Globalization, “America's Dependency On Middle East Oil”, 4/11/12, http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=vaandaid=30177)

Eliminating foreign oil is unnecessary for independence  - we need only reduce imports to where oil has little to no effect on economic or military policy – the natural foreign response to increased domestic supplies solves dependence
Benjamin K. Sovacool, ’07 - (an Assistant Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.  He is also a Research Fellow in the Energy Governance Program at the Centre on Asia and Globalization) 2007 “Oil Independence Possible for U.S. by 2030” http://scitizen.com/authors/Benjamin-K.-Sovacool-a 899_s_08b456d033fcee27acbc8caf208135e8.html

Oil dependence creates multiple scenarios for war – increases the incentive to go to war while short-circuiting barriers to conflict
GLASER 2011 (Professor of Political Science and International Relations Elliot School of International Affairs The George Washington University, “ Reframing Energy Security: How Oil Dependence Influences U.S. National Security,” August 2011, http://depts.washington.edu/polsadvc/Blog%20Links/Glaser_-_EnergySecurity-AUGUST-2011.docx)

A federal PTC on CO2-EOR production would displace the need for oil imports in the coming years reducing unhealthy dependence
NEORI, February 2012 (National Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative, Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery: A Critical Domestic Energy, Economic, and Environmental Opportunity, http://www.neori.org/NEORI_Report.pdf, BJM)

A national CO2-EOR program can reduce dependence substantially for the next 10-14 years in the status quo but next generation tech and CCS makes solvency unlimited
NEORI, February 2012 (National Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative, Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery: A Critical Domestic Energy, Economic, and Environmental Opportunity, p. 8-9)

Combing CCS technology with EOR production can create sustainability in domestic oil markets reducing dependency by half
Howell, 3/11/2010 (Katie, Pairing Oil Recovery With Carbon Capture a Win-Win for U.S. – Report, The New York Times, p. http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/03/11/11greenwire-pairing-oil-recovery-with-carbon-capture-a-win-52359.html)

Oil dependence makes conflict over the Strait of Hormuz inevitable – that escalates and goes nuclear
GLASER 2011 (Professor of Political Science and International Relations Elliot School of International Affairs The George Washington University, “ Reframing Energy Security: How Oil Dependence Influences U.S. National Security,” August 2011, http://depts.washington.edu/polsadvc/Blog%20Links/Glaser_-_EnergySecurity-AUGUST-2011.docx) *note – added of for grammar

That causes Middle East war, terrorist attacks, and draws in Russia
Cochrane 12 (Paul, Special Reporter on Energy Wars for Executive Magazine, “Flirting with death”, March 1, http://www.executive-magazine.com/getarticle.php?article=15225)

Middle East war goes nuclear and spreads globally
Steinbach 2002 – Analyst, Center for Research on Globalisation
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/STE203A.html

1AC – Solvency

Observation 2 is solvency
A federally targeted PTC to the CO2-EOR industry will help boost large scale commercialization projects while remaining cost neutral
NEORI, February 2012 (National Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative, Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery: A Critical Domestic Energy, Economic, and Environmental Opportunity, http://www.neori.org/NEORI_Report.pdf, BJM)

Linking CO2 to EOR projects is uniquely beneficial for long term cost saving
Carter, 6/4/12
LD, US Carbon Sequestration Council, “An Early Deployment Strategy for Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) Technologies”, http://www.uscsc.org/Files/Admin/Educational_Papers/20120604_Early%20Deployment%20Strategy%20for%20CCUS%20Technologies_FINAL.pdf, BJM

And, Federal legislation key to EOR/CCS expansion
Carbon Capture Journal, 2010
“CCS could increase US oil production says report”, March 12, http://www.carboncapturejournal.com/displaynews.php?NewsID=533, BJM