Articles by David Roberts
David Roberts was a staff writer for Grist. You can follow him on Twitter, if you're into that sort of thing.
All Articles
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It’s a 1980 flashback, as energy price spikes make oil shale economical once again
The Bush administration’s latest push to force dirty energy extraction down the throats of Americans living in western states has some historical pedigree. Extracting oil from keragen — somewhat misleadingly known as "oil shale" — by cooking the rock at high temperatures is an environmental, social and economic nightmare that’s been with us since the […]
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Guy who understands oil drops knowledge on folks who don’t
“I’m not a big believer. I think you’re going to get a rude awakening as to the value of the East and West coasts when it’s opened up and when it’s put up for sale. When it’s put up for sale, I think you’ll be surprised at the price you get for the tracts.” — […]
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Oil execs, the neutral arbiters energy policy has needed for so long
“My friends, we have to drill offshore. We have to do it! Oil executives say within a couple years we could be seeing results from it.” — Republican presidential candidate John McCain, at a town hall meeting in Rochester, N.H.
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Matt Yglesias is making sense
On Republican gas price demagoguery: [Anti-density zoning and minimum parking mandates] are regulatory barriers to solving our energy problems every bit as much as the ban on offshore drilling is. And conservatives are against regulation, right? Except the anti-drilling regulation is good for the environment and for coastal economies whereas anti-urbanist regulation is economically inefficient […]