“Classical liberalism does not have a long resume in the history of energy thought. Prior to the 1970s energy crises, it was a backwater for free-market intellectuals, although the opportunity was there for both scholarship and political advocacy.”

I recently constructed a new home with a two-story library, ladders and all. On one side are my energy-related books; on the other, economics. Several thousand volumes are, for the first time, organized in one place. Better late than never as I am in my 66th year.

The energy books, many unearthed from storage, bring back a lot of memories. Some observations follow.

Classical liberalism (or the political term, libertarianism) does not have a long resume in the history of energy thought. Prior to the 1970s energy crises, it was a backwater for the free market intellectuals, although the opportunity was there for both scholarship and political advocacy.…

“Climate change, for many conservatives, is associated with fringe environmentalism and a political nemesis, [Al] Gore.”

“Climategate showed us what was behind the curtain,” said Robert Bradley…. There’s a whole lot of alarmism and a whole lot of scientific intolerance toward other views.”

– Eric Berger, Houston Chronicle, January 24, 2010.

Think back ten years ago, when a federal cap-and-trade bill passed the House and was before the Senate. And Climategate was just a few months old.

Today? Cap-and-trade remains dead as federal policy, and proposals for a carbon tax are not being pushed by Biden/Harris (Harris/Biden?) in the current debate. Climagate? Its ten-year anniversary last year brought forth numerous retrospectives, apologetic, critical, and harshly critical.

——————–

All this brings me to a January 2010 piece by Eric Berger of the Houston Chronicle, Climate Change Activists Work to Regain Momentum.…

This post summarizes the criticism of Biden’s pro-fracking position from Bill McKibben (New Yorker), Emily Aiken (Heated), Joe Romm (Front Page Live), and David Roberts (Vox), as well as from The Sunrise Movement, 350.org, Greenpeace, Natural Resources Defense Council, The Wilderness Society, Center for Biological Diversity, and the Sierra Club.…

“[We] are drilling all over the place — right now. That’s not the challenge . . . we don’t have enough pipeline capacity to transport all of it to where it needs to go — both to refineries, and then, eventually, all across the country and around the world.”

” [My] strategy … will … further reduce our dependence on foreign oil, put more people back to work, and ultimately help to curb the spike in gas[oline] prices that we’re seeing year after year after year.”

– President Obama. Cushing, Oklahoma (March 22, 2012)

Eight years ago, with oil prices high and the body politic restless, President Obama gave a speech in the oil boondocks, specifically in Cushing, Oklahoma. At the central hub for American crude oil pipelines, he pitched his Administration’s record on oil and gas as if he was a friend, not a conniving foe.…