Net Zero Poverty by 2050
Written for the High Plains Journal.
If you had told me 25 years ago that I would be spending as much time in the world of energy as I am, I would have told you how nuts you were. However, security of the energy sector is where our future resides. While we can live without oil and coal, our forefathers did, but do you really know what that was like? For starters, refrigerators and freezers would be GONE. Don’t forget the fact that 1 gallon of diesel fuel replaces 500 man-hours of labor for food production. If you look on the bright side, you won’t be going to a dark gym to stay in shape because you will be too busy hoeing a row.
I recently attended the 2024 Williston Basin Petroleum conference in Bismarck, ND. It has been 10 years since I took in this event and once again, it was tremendous. The fact that you get to see all the components from behind the scenes that go into oil recovery is quite incredible. Much like conventions in farming, it’s the trade show that gives you great insight into the people, innovation and technology that leads to greater oil recovery with less effort and less energy.
With all of that said, too many of the speakers focused primarily on “perceived climate mitigation” instead of true improvement in the oil business. Yes, I do want all industries to point blank shout “Stick the CO2 nonsense up your drainpipe” instead of kowtowing with “we will see what we can do.”
The final presentation of the event, which was not as well attended as I anticipated it to be, featured oil tycoon Harold Hamm and Bruce Rastetter, CEO of Summit Ag, Summit Carbon Solutions and Summit Energy. These two millionaires claim to be conversative businesspeople but, as Rastetter admitted, their business plan will take as many taxpayer dollars in subsidies as they can amass. Nothing about this business model sets well with me.
Even worse, Rastetter, who claims to be from the agricultural world (I have personally known him for 30 years), is really working at creating a bridge between oil and ethanol that will result in the big oil tycoons of the world controlling 100% of the ethanol production. That should not sit well with any farming interests.
With all of that said, there were great presenters and I want to focus on one who really hit the mark in my mind. Chris Wright of Denver is the CEO of Liberty Energy. His overall motto was “Net Zero Poverty by 2050.” Now that is something we should all be focused on. He gave tremendous insight into the 2 billion people who put themselves at risk every day because of the inherent dangers that come along with home cooking. He was talking about the people who still cook their meals and heat their homes with traditional fuels like wood, dung, agricultural waste or charcoal because it is all they can afford or find.
He went on to explain that 3 million people die every year from indoor pollution. He displayed a graph that documents how 500,000 people died annually from extreme weather conditions 100 years ago but today that numbers shows a 96% decline to less than 15,000 annually. These are facts you don’t get on a regular basis.
Despite the truth of oil improving human lives, in the past 5 years the government movement has been about standing in the way of the development of sustainability of hydrocarbons. That, he added, is “highly destructive.”
He went on to say, “Climate change, again, although real, just morphed into a political organizing principle. For 20 years, Europe has spent $800 billion in subsidies to try to drive solar and wind and modern biofuels to transform their energy system.”
The overwhelming message that came from this event was an emphasis on the lies the government wants the population to believe. Remember in the 1980’s when we were told we were going to run out of oil by 2000? As it turns out, we now have enough coal to last for 800 years and over 1000 years of oil still untapped. It is high time we all adopt this wonderful plan of Net Zero Poverty by 2050 and that is accomplished only with affordable, reliable energy supplies.