Alex Epstein: "28 energy leaders call for eliminating IRA subsidies--even the ones they benefit from"
"This is the kind of integrity we need from industry—and from Congress."
In 2013, a colleague in the energy industry suggested I meet a brilliant young thinker who was writing a book about the importance of fossil fuels. This was during the Obama years when attacks on fossil fuels were ramping up. I remember thinking how important it was to go against the increasingly angry narrative that fossil fuels are evil and must be eliminated.
I first met Alex Epstein on a phone call, and we have stayed in touch since. Alex has spoken to my classes many times, and we have hosted him on the TCU campus for seminars with students and presentations to the general public. With a degree in philosophy, Alex had no background in the energy industry. He was drawn to study energy due to its importance in human flourishing. When I read the manuscript of “The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels,” which Alex sent me, I remember being impressed with how well he conveyed the pro-fossil fuel view and how bold he was to espouse that view at a time when some people were being banned from social media such as Facebook and Linkedin.
Alex argues that human flourishing should be the central focus of energy and environmental policy. He emphasizes fossil fuels' benefits to modern society, such as increased life expectancy, economic growth, and improved living standards. He challenges the scientific consensus on climate change, asserting that the dangers are overstated and fossil fuels remain essential for global prosperity. He refines his arguments about the benefits in his latest book, “Fossil Future: Why Global Human Flourishing Requires More Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas—Not Less,” published in 2022.
Alex publishes on many platforms. I highly recommend subscribing to his Substack titled “Energy Talking Points.”
This afternoon, Monday 24, 2025, Alex posted a letter from 28 energy leaders calling for eliminating all IRA subsidies—even the ones that benefit their companies. While three large companies, ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum, and Energy Transfer, have asked that the Trump administration maintain the absurdly named Inflation Reduction Act’s subsidies for CCUS (carbon capture, utilization, and storage), this is a laudable effort that hopefully will spread to other energy companies. If the IRA is not nullified, it will continue to distort energy markets for decades.
His complete post follows:
28 energy leaders just called for the elimination of all IRA subsidies—even ones that benefit their companies.”
This is the kind of integrity we need from industry—and from Congress.
The full letter is below (PDF here). Please share this with your Congressmen!
Dear Chairman Smith and Chairman Crapo:
We, the undersigned American energy producers and investors, write to voice our principled support for full repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) energy subsidies, including subsidies that would appear to be to our firms’ and industry’s benefit. This is the only moral and practical path forward if we are to truly unleash American energy.
In recent weeks, Congress has been embroiled in battles over which, if any, of the IRA energy subsidies to cut. Lobbyists representing every corner of the energy landscape, including trade groups that many of us are part of, are jockeying to preserve their own piece of the pie, claiming that it is uniquely valuable.
We have oil lobbyists fighting to keep carbon capture and hydrogen subsidies, solar and wind lobbyists fighting to keep solar and wind subsidies, biofuel lobbyists fighting to keep biofuel subsidies, and EV lobbyists fighting to keep EV subsidies.
If this continues, we will likely preserve most if not all of the subsidies, which, deep down, everyone knows are not good for America.
The fundamental truth about subsidies is very simple. For any product, including energy, a subsidy is just a way of taking money from more efficient producers—and from taxpayers—and giving it to less efficient producers. The result is always less efficient production and therefore higher costs or lower quality for Americans.
The most egregious example of subsidies’ destructiveness is the IRA’s solar and wind subsidies, which pay electric utilities to invest much more money in solar and wind than they otherwise would, and thus much less in coal and gas than they otherwise would. Ultimately this means higher electricity prices and certainly less electricity reliability for Americans.
The IRA subsidies’ devastating harm to American energy is more than enough to compel us, as energy producers, to oppose them.
But their harm goes far beyond energy, as they will dramatically increase our debt and ultimately undermine every aspect of our economy.
A central Congressional priority is to curb the national debt during the upcoming budget reconciliation exercise. But according to credible estimates, the IRA will cost over $1 trillion over the next decade and trillions more after that. Worse, the IRA subsidies are expected to misallocate, into uncompetitive business and jobs, $3 trillion of investment by 2032 and $11 trillion by 2050. That’s a disaster for our economy, and for real job opportunities.
Clearly, the right thing to do is to eliminate all these subsidies. When lobbyists say that these subsidies are essential for America, what they’re really saying is that their backers have made investments in projects that have no near term cost-effectiveness and that are totally dependent on indefinite subsidies to sustain themselves.
Most people know the truth, but are afraid to say it due to institutional pressures. Too many Congressmen are afraid of alienating trade groups. Too many trade groups are afraid of alienating their large and vocal members who have made investments hoping for indefinite subsidies. All the while, too few are talking about freedom.
That’s why we invite our colleagues to do the right thing: level with the American people, say that we made a mistake, and that those who built subsidy-dependent businesses took on the kind of risk that we do not want to reward.
Keeping the IRA subsidies—despite all the evidence that they benefit only special interests at the expense of America—risks making our nation ever more like Europe, where industries do not succeed by providing the best value to consumers, but by providing the best favors to politicians. That’s not the America we want to work in.
Sincerely,
Bud Brigham, Founder, Atlas Energy Services and Brigham Exploration
David Albin, Managing Partner, Spectra Holdings
Adam Anderson, CEO, Innovex International
Thurmon Andress, Chairman and CEO, Andress Oil
Don Bennett, Managing Partner, Bennett Ventures LP
Greg Bird, CEO and President, Jetta Operating Company
David de Roode, Partner, Lockton
Andy Eidson, CEO, Alpha Metallurgical Resources
Matt Gallagher, President and CEO, Greenlake Energy
Mike Howard, CEO, Howard Energy
Justin Thompson, CEO, Iron Senergy
Ed Kovalik, CEO, Prairie Operating Company
Thomas E. Knauff, Executive Chairman, EDP
Lance Langford, CEO, Langford Energy Partners
Mickey McKee, CEO, Kodiak Gas Services
Mike O’Shaughnessy, CEO, Lario Oil and Gas Company
D. Martin Phillips, Founder, EnCap Investments LP
Karl Pfluger, midstream executive
David Rees-Jones, President, Chief Energy
Rob Roosa, CEO, Brigham Royalties
Bobby Shackouls, Former CEO, Burlington Resources
Ross Stevens, Founder and CEO, Stone Ridge Holdings Group
Kyle Stallings, CEO, Desert Royalty Company
Justin Thompson, CEO, Iron Senergy
Mike Wallace, Partner, Wallace Family Partnership
Ladd Wilks, CEO, ProFrac
Denzil West, CEO, Admiral Permian Operating
Bill Zartler, Founder and CEO, Solaris Oilfield Infrastructure
Additional signatories (email ted@energyfreedom.org to add yours):
Jimmy Brock, Executive Chairman, Core Natural Resources
Ted Williams, President and CEO, Rockport Energy Solutions LLC
To make sure as many politicians as possible see this letter, help us by sharing on Twitter/X and tagging your Congressmen! Congress is currently undecided about what to do about the IRA subsidies, so now is the moment to make your voice heard.
You can find your Member of Congress here and their Twitter handles here. You can find your Senators and their Twitter handles here. And here are some sample messages to send.
============================================================================
Thank you for reading “Thoughts about Energy and Economics.” This publication is reader-supported, so please “Like” it, share it with friends and colleagues, and become a paid subscriber. Your support is greatly appreciated!
Yes, Congress needs to repeal the "Inflation Reduction Act". A Bill was never more inappropriately named. Pure BS.