Elon Musk: Go nukes and more oil, please

Tesla boss Elon Musk told European energy leaders that the world needs more oil and natural gas and should continue operating nuclear power plants while investing heavily in renewable energy sources (Photo: Reuters)
Tesla boss Elon Musk told European energy leaders that the world needs more oil and natural gas and should continue operating nuclear power plants while investing heavily in renewable energy sources (Photo: Reuters)

Summary

The Tesla founder delivers a timely message in Europe.

When even the world’s pre-eminent manufacturer of electric vehicles continues to deviate from the energy doctrines of environmental faith, one has to wonder how many true believers there really are.

The Journal’s Jenny Strasburg reports today:

Tesla Inc. boss Elon Musk told European energy leaders that the world needs more oil and natural gas and should continue operating nuclear power plants while investing heavily in renewable energy sources.

“I think we actually need more oil and gas, not less, but simultaneously moving as fast as we can to a sustainable energy economy," Mr. Musk, Tesla’s chief executive and largest shareholder, told a conference in Stavanger, Norway.

Mr. Musk said work on developing battery-storage technology is key to making the most of investments in wind, solar and geothermal energy. “I’m also pronuclear," Mr. Musk said.

“We should really keep going with the nuclear plants. I know this may be an unpopular view in some quarters. But I think if you have a well-designed nuclear power plant, you should not shut it down, especially right now," he said.

Mr. Musk’s timing for delivering this message in Europe could hardly be better. Let’s hope he can help prevent some European misery this winter as the region faces natural gas shortages. On Friday Mr. Musk tweeted:

Countries should be increasing nuclear power generation! It is insane from a national security standpoint & bad for the environment to shut them down.

American policy makers could also benefit from Mr. Musk’s advice.

***

What U.S. Investors Need

Some people may think that an utter failure to evaluate and prioritize risks is merely a public health story. But Beltway financial regulators are lately showing a similar ability to boggle the mind. One the one hand, Chairman Gary Gensler of the Securities and Exchange Commission has unleashed a blizzard of new rule proposals upon the already hyper-regulated U.S. financial system. The Journal’s Paul Kiernan reports:

Brokerages, hedge funds, private-equity firms, mutual funds, high-frequency trading firms and public companies have argued in comment letters filed this year that the costs of many of the proposals would outstrip the benefits, and that the SEC’s studies of the issues are flawed.

Mr. Gensler is pursuing what lawyers and former regulators say is the SEC’s most aggressive agenda in decades, an effort that could upend established and lucrative business models. It includes requiring public companies to disclose information related to climate change, bringing more transparency to private-equity and hedge funds, imposing stricter rules for investment products advertised as environmentally or socially responsible, and overhauling the way stock trades are executed.

On the other hand, where there is an obvious need for more disclosure, Mr. Gensler seems to be opting for a relatively light touch. The Journal’s Keith Zhai, Paul Kiernan and Michelle Chan report:

Washington and Beijing reached an agreement for U.S. accounting regulators to inspect China-based audits, laying the groundwork for a monthslong process that could prevent numerous Chinese companies from being booted off American stock exchanges.

It’s nice for the Chinese firms if they can avoid being ejected from our equity markets. But does this mean U.S. investors will get the solid and relevant information they deserve? The Journal reporters note:

While both sides used optimistic language to describe the agreement, the two nations appeared to differ on what the agreement said about the detailed process for U.S. regulators to inspect Chinese audits. Officials from the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said they agreed with their Chinese counterparts to not make the language of the deal public.

Of course the SEC should always be careful when handling nonpublic information about particular firms. But to keep secret a policy agreement made with an oppressive foreign dictatorship is outrageous. If there is one government in the world from which the SEC should be demanding more transparency it is the Chinese Communist Party. U.S. investors, who will be the ones suffering if securities frauds go undetected, deserve to know much more.

James Freeman is the co-author of “The Cost: Trump, China and American Revival."

 

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