The Institute for Energy Research: Becoming a Full Time Organization (Part III)

By -- October 5, 2021 No Comments

Ed. note: The third part in this series covers IER as a full-time organization, which occurred in 2002, some 13 years after its founding (in 1989). Part I covered the history of the Institute for Humane Studies–Texas, the forerunner to IER. Part II reviewed the formation and early history of IER in Houston, Texas.

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Q1. Roger Donway: The last interview explained your dual life as a full-time employee of Enron Corp. and the president of the “think bucket” IER. How did IER emerge full time?

A1. Robert Bradley Jr.: My Enron life ended a day after the company declared bankruptcy on Sunday December 1, 2001. I was part of the mass layoff the next day. Some 4,000 of us were let go where we were told to clear out our desks and leave.

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Nuclear Power: A Free Market View

By Jane Shaw Stroup -- September 9, 2021 1 Comment

Ed. Note: This interview with Robert L. Bradley Jr. by Jane Shaw Stroup appeared earlier this week at the Liberty and Ecology website of the Goodman Institute for Public Policy Research. Comments are welcomed, including new questions to clarify the role of nuclear power in a free economy.

Q1. What role should nuclear power have in the years ahead?

A. “Let the market decide” is the straightforward classical-liberal, free-market answer. This means government neutrality in terms of not subsidizing or penalizing one energy technology versus another to determine what, when, where.

The decision to build new capacity, or the decision to operate-versus-retire, should be based on stand-alone economics, without government favor or penalty.

Q2. Under this standard, what is the future of nuclear in the energy mix as far as new capacity?

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Walzel Strikes for Climate Realism (Houston Chronicle interview fair, telling)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 2, 2021 2 Comments

“But in the nearly 4,000-page study, skeptics note, the term “low confidence” — jargon for findings where there is conflicting evidence — occurs almost 1,400 times. The term “likely” — which could mean a degree of certainty as low as 66 percent — appears thousands of times, including as to whether major hurricanes have increased in frequency since the 1980s.” (Jim Osborne, Houston Chronicle below)

The title of the featured story is loaded. The interview started from the premise of climate alarmism. But one Jim Walzel, 84 years young, did just fine in making the point that climate science is quite unsettled and not indicative of crisis–just like previous scares he has witnessed in his long lifetime.

James Osborne’s “These skeptics believe in climate change. Why is it so hard to convince them catastrophe is coming?”

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“Energy Facism” (Rothbard 1974 speaks to us today)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 16, 2021 No Comments

“When the black day of August 15, 1971 arrived, we free-market economists predicted that shortages of all sorts of products would result from the price control…. On the day of the freeze, everything seem[ed] to be functioning smoothly, and so the general mood [was] one of euphoric success.”

“When Tricky Dick imposed Phase I in August, 1971, price inflation was proceeding at something like a rate of 4% per year. Now, after 4 1/2 ‘phases’ of varying degrees of price dictation, and continued monetary inflation by the government, we are suffering a price inflation rate of something like 10% per year.”

August 15, 1971, was the day that President Richard Nixon shocked the country, and indeed the world, with a price control order. Everything—all goods and services, as well as wages and interest rates—were frozen for 90 days.…

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Denton, TX: Grid Reliability Sinks Renewables

By -- August 4, 2021 No Comments Continue Reading

California Electricity Woes: More Intervention, Higher Prices, More Emissions (the back side of wind and solar)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 3, 2021 No Comments Continue Reading

“Off Target”: Bad Economics of the Climate Crusade (mitigation not supported by mainstream analysis)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 30, 2021 No Comments Continue Reading

Field Notes on the Futile Climate Crusade

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 27, 2021 1 Comment Continue Reading

Martis vs. Smucker: Industrial Wind on Defense

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 16, 2021 2 Comments Continue Reading

John Hofmeister: Shell Oil-ex a Stain on Oil and Gas

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 7, 2021 1 Comment Continue Reading