Ed note: With the 20th anniversary of Enron’s collapse in the news, the underside of the company’s climate/energy strategy deserves another look. (Bradley’s personal experience is recounted here.)
This week, a Hall of Shame business memo turned 24 years old. Dated December 12, 1997, it was written from Kyoto, Japan, by Enron lobbyist John Palmisano in the afterglow of the Kyoto Protocol agreement.
Global green planners were euphoric that, somehow, someway, the world had embarked on an irreversible course of climate control (and thus industrial and land-use control). But Kyoto predictably failed, expired, and the Paris climate accord of 2015 teeters, with COP26 turning into a “let’s talk next year” at COP27.
Palmisano’s memo cites the benefits for first-mover ‘green’ Enron. Enron, in fact, had no less than six profit centers tied to pricing carbon dioxide (CO2)–and seven if CO2 were capped and traded.)…
Continue Reading“We cannot allow oil executives to blackmail us,” concludes Houston Chronicle business editorialist Chris Tomlinson. “They are not prophets; they are business people looking for profits.” And you, sir, are an elitist telling motorists and travelers of all ages and income levels to go eat cake.
He just keep doubling down against consumers who naturally choose the best energies–the plentiful, cheaper, more dependable ones. And so Chris Tomlinson closes out his repugnance week at Houston’s World Petroleum Congress with a peculiar rant:
… Continue ReadingYes, Big Oil’s leaders promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as long as they can make money. But failure to provide the industry with $11.8 trillion in capital between now and 2045 will trigger an energy crisis that they insist will make the public forget all about the climate crisis.
Ed. note: This fortnightly Master Resource post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, published every other week by physicist John Droz Jr., founder of the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions. The complete MBN for this post can be found here.
Of special interest in this issue is an article from Matt Ridley, here.
Greed Energy Economics:
Wind Energy companies accused of bid rigging and racketeering in US lawsuit
Public should know true costs of state’s push for carbon-free grid
Energy poverty in Europe is linked to expensive renewables
Renewable Energy: Health and Ecosystem Consequences:
Did Ohio board certify Icebreaker wind project with enough bird, bat research?
Stunned Still: Offshore Wind Turbine Power Cables Leave Crabs Mesmerized and Motionless
Mountain of discarded turbines prompts NY bond push
Iowa Turbine “graveyard” removal underway
Wind Energy:
Fine Video: Wind Turbines: Salvation or Ruin?…