” … during challenging times, this fact becomes crystal clear: our energy resources make modern life possible and are absolutely critical to our health and well-being.”
The production and distribution (P&D) of the COVID vaccines is just another example of oil and gas at work in innumerable ways. Institute for Energy Research (IER) President Tom Pyle recently brought attention to the connection:
…On Dec. 14th, the first approved COVID vaccine was given to a healthcare worker in New York. During the following weekend, a second vaccine was approved, shipped, and distributed. We are a long way from seeing the other side of this, but these were hopeful signs.
While drug companies like Pfizer, Moderna, and BioNtech are the face of the COVID vaccines, it’s the American energy industry that is the backbone of our fight against the virus and our efforts to develop an effective vaccine to stop its spread.
It began early. In a candidate questionnaire in March 2016, Trump answered two key questions presented by the free-market American Energy Alliance:
“8). Do you support a carbon tax? Do you support the Obama administration’s use of the social cost of carbon in rulemakings?
A. No and No.
9). Do you think federal agencies have abused the cost-benefit process to suit their political agenda? Would your administration end the process of underestimating costs and inflating benefits of agency regulations?
A. Yes and Yes.”
And in his first energy speech in May 2016, Trump stated:
…“And if Crooked Hillary can shut down the mines, she can shut down your business too.”
“These actions have denied millions of Americans access to the energy wealth sitting under our feet. This is your treasure, and you – the American People – are entitled to share in the riches.”
” … although Trump was not a libertarian, was his philosophy in energy, environment, and regulation reasonably free market? Were the President’s motivations laudatory? Consumer-, entrepreneur-, and taxpayer-driven? I believe they were, outside of foreign trade policy with certain countries.”
I recently had this exchange with a ideological and personal friend, Richard Ebeling, BB&T Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Free Enterprise Leadership at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, about the civil war within the libertarian movement in regard to the Donald Trump presidency. Always there, the divide boiled over last week with Trump’s last stand. I was part of it.
After reviewing our exchange, I revisited many Trump-related posts here at MasterResource regarding energy, climate, and the environment. (Wednesday’s post will list approximately 30.) The question is: although Trump was not a libertarian, was his philosophy in this area reasonably free market, outside of foreign trade policy with certain countries?…