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May 14, 2024
Another Day, Another Mindless Attack on Fossil Energy Producers
It is another day ending in “y” in the Beltway, and with it we have another “climate crisis” attack on the oil and gas companies — the very ones that produce efficient energy for the great mass of Americans and, indeed, the world. The latest example of this game of pin the climate blame on the energy…
May 14, 2024
Letter to the Editor: From Green Innovation to Climate Socialism
In an otherwise useful reminder of why the much-ballyhooed “transition” to unconventional energy won’t happen anytime soon—because the massive attendant costs can’t be borne by most of the world’s people confronted by the difficult realities of eking out a living—Bjorn Lomborg (“When the Only Problem Was Climate,” op-ed, May 9) nonetheless tries to have it both…
May 7, 2024
How Serious Are They? Colorado Leftists Sold Out Their Climate Commitments for a Paltry $140M
That the environmental left is relentless is not news, but the current machinations on policies intended to suppress fossil energy production in Colorado are fascinating. Under a compromise being negotiated between Gov. Jared Polis (D), the state’s oil and gas producers and the environmental left, production fees estimated at $140 million per year (based on future crude oil and…
April 28, 2024
We Must End the Litigation Doom Loop
A federal judge recently issued an injunction to block the approval of a powerline that would have connected 161 renewable energy projects to the electric grid, providing more clean energy to consumers in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. This is the second time this project, known as the Cardinal-Hickory transmission line, has been blocked by an injunction in…
April 22, 2024
Earth Day 2024: How Plastic Can the Enviros Get?
It is Earth Day 2024, an annual exercise in self-applause that always is too much fun because of the inanities, hypocrisies, mendacities, and sheer stupidity of the Earth Day slogans, arguments, propaganda, and exhortations. And also because of the embarrassing spectacle of long queues of corporate officials and public relations gasbags desperate to advertise their environmental bona fides so that the green alligators might eat them last. The Earth Day slogan for…
April 3, 2024
Biden’s EPA Can Justify His New EV Rules Only by Cooking the Books
Before federal regulations are implemented, they must be justified with an extensive analysis of costs and effects. The new Environmental Protection Agency rule forcing a massive shift toward electric vehicles is no exception. Weighing in at 1,181 pages, it is accompanied by an additional 884 pages of “regulatory impact analysis.” The EPA analysis justifying this rule is…
March 6, 2024
Reality Is Forcing Biden to Roll Back His Electric Vehicle Mandate
In a development that can surprise no one, the Biden administration is reportedly planning to delay the schedule of its “multi-pollutant emissions standards” rule to force a massive shift to electric vehicles (EVs). The rule as currently proposed would force an EV market share of 67 percent for new cars and light-duty trucks by 2032, up from 7.6 percent…
February 29, 2024
Exxon Turns to the Courts to Fight Back Against Activist Shareholders
We’ve come a long way since the days of Harry Truman. In the modern Beltway, policymakers strive mightily to see to it that the buck stops somewhere else. Presidents blame Congress for failures to enact preferred policies. The House of Representatives blames the Senate, and vice versa, and both parties blame each other for failures to enact…
February 16, 2024
Energy Security Does Not Mean What Many Think
I am sufficiently old — and then some, distressingly — to remember 1973. Among the prominent memories of that year were the large international price increases for oil, the long lines at gasoline stations, the handwritten “NO GAS” signs, the five- or 10-gallon purchase limits, the utterly silly license plate odd-even system for determining who would…
February 14, 2024
The Beltway’s Energy Transition Relies on the Broken Window Fallacy
Suppose that a strong earthquake were to destroy a sizable part of a city. The rebuilding process would involve massive investment, procurement of materials and services, and employment. But can anyone believe that the local economy would be stronger than would have been the case had the earthquake never occurred? Obviously not. But in the timeless mindset of the…