Cornwell Alliance Petition for EPA Administrator Nominee (real environmentalism, not dogma)
By E. Calvin Beisner -- January 7, 2017“Some radical environmentalists and religious activists oppose Mr. Pruitt because he does not embrace their exaggerated fears of human-induced global warming—fears that go well beyond the empirical evidence crucial to genuine science—or their antipathy to the development of the abundant, reliable, affordable energy indispensable to lifting and keeping whole societies out of poverty and the disease and premature death that invariably accompany it.”
January 5, 2017
Dear President-elect Donald J. Trump:
We write to you as evangelical and mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish scientists, economists, legal scholars, policy experts, and religious leaders in support of your nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to the office of Administrator of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA has the crucial task of writing and enforcing regulations that apply statutes passed by Congress and signed by the President to protect the life and health of Americans.…
Continue Reading“Market Conservation vs. Government Conservationism: Understanding the Limits to Energy Efficiency and ‘New-Economy’ ESCOs” (2009 post questions intellectual foundations of efficiency mandates today)
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 5, 2017Editor Note: The post below, published at MasterResource in June 2009, has profound challenges for the notion that self-interested business underinvests in energy efficiency, giving a “market failure” rationale for government investments in and mandates for energy efficiency. This post introduced the term conservationism to differentiate government conservation from market conservation. It also documents the market failure of Joe Romm’s shuttered nonprofit, the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions.
… Continue Reading“Enter the energy outsourcing model of energy service companies (ESCOs) in the 1990s, widely heralded as a ‘new economy’ breakthrough and a new feature of ‘natural capitalism’. Enron Energy Services (EES), in particular, the energy outsourcing division of the late Enron, was the next great thing…. ‘ESCOs are DEFINITELY the future,’ exclaimed Joe Romm. ‘I intend to work with the big ones to transform the market, which I think will take about two or three years.’
Direct-Use Natural Gas Needs a Free Market Too (‘deep decarbonization’ easy target for elimination in new policy era)
By Mark Krebs -- January 4, 2017“The basic strategy of deep decarbonization is to ‘electrify everything’ because, theoretically, someday soon, wind and solar could affordably displace all fossil fuels. The analytical basis of such beliefs, however, comes up radically short.”
“Alternatives to electricity should also be given a fair chance to compete for consumers—free of regulatory bias.”
“The economics of natural gas direct use is also superior to natural gas via the electric grid because it is far less capital intensive.”
The Rolling Stones song playing in the background during President-Elect Trump’s victory speech contained an important message to the American People:
“You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes well you might find you get what you need.”
Something else the American people need is the continued right to choose natural gas for their homes and businesses.…
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