A common question is: how many times has the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind power production been extended since the original law was enacted in 1992.

The answer is a dirty dozen, which makes the federal lifeline to wind power 28 years old. That’s old age for a government subsidy, particularly one where the industry itself has long proclaimed its impending competitiveness.

“The U.S. wind industry has … demonstrated reliability and performance levels that make them very competitive,” stated a representative of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) back in 1986. [1] And Joe Romm a quarter-century later: “It is clear that solar and wind are competitive in many situations right now.” [2]

And so Milton Friedman’s warning that infant industries receiving government protection never seem to grow up has a stellar example.…

“Do you remember the days when Bush administration officials claimed that terrorism posed an ‘existential threat’ to America, a threat in whose face normal rules no longer applied? That was hyperbole — but the existential threat from climate change is all too real…. And as I watched the deniers make their arguments [against Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade], I couldn’t help thinking that I was watching a form of treason — treason against the planet.” (Paul Krugman, New York Times, 2009)

“Republican climate denial is even scarier than Trumpism.” (Paul Krugman, New York Times, 2019)

A full decade apart, Paul Krugman is all-in with climate hyperbole and angst. Joe Romm might have thrown in the towel at Climate Progress, but Krugman is flaming in the New York Times.

Talk about riding the wrong horse.…

“Despite mounting climate impacts and radio silence from politicians, media and other important players, the panelists were hopeful that climate change will soon earn the attention it deserves.” (World Resources Institute, 2016)

Just prior to the 2016 election (which Hillary was going to win, of course), a group of leading climate alarmists opined about why they were losing in the court of public opinion. “If Climate Change Is the Existential Crisis of Our Age, Why Isn’t it Getting More Attention?” by Sarah Parsons of World Resources Institute (October 28, 2016) is reprinted below (with yellow headings inserted). My final comment follows.

Sarah Parsons asks “What Gives” about the “existential crisis” that received very little attention in the Presidential election.

The evidence is everywhere. Drought dries up farmland from California to the Sahel.…

“Joe Romm’s for-the-moment, repeated exaggerations (“stunning” for the liked; “heads exploding” for the disliked) grew tiresome. Crying wolf for so long resulted in laryngitis, message-wise.”

Nothing is forever. But if the “indispensible blog” for climate alarmism/forced energy transformation (per Thomas Friedman) is shut down in an age of virtually unlimited green funding and rampant climate media alarm, then something seems amiss.

With its last post dated September 5th, there is no new content at ClimateProgress (2006–2019).

Maybe, just maybe, the creeds of the founder/leader of Climate Progress (2006–2019) grew tiresome and turned off the incremental audience the site was intended to influence. Joe Romm, after all, was only for the hardcore, although MasterResource tracked him closely as a leading scribe of modern Malthusian angst.

“Front Page Live”

Joe Romm is not gone.…