A Free-Market Energy Blog

Houston Chronicle: Former Environmental Writer Documents Origins of Left/Alarmist Bias at the Paper

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- November 12, 2009

“The [Houston Chronicle’s] editorial positions have moved in a decidedly liberal and environmentalist direction since its parent, the Hearst Corporation, installed new management in 2002.”

– Bill Dawson, Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Media, December 3, 2007.

“One factor [in the industry retrenchment] could be the fate of climate change legislation in Congress, which could add costs to oil and gas producers, refiners, chemical makers and other parts of the energy sector, forcing them to cut jobs. Susan Combs, Texas comptroller of public accounts said: “I think there’s a big bull’s-eye painted on Houston.”

– Brett Clanton, “Big Oil’s Lean Look Fuels Area Jobs Fear,” Houston Chronicle, November 8, 2009.

Cap-and-trade, even in a watered down beginning, isn’t good for Houston. But the Houston Chronicle has been at the forefront of advocating for such open-ended regulation–even rejecting a sober cost-benefit analysis of the issue.…

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The Peak Oil Secret is Revealed!

By -- November 11, 2009

The latest peak oil news is simply astounding: a whistleblower inside the International Energy Agency (IEA) claiming that “the US has played an influential role in encouraging the watchdog to underplay the rate of decline from existing oil fields while overplaying the chances of finding new reserves.”

The fact that this report appeared in the Guardian, which has published questionable articles on peak oil, is suggestive.

First and foremost, one is tempted to conclude that this story represents poor reporting, bringing to mind an earlier Guardian story claiming that Fatih Birol, the IEA official in charge of the World Energy Outlook, acknowledged peak oil. It turns out that Fatih was misquoted. And while I might be biased, considering Fatih a friend, the nature of the present story is close to ridiculous, rather than misleading.…

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Update: “Climate Sensitivity Estimates: Heading Down, Way Down?”

By Chip Knappenberger -- November 10, 2009

A previous post at MasterResource described the findings and implications of a new scientific study published by Richard Lindzen and Yong-Sang Choi, “On the Determination of Climate Feedbacks from ERBE Data” published in Geophysical Research Letters.

Lindzen and Choi’s concluded that climate sensitivity to atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations is six times less than generally accepted—a conclusion that potentially overturns the current paradigm of scientific thinking.

Their paper is now under careful scrutiny–as it should be. As I wrote:

This is a major paper. And as with most findings with serious repercussions to our scientific understanding, it will doubtlessly be gone over with a fine-toothed comb and subject to various challenges. It is too early to tell whether Lindzen and Choi’s findings will prove to be the end-all-and-be-all in this debate.

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The Climate Torquemada – Joe Romm at the Climate Inquisition

By Kenneth P. Green -- November 9, 2009
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Energy Reality: The Stock Beats the Flow from the Sun (why technology struggles to save ‘renewables’)

By -- November 7, 2009
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The Bear Growls, The EU Grovels: Adventures in the European Gas Market

By Donald Hertzmark -- November 6, 2009
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DOE Secretary Chu’s Convoluted Climate Economics

By -- November 5, 2009
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The Economics of Climate Change: Essential Knowledge

By Jerry Taylor -- November 4, 2009
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The Expensive Failure of Europe’s Emissions Trading Scheme: A Summary

By Matthew Sinclair -- November 3, 2009
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More on Peak Oil

By -- November 2, 2009
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