Fossil fuels would never brag, but they offer more versatility to create modern comforts than probably any other natural resource.

Fossil fuel [technology] … has made this quarantined Earth Day bearable.

– DEPA, “Earth Day; 50 Years of Overlooking Fossil Fuels,” April 22, 2020.

Last week, an Earth Day tribute by the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance (DEPA) went largely unnoticed. “Earth Day; 50 Years of Overlooking Fossil Fuels” noted how individuals of the upstream oil and gas industry are directly connected to the wilds of earth (and probably more so than the Washington DC staffers of the major environmental organizations who think that wind turbines and solar panels are environmentally preferable).

The piece highlighted the taken-for-granted goods and services made possible by fossil fuels.

DEPA’s 389-word tribute follows in its entirety.…

Roughly 3.3 billion people—about 45 percent of all the people on the planet—live in places where per-capita electricity consumption is less than 1,000 kilowatt-hours per year, or less than the amount used by my refrigerator.

By 2017, more than 6,600 coal-fired power plants, with a combined capacity of about 2,000 gigawatts, were operating around the globe…. Not only that, coal’s share of global electricity production has remained nearly constant, at about 40 percent, since the mid-1980s. Why is this? For the simple reason that coal is cheap and widely available.

Americans are currently facing significant uncertainty over how the drop in oil prices, the COVID-19 virus, and governments’ response to both will harm the economy and their long-term prosperity.

However, the harm caused by governments that limit access to affordable and reliable electricity is well understood.…

Don’t forget that just before the World was upended by coronavirus, we had another deep-decarbonization electrification bill: the 555-page American Energy Innovation Act (AEIA). 

Since “clean energy” unfairly discriminates against the leading (and clean) alternatives to electricity, this is contrary to the best interests of free markets and providing affordable energy for consumers.

Yes; another “stimulus” bill is possible and perhaps even likely. Expect Nancy Pelosi’s “Green New Deal” to be part of this effort given that the Senate and the President said NO to subsidies for solar panels and wind turbines in the CARES Act. 

Numerous special interests didn’t get their piece of the pie and were promised another shot in order to move the CARES Act out of the Senate.  It’s all politics, not consumer economics, for the pack of lobbyists in an election year, trading campaign contributions for legislative favors.…

“We write on behalf of our millions of members, supporters and employees to ask that you prioritize enacting a robust package of critical clean energy tax incentives this year. These incentives create jobs, boost energy independence and cut greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.” (Renewable Energy Groups, February 27, 2020)

“The fuel security provided by coal reserves at power plants offers resiliency to a system that is bracing for uncertainty, and it is imperative to keep these plants online—whether through the use of the Defense Production Act or other means—in the interest of national security.” (National Mining Association, March 18, 2020)

When government favor is offered to some businesses or industries, expect other businesses or industries to ask for the same–or more. In the current Pandemic, competing energy trade associations predictably wrote letters to lawmakers and have lobbied hard behind the scenes to get special treatment.…