A Free-Market Energy Blog

ERCOT’s SNAFU: $16 Billion? $30 Billion? (perils of central planning)

By -- March 17, 2021

“Other than desperation, why would the commissioners have increased electricity prices to the point that Texans paid more for electricity in one week than they had for the last three years combined?…. At the heart of the PUC’s decision seems to be a belief in theoretical market constructs over actual markets.”

“At the time, the new PUC chairman, Arthur D’Andrea, noted, ‘I think we all expected that when we were in load shed we would be at $9,000.’ In other words, the commissioners did not care what market prices actually were. They were going to impose their vision on the market, regardless.”

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is a government agency advertised as a ‘nonprofit corporation.’ It is also a government planning agency, not a free-market institution, under the thumb of state legislators and regulators.…

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Going Honest on GHG Emissions: The Milloy Petition (and early success)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 16, 2021

Entrepreneurship applies to public policy. It is not enough to just have the superior intellectual case. Against the Malthusian juggernaut, creativity is required to get past the gatekeepers of deceit and what today is called the cancel culture.

Enter Steve Milloy, founder of JunkScience.com and Senior Policy Fellow at the Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal).

Milloy is truing the debate and achieving transparency with corporations that are “greenwashing” in the climate debate. The initiative is told in an August 13, 2019, Press Release, “E&E Legal Petitions SEC to Address Problem of Registrants Making False and Misleading Climate Change Statements,” reprinted below.

Today, the Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal) petitioned U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to take action to prevent and prohibit registrants from making false and misleading statements with respect to global climate change.…

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East Coast Beaches Going, Going …. (W.K. Stevens, NYT in 1995)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 15, 2021

“At the most likely rate of rise, some experts say, most of the beaches on the East Coast of the United States would be gone in 25 years. They are already disappearing at an average of 2 to 3 feet a year.”

“The climate experts on the panel believe their models have become increasingly reliable.”

– William K. Stevens. “Scientists Say Earth’s Warming Could Set Off Wide Disruptions,” New York Times, September 18, 1995), pp. 1, 8.

For Atlantic beachgoers, your destination might not be there anymore. Why? Some climate experts said so back in 1995. William K. Stevens said so back then on page 1 of the then-described newspaper of record.

Stevens was a true believer. Six years later in his The Change in the Weather (p.…

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“U.S. Winter Outlook: Cooler North, Warmer South” (NOAA’s prediction bust)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 11, 2021
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“The Cheaper the Energy the Better” (Julian Simon in 1993 speaks to us today)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 10, 2021
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Peak Demand? The Latest Oil Mirage (new Lynch/Sandrea study)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 9, 2021
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Lay/Bush/Perry: Fathers of the Texas ‘Clean-Energy Powerhouse’ (an ERCOT backstory)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 8, 2021
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Numbers and the Great Texas Blackout

By -- March 4, 2021
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PUCT-ERCOT: A Central Planning Government Agency

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 3, 2021
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ERCOT: A Government Agency (‘sovereign immunity’ defense in play)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 2, 2021
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