Alex Epstein on Trump, Energy Policy, and the Moral Case for Fossil Fuels

"What Trump has said about energy...is the best of any president since Reagan," says Alex Epstein, who is the president and founder of the Center for Industrial Progress, a think tank devoted to exploring how new technology can improve the planet.

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Trump, says Epstein, has so far been an advocate for "Americans to reach their full energy potential." Epstein is the author of the excellent 2014 book, The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, which, in his signature, clear-eyed style, argues that cheap and abundant hydrocarbons have made human flourishing possible. (Read Ron Bailey's 2015 review here: http://reason.com/archives/2015/01/16/energy-equity-vs-climate-moralizing)) "Man...survives by impacting nature," he told Reason's Nick Gillespie. The environmental movement, however, "says this essence of human survival is bad. And that's wrong." In our latest podcast, Epstein and Gillespie discuss hydraulic fracking ("our energy prosperity has depended on the ignorance of politicians"), global warming (he prefers the phrase "climate danger"), solar and wind power ("the unreliables"), Ayn Rand's influence on his work, and what we can expect from Trump on energy.

Produced by Jim Epstein, with Ian Keyser. About 60 minutes.