Fossil Fuels are a Hell of a Lot More Sustainable Than Wind and Solar

[Anonymous]

Enery expert Alex Epstein's letter to Senator Joe Manchin.



Dear Senator Manchin,



The American people owe you a great debt of gratitude for repeatedly stopping this Administration's attempts at anti-fossil fuel "climate legislation."



While you are being attacked for ruining our future, you have in fact saved it.



The "climate legislation" you have stopped would have



increased restrictions on fossil fuel supply—making today's price problems even worse.



increased favoritism for unreliable, China-dominated solar-and-wind electricity—raising prices and reducing reliability and security.



As an energy expert and a vocal critic of this Administration's anti-fossil-fuel "climate legislation," I am beyond grateful to you for saving our energy future.



But I am also gravely concerned by your comments that you might agree to "climate legislation" in some other form.



In a recent interview you said you would support the Administration's push for massive solar/wind subsidies if we could "do that without harming the economy" and provide "a solid energy path for 10 years."¹



Please permit me to explain why this is completely impossible.



Massive new solar/wind subsidies are incompatible with "a solid energy path" because they will inevitably worsen:



inflation



electricity reliability



recession



energy security



And do nothing to make low-carbon energy cost-competitive.



1. How massive new solar/wind subsidies will worsen price inflation

Senator Manchin, you have rightly expressed extreme concern about price inflation in our economy.



New solar/wind subsidies would inevitably increase electricity prices and therefore all prices.



In your comments about solar/wind subsidies and inflation you have expressed concerns about the hundreds of billions of dollars these subsidies will cost the government.



While that is a valid concern, the far worse consequence is their ruinous effect on electricity prices.



Rising electricity prices drive price inflation in two basic ways.



1. Increasing the prices Americans pay directly for electricity.

2. Increasing the prices of all goods produced using American electricity.



New solar/wind subsidies will inevitably increase electricity prices.



Every area of the world that has tried using significant amounts of solar and wind has had major problems with rising costs. Germans, to get 37% of their electricity from solar/wind, have doubled their prices—now 3X US prices. And their situation is getting worse fast.²



The reason that solar and wind drive higher electricity prices is simple: because solar and wind can go near-zero at any given time, they don't replace the costs of reliable power plants—they add to them. That means higher electricity prices—which means higher everything prices.



2. How massive new solar/wind subsidies will worsen electricity reliability

Senator Manchin, you have said, "The main thing that we need is...reliability. If not, you'll have what happened in Texas and what happens in California."⁵



More solar/wind subsidies will make Texas and California the norm.



America already has worsening electricity reliability.



Not only have we witnessed unprecedented problems in California and Texas, this summer blackout warnings are occurring all around the US.



FERC Commissioner Mark Christie puts it bluntly "We're heading for a reliability crisis."⁶



The root cause of the reliability crisis is simple: America is shutting down too many reliable power plants, often to try to cope with the large costs of installing so many unreliable solar panels and wind turbines and the massive new transmission lines they require.



Since at any given time solar and wind can go near zero, using them as replacements for reliable power plants doesn't work. For example, Texas' February 2021 disaster was caused by solar/wind disappearing and inadequate investment in reliable power plants and their weatherization.



Why is America shutting down too many reliable power plants? Two of the chief villains are the subsidies known as the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and wind Production Tax Credit (PTC)—the very subsidies that the Administration's "climate agenda" wants to expand and extend!⁸



The ITC and PTC pay utilities to shut down or slow down reliable gas, coal, and nuclear power plants whenever the sun shines or the wind blows. This defunds reliable plants, causing many to be shut down and threatening the grid's future.



Increasing these subsidies is insanity.



Do not fall for the portrayal of solar/wind subsidies as exciting "investments" that will "only" cost hundreds of billions of dollars. By making the electricity grid even more unreliable, they will cost trillions of dollars in reliability costs—driving price inflation that much more.



3. How massive new solar/wind subsidies will worsen recession

Senator Manchin, you have rightly expressed worries about anything that might make "pending recession" worse.



Massive new solar/wind subsidies will inevitably worsen any recession via high-cost, unreliable power.



The energy industry is the industry that powers every other industry. The lower cost and more reliable energy is, the better our economy is. The higher cost and less reliable energy is, the worse our economy is.



At a time of increasing recession risk, it should be unthinkable to support policies that are guaranteed to make electricity—industry's leading source of energy—more expensive and less reliable.



Yet that's what this Administration's "climate agenda" insists on.



4. How new massive new solar/wind subsidies will worsen energy security

Senator Manchin, you have repeatedly and rightly expressed concerns about "the state of American energy security."



Increasing solar and wind subsidies will inevitably make the situation worse.



The mining and processing of solar/wind-related materials is dominated by China to a staggering degree. The US does little mining or processing of these materials, largely because of "green" restrictions. Our dependence on China for solar/wind dwarfs past mideast oil dependence.



Making our grid even more dependent on China-centered, unreliable solar and wind is a direct sacrifice to China—whose >80% fossil fueled industry (including mostly-coal-powered grid) will profit mightily while holding our security at their mercy.



Do not be fooled by claims that new support for domestic solar/wind production will solve the problem of dependence on China.



Because this support does nothing to reduce the "green" restrictions on mining and processing, it will just lead to even more expensive solar/wind.



Why any Administration promise to support fossil fuels is phony

Senator Manchin, the Administration has reportedly offered to approve various fossil fuel projects in exchange for you supporting massive solar/wind subsidies and other "climate agenda" items.



This is a ruse.



Any Biden Administration promise to approve fossil fuel projects is phony for 2 reasons:



The administration plans to offset any approvals with even more denials.



The approvals themselves can be reversed at any moment by the Administration's anti-fossil-fuel bureaucrats.



The Biden administration is still committed to its goal of rapidly eliminating fossil fuel use in the next 7.5 years. This means any projects they approve must be offset by denying other crucial projects.



This is not the "solid energy path for 10 years" that you want.



Any promise the Administration makes to support projects is also meaningless because the "promise" would not involve an unchangeable law but rather stopping hostile bureaucrats. Other hostile bureaucrats can always come up with new "reasons" to oppose the same projects.



Senator Manchin, the agenda you are being asked to support would decrease electricity reliability, increase price inflation, worsen recession, weaken energy security, and wreck West Virginia.



It needs to be rejected in any and every form.



Senator Manchin, now that the Administration is not only trying to offer you phony support of fossil fuels to get you to support its "climate agenda," but also overriding the legislative process by declaring a "climate emergency," the American people need you more than ever.



The Administration's declaration of "climate emergency" is totally invalid because while there is "climate change," there is no "climate emergency." Fossil fuels actually make us far safer from climate. That's why climate disaster deaths have decreased 98% over the last century.

[Anonymous]

The Administration's declaration of "climate emergency" is also totally invalid because its "emergency" policies of solar/wind subsidies will do nothing to make low-carbon energy cost-competitive—which is the only humane and practical way to lower global CO2 emissions.



Instead of cooperating with an anti-fossil-fuel administration on rescuing their ruinous "climate agenda," you can work with pro-energy-politicians on an energy freedom agenda that ensures plenty of fossil fuel energy and fosters cost-competitive low-carbon alternatives.



I have developed a 5-part energy freedom platform for America's future:



Liberate responsible energy development



Decriminalize nuclear energy



End preferences for unreliable electricity



Practice pro-human land management



Reduce emissions long-term through innovation



1. Liberate responsible energy development



Anti-development policies prevent every form of energy from reaching its potential—from natural gas to nuclear to solar. Liberating responsible development throughout America will create unprecedented energy abundance and progress.



2. Decriminalize nuclear energy



The overregulation of low-carbon nuclear verges on criminalization, making nuclear costs 10X higher than they need to be. Decriminalizing nuclear, including radical reform of the NRC and EPA, will make energy far cheaper, safer, and cleaner.



3. End preferences for unreliable electricity



Today's electric grids are being ruined by systemic preferences for unreliable electricity, which causes prices to rise and reliability to decline.



Eliminating them can help make America a leader in low-cost, reliable electricity.



4. Practice pro-human Federal lands management



A hostility toward all human impact is at the root of our numerous problems with Federal lands, including out-of-control wildfires and insufficient energy development.



Pro-human policies will make us safer and more prosperous.



5. Reduce emissions through liberating innovation, not punishing America



The only humane way to reduce emissions long-term is innovation that makes low-carbon energy globally cost-competitive. Trying to rapidly eliminate fossil fuels in the US is senseless self-destruction.



To summarize: the Biden "climate agenda," which always includes massive new solar/wind subsidies, is irredeemably destructive—guaranteed to increase inflation, decrease electricity reliability, worsen recession, and harm energy security.



We need energy freedom instead.

[Breakfall]

The stat' are off. A solution takes time. It's the long-term benefits that will make the difference. All I hear is about you folk bashing on about the cost of manufacturing batteries in the interim,

You're not entirely wrong, as the Western world has accomplish insane feats through technology, but it's definitely not a perfect solution atm where it requires taking quite a lot money from tax payers, uncontrollable fire hazards, 30% heavier which will wear down the roads faster, the abundance of decaying EV batteries needed to be stored, black outs in the power grid, requires more powerplants which can't guarantee to be emission free nor is battery manufacturing pollution free, etc.  By the time we reached an emission-free transport system, the world will already be a lot worst, pollution, infrastructure damage and debt will be a serious issue.



Edit: I forgot to mention EVs perform very poorly and the batteries decay a lot faster is extreme temperature climates.

I just like to see people embracing a step in the right direction. Fossil fuels are not sustainable. Not for us...and not for the rest of the planet.

[Breakfall]

I'm not talking about humans...

I understood that you weren't.... I just wanted you to say where your loyalties are.



You'd let billions of humans die for your force fed grade school curriculum theories on ecology and evolution.



Very sad...

I would see an extinction of the entire human race in one foul swoop, if that's what it would take for the rest of the world to thrive and flourish.

[Breakfall]

Now for an Earthly song by James Vincent McMorrow..

[Frood]

I understood that you weren't.... I just wanted you to say where your loyalties are.



You'd let billions of humans die for your force fed grade school curriculum theories on ecology and evolution.



Very sad...

I would see an extinction of the entire human race in one foul swoop, if that's what it would take for the rest of the world to thrive and flourish.

You can only make that choice for yourself.



So check out or hush up.

[Breakfall]

I would see an extinction of the entire human race in one foul swoop, if that's what it would take for the rest of the world to thrive and flourish.

You can only make that choice for yourself.



So check out or hush up.

I would've positioned you into the more ecologically Conservative party myself. How wrong was me...er...I?

[Breakfall]

I may be more qualified than most of you...but I'm not arrogant about the fact.

[Anonymous]

"Climate disaster deaths have decreased 98 percent over the past century." Why is this fact never mentioned. I think we know why. Climate extremism hates facts.

[Frood]

You can only make that choice for yourself.



So check out or hush up.

I would've positioned you into the more ecologically Conservative party myself. How wrong was me...er...I?

Well, I'm not cavalier about billions being killed for a discredited theory, so there is that.....

[Breakfall]

I would've positioned you into the more ecologically Conservative party myself. How wrong was me...er...I?

Well, I'm not cavalier about billions being killed for a discredited theory, so there is that.....

Cavalier? Christ man...Im talking about a species that is a plague. How real can I be?

[Frood]

Well, I'm not cavalier about billions being killed for a discredited theory, so there is that.....

Cavalier? Christ man...Im talking about a species that is a plague. How real can I be?

We're imperfect but on this planet for a purpose. We're not a plague. We're better than rodents and locusts.

[Breakfall]

Cavalier? Christ man...Im talking about a species that is a plague. How real can I be?

We're imperfect but on this planet for a purpose. We're not a plague. We're better than rodents and locusts.

And yet still plague status...



You should acknowledge climate change and stop clenching your arse lips so hard!

[Frood]

We're imperfect but on this planet for a purpose. We're not a plague. We're better than rodents and locusts.

And yet still plague status...



You should acknowledge climate change and stop clenching your arse lips so hard!

I acknowledge changes in the environment but I've read a lot of historical accounts and journals/almanacs from my farming family going back to the 1850's.



Humans affect our environment in bad ways.... plastics in the ocean, nuclear leaks, pharma drugs leaching into the waterways, et cetera... but for large scale weather changes, we're just a flea on the earth's back. Anthropogenic climate change is a myth pushed by elitist armchair social engineers bent on returning the balance of power to their feudalistic selves. 



Our climate is dictated by the sun and other celestial bodies.

[Breakfall]

And yet still plague status...



You should acknowledge climate change and stop clenching your arse lips so hard!

I acknowledge changes in the environment but I've read a lot of historical accounts and journals/almanacs from my farming family going back to the 1850's.



Humans affect our environment in bad ways.... plastics in the ocean, nuclear leaks, pharma drugs leaching into the waterways, et cetera... but for large scale weather changes, we're just a flea on the earth's back. Anthropogenic climate change is a myth pushed by elitist armchair social engineers bent on returning the balance of power to their feudalistic selves. 



Our climate is dictated by the sun and other celestial bodies.

I'm older than you and mostly more intelligent. You need to see the obvious..and you've got half your answers unspun..