A Free-Market Energy Blog

Archive

Posts from October 2016

Holdren for Halloween (Obama’s eight-year science advisor about to go knocking on doors)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 31, 2016

 “Some form of ecocatastrophe, if not thermonuclear war, seems almost certain to overtake us before the end of the [twentieth] century.”

– John Holdren and Paul Ehrlich[1]

Doom and gloom—and subsequent real-world falsification—hallmark the long career of John P. Holdren, neo-Malthusian and President Obama’s beginning-to-end science advisor.

Halloween Holdren has been quiet about the outlandish in recent years because he does not want to embarrass his boss. But his many statements, beginning in the early 1970s, never disowned, remain for the record.

Today is a good time to refresh our memories of the man who just might be the scariest presidential advisor in U.S. history!

Read—but don’t be frightened. The sky-is-falling gloom of Holdren, his mentor Paul Ehrlich, and others is in intellectual and empirical trouble. From Julian Simon to Bjorn Lomborg to Indur Goklany to Matt Ridley to Marlo Lewis to Alex Epstein, the technological optimists have the upper hand in a debate that continues to rage.…

Global Warming Debate at Rice University: Soon vs. Sass

By Charles Battig -- October 27, 2016

“Ronald Sass noted that ‘scientists should agree, not debate,’ a statement puzzling to me. He did agree that we do not yet have enough data. To which I comment: why promote uncertain science and political policy that might do more harm than adapting to real (versus computerized) futures?”

Little did I realize that in moving to Houston, Texas I would soon witness a rare climatic event. It was not another hurricane like Ike, snow in summer, nor any other such rarity. I would be able to attend a climate debate in a welcoming and civil atmosphere between two opposing debaters well qualified in their particular fields of climate research.  Such open debates are a rarity in the current emotionally defined microcosm of consensus science and settled science. The PC thought police, including at the  James A.

Wind Energy Company Sues To Keep Bird Kill Data Out Of Public’s Hands

By Michael Hutchins -- October 26, 2016

“American Bird Conservancy (ABC) strongly believes that the public and environmental groups should have access to reliable data about how many of these birds and bats are killed by the facility, and that the company’s attempt to use the legal system to block access would set a dangerous precedent if it succeeds.”

In the battle for hearts and minds, the one issue that seems to annoy the wind industry like a burr under a frisky pony’s saddle blanket is the wholesale slaughter of millions of birds and bats. It’s an inconvenient truth to be sure. But, as with everything that the wind industry does, if you can’t keep a straight face while lying about it any more, then pull out all stops and cover it up.

An Ohio wind-energy facility doesn’t want to reveal how many birds it kills, and has gone to court to keep that information secret.…

Wind Power: Our Least Sustainable Resource?

By Craig Rucker -- October 25, 2016

Energy & Environmental Newsletter: October 24, 2016

By <a class="post-author" href="/about#john-droz">John Droz, Jr.</a> -- October 24, 2016

‘The Case Against A U.S. Carbon Tax’ (Murphy, Michaels, Knappenberger)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 20, 2016

Lake Erie Wind Turbines? (Part 2: Environmental Issues)

By Sherri Lange -- October 19, 2016

Lake Erie Wind Turbines? Complaints Pour In (Part I: Overview)

By Sherri Lange -- October 18, 2016

Julian Simon on Hillary’s Incredible Commodity Deal (mid-1990s revisited)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 17, 2016

Regulatory Reform at the Texas Railroad Commission (Part II in a series)

By Mark Miller -- October 14, 2016