On the Fall of Enron and Ken Lay: ‘Philosophic Fraud’ at an Errant Energy Company (and cap-and-trade, renewables forerunner)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 10, 2009 3 Comments

[Editor note: This interview with Rob Bradley from the April 2006 issue of The New Individualist, published by The Atlas Society, is reproduced for two reasons: 1) the role of Lay and Enron in launching the global warming debate within the energy industry in the late 1980s and 1990s; 2) the role of Bradley during his 16 years at the company brought up by critics of the Institute for Energy Research/American Energy Alliance.]

TNI: Why should Objectivists, libertarians, and individualists take an interest in the collapse of Enron and particularly in the fall of Ken Lay?

Bradley: Enron will prove to be one of the most important episodes in the history of American business, and its story, from beginning to end, is inseparable from Ken Lay, its founder and long-time chairman.…

Response to ‘Peak Oil’ Critics (the hydrocarbon age is still young: plan accordingly)

By Michael Lynch -- August 31, 2009 43 Comments

[Editor note: Mr. Lynch’s op-ed in the New York Times last week stirred a good deal of comment and disagreement from “peak oil” proponents. His response is here]

The publication of my op-ed on peak oil in the New York Times brought forth the usual tidal wave of criticism. The Oil Drum went so far as to put up a separate page for comments, and Joseph Romm issued a ‘challenge’ to me to wager on oil prices. (For an executed bet coming due next year, see the appendix below.)

Responding to each and every comment, or even the main ones, would be a Herculean (and Sisyphean) task, so I will (here) make some hopefully useful observations.

First, I apologize to Fatih Birol for lumping him in with the peak oil advocates.…

More Deceit from Climate Progress, Center for American Progress (Is Joe Romm shooting himself in the foot?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 25, 2009 5 Comments

“Sorry to bother you with this. See the attached pieces. Rob [Bradley] is obviously not a fan of renewables or the global warming issue. Unfortunately, he works for a company that is.”

– Tom White (CEO, Enron Renewables Energy Corp.) to Ken Lay (CEO, Enron Corp.), June 8, 1998

Joe Romm, for the fifth time (the previous four are here, here, here, and here) has purposely obscured the record of my association with Enron in an attempt to discredit the Institute for Energy Research. I founded IER in 1989, in fact, to give myself an independent voice in the energy policy debate. And I used IER to challenge my employer Enron on the issues of climate alarmism and government-dependent renewable-energy investments.

Here is Romm’s headline from yesterday’s Climate Progress:

The latest polluter front group trying to kill the clean energy bill is overseen by a proud former shill for a man convicted on fraud and conspiracy charges

Romm’s angst is centered on the American Energy Express bus tour sponsored by the American Energy Alliance, which is affiliated with IER.…