Ed. Note: This repost is timely given the end of the Investment Tax Credit and the Production Tax Credit for unstarted projects as of July 4, 2026, pursuant to the One Big Beautiful Bill of 2025. For started (‘safe harbor’) projects, it is business-as-usual, which explains why the projects were started in the first place. If an unstarted project is completed by year-end (highly unlikely), it would also receive the ITC and PTC. Tomorrow, the history of wind power tax subsidization is chronicled.

“Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.”

– Milton and Rose Friedman, Tyranny of the Status Quo (1983), 115.

Aaron Nichols on LinkedIn provided a history of federal solar tax subsidies, beginning with Jimmy Carter. His point was to show that the numerous extensions (14 by my count) were bipartisan.…

“If I am elected president, I will put into place a massive air-conditioning plan, starting in places with the most vulnerable populations.” – Marine Le Pen, leader, National Rally Party (French National Assembly)

It is not easy being green. “Green” energy is hardly green (think wind/solar/battery industrialization), and virtually all climate mitigation activism has negatives for consumers, taxpayers, and freedom. This is less the law of unintended consequences as it is Deep Ecology’s assault on modern living and human betterment.

Fast forward to the summer of 2026. As long predicted, a warming world (natural and anthropogenic) requires adaptation. That means air conditioning, mist machines, and ice generation in increasing amounts to meet the summer peak. Yet the activists despise such basic adaptation on grounds that higher electricity demand will require more fossil-fired generation from existing or new capacity.…

Ed. Note: Today’s post concludes a three-part lookback at Lee R. Raymond (1938–2026), the no-nonsense value-creator at Exxon Mobil (also see Part I and Part II).

The large, ever-growing list of climate “deniers” at DeSmog Blog documents a growing consensus against climate exaggeration and “green” energy inferiority. MasterResource has long documented this “backfire” at this Progressive Left, anti-fossil-fuel UK website.

The energy and climate views of Lee R. Raymond are presented by DeSmog below. Read and decide for yourself; was Exxon/Exxon-Mobil’s leader (1993–2005) correct in his time and today? Many scientific, economic, and political trends, in fact, are moving in the direction that his thinking would support.

Credentials

• Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Minnesota (May 16, 2011).¹
• PhD, chemical engineering, University of Minnesota (1963).²
• BSc, chemical engineering, University of Wisconsin–Madison (1960).

“We’ve got to call out the greenwishing of energy’s future. Excitement is good; delusion isn’t. Let’s demand proof, not promises. Reliable, affordable energy isn’t a luxury—it’s the foundation of modern life—time to get serious about what energy technologies actually scales.”

I’ve been watching this energy debate for years, and I’m tired of the hype. We’ve got politicians, billionaires, and startups promising the next big “green” breakthrough that’ll solve everything from climate change to data center power demands, with no downsides.

But most of it is what I call greenwishing—a cousin to greenwashing, where they polish up promising energy ideas, but unproven, unscalable technologies with fancy renderings, press releases, and government grants, all while the real engineering and economics lag behind.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for clean, reliable, affordable energy.…