Since we wrote “Let it Burn,” which surprisingly struck a cord for many readers, one reader asked what’s the alternative. What could we do to forestall what we’re seeing. There are very few who are more eloquent or thoughtful than MLK, so we’ll paraphrase his speech, knowing full well our prose falls short. Still we persist. If we had a dream, it would be this . . .
I have a dream . . . that one day the inventories of the world will be balanced, and that the producers of the world will be able to sit down together at the table of stability with enough capital nourishment to bolster energy security at a price that allows all economies to prosper.
I have a dream . . . that OPEC+ does possess the spare capacity so conveniently and fervently cited, as anything less means an energy crisis borne by those least prepared to shoulder its consequences.
I have a dream . . . that hesitant producers in the developed and emerging markets, in well funded capital havens are allowed to increase production if not to save us from, but to stave off our foreseen energy shortage.
I have a dream . . . that even the State of Texas, one brimming with Permian potential, can be transformed into an oasis of petroleum production offset by carbon capture.
I have a dream . . . that commodity producers will one day operate in nations and markets where they will be judged not by the contents of their production, for which we so desperately need, but by their operational, managerial and financial character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream . . . that one day, the institutional money managers and financial croupiers in the investment community, will be stricken by the realization that fossil fuels are the only means we currently have to lift many in the world out of abject poverty. That the ESG scorecards, which they cling to like religious relics if only to hide their financial motives, will be torn from their hands. That the consequences of their actions are laid bare, and their resulting underperformance stemming from their willful disregard of such a critical sector will force a reconsideration, if not a reckoning.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream . . . that one day, E&P producers will be appreciated, every overindulged SaaS company that add zero value to our real economy and suppresses rather than uplifts our brothers and sisters toiling under threadbare employment protections are laid low, the uphill challenges faced by investors, producers, stakeholders, and workers in the long neglected energy space made plain, and the crooked high-tech tulip/SPAC/Ponzi schemes of the world will be leveled, and the triumphant glory of free cash flows over narratives will be regaled, and all the investors shall see together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the market with. With this faith, generalists will be able to hew out the mountain of despair, a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords sewn by the misguided, misinformed, the callousness cloaked in false empathy (perpetuated by those willfully ignorant, corrupt, or incorrigible in the climate movement) into a beautiful symphony of appreciation for what’s needed and a determination for what must be done. With this faith we will be able to work together, to produce together, to clean our environment together, and to elevate action instead of words, and stand for shared sacrifice, knowing that we will need to compromise in our world to preserve it.
This will be the day when all children will be able to sing with new meaning: My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. We must appreciate, preserve, protect, and produce our resources in responsible ways. We must let freedom of production and distribution, unconstrained by the falsehoods pedaled by environmental and financial charlatans, ring.
Let freedom ring . . . from the mighty mountains in the Marcellus. Let freedom ring from the prodigious GoM. Let freedom ring from the snowcapped mountains near the DJ Basin. Let freedom ring from the plains of the Permian, New Mexico and Texas. Let freedom ring from even the curvaceous slopes of California, the state that consumes the second highest amount of fossil fuels in our great nation. Though they’ve turned a deaf ear to the corrosiveness of their energy hypocrisy, let freedom ring. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill, from every moutainside, let freedom ring.
We can and must produce responsibly. We can and must acknowledge that our current path is recklessly leading to a world of energy scarcity. We can and must acknowledge that though globalization means we’ve abdicated our manufacturing activities, we still retain the responsibilities for nurturing the resources involved in such endeavors. We can and must understand how interwoven fossil fuels are to the fabric of our modern lives. Now is the time to let freedom ring. Now is the time before the price paid becomes too costly.
And if this happens, if we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every basin, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, those in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas will be able to join hands whilst emerging from the darkness of economic and energy depravity, and sing:
Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.