Free Market Energy
¾The Way to Benefit Consumers ed. by S. Fred Singer (430 pp., Universe Books, 381 Park Ave S., New York, NY 10016, $8.95) is what this newsletter is all about, and if the title sounds promising, the book exceeds all expectations. In 13 chapters by 15 authors the book examines not only what you would expect (off, gas, nuclear, etc., and what regulation does to them), but also issues of taxation, import restrictions, electric utilities, federal leasing policy, export of Alaskan oil, emergency management and a number of other goodies. Prof. Singer has made an unusually good job of editing, including the addition of tables giving energy statistics and a glossary of terms. The book is intended for wide sections of the public and highly readable.For reasons that will be evident from the book, I am in total agreement with the chapter on International Nuclear Policy, but I find the nuclear section of the final chapter (Energy Agenda for the Government) flawed by the relayed opinions of the Heritage Foundation's Henry Sokolski who is quite uninformed on a number of nuclear issues, particularly insurance and subsidies, underestimates or even overlooks the radical antinuclear campaign, and who may have been influential among conservatives who voted for killing the breeder. His glib and confused statements (the administration is pro-free market on conventional sources, but socialist on nuclear") would give this source away even if the author of the section did not thank him for his help.
But this is a very minor flaw when the book is judged as a whole. It is a beauty that persuasively shows how energy could be made cheap and abundant
¾if the American mediacracy did not program and prejudice the public with false and tendenciously selected information. It should become the bible of every energy student, and a basic volume in the library of every liberty-loving reader.|
Vol. 12, No. 2
Newsletter: Access to Energy Newsletter Archive Volume: Issues Issue/No.: Vol. 12, No. 2 Date: November 29, 2004 12:33 PM Title: The NRC kills 42 people
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