On the eve of a momentous environmental debate, a key scientific player falls from grace

Just days before the McKibben vs Epstein environmental debate, November 5, at Duke University, a bombshell rocked the environmental community. Read more: "Michael Mann Retracts False Nobel Prize Claims in Humiliating Climbdown."

See the entire debate here

The Nobel Prize committee declared Penn States Professor, Michael Mann, has falsely claimed to be a recipient of the Nobel Prize; He never received an award from them.  Both he and Penn State  have been claiming for years, his Nobel status to boost his scientific prestige and credibility.

To Mann, the litigious creator of the climate “Hockey Stick” graph, this is an extreme blow to any scientific credibility he may have had.  The "hockey stick graph" was used by Al Gore  and others to convince us we were on the verge of climate catastrophe,  One critic stated: “Michael Mann is another black mark against anyone involved in “climate science.”

Penn State, still reeling from a sex scandal that threatened its accreditation, suffers another huge blow to its reputation. But the taint of Penn States scandal will  now waft over the environmental movement, which has used Manns science to further its war against fossil fuels.  This latest scandal throws into question the validity of the science behind the “climate change” movement.

There is a huge, well funded, well coordinated movement throughout the United States, set on the goal of completely killing our use of fossil energy.  One of the main public spokesman and virulent foes of fossil energy is Bill McKibben.  McKibben recently stated fossil fuel is public enemy #1 and has vowed to destroy our fossil based energy industry, source of 85% of our power.

But the fossil energy industry is not without its defenders and Alex Epstein has stepped up to the plate to defend what he calls “The foundation of our civilization: abundant and affordable energy.”

 When Epstein read an article in Rolling Stone Magazine,  declaring McKibben’s intent to declare fossil fuels public enemy #1 and his plan to mount a major campaign to make them practically illegal….Epstein decided to challenge him in a public debate. Epstein said; The war against fossil fuels is societal suicide.”

Epstein is an energy expert and President of the Center for Industrial Progress, a think tank that champions energy growth.  With scientific facts of its own to bolster its pro energy argument and history as a  guidepost to the beneficial use of fossil fuels for mankind…Epstein is a formidable spokesman to stand toe to toe with one of the lefts most high profile foes of fossil energy.

McKibben is recognized as one of the key people influencing President Obamas decision to delay the building of the Keystone Pipeline.  When he publicly states he wants to make the use of fossil fuels illegal, it is a reflection of an overall strategy to fundamentally transform our society. 

In a Bill McKibben world, our energy would be supplied mainly by windmills and solar. Historically and at present technological levels, these forms of energy could not put a dent in the energy needs of our advanced society.  This means civilization would have to become more primitive and a large segment of our population would revert to manual labor focused on farming.

Alex Epstein totally disagrees with this vision.

“In this debate, I want the public to know the truth about what will benefit their lives and what will harm it.  My goal is to put a stop on the attack on fossil fuels & reverse this fight.  I want to create a new generation of energy champions.”

The militancy of the war on fossil energy, brings a huge price tag with it.  Already there are job losses in coal which is under assault.  Gasoline is double the price it was 4 years ago and utility rates will skyrocket as rate payers are forced to pay the subsidies given to "green energy," which McKibben and his allies want to force on society.

Epstein says:  "The last thing true scientifically is, we need to destroy our energy supply. That is the least scientific statement a human could make and is the most suicidal statement a human could make."  “Bill McKibben and his movement are free to make us an offer in the free market of ideas…. let them convince us.  But they don’t have the right to force us, or give us an order.”

This debate is a rare opportunity for the public to witness the clash of powerful ideas that are being used to re-shape our civilization.  With professor Manns  loss of stature in the scientific community, the climate change movement has a lot to answer for and we will expect answers November 5.

 

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Obama's energy policy pushing America back to the future

Americas reliable energy resources are being attacked on all levels.  When was the last time a nuclear power plant was built in America?  Even hydro electric dams are under assault & being torn down in the name of environmentalism.  Energy Secretary Steven Chu said he would like to see our gasoline prices the same as Europeans.  Of course  environmentalists on the left have been waging war on coal, oil and gas for years.

This mindset couldn't have been any more apparent when I was attacked for writing a column about governments "war on coal".

An environmentalist had his simplistic answer to my column on the war on coal. He just claimed that "coal kills" and people needed to revert to a simpler lifestyle,  use less energy and make that energy "green".  He bragged how he used wood to heat his home, along with wind and solar.  He tried to stay "off the grid" as much as possible, in the rural lifestyle he enjoys.  Of course on further questioning, he did admit to the use of "auxiliary power" in order to supplement his off the grid lifestyle for cooking and refrigeration.

He suggested people move out of cities to get closer to nature and live off the grid.  It was certainly interesting listening to him with his simple answer to stave off the pending "climate crisis" and save the world....All of the simple answers without thinking about the consequences to society.  In Washington,  that same mindset of government planners who know what's best for us is on vivid display. They are not afraid to let reason stand in the way of their Utopian plan.  Their plan will, like in the movie, take us "back to the future"

For the millions of people who don't have access to firewood, or govt subsidized solar, or wind systems to supplement their power needs, there is still the need for plentiful cheap power.

The world has seen other Utopian dreamers in the past.  China's Premiere, Mao, ordered his "great leap forward" to modernize China.  Reports are that over 60 million people died of exposure and starvation in 4 years. 

Americas engine of prosperity is powered by cheap and nowadays relatively clean energy, this is the backbone of American might. We are still a great manufacturing country in spite of  inroads by other countries.  But our new high tech information age, is requiring the use of even more power.

Companies such as Google and Apple use the power equivalent of small cities in order to keep their data centers providing vast amounts of information.  Many of these power hungry companies, although waving the "green banner,"  are quietly moving their data centers,  to other states that have lower cost electricity powered by coal.

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We have already seen a great migration of American companies to foreign shores, due to lower labor costs, less taxation and far less regulation.  How long will it be before the next impetus for Corporations to leave our shores is due to high energy prices? President Obama already said his policies would necessarily make our utility prices skyrocket?  I believe he was telling the truth

I asked Janet Gellici,  the CEO of the American Coal Council, to give me an idea of  the assault her sector of energy producers was under by the Obama administration:

She said "The Obama Administration’s intent has been to increase the cost of coal in an attempt to level the playing field for more expensive energy resources, i.e., renewables.  They have been doing this primarily through excessive regulation of coal utilities and coal producers ~ in the process of attempting to bankrupt the coal industry, he’s contributing to the economic demise of our country".

The bulk of our electrical energy production is from coal and natural gas, with nuclear and hydro electric farther down the line.  "Renewables" such as wind and solar, provide a tiny fraction of Americas energy needs in spite of billions thrown at them by the social engineers in Washington DC.

The free market has a way of determining winners and losers, in spite of government meddling.  Let the energy industry compete to determine what the cheapest & cleanest source of energy will be. Due to private sector technological advances, we have abundance of natural gas.  We also have an abundance of cheap coal reserves that can fulfill our energy needs for hundreds of years.

Innovations in the clean burning of gas, coal and oil have made remarkable advances in recent years, to the point that when you look at a modern coal fired power plant, it is hard to tell whether it is on or not.  Let's use our ingenuity to find even cleaner and more efficient ways to use our energy natural resources.  Lets encourage these industries instead of punish them.  After all,  if our energy prices "necessarily skyrocket" many of us might be forced to "live off the grid." and we all might end up "back to the future."


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Green jobs fueled by coal power, the dirty little secret

You make windmills with steel, but you really can't make steel with windmills, at least not on the grand scale this administration seems to want.

Besides the bottomless pit of taxpayers money being burned to create green energy and the paltry amount of green energy jobs they are creating, other "green facts" are surfacing. One of the troublesome facts is that many promised jobs seem to be going to China who is busy manufacturing our green energy products.

In an ironic twist with the cold hard face of reality, coal energy is being used to make green energy products. In the real world of business where price is the determining factor in a competitive marketplace, seems China is building solar panels for half the price of what Solyndra was building theirs for....Even though Solyndra had a half a billion dollar boost from the US taxpayer.

Same goes for the rest of the components and hardware used to make solar panels and the other important pieces of the green industry. Foreign countries, especially China who use cheap coal energy to fuel their manufacturing operations are producing these components cheaper and more efficiently using coal power.

Of course all of this extra burning of coal in order to power the plants that produce the millions of solar panels must be adding to all of that green house gas. Won't this counteract all of the good that green energy is supposed to achieve?

Environmentalists ignore recent breakthroughs in burning coal cleaner than ever before and seem bent on destroying our coal industry, through their surrogates at the EPA.  Seems their intent is to crucify our energy producers, starting with coal first.

Recent technology breakthroughs in the field of energy production, have lead us to achieve a 100 year reserve of natural gas at the rates we are using today. Natural gas is a relatively cheap and fairly clean source of wonderful energy which can be used to fuel power plants as well as provide homes with heat. It also makes an excellent clean burning fuel for cars.

The addition of these new found natural gas reserves coupled with our vast coal resources puts us in a superior position to any country in the world, with our real energy potential.  The same technology advances using new slant drilling techniques along with fracking have unlocked vast new reserves of oil as well.

In the face of these new developments in exploiting our own massive natural resources, it seems President Obama is unswayed in his determination to support green energy. He is intent on gambling Americas economic future on unproven and unreliable sources of energy: wind and solar.

It has been reported that he has been convinced by his Energy Secretary Steven Chu, that a rechargeable car battery with a range of 125 miles is only 5 years away. We've been hearing this same 5 year promise regarding batteries for the past 15 years. Of course this is the same Energy Secretary that gave us Solyndra.

A nation of electric cars will require massive amounts of energy to recharge them. Here we go again.

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