As expected, prominent media are linking the disastrous storm that sent temperatures plunging in Texas and shut off power for millions to “climate change.” The New York Times wrote on February 16: “The notion that the global phenomenon of a hotter planet could be sending a shocking cold wave into the southern United States might…
Tag: Energy
Is the Keystone XL Pipeline Really Dead?
West Virginia senator Joe Manchin has asked President Biden to reverse his decision canceling the Keystone XL pipeline, reports the MetroNews of West Virginia. Manchin is the new chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. As a Democrat in an evenly divided Senate, he has substantial political leverage. In a February 9…
‘An Extraordinary Act of Executive Fiat’
President Biden’s canceling the Keystone XL pipeline is “an extraordinary act of executive fiat that has few peacetime precedents in American history,” writes David Blackmon in Forbes. Added to its audacity is the disdain for the workers who have lost their jobs or will never get them. “In a statement reminiscent of Barack Obama’s famous…
Halt Wind Turbines? Not in New York State
This story seems to have slipped under the radar, but as the pandemic was kicking in last April, the New York state legislature clamped down on citizens’ ability to challenge renewable energy projects. The law was hidden in the state’s budget. (Hat tips to the Institute for Energy Research and the Buffalo News for following…
‘The Folly of Renewable Energy’
British writer Matt Ridley talks sense about renewable energy in his National Review article (and blog post), “The Folly of Renewable Energy.” Some highlights: “As Mark Twain might say, reports of an energy transition away from combustion as a source of energy are greatly exaggerated. . . .“The main change in recent years has been…
Coal Fantasies?
The Economist, a British magazine, is among the more objective political publications. But a recent editorial (behind a paywall) suggests that it is engaging in unrealistic fantasies when it comes to climate change. The editorial, “Make Coal History,” begins by noting cheerfully that China’s Xi Jinping plans to cut the nation’s “net carbon emissions” to…
Maybe We Shouldn’t Rely on Gas and Oil for Conservation Funding
The newly-passed Great American Outdoors Act will use oil and gas energy taxes to fund the purchase and maintenance of our public lands, but those sources are not as reliable as they once were, say writers from PERC (the Property and Environment Research Center). Tate Watkins and Jack Smith warn against the unreliability of such…