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The Masters of the Universe aren\u2019t all-knowing after all.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last four years have been a net setback for the green movement,\u201dwrote<\/a>\u00a0influential New York Times columnist Tom Friedman March 10. \u201c(We) failed to anticipate that new technologies (particularly hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling at much greater distances) would produce new, vastly cheaper ways to tap natural gas trapped in shale as well as crude oil previously thought unreachable, making cleaner energy alternatives much less competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n Is Friedman so naive? The history of energy markets is that entrepreneurs have found the cheapest fuels to meet economic demand. Yet Freidman advocated –\u00a0 and Washington bet \u2013 billions on expensive, \u00a0unproven technologies that the Left guaranteed were the future. It\u2019s easy to spend other people\u2019s money.<\/p>\n Freidman has good company in the White House. \u201cI told him of the revolution in the oil and gas industry and how we have the capacity to produce enough oil to enable America to replace OPEC,\u201d oilman and fracking pioneer Harold Hamm recalls of his visit to Obama in 2011.<\/p>\n The president\u2019s reaction? \u201cHe turned to me and said, \u2018Oil and gas will be important for the next few years. But . . . [Energy] Secretary [Steven] Chu has assured me that within five years, we can have a battery developed that will make a car with the equivalent of 130 miles per gallon.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Billions in battery losses later \u2013 squandered on firms like A123 Systems and LG Chem \u2013\u00a0Obama\u2019s future<\/a>\u00a0is nowhere in sight.<\/p>\n