A Free-Market Energy Blog

Toward a Fossil-fueled, Prosperous Future (new NIPCC report released)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 8, 2018

“Nearly all the impacts of fossil fuel use on human well-being are net positive (benefits minus costs) or are simply unknown.”

The global war on fossil fuels, which commenced in earnest in the 1980s and reached a fever pitch in the second decade of the twenty-first century, was never founded on sound science or economics. The authors of and contributors to Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels urge the world’s policymakers to acknowledge this truth and end that war.”

In a challenge to world leaders and policymakers engaged in climate alarmism/forced energy transformation, 117 scholars have released a new report calling for an end on “the global war on fossil fuels [which] … was never founded on sound science or economics.”

Some excerpts from Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels: Summary for Policymakers  follow.…

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“Greenhouse Policy without Regrets” (Adler piece rings true eighteen years later)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 4, 2018

“No insurance policy is worthwhile if the cost of the premiums exceeds the protection purchased. For greenhouse insurance to be worthwhile, it must either reduce the risks of anthropogenic climate change or reduce the costs of emission reductions designed to achieve the same goal, without imposing off-setting risks, such as those which would result from policies that slow economic growth and technological advance.”

“Rather than adopt costly regulatory measures that serve to suppress energy use and economic growth, policy makers should seek to eliminate government interventions in the marketplace that obstruct emission reductions and discourage the adoption of lower emission technologies.  Such an approach is a ‘no regrets’ strategy….”

“A true ‘no regrets’ approach to climate change is not greater government controls on economic activity, but fewer.  Economic growth, market institutions, and technological advance are often the most effective forms of insurance that a civilization can have.”

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Mexico Hydrocarbon Policy: Socialism as Usual

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 3, 2018

“Public [socialistic] resources are really private, owned and exploited by a political elite, while private resources are really public, owned and managed by a multitude. Government-owned resources do not ‘belong to all of the people’ and allow ‘self determination;’ they belong to none or a very few.”

A recent communication from Hector Castro Vizcarra, Minister for Energy Affairs of the Embassy of Mexico, affirms that it is business-as-usual regarding the revised NAFTA agreement for the internal workings of Mexico’s policy for oil and gas (see the official summary below). 

Mexico´s inalienable and impresciptible property on hydrocarbons in Mexico´s subsoil” remains resolute. (Nationalized in 1938, Mexico’s oil and gas sector turned 80 this year.)  And Mexico can otherwise regulate its oil and gas sector as it sees fit regarding foreign investment.

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For the Poor, How Much Energy Is Enough?

By Greg Rehmke -- October 2, 2018
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Energy & Environmental Newsletter: October 1, 2018

By -- October 1, 2018
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John Holdren on Trump’s Energy/Climate Armageddon (Part II: renewables, energy efficiency, carbon capture & storage, messaging, etc.)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 27, 2018
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John Holdren on Trump’s Energy/Climate Armageddon (Part I: federal R&D, Paris withdrawal, China)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 26, 2018
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Ethane Rising: Another Fossil Fuel Advances

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 25, 2018
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Wind Growth after PTC Expiration

By -- September 24, 2018
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Henrietta Larson: A Scholar for the Ages (her business histories are among the greatest energy tomes)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 20, 2018
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