Recent declamations from climate science - particularly the UN report - give the strong impression that “reducing [our energy supply’s] carbon footprint” does not match the urgency of the crisis.
Most economic and geopolitical boons promised by this proposal are also obtainable by dramatically increasing investment in and adoption of carbonless energy (nuclear, ‘green’).
Moreover these technologies would free future generations from geopolitical imperatives arising from control and transport of oil and gas. Over the long term, I expect North America is no less likely to suffer instability on this count than Eurasia has proven.
A serious proposal only to that steadily-shrinking subset of the population who are still in denial about the impact of CO2 emissions on global climate!
Perhaps this "Doomberg" is trolling? I can't tell.
I believe Doomberg addresses your concern about CO2 emissions in the proposal a little bit.
Priority 1: Seduce Natural Gas Investment is explained to reduce the use of oil burning for homes and energy, especially in the Northeast, and "doing so would reduce our carbon footprint while strengthening our energy security."
Proposal 2: Reclaim a Leadership Position in Polysilicon, expands the use of LNG from Priority 1 to build up US manufacturing of polysilicon for solar cells thus accelerating the development of alternative energy from solar in the US.
Priority 3: Recommit to Nuclear further reduces CO2 emissions by using nuclear rather than fossil fuels for power in the grid.
Priority 4: Course Correct EV Adoption. I don't think this priority really goes against the goal of reducing net CO2 emissions from vehicles. Yes, vehicles would produce less CO2 if they were all electric only, but the priority seems to reduce CO2 emissions from current levels through a few avenues. First, more people would be able to buy a plugin hybrid electric vehicle because the cost would be reduced (less batteries than full battery EV). Second, less power would have to be drawn through the electric grid - which means coal for most of the US - and the grid itself is in dire need of an efficiency upgrade. Further, not addressed in the article, you could divert some of the LNG from Priority 1 to fuel cell vehicles/hybrid vehicles with fuel cells/batteries especially in heavy vehicles, e.g. long haul trucking.
Thank you for digging in a little deeper. I still disagree with him pretty strongly, but you've demonstrated that his proposal is more reasonable than my first reading suggested.
Most economic and geopolitical boons promised by this proposal are also obtainable by dramatically increasing investment in and adoption of carbonless energy (nuclear, ‘green’).
Moreover these technologies would free future generations from geopolitical imperatives arising from control and transport of oil and gas. Over the long term, I expect North America is no less likely to suffer instability on this count than Eurasia has proven.