Benighted!
With his usual tactic of accusing others of what he is guilty of, Myron was quoted in the Cybercrap News Service accusing clergy members of being "benighted", "willingly duped," and of "confusing good intentions with good consequences." The only consequences that matter to Myron is whether Exxon makes more money next year than this. Nothing else matters.
Myron also said, "Global warming policies to ration energy use present much more of a threat to the world's poor, and to the world's poorest countries, than does global warming," which is illogical, Captain, since poor people who can't afford to eat, let alone buy their fair share of petroleum, would be untouched by the rationing of something they don't use. When was the last time you saw an African slum dweller driving down to the river to collect water?
Moving on from this state of moral and intellectual darkness, an article in Scripps Howard introduced Ebell properly by stating that he worked for "the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which is funded in part by ExxonMobil and other energy companies", but then ruined it by printing his numerous false, irrelevant, and unsubstantiated allegations. The reporter should have put the phone down and called the Exxon PR department for some attributed statements instead.
The story was about peak oil.
Myron's lies began with the claim that the US Interior Department's oil estimates "have a long history of being proven wrong." What does Myron cite, but the last case when this figure was ever underestimated, in the 1930s when they apparently said that oil would be depleted in the United States by 1940.
Peculiar things can happen in Myron's world: the technology of oil extraction can steadily progress, while the science of estimating the oil reserves can become more and more inaccurate. Or maybe it gets more accurate and truthful, which is why a pathological liar like Myron digs out irrelevant records from 70 years ago.
Myron's powers of delusion knows no limit. He makes the startling claim that: "It's not in the interests of the Saudi government to give away how much oil they have. I think there are more reserves there than they're telling us." Since, according to the rules of OPEC, it is in their financial interest to over-estimate the amount of oil they hold, I would have liked to have heard his explanation. But unfortunately, the reporter Lance Gay, was interested only in printing as much of Myron's self-selected bollocks as he could fit on the page. Myron whined that there are vast reserves of oil still held off-limits from exploration by political decisions of the most oil friendly government the US has ever seen, citing the usual huge reserves off the coasts of California and Florida, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. As usual, he's exaggerating for political purposes. This always happens with oil.
Myron then added that government decisions overseas nationalizing the oil industry also have dampened production, because governments aren't as efficient stewards of oil reserves as the industry. No kidding. I wonder how he explains why Norway's oil reserves, run by Statoil, are greater than the UK's privately run oil industry in the same North Sea.
Unfortunately he's not asked to explain that, if he even knows about it. The remaining paragraphs of the article are too painful to go over, since they fail to challenge any of Myron's lies, preferring to take the time to corroborate Ebell's claims from biased sources: Wildcatters, using innovative technology, found fields the major companies missed, and the untapped reserves are significant enough to boost known U.S. oil reserves by [a whole] 1 percent.
Indeed, I'm sure we'd like to think John Galt with his bucket and spade could dredge more oil out of the mountains than any ineffective government. Someone has been smoking too much Ayn Rand lately.
Myron also said, "Global warming policies to ration energy use present much more of a threat to the world's poor, and to the world's poorest countries, than does global warming," which is illogical, Captain, since poor people who can't afford to eat, let alone buy their fair share of petroleum, would be untouched by the rationing of something they don't use. When was the last time you saw an African slum dweller driving down to the river to collect water?
Moving on from this state of moral and intellectual darkness, an article in Scripps Howard introduced Ebell properly by stating that he worked for "the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which is funded in part by ExxonMobil and other energy companies", but then ruined it by printing his numerous false, irrelevant, and unsubstantiated allegations. The reporter should have put the phone down and called the Exxon PR department for some attributed statements instead.
The story was about peak oil.
Myron's lies began with the claim that the US Interior Department's oil estimates "have a long history of being proven wrong." What does Myron cite, but the last case when this figure was ever underestimated, in the 1930s when they apparently said that oil would be depleted in the United States by 1940.
Peculiar things can happen in Myron's world: the technology of oil extraction can steadily progress, while the science of estimating the oil reserves can become more and more inaccurate. Or maybe it gets more accurate and truthful, which is why a pathological liar like Myron digs out irrelevant records from 70 years ago.
Myron's powers of delusion knows no limit. He makes the startling claim that: "It's not in the interests of the Saudi government to give away how much oil they have. I think there are more reserves there than they're telling us." Since, according to the rules of OPEC, it is in their financial interest to over-estimate the amount of oil they hold, I would have liked to have heard his explanation. But unfortunately, the reporter Lance Gay, was interested only in printing as much of Myron's self-selected bollocks as he could fit on the page. Myron whined that there are vast reserves of oil still held off-limits from exploration by political decisions of the most oil friendly government the US has ever seen, citing the usual huge reserves off the coasts of California and Florida, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. As usual, he's exaggerating for political purposes. This always happens with oil.
Myron then added that government decisions overseas nationalizing the oil industry also have dampened production, because governments aren't as efficient stewards of oil reserves as the industry. No kidding. I wonder how he explains why Norway's oil reserves, run by Statoil, are greater than the UK's privately run oil industry in the same North Sea.
Unfortunately he's not asked to explain that, if he even knows about it. The remaining paragraphs of the article are too painful to go over, since they fail to challenge any of Myron's lies, preferring to take the time to corroborate Ebell's claims from biased sources: Wildcatters, using innovative technology, found fields the major companies missed, and the untapped reserves are significant enough to boost known U.S. oil reserves by [a whole] 1 percent.
Indeed, I'm sure we'd like to think John Galt with his bucket and spade could dredge more oil out of the mountains than any ineffective government. Someone has been smoking too much Ayn Rand lately.
posted by goatchurch Perma-link
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