Ed. Note: This post from 12 years ago recounts the political origins of the Texas wind power boom. It is also the prehistory of the Great Texas Blackout of February 2021. Note that critics of Texas’s intervention warned of reliability problems.

“Texas is the nation’s leader in wind energy thanks to our long-term commitment to bolstering renewable energy sources and diversifying the state’s energy portfolio.”

– Rick Perry, Texas Governor

“Our representatives [in the Texas Legislature] now have less than six weeks to pass the best of nearly 100 bills that have been introduced on clean power and green jobs. These energy efficiency and renewable energy bills set the stage for rebuilding, repowering and renewing our state’s economy during tough times. They will build a sustainable future for Texas.”

– Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, Public Citizen, April 2009

As reported by Russell Gold in the Wall Street Journal, (April 23, 2009), Texas, which has the strictest renewable energy mandate in the country, is about to increase its quota for the third time.…

“When the black day of August 15, 1971 arrived, we free-market economists predicted that shortages of all sorts of products would result from the price control…. On the day of the freeze, everything seem[ed] to be functioning smoothly, and so the general mood [was] one of euphoric success.”

“When Tricky Dick imposed Phase I in August, 1971, price inflation was proceeding at something like a rate of 4% per year. Now, after 4 1/2 ‘phases’ of varying degrees of price dictation, and continued monetary inflation by the government, we are suffering a price inflation rate of something like 10% per year.”

August 15, 1971, was the day that President Richard Nixon shocked the country, and indeed the world, with a price control order. Everything—all goods and services, as well as wages and interest rates—were frozen for 90 days.…

“Affordable and reliable energy is key to human development. It gives people mobility and comfort in their homes. It provides access to better food and clean water.”

“The reason we made money [during the February Texas freeze] is because we prepared with winterization. And, importantly, we manned our facilities. We had our people out there, some with families at home in the dark and cold. They were keeping our facilities up and running so we had the ability to deliver a lot of gas that otherwise wouldn’t have been available to customers.” (Steven Kean, Kinder-Morgan, August 9, 2021)

The mainstream media might not like it, but there is a tripartite fossil fuel boom underway globally that will outlast the Pandemic–and outlive the repetitive climate scares from the IPCC reports.

A glimpse into the industry’s thinking was provided by the president and CEO of Kinder-Morgan, Steven Kean.…

“The climate of many countries seems to be one of the great reasons why idleness, dishonesty, immobility, stupidity, and weakness of will prevail. If we can conquer climate, the whole world will become stronger and nobler.”

– Ellsworth Huntington, Civilization and Climate (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1915), p. 294.

Global government by an intellectual/political elite is the commanding height of commanding heights. Witness the (now) 33-year Great Alarm of anthropogenic global warming (aka climate change, global weirding).

UN 2021: 6th Climate Assessment

It’s all bad. it’s only going to get worse. It is civilization’s last chance. Red Alert for humankind….

But a massive energy transformation can avert the worst part. “The innovations in this report, and advances in climate science that it reflects,” said IPCC chair Hoesung Lee, “provide an invaluable input into climate negotiations and decision-making.”…