After immersion in the campus fossil-fuel divestment debate, what a pleasure it is to read Charles Cooke’s cover story in the latest issue of National Review, “The Quiet Gold Rush: On the many splendors of Canada’s tar sands.” The points Charlie makes are strictly taboo on campus. You can complain about harm divestment might do to endowments, yet opponents are still afraid to reject the calumnies heaped on conventional energy producers by the “fossil-fuel resistance.” The rare exception proves the rule.
Meanwhile the fossil-fuel divestment movement is spreading to cities. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn joined the divestment campaign late last year. Now there’s a divestment push on in San Francisco. Perhaps NR gift subscriptions are in order for the board of San Francisco’s Employee Retirement System?