U.S. crude oil production jumped 215,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) to 10.47 million bbl/d in March, the highest on record, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a monthly report on May 31.
[Note: This will be Niskanen Week with forthcoming posts on his views on climate-change science, economics, and public policy. This is particularly relevant with the contradictory policies of the Niskanen Center under its founder and head, Jerry Taylor.]
The longtime chairman of the Cato Institute, William N. Niskanen, passed away in 2011 at age 78. We shared the podium a few times on energy issues, and I admired his Enron project at Cato that resulted in two books, Corporate Aftershock: Lessons from the Collapse of Enron and Other Major Corporations (2003) and After Enron: Lessons for Public Policy (2005).
Like virtually everyone else who knew him, I remember Bill as a scholar and gentleman. He had one tone of voice and reliably imparted insightful logic. He was a scholar’s scholar, a role model for the rest of us.
“As new US (and world) oil and gas records are set, the wisdom of Julian Simon, Morris Adelman, and Michael Lynch, as well as other luminaries such as Erich Zimmermann and Thomas DeGregori, will become even more prominent and appreciated. And don’t forget: the failed ‘consensus’ on Peak Oil is warning against the failing ‘consensus’ on Peak Climate.”
The Drudge Report headline said it all: “U.S. Oil Output Jumps to Record 10.47 Million Barrels per Day.” The March 2018 statistic is yet another sign of the refutation of M. King Hubbert’s ‘Peak Oil’ theory–and in real time. The Oil and Gas Investor story was short and sweet:
U.S. crude oil production jumped 215,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) to 10.47 million bbl/d in March, the highest on record, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a monthly report on May 31.
“United States withdrawal [from the Paris accord] could become a specific excuse for countries that were hesitant to join in the first place…. The second thing is withdrawal of our financial support and technical support for other countries, particularly developing countries, for both mitigation and adaptation.”
– John Holdren, May 31, 2017
John Holdren is the proverbial gift-that-keeps-on-giving. He has toned down–but not repudiated–his past of exaggerated alarms. (Remember his worry about one billion climate-related deaths by 2020?)
In the wake of President’s Trump decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, Kiley Korth of the Center for American Progress interviewed Obama’s former science advisor. The entire interview is reprinted below in light of the new story line from ThinkProgress that Trump’s decision was really not that important! So Holdren then versus ThinkProgress now.…
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