Skyrocketing natural gas and coal prices are not a failure of the fossil fuel industry, but the total failure of *anti-fossil fuel policies*, which falsely promised that if we dramatically restricted fossil fuel energy production, green energy could easily replace it.

THREAD
There is no physical reason that the natural gas and coal industries can't meet rising demand. The world has hundreds of years' worth of gas deposits and thousands of years worth of coal deposits. But governments radically restrict the freedom to utilize those deposits.
There is no technical or economic reason the natural gas and coal industries can't meet demand. These industries have gotten radically more capable and efficient in the last two decades--especially natural gas with fracking. But governments radically restrict their freedom.
There is no inherent logistical reason the natural gas and coal industries can't adapt to rising demand, except for the compounding problems created over the decades by draconian restrictions on export and import terminals, pipelines, and other infrastructure.
We know that the US natural gas industry has an enormous untapped ability to produce natural gas--but that "green" policies to stop pipelines and LNG export facilities prevent it from using that ability, with the promise that solar and wind can take over.
In Europe, fracking and other shale gas technologies could produce a lot of gas, but Europeans have over and over chosen to ban fracking--reassuring citizens that solar and would would provide all the energy they need. How is that going?
America has been called "the Saudi Arabia of coal." At today's prices, America's coal industry would love to be powering the world. But it can't because of onerous restrictions on coal transport, as well as myriad domestic restrictions on desperately-needed coal production.
The pandemic recovery has provided the perfect test for the claim that solar and wind, after extensive mandates and trillions in subsidies, would make up for lost energy from fossil fuel restrictions. Skyrocketing coal and gas prices mean that solar and wind have failed the test.
The #1 lesson of skyrocketing gas and coal prices is this: fossil fuel-restricting governments have wildly overestimated the ability of solar and wind to provide the energy the world needs and wildly underestimated the need for fossil fuels to provide the energy the world needs.
The total failure of solar and wind to replace the fossil fuel energy lost by anti-fossil fuel restrictions should lead us to immediately reject the fossil fuel-restricting, solar-and-wind-mandating reconciliation bill.
The total failure of solar and wind to replace the fossil fuel energy lost from anti-fossil fuel policies should lead the UN Climate Conference next month to stop insisting on solar+wind and start recognizing the value of fossil fuels as well as non-carbon nuclear going forward.
Do not let anyone tell you that these skyrocketing prices are a failure of the fossil fuel industry. They are 100% a failure of green energy policies that restricted fossil fuel production and transport on the false promise that unreliable solar and wind could replace it.

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More from @AlexEpstein

15 Oct
Great news: Joe Manchin is standing up to the Administration's insane insistence—during an energy crisis involving shortages of fossil fuels—on cutting emissions 40-50% by 2030. That means minimum 50% unreliable solar+wind. Manchin could literally save our country from ruin. Image
Here's why the centerpiece of this Administration's efforts to radically cut CO2 emissions, an 80% "Clean Energy Standard," is a disaster.
Here's the definitive refutation of the idea that the US can rapidly get to "80% clean electricity" because other countries have.
Read 4 tweets
14 Oct
Awesome: Latino landscaping company owner Miguel Rojas trashes California's supposedly Latino-friendly new ban on gasoline lawnmowers and leaf-blowers:
"This is just going to hurt us....Maybe the writers of this should mow a lawn a few times before judging what’s best for us."
👇
"It should really come down to preference. My crews prefer different things, sometimes based on the neighborhood. Some like gas, some like electric, some don’t care. But now they’re trying to get us not to use certain ones? That’s idiotic."
californiaglobe.com/articles/lands…
"And one of them is saying that this is for Latinos. This is just going to hurt us, as electric ones don’t last as long due to the battery life. And we wear masks and other protective equipment, so we’re fine using the gas ones." --Latino landscaping company owner Miguel Rojas
Read 5 tweets
13 Oct
Introducing the ultimate source of intellectual ammunition for pro-human, pro-freedom people on energy, environmental, and climate issues: the (free) Energy Talking Points @substack newsletter.

alexepstein.substack.com

Please share this far and wide.

Previews 👇
My talking points on the "other countries have 80% clean electricity" argument for reconciliation.
alexepstein.substack.com/p/talking-poin…
My talking points on the recent California spill.
alexepstein.substack.com/p/talking-poin…
Read 6 tweets
12 Oct
Good news! Huntington Beach, the CA beach most affected by the oil spill, is now open "after water quality tests revealed no detectable levels of oil-associated toxins."

Thanks to long-time Californians @benshapiro and @SteveHiltonx for helping me spread the truth last week.
👇
During the height of the oil spill hysteria last week, I discussed with @benshapiro how oil is a natural, organic substance that would quickly become non-harmful to beachgoers--which is exactly what happened. Did any mainstream media get this right?
During the height of oil spill hysteria last week I had an extended discussion with @SteveHiltonx, now vindicated, about the manageable nature of the spill vs. the completely unmanageable burden that anti-oil policies place on Californians.
Read 6 tweets
12 Oct
The #1 lesson of skyrocketing gas and coal prices is this: fossil fuel-restricting governments have wildly overestimated the ability of solar and wind to provide the energy the world needs and wildly underestimated the need for fossil fuels to provide the energy the world needs.
Europe thought that they could ban fracking and restrict other forms of fossil fuel production because mandated, subsidized solar and wind would make up for the lost fossil fuel energy. How has that worked out?
With today's technology the natural gas and coal industries have a virtually unlimited ability to supply fuel to the world. The only reason they can't meet demand is anti-fossil fuel, pro-"green energy" restrictions on the freedom to produce gas and coal.
Read 9 tweets
11 Oct
The reconciliation bill is being pitched as a big job-creator. In fact it will destroy far more well-paying US jobs than it creates because its "green jobs" will be 1) unproductive, 2) largely in China, and 3) the cause of job losses in other industries via high energy prices.🧵
We are told that the reconciliation bill, by seeking to rapidly eliminate fossil fuels and replace them with solar and wind energy, will create millions of well-paying "green jobs"--far more than will be destroyed in the fossil fuel industry.

This is impossible for 3 reasons.
👇
Reason #1 why the reconciliation bill will destroy productive US jobs: the "green jobs" it seeks to create are far less productive than the fossil fuel jobs that it will destroy--so they cannot possibly pay as well.
Read 15 tweets

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