[Editor Note: Advertising for the premier energy conference CERAWeek 2018 is in full swing. Two years ago, Daniel Yergin was urged to invite Alex Epstein to present the moral case for fossil fuels. Today, with fossil fuels on the ascent, it is surely time to feature the world’s hottest energy philosopher. Thus, this February 22, 2016, post is reprinted verbatim.
“If good and evil are measured by the standard of human well-being and human progress, we must conclude that the fossil fuel industry is not a necessary evil to be restricted but a superior good to be liberated.”
“We don’t need green energy–we need humanitarian energy.”
– Alex Epstein, “At CERAWeek Fossil Fuel Leaders Should Make A Moral Case For Their Industry,” Forbes.com., February 18, 2016.
For many years, make that decades, I have noted Daniel Yergin’s political bias at the annual CERA conference here in Houston.…
“And now that the Obama era has turned into the Age of Trump, each has reaped a modicum of fame (but not fortune!) by tiptoeing into the mainstream of today’s energy/climate debate.”
There are no MacArthur awards for our side of the energy and climate debate. But there are individuals that deserve a place in the history of energy thought and related public policy. These persons have blazed the trail where courage and patience, not only scholarship, were required. And now that the Obama era has turned into the Age of Trump, each has reaped a modicum of fame (but not fortune!) by tiptoeing into the mainstream of today’s energy/climate debate.
I have identified twelve (12) worthy individuals, presented in alphabetical order. This list should in no way diminish the contributions of the rest of us (including the present writer).…
“There remains much to do in 2018. But the crony energies–those dependent on special government favor–are on notice that their time may be running short. Consumers and taxpayers come first in a free and prosperous commonwealth.”
It has been a good year for the master resource and public policy in the United States. The Trump reset of energy and climate policy has been the most dramatic in history in terms of free-market orientation. Trump’s reversing the Obama administration is what Ronald Reagan did to the Carter Administration’s energy policy back in 1981–but more so.
At yesterday’s White House briefing, Sarah Huckabee Sanders reviewed some of the energy highlights of the year.
“As December winds down,’ she said, “I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to look back at what has been, by any measure, a historic year.”…