At the end of September, CNBC's Steals and Deals program aired two segments on Dennis Lee, the "free energy" promoter. The show's producer, Allen Levine, had interviewed several of Lee's dealers and some of his detractors. There were clips from several of Lee's demonstrations, including his 1996 extravaganza in Philadelphia (guess who supplied that). Lee is shown describing one of his devices as a perpetual motion machine. He claims that when filled with liquid carbon dioxide it will "run run run run." Since its piston did not move until it was pulled, one hopes that the TV audience was duly skeptical. Levine had dug into Lee's shady past; there is an amusing scene where he confronts Lee with a six foot printout of his criminal record in New Jersey.

PhACT member Eric Krieg deserves the credit for encouraging this CNBC project. Both he and I make brief appearances and the producer's summing up of the scientific facts of "free energy" derives from sources supplied by PhACT.

Not content with his ten second TV debut on CNBC, Eric has since taped an interview on Origins, a Christian TV program produced in Pittsburgh and syndicated nationwide. Eric had heard that some years ago this show had aired several programs touting Lee and his remarkable machines. He managed to convince the show's presenter, Russ Bixler, of the essential unworkability of the Lee scheme. As a result, Bixler apologizes on the air for misleading his viewers, something which must be a rarity on TV.

Eric does a magnificent job of explaining why there is no such thing as free energy. The half-hour show is filled out with revealing clips from the CNBC show, so that too will reach a wider audience. It is appropriate that this program, scheduled to air in December, will be watched by the very people to whom Lee and his fantasies have had most appeal.