“Construction of the advanced ‘European Pressurized Reactor’ (EPR) at Flamanville began in 2007. It was projected to come into service in 2012 at a cost of $3.4 billion. The final cost, according to (Électricité de France) is about $13.7 billion.”

Last month (December 21), the 1,600-MW Flamanville nuclear power plant near Normandy (below) began delivering electricity to the French and European grid. It became the first new unit in France’s once-aggressive nuclear power program since 1996. The new reactor becomes the 57^th in the French fleet.

EDF (Électricité de France) the French state-owned electric utility, was once seen as at the forefront of nuclear power, ahead in many ways of even the U.S., which has had its own troubles moving beyond its initial nuclear boom times. No more.

Construction of the advanced “European Pressurized Reactor” or EPR at Flamanville began in 2007.…

“Rob’s snide reference to my ‘chess pieces’ is a reference to my unwillingness to agree with his Utopian dismissal of ISO/RTO organized wholesale markets.” (Lynne Kiesling to Vernon Smith, below)

“Yes, playing with government chess pieces (on-grid solar, wind, batteries, ‘smart’ meters) and a centrally planned wholesale market is Statism writ large.” (Robert Bradley to Kiesling, below)

Electricity specialist Lynne Kiesling champions herself as a classical liberal, free-market advocate. But she is just the opposite and relies on obfuscation and charm to advocate and sell

1) government central planning of wholesale electricity and

2) government-enabled wind, solar, and batteries in place of least-cost (central-station) electricity.

It is her “synthetic regulation” or the highway, premised on a belief that there cannot be private property rights to grid electricity.

This woman of system will not forthrightly define what a free market is with electricity.…

“Vanderbilt forest management set the stage for the U.S. Forest Service and the way it manages timber. Whether that was good remains in doubt.”

It makes a good story. In the late 1800s demand for wood was insatiable—for houses, for ships, for railroad ties. Americans were logging trees all over the country, then moving on to another forest, leaving ugly cutover land behind them. President Theodore Roosevelt expressed fear of a “timber famine.” Trees are being destroyed, he said, “far more rapidly than they are being replaced.” [1] Peak Trees? Peak Forestry? The same was being said for petroleum and other resources.

George Vanderbilt (grandson of “robber baron” Cornelius Vanderbilt) came to the rescue. Vanderbilt’s mansion near Asheville, North Carolina, was built on forest land, much of it already logged.  Vanderbilt hired a young man, Gifford Pinchot, to manage about 125,000 acres around the Biltmore estate, with the goals of making money while restoring and protecting the forest.…

“In all, a New York Times analysis … counts nearly 100 environmental rules officially reversed, revoked or otherwise rolled back under Mr. Trump. More than a dozen other potential rollbacks remained in progress by the end but were not finalized by the end of the administration’s term.” (- Coral Davenport. NYT)

With Trump 47 just ahead, a look back at Trump 45 energy and environmental policies is timely. This stocktaking by the New York Times (Coral Davenport, “The Trump Administration Rolled Back More than 100 Environmental Rules,” January 22, 2021) counted 98 rollbacks that were completed, with 14 in process.

“Over four years, the Trump administration dismantled major climate policies and rolled back many more rules governing clean air, water, wildlife and toxic chemicals,” Davenport began.

In all, a New York Times analysis, based on research from Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School and other sources, counts nearly 100 environmental rules officially reversed, revoked or otherwise rolled back under Mr.