A Free-Market Energy Blog

Notes: 1998 Enron Meeting on Climate Change

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 9, 2023

“… why doesn’t a congressional subcommittee call these companies and a few more to tell us exactly what they are up to and what is going to happen to energy prices where parties have to buy credits for something that is not a pollutant?  After the meeting the company that has done the most to sell Kyoto should be awarded naming rights.”

I had a front row seat to many things energy and climate during my 16 years at Enron (1985–2001). At Political Capitalism, I described my Enron experience debating climate science and renewable policy (here).

Enron, in the words of a Greenpeace ex, was “the company most responsible for sparking off the greenhouse civil war in the hydrocarbon business.” [Jeremy Leggett, The Carbon War (London: Penguin Books, 1999, p.…

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Did DOE “flip the bird” to the DC Circuit?

By -- August 8, 2023

“All three Notice of Proposed Rulemakings demonstrate the same anti-consumer biases of the Executive Branch’s Department of Energy: to ban non-condensing appliance products. Each suffers the same analytic and procedural defects that caused the Circuit Court to vacate DOE’s Final Rule for commercial boilers.  DOE’s continued flaunting of its authority, despite the Court’s action inspired my post title (above).”

On July 10, 2023, MasterResource published Energy Appliance Victory! (DC Circuit vs. DOE). The “victory” was overturning a DOE Final Rule that would have banned non-condensing commercial boilers.  In so doing, it also rejected the long-standing assumptions with the administrative state’s super weapon; its cherished “Chevron Deference.”[1]

The opening paragraph of my July 10th article read:

“The ‘wheels of justice turn slowly,’ but they indeed turned, even within the District of Columbia’s ‘uni-party.’ As

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Call to Action: Rod Guice to the Society of Petroleum Engineers

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 7, 2023

“Specifically, I’m proposing that the SPE join the frontline in debunking anti-Oil & Gas bias and climate alarmism by providing educational materials, bringing in distinguished lecturers on the subject, holding related symposiums and discussion panels, and more; perhaps develop a Monograph on Energy, Progress, and Climate. As you should know, the facts support the Oil & Gas industry.

In a letter dated July 28, 2023, William “Rod” Guice, a petroleum engineer in California, called upon the Society of Petroleum Engineers to morally defend the industry and thus praise the livelihood of its members. His letter, which deserves to be read in its entirely, follows:

A manager whom I admire for a California Oil & Gas Operator made this interesting statement not long ago: “The Oil & Gas business used to be an honorable profession.”

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EVs in the 1990s

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 6, 2023
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Government and Energy: Witnessing the Process

By Jim Clarkson -- August 3, 2023
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On the Climate Train to Destruction? Another View (adaptation, not futile mitigation)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 2, 2023
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Portable Generators: CPSC/EPA Coming

By Ed Ireland -- August 1, 2023
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Energy and Environmental Review: July 31, 2023

By -- July 31, 2023
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Classical Liberalism and Electricity: First Principles Please

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 27, 2023
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Pool Chillers: Don’t Whine, Adapt! (and get those ‘cheap’ renewable rates)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 26, 2023
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