Put this in the category of things that can’t be true, but that are nevertheless affirmed with a straight face: The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, does not issue forecasts, at least not long run forecasts. So says Howard Gruenspecht, deputy administrator of the EIA, in a letter to Nature , the respected science journal. Gruenspecht was responding to recent coverage of an alleged EIA forecast which paints a rosy picture of U.S. domestic oil and natural gas production through 2040, a view challenged by the article in question. Here is the bureaucratese from the letter: “Contrary to the presentation in the Nature article, EIA does not characterize any of its long run projection scenarios as a forecast.” Long run projection scenarios….huh. What could those actually be if not forecasts? And, why is the deputy administrator making such a big […]