Editor’s note: This article was taken down for fact-checking purposes. It was originally reported that the Landman Energy Management Club (LEM) spent $15,000 to bring Mr. Esptein on campus as part of an AAPL grant. According to LEM advisor Steven Soychak, the actual figure is approximately $5,000.
Alex Epstein, author of “The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels,” spoke at Colorado Mesa University (CMU) on Feb. 20 about how he believes that the usage of fossil fuels does more good than it does harm.
Students from the Landman Energy Management Club (LEM) applied and received a grant from the American Association of Professional Landmanagers (AAPL). The grant money was used to fund Alex Epstein’s appearance on campus, which cost approximately $5,000.
Epstein’s presence at CMU was met with controversy. The energy theorist is the best-selling author of “The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels” where he argues that climate change is not nearly as big of a problem as people think it is, and it would be genocidal to stop using fossil fuels.
“I think this is a crucial year for the future of energy, and Colorado is one of the most important places in the world in terms of deciding energy policy so, I wanted to try and reach people who tend to be anti-fossil fuels with the case of actually using more fossil fuels and then people who tend to be pro-fossil fuels I wanted to empower them with the case for using more fossil fuels,” Epstein said.
The Sustainability Council was in attendance at the event and strongly opposed the points that Epstein made.
“Cherry-picked and misrepresented data used to support the exact opposite ideas it is representing is not only an affront to the revered scientific processes that created them, but also puts at risk our hopes for a livable future. Personally, I think it was not a good idea to host Alex at CMU, because a place of higher education should not be used as a soapbox for blatantly wrong statements,” Vice President of the Sustainability Council Ian Thomas said.
Courtesy of Ian Thomas
The Sustainability Council was not the only portion of the student body who expressed their dismay in regard to the event.
“There was so much wrong and scary about [Epstein’s] speech that I’d need pages to describe it. I’m appalled that members of our school, a place that is supposed to be about higher education, would pay so much money to allow Alex Epstein to parrot his ideas,” CMU student Michael Acker said.
During the event, Mr. Epstein defended the amount of fossil fuels that the world currently uses along with arguing that humanity should actually increase the usage of coal, oil and natural gas.
Community members, students and faculty members attended the event held in the University Center ballroom.
“I don’t think I drove anyone away who was pro-fossil fuel, so I think it was a net positive and also I’m really happy that they did such a good job with recording the event, because it could be seen by 100,000 people on YouTube,” Epstein said.
The large majority of Epstein’s platform revolves around his theory that fossil fuels have little impact on the environment and almost no negative impact on human health.
“Alex Epstein presented several extremely dangerous and irresponsible fallacies. I have never been in a room with a man so dangerous. He not only disagrees with 97% of active climate scientists and says that climate change is overblown, but he also thinks fossil fuels are the future [of] humanity,” Acker said.
Epstein’s speech was as polarizing because the majority of climate scientists in the world agree on climate change; particularly the negative role that fossil fuels play in enhancing the effects of climate change. Approximately 97% of scientists agree on the matter, according to NASA.
“I would say I worry all the time about trying to be right […] I have not found any of those arguments convincing, including the 97% [of scientists who are at a consensus on the causes and effects of climate change] […] My main worry is actually that I become more and more confident that I am right, that the case I am arguing is right, and my worry is that I’m not as effective at communicating it, as the truth deserves,” Epstein said.