The moral case for fossil fuels.

• Author: Epstein, Alex
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Oil & Gas

Popular opinion about fossil fuels can be summarized in one word: addiction.

The industry's attackers have successfully portrayed its core product, fossil fuel energy, as a self-destructive addiction that is destroying our planet and the fossil fuel industry as a fundamentally immoral industry.

Like any immorality or addiction, the argument goes, we may not pay for it at the beginning, but we will pay for it in the end. Thus, the only moral option is to use "clean, renewable energy" like solar, wind, and biofuels to live in harmony with the planet instead of exploiting and destroying it. And we need to do it as soon as is humanly possible. This is the moral case against fossil fuels.

But, as I explain in a new book "The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels," if we truly think critically about the morality of fossil fuel energy, both its benefits and its risks, fossil fuel energy is not a dangerous addiction but a healthy choice. But what does it mean to be moral?

I believe an activity is moral if it is fundamentally beneficial to human life.

By that standard, is the fossil fuel industry moral?

Yes.

By producing the most abundant, affordable, reliable energy in the world, the fossil fuel industry makes every other industry more productive--and it makes every individual more productive and thus more prosperous, giving each person a level of opportunity to pursue happiness that previous generations couldn't even dream of. Energy, the fuel of technology, is opportunity--the opportunity to use technology to improve every aspect of life.

Including our environment.

Any animal's environment can be broken down into two categories: threats and resources. (For human beings, "resources" includes a broad spectrum of things, including natural beauty.)

To assess the fossil fuel industry's impact on our environment, we simply need to ask: What is its impact on threats? What is its impact on resources?

The moral case against fossil fuels argues that the industry makes our environment more threatening and our resources more scarce.

But if we look at the big-picture facts, the exact opposite is true. The fossil fuel industry makes our environment far safer and generates new resources out of once-useless raw materials.

Let's start with threats. Schoolchildren for the last several generations have been taught to think of our natural environment as a friendly, stable place--and our main environmental contribution is to mess it up and endanger ourselves in the process...