“In 2009, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., wrote in the Financial Times that increased natural gas use was the ‘first step towards saving our planet and jump-starting our economy.’ Last year, he changed course and called natural gas a ‘catastrophe‘.”
An environmental group that opposes fracking has deleted from its website a page that touted the land use benefits of horizontal drilling, a move that comes as activist groups increasingly focus on surface issues related to development, and as some cities debate whether to ban drilling based on those claims. The attempt to conceal prior support for drilling also reflects a trend among several activist organizations that used to promote natural gas.
The Washington, DC-based Earthworks – an aggressive anti-fracking group that has published or promoted several dubious reports suggesting harm from shale development – used to house a page entitled “Directional Drilling” on its website, which described how directional and horizontal drilling can actually reduce overall surface impacts from oil and gas development.…
Continue Reading“Each year, the Progressive Policy Institute publishes its list of ‘investment heroes’ – non-financial companies that are investing the most in the U.S. economy. Of the 25 companies that make up the Institute’s ‘investment heroes’ list this year, 10 are involved to some degree in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas or involved in energy distribution and power.”
“For decades now, the United States has pursued energy policies based on the fear of scarcity. The thinking in Washington, D.C. – and even at some energy companies – was that reviving domestic energy production was a dream…. Now, we need energy policies that are designed for this new era of abundance.”
ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson recently addressed the Greater Houston Partnership on the State of Energy. He paid homage to Houston, where ExxonMobil’s far flung operations are about to be brought together at one campus.…
Continue Reading“Over the past 15 years, the U.S. has spent $150 billion on global warming, and this year’s budget calls for another $18 billion. What do we have to show for all this spending – numerical models that can’t make accurate forecasts for 17 years and numerous failed green energy projects (i.e. bankrupt Solyndra that cost U.S. taxpayers a half-billion dollars)?”
– Neil Frank (Ph.D), Letter to the Editor, Houston Chronicle, October 3, 2014.
The mainstream media, including the Houston Chronicle in my hometown, has neglected to expose the falsified, exaggerated claims of climate alarmism. For example, no Chronicle reporter bothered to cover the expert-laden energy/climate conference hosted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation last month here in Houston, At The Crossroads: Energy & Climate Policy Summit.
Eric Berger, the paper’s science reporter, and yesteryear’s straight shooter on the skeptic-versus-alarmist climate debate, has largely disengaged (his last climate piece, at least according to his blog, was last Spring).…
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