Articles by David Roberts

There are many, but not one knock-out.

Sorry to keep going on and on about energy policy, but ... there's a flurry of good points and confusion swirling about, so I'll jump in.

First, Matt the Prolific points to an NRO piece by Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren on some strange misconceptions hovering around the energy debate in Congress.

Their principle point, which The Economist also makes this week, is this:

The hostility directed at "foreign" oil is ridiculous. The amount of oil we import has no bearing on the impact of world oil-market shocks on our economy. Even if the United States imported no oil at all (and we did not restrict trade), supply disruptions abroad would have a similar effect on our economy as if all our oil came from overseas. That's because oil is traded in global markets: Anything that affects supply or demand anywhere affects prices everywhere.

Thus, the national security argument that we should increase domestic oil exploration, drilling, and production is silly. To the extent Congresscritters are making that argument, they are doing so on behalf of the domestic oil industry. As long as our economy is based on oil, we are vulnerable to oil markets and the countries -- mostly in the Middle East -- that supply them.

Matt agrees, and concludes this:

TIME columnist feels safe endorsing energy independence now that the cool kids are on board.

Let me be honest: I loath Joe Klein. To me he represents everything that's wrong with the smug, self-satisfied, head-up-its-ass D.C. media establishment. Beltway opinion-makers live in a bizarre bubble of "conventional wisdom" that consists almost entirely of what they tell each other at cocktail parties and on Sunday-morning cable shows. They are consistently, grossly, embarrassingly manipulated by those in power -- the very ones they're supposed to be afflicting.

You couldn't find a better example than Klein's current op-ed in TIME.

Deathy death death blah blah

The Week, the newsweekly you've never heard of, briefly covers the hoo-hah over environmentalism's doldrums.

Oil spills: peachy

I know it's two years old, but it's not every day you stumble across a defense of oil spills, so I thought I'd share it. Here's the conclusion:

The truth is, oil spills cause no long-term damage. Spills do not kill off animal species. The chance of oil spills is greatly reduced by new technology. There is no reason not to drill for oil anywhere. Now you know the truth. Go out and educate America.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go!