U.S. Fossil Fuel Environmentalism: EPA Air Quality Statistics

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 8, 2026

A tweet from the Institute for Energy Research (IER) shared the latest from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with the comment:

From 1970 to 2023, U.S. emissions of six criteria air pollutants declined 78% while GDP grew 321% and energy consumption rose 42%—consistent with the Environmental Kuznets Curve and driven by wealth creation and market incentives rather than central planning.

This progress can be traced back to 1970:

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[1] The 1970 Clean Air Act required the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for common pollutants, known as criteria pollutants, to protect public health. The original list of six, finalized by 1971, are Carbon Monoxide; Lead; Nitrogen Dioxide; Ozone; Particulate Matter; Sulfur Dioxide.…

Alarmist Fussing at NYT Climate Reporting

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 7, 2026

“… Instead of reporting on this, [Lisa Friedman and Maxine Joselow] present this as a horse race with one side gaining significant ground, and the other on the verge of losing mightily, though they also … [let] statements like ‘hoax’ or ‘green new scam’ go unanswered. It’s not quite yellow journalism but it is not without a heavy amber hue.” – Chris Wilke, Center for Environmental Law & Policy

“Great reporting by Lisa Friedman and Maxine Joselow [“Trump Allies Near ‘Total Victory’ in Wiping Out U.S. Climate Regulation,” New York Times (February 9, 2026)] on the long campaign by four hardcore climate deniers to take down the Endangerment Finding,” wrote Jeff Goodell on social media. The leading author of climate alarmist books and articles continued:

Forget the idea of energy policy based on abundance.

California’s Climate Overreach

By Edward Ring -- May 6, 2026

“The Affordable Insurance and Recovery Act (SB 982) would impose liability on fossil fuel companies for ‘climate-attributable damages,’ expected to be assessed in billions of dollars. It would empower California’s attorney general to sue the state’s oil companies without even needing to prove fault, negligence, or specific causation by an individual company.”

California is strangling its own energy base—then blaming oil companies for the predictable fallout of shortages, wildfires, and policies built on ideology instead of economics.

Even if the most dire climate scenarios are accurate, and humanity must transition away from fossil fuel, it can’t happen overnight. The rational approach is to first develop alternative sources of energy without precipitously destroying the industries that reliably produce oil and natural gas. Once alternatives are available at a competitive price and in sufficient quantities, demand naturally migrates to the alternatives.…