A Free-Market Energy Blog

The Increasing Sustainability of Conventional Energy: Shell Offshore

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 16, 2026

“Major technical and economic advancements are happening within the fossil-fuel industries, not outside of it. The stock energy age–oil, natural gas, and coal age–is still young. The future belongs to the efficient, no taxpayer subsidies or government direction required.”

More than a quarter-century ago, I wrote a policy analysis for the Cato Institute, “The Increasing Sustainability of Conventional Energy.” I concluded:

A ‘reality check’ of the increasing sustainability of conventional energy, and a better appreciation of the circumscribed role of backstop technologies, can re-establish the market momentum in energy policy and propel energy entrepreneurship for the new millennium.

I was reminded of this in regard to offshore oil and gas drilling versus the hyper-expensive, ecologically suspect offshore wind turbines. In this regard, consider this full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal by Shell, reproduced verbatim.…

Continue Reading

Breakthrough! Houston Chronicle Publishes Non-alarmist Climate Op-ed

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 15, 2026

Ed. Note: Today’s post provides the background and significance of Robert Bradley’s recent op-ed in The Houston Chronicle, “World Should be Optim­istic About Our Fossil Fuel Future.”

For more than a decade, my once regular site for climate/energy opinion-page editorials has been off limits, with only a few letters-to-the-editor published. Examples from the good-old-days:

  • “ExxonMobil on Right Path” (June 14, 2009)
  • “Climate-Change Alarmism Runs into a Reality Check” (January 9, 2009)
  • “False Alarms and Climate Change” (March 30, 2008)
  • “Al Gore’s Telling Whoppers Again” (June 4, 2006)
  • “Shoppers: There is a Bright Side to Rising Gas Prices” (April 18, 2002)
  • “President is Correct to Ignore Climate Alarmists” (May 14, 2001)
  • “Fear Not: The Energy Malthusians Are Wrong” ( April 21, 2000)

That changed completely when the well-monied Progressive Left captured the Chronicle, probably via grants from Big Green nonprofits that ensured that pro-wind, pro-solar, pro-“energy transformation” reporting was the regular fare–and contrary articles such as my mine kept out (with nary an explanation, much less simple acknowledgement of receipt and/or consideration).…

Continue Reading

“World Should be Optim­istic About Our Fossil Fuel Future” (Bradley op-ed in Houston Chronicle)

By -- April 14, 2026

Ed. Note: Robert L. Bradley Jr’s opinion-page editorial, reprinted below, appeared in the Houston Chronicle last Sunday, April 12, 2026. Tomorrow’s post will explain the significance of Bradley’s op-ed given the Chronicle’s long-standing bias against fossil fuels.

CER­AWeek was in town last month, joined by cli­mate act­iv­ists who showed up to protest. The real­ity, however, is that cli­mate act­iv­ism is in retreat.

The so-called “energy trans­ition” is potholed by an unpre­ced­en­ted num­ber of solar bank­ruptcies, elec­tric-vehicle retreats, and cor­por­ate pull­backs from wind, hydro­gen, and car­boncap­ture projects.

A roadmap to phase out fossil fuels was defeated at the last United Nations con­fer­ence on cli­mate change, in line with a recent pre­dic­tion by the Inter­na­tional Energy Agency that oil demand will increase for dec­ades. Texas, for its part, pro­duced a record two bil­lion bar­rels last year.…

Continue Reading

Energy & Environmental Review: April 13, 2026

By -- April 13, 2026
Continue Reading

Rooftop Solar Litigation: Find a Lawyer

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 10, 2026
Continue Reading

UPRISE: More Federal Nuclear Subsidization

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 9, 2026
Continue Reading

Wind Ecology Pushback (biodiversity loss joins the list)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 8, 2026
Continue Reading

Ken Brook takes on Greepeace’s David Ritter

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 7, 2026
Continue Reading

“… as fossil fuel use declines….” Magical energy Thinking in Print

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 6, 2026
Continue Reading

Artificial Intelligence (AI): Economic Transformation, Politics Brewing

By Steve Goreham -- April 2, 2026
Continue Reading