Fossil-fuel BP vs. Fossil Fuels (a contra-capitalist company at work)

“… we have set ourselves the ambition to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner and to help the world get to net zero…. We will need support from partners, investors, policy makers, customers – and trade associations…. (Bernard Looney, CEO, BP, 2020)

“BP’s $100-million annual investment in clean energy equals only about 1 percent of the company’s overall expenditures of $12.5 billion.  While this positions the company to gain market share in a growing industry, it does little to reduce vulnerability to policies that reduce demand for carbon-intensive products.” (Seth Dunn and Christopher Flavin, 2002, p. 41)

BP is a fossil-fuel company with token investments in solar, wind, and biofuels. The new CEO, Bernard Looney, is taking the company back to the John Browne’s “beyond petroleum” days.…

Green New Deal 2: “A Green Stimulus to Rebuild Our Economy” (the intellectual virus continues)

“We must also begin planning our economic recovery in a way that protects us from the impact of climate change and … accelerates a just transition off fossil fuels….”

“The ideas here draw on proposals from a range of Democratic primary campaigns, in particular those of Corey Booker, Julian Castro, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Jay Inslee, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, and Elizabeth Warren.”

Reproduced below is an “Open Letter and Call to Action to Members of Congress” by a ad hoc group advertising itself as “climate and social policy experts in academia and civil society.” Signatories include

• Deep ecologist and New Yorker writer Bill McKibben;
• Climate campaigner, author, and ‘intellectual godmother of the Green New Deal‘ Naomi Klein; and
• Obama-era EPA Administrator, Harvard Professor and NRDC head Gina McCarthy; and

While fringe, the 5,000-word manifesto is noteworthy as an example of the latest Green New Deal thinking.…

The SPR: Consumer ‘Insurance’ or Producer Cronyism? (time to privatize)

Expanding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would be throwing good money after bad. Instead of remaining a valuable asset mired in the political swamp, the SPR can be turned into an entrepreneurial asset. The reserve can be privatized by selling off either the entire operation or its individual parts. – RLB (1991)

Good analysis passes the test of time. And since policy activism has a long history, the past is prologue. MasterResource has documented the false claims of energy Malthusianism in this regard.

The excerpt below, nearing a quarter-century of age, concerns the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), a forgotten, obsolete oil stockpile that could disappear tomorrow and hardly be noticed by the market. Created by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (one of many energy-crises laws), the SPR began operations in 1977.…

“How Embarrassing. This Is a National Emergency” Wind and Solar try a 11th hour sneak

Obama’s Trumpian Oil Moment Eight Years Ago

McKibben goes McKibben on COVID-19 (Malthusians get ‘dizzy’ about the human scourge)

Normalizing Bill McKibben (New Yorker hands the pen to fringe deep ecologist)

Trillion Trees Act = Central Forestry Planning (ready for carbon, sustainability credits?)

“There Are No Natural Resources” (Boudreaux on Simon’s ‘ultimate resource’)

Carbon Protectionism: ‘The Mother of All Trade Issues’