In Memoriam, Thomas Roger DeGregori (1935–2025)

Pierre Desrochers

Tom DeGregori, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Houston whose work has been discussed on a few occasions on this blog, passed away a few days ago. Thousands of people knew him better than me (we only met twice), but he became an occasional correspondent nearly three decades ago after I had serendipitously come across his work on technological change on the bookshelves of the Université de Montréal while researching my doctoral dissertation.

I was hooked and tried to get my hands on anything he had published in defense of human creativity and material progress, including modern agriculture. At first my readings were limited to his articles in the Journal of Economic Issues and other academic outlets then available at my alma mater.…

The intellectual and practical case for separating government and electricity is strong. The historical record offers little support for “market failure”–quite the opposite. The laws of physics do not preclude private ownership and control of assets in this area unless you assume mandatory open access–Lynne Kiesling’s Ostrom trick–to make private operation of control areas problematic. [1]

So I labor against faux classical liberals/think tanks that offer suggestion after suggestion to try to make government planned ISO/RTO’s work. But the fix is in with the guilty who refuse to seriously consider a free market in electricity.

Two exchanges with my critics follow. One is with Michael Giberson, a “Right” central planner; the other with Robert Borlick, a Progressive Left central planner.

Michael Giberson Exchange

Giberson posted on his regulatory filing:

The DOJ Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force requested comments on how state and federal regulations act to impair competition.

“The consolation prize for a lot of us is that Joe Romm is so extreme and unprofessional that his cause of “Hell and High Water” suffers. Climate change is exaggerated and nefarious, just like Joe Romm himself.

MasterResource has followed the mercurial climate alarmist/activist Joe Romm since its beginning (2007). Back in the late 1990s, I sparred with Romm while I was at Enron, (“a company I greatly respect,” said he) regarding what turned out to be its most deceitful business, one promising free-lunch energy efficiency. Enron Energy Services (EES) and Romm’s Center for Energy and Climate Solutions (CECS) both bit the dust. For-profit or non-profit, the “energy service company” (ESCO) was a mirage.

Romm has referred to me as a “sociopath” in a private email.…

“The phrase ‘non-alarmist’ suggests that climate science is exaggerated or hysterical, rather than rooted in rigorous research. You may also re-consider your brazen ‘comment flooding‘ strategy: I will block any of you adding your usual anti-science tirades & nonsense.” (- Zsolt Lengyel, February 14, 2025)

And he did just that, but not before I copied some things for the record. History matters, and the history of climate alarm is one of exaggeration and intolerance toward the loyal opposition.

Climate activist (zealot?) Zsolt Lengyel [profile now blocked to me] describes himself as:

Policy-focused climate action dinosaur – having worked on the World’s two pioneering Kyoto Protocol flexible mechanism JI/CDM programmes, the Prototype Carbon Fund of the World Bank and the Dutch Government’s Carboncredit.nl – ERUPT/CERUPT – but with a fresh mind assuming that the future is not what will happen, but what we will do.