ABSTRACT
Oil patch politics have frequently been portrayed as inimical to the growth of renewable energy in the United States (Lovins 1976; Pope 2000; Ayres 2001). Oil and gas interests defend the integrity of their asset-specific investments in land and physical capital by donating enormous sums of money to sympathetic parties, politicians, and political action committees. Oil patch politicians defend the interests of their private sector patrons by derailing the development of alternatives to fossil fuel. Oil industry analysts defend the reputation of the public and private officials they are supposed to cover by deriding the prospects for renewable energy (Gelbspan 2005). And the country's "inevitable" (Lovins 1976, 96) transition to a more sustainable energy future is thereby delayed—with potentially catastrophic consequences.
