New York Times Tries To Catch up with the Energy News of the Last Decade

by Myron Ebell on October 26, 2011

in Blog, Features

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The New York Times has a special section on energy in its 26th October edition that suggests that the paper is trying to catch up with the big news of the last decade in the energy sector.  The front page story by Clifford Krauss is headlined, “The Energy Picture, Redrawn.”  Inset photos are headlined DEEP WATER, HIGH ARCTIC, OIL SANDS, and SHALE, and the caption reads: “A CHANGED GAME  New oil and gas fields are expected to yield a vast supply of fuels that should help relieve the United States of dependence on the Mideast and help drive booming economies in India and China.”

Here’s the conclusion of Krauss’s long summary of recent history: “‘The fossil fuel age will be extended for decades,’ said Ivan Sandrea, president of the Energy Intelligence Group, a research publisher.  ‘Unconventional oil and gas are at the beginning of a technological cycle that can last 60 years.  They are really in their infancy.'”

On page 2, we learn from Matthew L. Wald that, “Solar Power Industry Falls Short of Hopes in Job Creation.” Amazing, isn’t it?  And on page 5, Kate Galbraith’s story is headlined, “Future of Solar and Wind Power May Hinge on Federal Aid.”  The blowup quote says it all: “Tax credits and grants support the renewable industry.”  Who would have guessed that the number of new wind and solar projects will plummet if the 35-year-old federal gravy train stops?  Galbraith doesn’t mention the other major prop supporting wind and solar–renewable electricity mandates in many States.

These stories may be welcome news to someone who has been in the jungles of New Guinea for the past decade, but for those who get their news solely from the New York Times, all this catching up at once with the reality that a new age of fossil fuels has begun may be a nasty shock.   It will be interesting to see how the Times’s columnists, Paul Krugman and Thomas L. Friedman, will handle the news.  Neither has much of a grip on reality at the best of times, so they might come completely unhinged.  Of course, Friedman’s prose is so turgid that it will be hard to tell; and since Krugman has been stuck on Rant for years it might be hard to distinguish Insane Rant from his usual Angry Rant.

Tamara October 26, 2011 at 11:01 am

no one reads the newspaper

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