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:

Report: Gas Saves More CO2 than Wind Does!

Ten Questions about Climate Change

Looking at an actual climate change debate

The Cold Truth About Global Warming

Phony Prophets Painting Fake Pictures to Produce an Alternate Global Warming Reality?…

“And now that the Obama era has turned into the Age of Trump, each has reaped a modicum of fame (but not fortune!) by tiptoeing into the mainstream of today’s energy/climate debate.”

There are no MacArthur awards for our side of the energy and climate debate. But there are individuals that deserve a place in the history of energy thought and related public policy. These persons have blazed the trail where courage and patience, not only scholarship, were required. And now that the Obama era has turned into the Age of Trump, each has reaped a modicum of fame (but not fortune!) by tiptoeing into the mainstream of today’s energy/climate debate.

I have identified twelve (12) worthy individuals, presented in alphabetical order. This list should in no way diminish the contributions of the rest of us (including the present writer).…

“There remains much to do in 2018. But the crony energies–those dependent on special government favor–are on notice that their time may be running short. Consumers and taxpayers come first in a free and prosperous commonwealth.”

It has been a good year for the master resource and public policy in the United States. The Trump reset of energy and climate policy has been the most dramatic in history in terms of free-market orientation. Trump’s reversing the Obama administration is what Ronald Reagan did to the Carter Administration’s energy policy back in 1981–but more so.

At yesterday’s White House briefing, Sarah Huckabee Sanders reviewed some of the energy highlights of the year.

“As December winds down,’ she said, “I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to look back at what has been, by any measure, a historic year.”…

“We in the petroleum industry are not dismissing the global climate change issue. But I don’t believe anyone should have the moral authority to deny people the opportunity to improve their way in life by arbitrarily depriving them of the means…. I hope that the governments of this region will work with us to resist policies that could strangle economic growth.”

– Lee Raymond, CEO, ExxonMobil (2010) [1]

Think Progress (the successor to the Joe Romm-founded Climate Progress at the Center for American Progress) published a recent piece by Mark Hand, “Industry Opposition Leads ALEC to Withdraw Anti-Climate Resolution,” subtitled “Right-wing lobbying group fails to pass resolution targeting EPA finding.”

Some excerpts from Hand’s piece follow:

A secretive right-wing lobbying group failed to pass a resolution this week that called upon the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to withdraw its 2009 finding that greenhouse gases are endangering the planet.