A Free-Market Energy Blog

The ‘New’ Confusion About Planning: T. Boone Pickens and Energy Public Policy

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 15, 2013

“[A]s my father liked to tell me, ‘Son, a fool with a plan can beat a genius with no plan any day.’ Right now, when it comes to America and our effort to achieve greater energy security, we’re a foolish nation without a plan.

If it were up to me, America’s energy plan would have ….”

– T. Boone Pickens, Leadership Absent on Energy Plan,” Omaha World-Herald, May 1, 2013.

“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine the can design.”

– F. A. Hayek, The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism (1988), p. 76.

T. Boone Pickens, the author and marketer of three national energy plans (see yesterday’s post), is a “man of system,” to use Adam Smith’s phrase from the mid-18th century.

Continue Reading

Pickens Plan III: More Retreat but Still Errant (SPR oil for nat gas)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 14, 2013

When it comes to energy, T. Boone Pickens esteems government planning. When asked about President Obama’s recent proposal for an Energy Security Trust, Pickens responded:

That starts to talk about a plan. He’s going to fund something to start something…. Make a plan … and do something different.

And low and behold, Pickens is crusading with yet another energy plan, his third in the last six years. As before, his animus is against Big Oil (see Appendix) and his fondness for personal dollars.

Pickens Plan III proposes that the federal government sell oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to jump-start the costly transition from oil to natural gas to fuel transportation. We don’t know the details yet, but T. Boone in March began pushing his new plan in the national media and local press.…

Continue Reading

AWED Energy & Environmental Newsletter: May 13, 2013

By -- May 13, 2013

The Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED) is an informal coalition of individuals and organizations interested in improving national, state, and local energy & environmental policies. Our basic position is that technical matters like these should be addressed by using real science.

Instead of a science-based approach, our energy and environmental policies are typically written by those who stand to economically or politically profit from them. As a result, anything genuinely science-based in these policies is usually inadvertent and accidental.

A key element of AWED’s efforts is public education. Towards that end, every 3 weeks we put together a newsletter to balance what is found in the mainstream media about energy and environmental matters. We appreciate MasterResource for their assistance in publishing this information.

—————————

A fascinating technical study at Phys.org

Continue Reading

The Perils of Energy Technocracy

By Donald Norman -- May 10, 2013
Continue Reading

Ontario’s Green Energy Act: Ill Wind All Around

By Kenneth P. Green -- May 9, 2013
Continue Reading

Keystone XL and Climate Change: Much Ado About 0.00001°C/yr. (May 7th Testimony before Congress)

By Chip Knappenberger -- May 8, 2013
Continue Reading

Bait-and-Switch Carbon Tax Act of 2013

By Robert Peltier -- May 7, 2013
Continue Reading

“Wind Power: A Turning Point” (Revisiting Worldwatch Institute Paper #45 from 1981)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 6, 2013
Continue Reading

The Five Circles of Carbon Tax Hell

By James DeLong -- May 3, 2013
Continue Reading

Ignorant Arrogance: Energy “Market Failure” Revisited

By Peter Grossman -- May 2, 2013
Continue Reading