“With the exception of EPA’s Dr. Allan Carlin, I have never encountered a published view of a federal employee questioning that catastrophic climate change is caused by carbon dioxide. The penalties from this conflict are too severe of loss of pay increases, promotions, or dismissal.”
In the past few weeks, statements of scientists challenging the hypothesis that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels is causing catastrophic global warming are being criticized on ad hominem grounds. The charge is that there exists an inherent conflict-of-interest, owingto their sources of income, specifically income from fossil-fuel companies or pro-fossil-fuel organizations otherwise.
The starting point (it was surely orchestrated) was the attack on Dr. Willie Soon by the February 21, 2015 New York Times article, “Deeper Ties to Corporate Cash for Doubtful Climate Researcher,” by Justin Gillis and John Schwartz.…
Continue Reading“To demonstrate the challenge offshore wind is having, 12 companies qualified to bid but only two submitted bids. Although the four leases were in the heart of some of the windiest areas of the U.S., they are further south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Island. But being in deeper water than the stymied Cape Wind project located to the north, their development and operating costs will be considerably greater.”
In furtherance of the wind power push, the administration has been working to expand wind-favorable regions for development. One region receiving a high-level of attention is offshore the East Coast. In addition to the advertised push to develop offshore wind power as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the governors of several of the East Coast states foresaw an opportunity to build a new industry that would employ thousands of residents.…
Continue Reading[Editor Note: MasterResource has reviewed Alex Epstein’s The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels before, but new reviews are welcomed to better appreciate and promote one of the most important books of its genre (energy realism) since Julian Simon’s The Ultimate Resource (1981). For futher information about this review and its author, see below.]
Who would argue that producing and using fossil fuels is not only not shameful, but also positively virtuous? Alex Epstein would. And he has done so eloquently and thoroughly in his book, The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels.
Epstein aptly summarizes his book with its final sentence (p. 209): “Mankind’s use of fossil fuels is supremely virtuous—because human life is the standard of value, and because using fossil fuels transforms our environment to make it wonderful for human life.”…
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