“A properly functioning market … simply needs clear price signals, enforceable property rights, and the freedom for buyers and sellers to contract with one another…. The Public Utility Commission of Texas effectively imposed a $26.3 billion monopoly tax on Texans by overriding the market signals the Legislature had said should govern the system.”
Recent reports on the collapse of Fermi’s stock price should get the attention of anyone watching Texas’ rapidly growing demand for electricity. Here was a company promising massive new generation—tied to the surge in AI and data centers—only to see its stock price collapse. While Fermi may still succeed, there is a broader lesson for the Texas electric grid.
Texas needs more power. Projects like Fermi show the private sector is trying to respond. But too often, these efforts look like they are being forced to work around the grid rather than through it.…
Continue ReadingEditor’s Note: Today has been celebrated since 1970 as Earth Day. With the Progressive Left all but abandoning its significance, the opportunity is to rebrand April 22nd as Resourceful Earth Day. Human ingenuity, despite Statism, has proven optimist/realist Julian Simon correct, as noted by CEI founder and longtime head Fred Smith in this 1999 tribute.
“The problems of famine, overpopulation, poverty, and disease are resolvable. In fact, they have been resolved in the United States and other places where human ingenuity is free to solve them.”
April 22, once associated with the optimism of revolutionary Marxism (as the birthday of Lenin) and then with the pessimism of modern Malthusianism (environmentalism’s Earth Day since 1970), merits redemption. A new label, Resourceful Earth Day, is appropriate as we enter the 21st century, a title selected to honor mankind’s increasing ability to solve environmental as well as economic problems.…
Continue ReadingEditor’s Note: Free-market energy advocate Todd M. Lindley is running for a board position at Anchorage-based Chugach Electric Association, the largest power distributor in the state.
On April 29, voting opens for Chugach Electric to elect two board members who will determine the future of the utility. A reset in the name of energy exceptionalism is needed.
Much of the policy adopted in recent years has favored organizations that invest in alternative energy. For an electric utility that serves more than 90,000 rate payers, this strategy is shortsighted and heavily reliant on regulation to even the playing field with traditional energy sources. This is not a sustainable path, nor does it provide an economy of scale to address risks associated with generation and transmission in Alaska. After voting opens, rate payers have a chance to accept the status quo and get more of the same or take a risk and make a change at the May 29 election.…
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