Sixty Minutes on the Kiddie Climate Lawsuit: Hypocrisy Squared

By Robert Endlich -- March 18, 2019 7 Comments

CBS producer Mihaljevic says not a word to suggest that a kid living on a barrier island anywhere along the hurricane-prone Atlantic coast today somehow faces environmental threats not confronted by kids on the Atlantic or Gulf Coast mainland. Indeed, the CBS video of young Levi Draheim was shot on a sunny day with light winds, an ideal beach day with nary a hurricane or thunderstorm in sight, leaving the subtle impression that the only threat he should fear is seas that are rising ever faster because of manmade climate change.

On 3 March 2019 the popular CBS Sixty Minutes newsmagazine featured a story on the Climate  Kids’ lawsuit, Juliana vs. the United States. It included a feature-length segment by CBS Correspondent Steve Croft, and smaller segments in the “Sixty Minutes Overtime” also directly available at the same link.…

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Nixon Price Controls and Exiting Paris: A Bad Analogy (enslaved vs. freed energy)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 13, 2017 1 Comment

“Until last week, Richard Nixon was responsible for the two worst-conceived American energy policies. On June 1, Donald Trump’s announcement of U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords displaced all competitors as the worst presidential initiative on energy in our nation’s history.”

– Hakes, “Quitting the Paris Climate Pact in Historical Perspective” (June 6, 2017)

“Historian Hakes got it exactly backwards. President Nixon violated economic law by imposing federal pricing on energy; President Trump removed an impetus to federal pricing for carbon-dioxide (CO2). Only if Trump had stayed in Paris would the Nixon analogy come into play.”

His bio line at Real Clear Energy reads: Jay Hakes is an energy historian who has worked for three presidents on energy issues. Experience aside, Mr. Hakes made just about the worst analogy possible regarding Donald Trump’s courageous decision to withdraw the United States from the redistributionist, toothless, ill-conceived Paris climate agreement.…

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Glenn Schleede: Some Tributes (A long energy career that history will judge sustainable)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 23, 2017 5 Comments

“Glenn took the time – time he could’ve chose to spend out on the golf course – to put together papers which served as tutorials to help all of us understand the complex terminologies and issues we would have to become familiar with if we were to be successful at deterring the industrialization of our respective regions via the industrial wind scam.”

– Mary Kay Barton (below)

“Glenn Schleede remains, along with Tom Tanton, a mentor first among equals. And he’s the most decent man I know.”

– Jon Boone (below)

“In the most trying debates, Glenn had an uncanny ability to focus on the big picture yet explain nuances to the novice and expert alike. He always shared his knowledge with compassion and passion. ”

– Tom Tanton (below)

Glenn R. …

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“The Energy Crisis of the 1970s: Looking Back, Looking Ahead” (Econ 101 needed at RFF seminar)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 4, 2016 8 Comments

“Economists may not know much. But we know one thing very well: how to produce surpluses and shortages. Do you want a surplus? Have the government legislate a minimum price that is above the price that would otherwise prevail…. Do you want a shortage? Have the government legislate a maximum price that is below the price that would otherwise prevail.”

– Milton and Rose Friedman, Free to Choose (1979), p. 219.

Tomorrow (October 5, 2016), a book seminar will be held at Resources for the Future [register here] to revisit the lessons from the 1970s energy crisis. Panic at the Pump: The Energy Crisis and the Transformation of American Politics in the 1970s by Meg Jacobs will receive comments from three RFF scholars.

The Princeton historian and author usefully provides a good deal of archival documentation surrounding the ill-fated attempt by federal authorities to regulate the price and allocation of crude oil and oil products in the 1971–1981 era. …

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When Romm Blamed Reagan for “this energy mess” (Jimmy Carter lives!)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 12, 2016 No Comments Continue Reading

Epstein’s Truth to Boxer’s Power: An Energy Highlight of 2016

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 19, 2016 3 Comments Continue Reading

Jane Mayer on Energy Policy: Some Corrections

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 11, 2016 No Comments Continue Reading

‘Oil, Gas, and Government: the U.S. Experience’ (introduction to a 1996 classic)

By Robert Murphy -- June 17, 2015 8 Comments Continue Reading

Energy for a Free Society: The American Energy Act (IER/AEA)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 7, 2015 No Comments Continue Reading

‘Energy Independence’: A Dirty Dozen (Economist Grossman’s list)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 27, 2014 1 Comment Continue Reading