Another erroneous description of the Institute for Energy Research (IER) from a Progressivist ‘hit-piece’ organization. This one comes from SourceWatch of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), self-described as follows:

The Center for Media and Democracy publishes SourceWatch to track corporations. We provide well-documented information about corporate public relations (PR) campaigns, including corporate front groups, people who “front” corporate campaigns, and PR operations.

This organization instructs readers to “check out the in-depth research from around the world by our partner projects within SourceWatch: Coal Swarm, and FrackSwarm.” But is the entry for IER well researched, up-to-date, and objectively accurate? No, no, and no.

The description (in yellow) follows with my comments/corrections:

The Institute for Energy Research (IER), founded in 1989 from a predecessor non-profit organization registered by Charles G.…

“Damage and destroy new CO2 emitting devices. Put them out of commission, pick them apart, demolish them, burn them, blow them up…. Sabotage, after all, is not incompatible with social distancing.” (Andreas Malm, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, 2021: 3, 67)

“How will Malm keep people from freezing to death in the winter or dying from heat exhaustion in summer after his followers have disabled power plants or the pipelines that supply them?” (below)

There are “no regrets” policy changes that can reduce CO2 emissions by expanding, not reducing, freedom. Repealing the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (aka, the Jones Act), for example, would eliminate the Act’s enormous carbon footprint. The Act, which requires goods shipped between American ports to be transported on American owned, built, and crewed ships, makes it impossible for Americans to make full use of the veritable conveyor belt of ships that navigate our nations’ waters. …

Ed. note: MasterResource is closely associated with the worldview and example of Julian Simon (1932–1998). But a second influence would certainly be that of economist Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973), born on this day 140 years ago.

Below, Robert Bidinotto’s “Von Mises: A Final Salute.” Unbound! Boston: Individuals for a Rational Society 2, no. 1 (September-October 1973): 1–2 is reprinted with permission of the author.

A surprisingly fair obituary in the New York Times (October 11, 1973) follows that of Bidinotto below. I then conclude with a final observation.

“The scope and content of von Mises’ work boggle the imagination. He was easily the greatest economist of this century, and the list of his original achievements in that science rivals that of anyone since Adam Smith.”

Our age may well be labeled by future historians as “the Age of Mediocrity.”…

It is past time that Wiki correct a significant factual error and tone down the bias of its entry for The Institute for Energy Research. I and others have failed to persuade them. This post is dedicated to the same attempt at fairness.

In my social media discussions and debates, my opponents do a quick check on the Institute for Energy Research (IER) to fire back at my criticisms. One from this week follows, an exchange prompted by a mention of “Deadwood Releasing 10.9 Gigatons of Carbon Every Year – More Than All Fossil Fuel Emissions Combined“:

Bradley: Leave fossil fuels alone then…. Energy density is key.

Paul Bryan: EXACTLY the fallacious argument that the propaganda was designed to promote. Well done! But hardly surprising coming from IER:

“IER is often described as a front group for the fossil fuel industry. It…