A Free-Market Energy Blog

"Rob Bradley at Enron" (for the record)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 20, 2011

“Sorry to bother you with this…. Rob is obviously not a fan of renewables or the global warming issue.  Unfortunately, he works for a company that is.”

– “Rob Bradley’s Writings.” Tom White [chairman & CEO of Enron Renewables Energy Corp. ] to Ken Lay [chairman & CEO of Enron Corp.], June 8, 1998.

The Confluence, a blog advertising itself as “Democrats Putting Principle Over Party,” recently criticized a new initiative of the Institute for Energy Research, Stop the Energy Freeze. After reciting some peak-oil arguments against IER’s case for expanding access and production of domestic oil and gas resources for new jobs and greater BTUs, the post Sunday: Spreading the mess to YouTube goes after yours truly.

I also bothered to look up who was behind this Stop the Energy Freeze campaign. 

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The Deceit of Turbine Noise Models (collateral damage from government energy forcing)

By -- October 19, 2011

“When will the environmentalist community writ large wake up to the unintended micro consequences of their increasingly futile macro policy of forced energy transformation?”

Herkimer County, New York, is the latest location to register wind turbine noise complaints. The source? Iberdrola’s Hardscrabble wind facility (37 turbines) that went online earlier this year.

Studies are underway to determine if the project is operating outside legal sound limits, but the larger question is “Why?” Why, with over 1,300 MW of wind installed in New York today and an extensive body of evidence showing turbine noise is causing deleterious impacts on people living near the towers, was Herkimer County fooled into thinking it would be spared?

The answer is simple: Herkimer County residents were lied to.

Yes, we could use softer words to explain the situation.…

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Perry's Energy Speech: Part II (EPA vs. abundant energy)

By Vance Ginn -- October 18, 2011

“The third part of my plan is to reform the bureaucracy, in particular the EPA, so that it focuses on regional and cross-state issues, providing scientific research, as well as environmental analysis and cost-comparison studies to support state environmental organizations. We will return greater regulatory authority to the states to manage air and water quality rather than imposing one-size-fits-all federal rules.”

– Gov. Rick Perry,  Energizing American Jobs and Security, October 14, 2011.

Part I yesterday described Governor Rick Perry’s call for greater oil and gas resource access to government land to help create economic and job growth–and open-ended opportunity given technological developments.

Indeed, ‘peak oil’ and ‘peak gas’ concerns have been waylaid by reality. At a recent conference of the U.S. Association for Energy Economics in Washington, D.C., it was clear that energy economists believe that demand for petroleum will not fall around the globe for many years, decades, and possibly centuries to come.…

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Perry's Energy Speech: Part I (Real Energy, Real Jobs–but what about the governor's windpower baggage?

By Vance Ginn -- October 17, 2011
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Government as Referee: Who Regulates the Regulators?

By David Hutzelman -- October 14, 2011
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Beyond Solyndra: Solar Energy's On-Grid Torment

By Gary Hunt -- October 13, 2011
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Solar Power Cost: Don't Forget Intermittency (energy economics 101)

By David Bergeron -- October 12, 2011
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Rapid Loss of Arctic Ice: But Where is the Warming?

By Chip Knappenberger -- October 11, 2011
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The EPA's Benefit/Cost Jihad on U.S. Electric Utilities

By Garrett Vaughn -- October 10, 2011
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"Energy and Society" Course: Professor Desrochers's Model for the Academy

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 7, 2011
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