“With a new political outlook in Washington, DC with climate and energy policy, Exxon Mobil should formally reject both cap-and-trade and a carbon tax.”

Rex Tillerson, whose confirmation hearing is scheduled for tomorrow, presided over a major public policy change while CEO of Exxon Mobil, reversing the prior policy of the principled realist Lee Raymond. Political forces, as well as a doomed attempt at appeasing its enemies (ending up in the state State Attorney General investigative war), led Exxon Mobil to reluctantly embrace a tax on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

My interpretation of Rex Tillerson et al.’s (failed) policy shift finds support for “it was just PR” rather than a fundamental belief in climate peril. As such, this shift is easily reversible by Exxon Mobil’s new CEO, Darren Woods.…

“Some radical environmentalists and religious activists oppose Mr. Pruitt because he does not embrace their exaggerated fears of human-induced global warming—fears that go well beyond the empirical evidence crucial to genuine science—or their antipathy to the development of the abundant, reliable, affordable energy indispensable to lifting and keeping whole societies out of poverty and the disease and premature death that invariably accompany it.”

January 5, 2017

Dear President-elect Donald J. Trump:

We write to you as evangelical and mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish scientists, economists, legal scholars, policy experts, and religious leaders in support of your nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to the office of Administrator of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA has the crucial task of writing and enforcing regulations that apply statutes passed by Congress and signed by the President to protect the life and health of Americans.…

The Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED) is an informal coalition of individuals and organizations interested in improving national, state, and local energy and environmental policies. Our premise is that technical matters like these should be addressed by using Real Science (please consult WiseEnergy.org for more information).

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

Some of the more important articles in this issue are:

Irish High Court Finds Wind Turbine Maker Liable for Noise Nuisance – Seven Irish Families to Get Millions in Punitive Damages

Outstanding podcast on Energy and Climate Change

Excellent Study: Energy Deregulation

Per Capita Energy Productivity for Primary Sources of Electrical Energy

China Closer to Harnessing Clean, Limitless Energy from Nuclear Fusion

Trump Has Better Ideas on Energy

Cutting the Crap at DOE (See new Newsletter section on Trump & Energy)

Sweden Denies Permit for World’s Largest Wind Project, Due to its Military Interference

Obsolete Calculations of Cost of Carbon

The Social Cost of Carbon

Southern Baptist leaders defend Trump’s pick to lead EPA (See new Newsletter section on Trump & AGW)

100% Of US Warming Is Due To NOAA Data Tampering

New Study Casts Doubt on Key Climate Change Predicting Metric

97% Consequential Misperceptions: Ethics of Consensus on Global Warming

Biggest Fake News Story: Global Warming and Phony Consensus

Skeptical Climate Scientists Coming In From the Cold

Greed Energy Economics:

The Social Cost of Carbon

Per Capita Energy Productivity for Primary Sources of Electrical Energy

Energy Subsidies

The $3.5 Trillion Fracking Economy Is About To Get A Lot Bigger

More IRS Wind Energy Shenanigans

Turbine Health Matters:

Irish High Court Finds Wind Turbine Maker Liable for Noise Nuisance – 7 Irish Families to Get Millions in Punitive Damages

Ontario Wind Turbine Health Study Begins

EPA’s Study of Hydraulic Fracturing and Its Potential Impact on Drinking Water Resources

Renewable Energy Destroying Ecosystems:

The Environmental Toll of a Netflix Binge

Final US wind-turbine rule permits thousands of eagle deaths

EPA Finds No Widespread Water Pollution From Fracking

Fracking-Contaminated Groundwater: The Myth that Failed

UK Court Gives Fracking Green Light

Miscellaneous Energy News:

Outstanding podcast on Energy and Climate Change

Excellent Study: Energy Deregulation

China closer to harnessing clean, limitless energy from nuclear fusion

Sweden denies permit for world’s largest wind project, as it would interfere with its military

Wind turbines hinder military readiness, Texas state lawmaker argues

Look at Reviving a Discounted Source of Energy

Three worthwhile SMR presentations

UK Electricity Part 3: Wind and Solar

Why Big Mining Loves Big Green

NYS Cuts 2017 Renewable Energy Targets by 94%

NY County Passes Broad Resolution Against Wind Turbines

Trump and Energy:

Trump Has Better Ideas on Energy

Cutting the Crap at DOE

Trump Signals Push for American Energy Boom

Trump Opens The Door To U.S.…

I have been vacationing and now living in Maine since 1949.  The lure of The North Woods was ingrained in me from my earliest memories.  Our family came every summer from wherever we lived at the time. Alabama, Ohio, New York, Maryland, New Jersey . . . . none of them had the draw we had to this beautiful, wild wilderness.  We brought a number of families with us over the years to experience Maine, and every one of them ended up coming back again and again and some eventually retired here.

Our destination was a small lake in the Lincoln area where the last 15 miles of the road was dirt in 1949.  The camp we rented was primitive . . . no electricity, an outhouse, no TV and a crackly transistor radio, kerosene lamps, an old fashioned ice box, with real ice, a wood cook stove .…