Power Hour with Alex Epstein

By Alex EpsteinNews News Commentary

Power Hour with Alex Epstein episodes

October 09, 2021 Toby Rice, the CEO of America's largest natural gas producer, on America's strangled natural gas potential
On this week's Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews Toby Rice, the CEO of EQT, America's largest natural gas producer, about the causes of and solutions to the world's natural gas crisis.
The takeaway: The US could alleviate most of this crisis--if not for anti-gas-infrastructure policies.
"We really want to be a solution here," says Rice. "Unfortunately, we're just out of infrastructure. And so we have the biggest gas resource in the world here in Appalachia, and EQT could do so much more, but without the infrastructure, there's not much we can do..."
Rice says what is needed to unleash natural gas's potential is liberating infrastructure development: "we're not asking for the checkbook to help us become more successful." "All we're saying that we need to unleash US shale is pipeline infrastructure and LNG facilities."
49 min
September 24, 2021 The Pseudoscientific Smearing of Steve Koonin
On April 27th, physicist Steve Koonin, who worked in the Obama Administration’s Department of Energy, published a challenge to climate catastrophism called “Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, what It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters.”

While the climate catastrophe movement usually ignores criticisms, Koonin’s scientific standing, plus the fact that the book became a major bestseller, made this harder to do. Unfortunately, climate catastrophists have still tried their best to ignore Koonin’s arguments, and when they have engaged him it is through scientific smearing—such as an attack in Scientific American that consisted largely of ad hominems and attacking summaries of his book by a Washington Post columnist.

On this week’s episode of Power Hour, Steve Koonin joins Alex Epstein to discuss not only the smears but much of what has been happening in the climate conversation over the last 5 months, including:
- The recent IPCC report—including the curious absence of key graphs, the use of "attribution studies," and the methodology used to make climate models "hotter" even though they have typically over predicted warming in the past.
- The media’s exaggerated portrayal of the recent IPCC report.
- The positive reaction to Koonin’s book.
- What scientists have told Koonin behind the scenes.
- Koonin’s upcoming debates.
53 min
September 09, 2021 Best-of Power Hour: Steve Koonin
This week’s “Best-of Power Hour” features Alex Epstein’s interview with physicist Steve Koonin, author of the blockbuster book Unsettled, with a new introduction in anticipation of their forthcoming interview on the next episode of Power Hour.
58 min
August 28, 2021 How to create concise, retainable energy messaging
On this episode of Power Hour, Alex Epstein shares what he's learned over the 18 months working with elected officials on how to create concise, retainable messaging, including:

- How to link concise, retainable messages together.
- What are the most important topics to cover?
- The 8 types of messaging he uses most.
- How to join Epstein's Energy Champions group.
23 min
August 13, 2021 Alaska's Governor Mike Dunleavy stands up for Alaska's right to develop
On this week's Power Hour, Alex Epstein interviews Mike Dunleavy, the outspoken governor of Alaska, about his state's fight to develop fossil fuels and other valuable resources.

They cover a wide range of topics, including:
- Alaska's virtually limitless potential for resource development
- How Alaska gets (mis)treated as a place where no development should occur
- How natives of Alaska benefit tremendously from resource development and are harmed by opposition to development
- How the campaign against drilling in "the Arctic" harms Alaska and plays into the hands of Russia
- How the rest of the country can help Alaska fight back
43 min
July 30, 2021 Best-of Power Hour: Power Hungry with Robert Bryce
On this Best-of Power Hour, Alex Epstein takes us back to the first ever episode of Power Hour, featuring energy expert Robert Bryce. Alex will be appearing on Robert’s Power Hungry podcast the week of August 2nd. Listen to this episode, then Robert’s podcast, to see how the two have evolved over the last decade.
1 hr 4 min
July 15, 2021 Economist Saifedean Ammous on "fiat science," "fiat education," and "fiat fuels"
On this week's Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews economist Dr. Saifedean Ammous, about how systematic government control--"fiat"--wreaks havoc in the realms, not just of currency, but of science, education, and energy.

They cover:
- How government control in the realm of ideas is treated as benign but is in fact incredibly dangerous.
- The myth that leading universities such as Harvard, Yale, and Stanford are "private."
- What freedom of scientific inquiry looks like, and how it gave birth to the modern world.
- Why much of today's "modeling" would not exist in a free market.
- How the moral case for fossil fuels is taking hold in the Bitcoin community.
1 hr 14 min
July 07, 2021 How to Bring About a Renaissance in Puerto Rico
Recorded in advance of Alex Epstein’s headline-making Congressional testimony about Puerto Rico, Alex Epstein interviews Yaron Brook, Chairman of the Ayn Rand Institute and a Puerto Rico resident, about how to bring about a renaissance in Puerto Rico.

Brook explains:
- Why he moved to Puerto Rico
- The parallels between Puerto Rico and Hong Kong
- How Puerto Rican policy punishes native Puerto Ricans
- Puerto Rico’s horrific electricity grid
- Cultural challenges in Puerto Rico

Toward the end of the episode, Brook discusses his new projects and Alex shares his formula for reframing the conversation in new fields.
1 hr 2 min
July 02, 2021 Chris Wright, proud Oil & Gas CEO
From Alex Epstein, host of Power Hour:

On this week’s Power Hour I have a wide-ranging discussion with Chris Wright, the proud and outspoken CEO of Liberty Oilfield Services. I first met Chris when we tag-teamed in a debate against climate catastrophists back in late 2015.

He, like me, came to love fossil fuels despite not coming from that industry background at all (his background was working on fusion at MIT).

In the past month Chris has done two very cool things.

One is that he has responded to the ESG movement with a report entitled “Bettering Human Lives” that highlights the amazing benefits of the oil and gas industry, and encourages rational thinking about climate.

Chris has also been making a lot of noise with a new “Thank You, North Face” billboard and video campaign.

In our discussion Chris and I cover:
- Why he chose to be an entrepreneur
- The response to his revolutionary ESG report
- The response to his “Thank You, North Face” campaign
- His role working with Mitchell Energy to bring about the shale revolution
- What Chris’s activist successes can teach other energy CEOs
- Chris’s plans for future activism
- Our common motivations for focusing our careers on energy
- How we think about criticism
56 min
June 19, 2021 How "the experts" can be totally wrong about energy
From Alex Epstein:

An understandable reaction to my view that the world should be using more fossil fuels in the coming decades, not less, is "This is the exact opposite of what 'the experts' say. Almost every institution I trust says the expert consensus is that we need to rapidly eliminate fossil fuel use. How can you be right and they be wrong?"

On this week's Power Hour (coming out this Friday) drawing on some brand-new material from my forthcoming book Fossil Future, I tackle this question head-on, explaining three ways in which experts are often wrong.

When we hear claims that "the experts" are wrong, we usually associate it with the claim that most experts in a field are factually mistaken. While this certainly does happen, there are two far more common ways in which "the experts" can be wrong--both of which are at work on the issue of energy.

The factual conclusions of experts can be misrepresented by those who claim to speak for all experts.

And the factual conclusions of experts can be misevaluated by those who claim to speak for all experts.

In this episode I will show definitively that our knowledge system is wildly irrational in its method of moral evaluation when it comes to not only fossil fuels but also other cost-effective forms of energy.
48 min