“A Clean Energy Transition should be occurring but not with the RECKLESS STUPIDITY enhancing the possibility of Trump Again!” (Robert Bibbo, below)

Robert Bibbo, self-described environmental energy analyst and observer, lamented a while back on the growing popularity of Trump relative to President Biden. He stated:

This New York Times Poll Shows Trump Leading in 5 Battleground States. A Point In Time Not Election Day Certainty. Nevertheless! Never Ever Trumpers Should be Concerned.

Bibbo then brought in some historical analysis:

In 2016 The Democratic Brain Trust saddled Hilary with a Clean Power Plant 1 War on Coal. Krugman opines 2x (NYTs) that CPP 1 delivered PA, MI & WI (46 EC votes) to elect Trump45. In 2020 those 46 votes elected Biden. Heading into 2024 the Brain Trust has saddled Biden with a Clean Power Plan 2 War on Fossil Fuels.

Editor Note: On this day in 2017, President Trump announced that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord. On November 4, 2019, the U.S. formally notified the United Nations of such, which went into effect one year later. President Biden reversed the withdrawal to officially rejoin the Paris Agreement on his first day in office.

“Thus, as of today, the United States will cease all implementation of the non-binding Paris Accord and the draconian financial and economic burdens the agreement imposes on our country. This includes ending the implementation of the nationally determined contribution and, very importantly, the Green Climate Fund which is costing the United States a vast fortune.”

THE PRESIDENT: One by one, we are keeping the promises I made to the American people during my campaign for President …. …

Editor note: America the Beautiful is at her best in December when billions of tiny stringed light bulbs turn darkness into magnificent beauty and celebration. Holiday lighting is a great social offering—a positive externality in the jargon of economics—given by many to all. With the increasing sustainability of energy, beginning with the fossil-fuel family, celebrate with the lights on!

Forget the holiday-lighting humbug from the deep ecologists who say:

I’ve reached the point of feeling like a Scrooge; feeling outrage over the tons of C02 going into the atmosphere via neighbors’ 10,000 light displays rather than feeling ‘joyous’.”

And:

Actually, here comes the Scrooge bit.… But aside from light pollution, a substantial environmental footprint is created by what the Energy Saving Trust terms an ‘extravagant light display’, which translates into the generation of 400kg of extra CO₂….

“It is in the national interest to promote clean and safe development of our Nation’s vast energy resources, while at the same time avoiding regulatory burdens that unnecessarily encumber energy production, constrain economic growth, and prevent job creation.”

– President Trump, Executive Order (March 28, 2017)

Do you miss the prior Administration’s record on energy and climate–and push-back against environmental excesses otherwise?

With the Biden Administration scrambling to hoist an anti-consumer energy/climate agenda on Americans on short notice, it is important to keep the opportunity cost of free markets and America-first in mind.

Four years ago, President Trump signed into law one of the most libertarian, free-market executive orders in energy history, easily rivaling that of President Reagan’s oil price and allocation decontrol executive order of early 1981. Titled Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth, Executive Order 13783 began with this paragraph:

Section 1.