Yes, there are more than 9,000 federal permits for oil and gas that aren’t being used, as Joe Biden and his press secretary, Jen Psaki, have pointed out. Does that mean that high prices are the fault of oil companies unwilling to produce more? No. Here is recent commentary about those permits. The Wall Street…
Unpleasant Truths about Minerals for Electric Vehicles
Will the minerals needed for electric car production come from the U. S . or (more likely) overseas? Maxine Joselow writes in the Washington Post: “Prices of key minerals are skyrocketing amid the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, potentially increasing the cost of electric vehicles and other technologies crucial to the clean energy transition….
The SEC Drops Its Climate Change Bomb
On March 21, the Securities and Exchange Commission (by a 3-1 vote) told public companies they must disclose the risks that climate change may have on their financial future. In its press release, the SEC said the requirement “would include disclosure of a registrant’s greenhouse gas emissions, which have become a commonly used metric to…
Did Russians Support Anti-Fracking Environmental Groups?
Does the claim that Russia supported anti-fracking groups deserve four Pinnochios, as the the Washington Post contends? Or did the Russian government invest $95 million to organizations campaigning against fracking, as Matt Ridley reported in 2019? On March 17, the Post responded to a letter issued earlier this month by House Republicans alleging that a…
What’s Wrong with Planting More Trees?
Planting trees to sequester carbon and prevent carbon dioxide emissions has become very popular (whether it is accomplishing much or not). Now the New York Times reports that the effort to save the world is causing local ecological harm by bringing in non-native species. Writes Catrin Einhorn: “[C]ompanies and countries are increasingly investing in tree…
African Leaders Say No to Renewables
Reuters reported from the prestigious CERAWeek energy conference this month: “Some 900 million people in the world, most of them in Africa, still have no access to energy for basic needs, Nigeria’s oil Minister Timipre Marlin Sylva said during the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston. “‘We are still in transition from firewood to gas,’…