Ed. Note: From time to time, MasterResource reaches back in energy history to document bad governmental ideas. The example before is surprisingly recent–just before the shale revolution destroyed the case for synthetic oil and gas (not to mention wind, solar, and even nuclear in power generation) as market-competitive.

“In March [2006], the [U.S. Department of] Energy Secretary, Samuel K. Bodman, said in a speech that making diesel fuel or jet fuel from coal was ‘one of the most exciting areas’ of research and could be crucial to the President’s [George W. Bush] goal of cutting oil imports.” (below)

Synthetic oil and gas: World War II, Korean War, postwar, 1970s. All projects a failure, completed or suspended-in-construction. But a last hurrah came in 2006, a period when none other than George W.…

It began early. In a candidate questionnaire in March 2016, Trump answered two key questions presented by the free-market American Energy Alliance:

“8). Do you support a carbon tax? Do you support the Obama administration’s use of the social cost of carbon in rulemakings?

A. No and No.

 9). Do you think federal agencies have abused the cost-benefit process to suit their political agenda? Would your administration end the process of underestimating costs and inflating benefits of agency regulations?

A. Yes and Yes.”

And in his first energy speech in May 2016, Trump stated:

“And if Crooked Hillary can shut down the mines, she can shut down your business too.”

“These actions have denied millions of Americans access to the energy wealth sitting under our feet. This is your treasure, and you – the American People – are entitled to share in the riches.”

“The truth is that there is no way to avoid the pain of high energy prices. There are no easy solutions, and no way for us to continue living as we have in the past. Changes are on the way. Deal with it.”

At MasterResource, we occasionally re-post old pieces by classical liberals on energy and the environment to show how timeless our insights are. And oppositely, we document the extremist statements (gaffes?) and falsified predictions of the Malthusians, particularly climate alarmists.

Back in June 2008, Texas A&M climate scientist/activist Andrew Dessler (the subject of numerous critical analyses here at MasterResource), published a short piece in Grist, “What the Next President Should Say.” That next president would be Barack Obama, who did say “electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket” from his cap-and-trade plan.…

“In Green Party terms, acceptable energies are wind, solar, ocean, small-scale hydro, and geothermal power. Nuclear is out as much as oil, natural gas, and coal. So is ‘dirty clean energy,’ defined as ‘biomass incineration (trees, crops, construction debris and certain types of waste), landfill gas and many types of biofuels.'”

Yesterday’s post examined the Green Party’s climate platform for the 2020 election. The Green Party’s Emergency Green New Deal joins Biden’s Green New Deal and the OAC/Sanders Green New Deal, each is designed to eliminate fossil fuels and go to a new (really old) energy future.

In Green Party terms, acceptable energies are wind, solar, ocean, small-scale hydro, and geothermal power. Nuclear is out as much as oil, natural gas, and coal. So is “dirty clean energy,” defined as “biomass incineration (trees, crops, construction debris and certain types of waste), landfill gas and many types of biofuels.”…