A Free-Market Energy Blog

Georgia Power’s Nuclear Fiasco: ‘The Stipulated Settlement Should be Rejected’

By Jim Clarkson -- January 26, 2017

[Ed. Note: The author, an energy-management consultant and a classical liberal, is an active voice for free-market energy policy in the Southeastern US. He is also a board director of the Institute for Energy Research (IER) and its advocacy arm, the American Energy Alliance.

The December 2016 filing below was followed by an agreement between the Georgia Public Service Commission and Georgia Power Company that allowed GPC recovery of $1.55 billion in cost overruns regarding the 2,240 MW two-unit Vogtle nuclear project. (The plant’s original cost estimate of $14 billion is currently at $18 billion, a 28 percent overage.)

Mr. Clarkson has critically written on the Vogtle project since 2012, Politics and the Nation’s Next Nuclear Plant (Georgia Power’s boondoggle under construction). Subsequent posts by Clarkson have been written in 2013; 2014; 2015 (here, here, here, and here); and 2016 (here and here).

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‘The Last Days of Night’ (book review)

By William Mogel -- January 25, 2017

“At the heart of The Last Days of Night is the competition between direct current and alternating current, and whether different types of incandescent bulbs infringed on the other’s patent. Underlying all, is how a new technology, electricity, whether via direct or alternating current forced the movement away from other fuels—whale oil, coal gas, kerosene, and natural gas for lighting, and uses other than lighting.”

The book under review, written by an Academy Award screen-writer, is historical fiction based on the fierce rivalry between two 19th century energy titans – Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse.

Yet Graham Moore’s The Last Days of Night also touches on issues relevant to today— free enterprise versus protective regulations, the interrelationship of energy markets, technological change, corporate spying, and the practices used by corporate heavyweights to achieve market dominance, including the manipulation of the press.…

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No Quarter for Green Globalists

By Viv Forbes -- January 24, 2017

“Starved of public funding and propaganda, and with constant fire at their flanks with bullets of truth, the ‘invincible’ green army will soon falter and run. Give them no rest until their infamous Grab for Global Power called the Paris Climate Treaty is rejected, never to rise again.”

The Opportunity before us is to disarm and defund the Green Globalists now. The US can lead and thus encourage other nations to follow. Under no circumstances should the enemy be allowed to go into hiding or rest.

Remember Napoleon

Napoleon’s Grand Army was defeated in the Battle of the Nations in 1813. The Emperor abdicated and was banished to Elba. But his army was not disarmed and destroyed by the victors – they rested.

Just 2 years later, Napoleon escaped and quickly re-mobilised his army.…

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‘America First Energy Plan’ (climate-change histrionics demoted)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 23, 2017
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President Trump Needs to Continue to Disengage on Climate

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 19, 2017
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President-Elect Trump’s Climate/Energy Policy: 100-Day Action Plan a Good Start

By Robert Bradley Jr. --
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“Houston Chronicle” Editorial: A Global-Warming Scare Story

By Chip Knappenberger -- January 18, 2017
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Koch Industries Reaches Out to Energy-Poor Minorities (free-market energy for all)

By Charles Battig -- January 17, 2017
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Energy & Environmental Newsletter: January 16, 2017

By -- January 16, 2017
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Ronald Reagan: Executive Order Providing for the Decontrol of Crude Oil and Refined Petroleum Products (January 1981 for January 2017)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 12, 2017
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