The Wood et al. op-ed/policy analysis is a whitewash of epic proportions. Maybe the Titanic did not sink, and renewables forcing was not the iceberg behind Texas’s failed electricity grid in February.

Why did natural gas underperform during the Texas power crisis? Why did Atlas Shrug? Incentives matter.

The RMS Titanic sank, and the Electric Reliability Commission of Texas (ERCOT) failed in an ocean of government intervention. But you would scarcely know the latter from the narrative offered by experts, regulators, planners, and heads at the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), the governing body behind ERCOT.

The narrative is predictable. Natural gas was the problem. Corrective regulation from the Texas Legislature and the PUCT is needed. ERCOT needs a promotion with more experts and planners. Fine tuning, not fundamental reform.…

MasterResource memorialized many of President Trump’s energy and climate speeches. Similarly, we will document major addresses by President Biden on the same subject. The policy activism outlined in Biden’s address below rivals that of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter in the annals of “crisis” legislating.

“Today is ‘Climate Day’ at the White House and — which means that today is ‘Jobs Day’ at the White House.  We’re talking about American innovation … the health of our families and cleaner water, cleaner air, and cleaner communities … national security and America leading the world in a clean energy future.”

“The first [executive] order I’m signing is tackling the climate crisis at home and abroad.”

– “Remarks by President Biden Before Signing Executive Actions on Tackling Climate Change, Creating Jobs, and Restoring Scientific Integrity” (January 27, 2021)

Good afternoon, everybody. …

“There are far too few heroes and far too many failures in the history of presidential energy politics.”

Who can claim to be a true energy President from a pro-consumer, pro-taxpayer, pro-free-market perspective?

Which U.S. heads qualify for an anti-energy label for violating economics 101–and endangering the health and welfare of all of us who rely on the MasterResource?

Of the 30 or so candidates in the Lincoln-to-Biden era (the first commercial oil well dates from 1859), just a few names compete for the best, while many more vie for the worst.

Two Best: Trump and Reagan

The best two from a classical liberal perspective are Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan. A third candidate just does not come to mind, certainly in the modern energy era.…

There is no “natural” or geological crisis; there is an enormous political one. It is in the nature of a mixed economy that its policies are rationally inexplicable.

The filling stations of the universities have dried up long ago and have been peddling a corrosive mix that paralyzes the brains of the nation. If you want to fight pollution, start with the philosophy departments; and if you want to refuel–well, look for new sources of energy.

– Ayn Rand, The Energy Crisis, Part I and Part II (November 1973) [1]

Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum, known to the world as Ayn Rand, was born 115 years ago in Saint Petersburg, Russian. She died in New York City on March 6, 1982. Best known as a novelist, she wrote on contemporary issues later in life.…