By Craig Rucker – Re-Blogged From WUWT
Radical Greens have given citizens the tools to stop destructive wind and solar projects
Fracking (horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing) has unleashed bounties of US oil and natural gas, dramatically reduced energy prices from their historic 2008 peak, saved families and industries billions of dollars annually, helped create and sustain millions of American jobs, made the United States stronger militarily and turned it into a net energy exporter.
Re-Blogged From The Daily Caller
Chris White Tech Reporter
President Donald Trump announced Thursday his plans to dramatically change an environmental law activist groups and their attorneys often use to wrap oil projects in years of bureaucratic red tape.
Trump plans to exempt privately funded projects from undergoing environmental reviews, a significant change that would make building mines and pipelines much easier, The Washington Post reported. Energy producers are cheering the move.
By David Middleton – Re-Blogged From WUWT
Brookline passes bylaw banning future use of oil, gas in new buildings
BROOKLINE, Mass. — A Massachusetts town overwhelmingly voted Wednesday night to ban the future installation of oil and gas pipes in future construction projects as well as in renovations of existing buildings.
The bylaw, which passed the Brookline town meeting with 210 votes in favor and just three opposing, would be the first such prohibition in the state of Massachusetts.
By Ken Haapala, President of SEPP – Re-Blogged From WUWT
Quote of the Week: “We know what’s happening now. It’s the past that keeps changing.” – Old Russian Joke
Number of the Week: 110 million people now drowning?
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Grim Future? Historical discussions of the human condition reveal that humans tend to identify themselves as members of like-minded groups. As discussed in the June 1 TWTW, in his farewell address, George Washington called such groups “factions.” Christopher Booker identified the common thinking of such factions as groupthink. In a post on his web site discussing Climategate, Roy Spencer addresses this issue stating that one of the few scientists who changed their mind after Climategate was Judith Curry: “She is now a well-informed and unabashed skeptic of the modern tendency to blame every bad weather event on humans.” He goes on to write:
Consumers are getting caught in the crossfire of environmental activists’ war against natural gas and the new battlefield is in the kitchen.
Environmentalists began collaborating with state government officials from across the United States at a closed-door gathering in New York this summer to lay out the plans for policies that would prevent consumers from using natural gas to cook their food or heat their homes.
The conference included representatives from the Rocky Mountain Institute, the Energy Foundation, and the World Research Institute among others, according to open records recently obtained by free market group Energy Policy Advocates and reviewed by the Washington Times.
By Chris White – Re-Blogged From WUWT
October 09, 2019 2:00 PM ET
Massachusetts’ past reliance on Russian natural gas to keep citizens warm in the winter could cause some damage to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, whose presidential campaign is tied to the anti-fracking movement.
Warren is introducing a bill Wednesday with fellow Massachusetts Democrat, Sen. Ed Markey, that would block construction on ports that export natural gas. She is pegging her campaign to ending oil as her state recovers from an energy crunch that tossed Massachusetts into the cold in 2018.
By Malcolm Carter – Re-Blogged From WUWT
Not everything in politics is easily understood or even meant to be understood, however some things are more obscure than others.
Why, for example, does the Trudeau government have a seemingly schizophrenic attitude towards our economy? On the one hand, like other parties, they voice the need for wages, benefits, jobs, heath services, education, protection of the environment … all the wonderful benefits of an industrial society, but on the other hand they seem to be trying to stick it to Alberta.
Just in case you have been at the cabin and there hasn’t been enough wind to recharge the batteries, Alberta has been trying to get more of its petroleum resources to tidewater, so that it can sell its products to other markets besides the US.
Despite the need, and after years of study, the Northern Gateway pipeline was axed, the Energy East pipeline was slashed and the twinning of the Trans Mountain pipeline almost bled to death. There was a lot of hand-wringing and whingeing in Ottawa, fingers pointed at BC and Quebec, “What can we do?” but there were only feeble attempts to resurrect these projects.
The Week That Was: July 13, 2019, Brought to You by www.SEPP.org
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “The interesting thing about the Green New Deal,” he said, “is it wasn’t originally a climate thing at all. … Do you guys think of it as a climate thing? … Because we really think of it as a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing.” – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti to Governor Jay Inslee’s climate director Sam Ricketts, as reported by David Montgomery of the Washington Post.
Number of the Week: Between 11 and 48,000 deaths
Groupthink or Bureaucratic Science: The death of exceptional journalist Christopher Booker is an unfortunate loss for those who dare think on their own. As his friend Andy Shaw relates, Booker was working on a book on Groupthink, which was based on work by psychologist Irving Janis. Booker was greatly expanding his paper on groupthink and climate change, which was published by the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF). Fortunately, we have that paper, the executive summary of which states:
Brought to You by www.SEPP.org, The Science and Environmental Policy Project
By Ken Haapala, President
Quote of the Week: “I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth, if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.” – Leo Tolstoy [William Readdy]
Number of the Week: Up to 100 times more
Why I Don’t “believe” In …: Judith Curry brought up a thoughtful essay by Robert Tracinski illustrating how politicians and the like try to persuade others to accept their views by manipulating meaningful terms to the point of rendering the terms meaningless. Currently it is fashionable to invoke the term “science” to justify one’s political policies and beliefs.
By Reuters – Re-Blogged From Yahoo
New York energy company Consolidated Edison Inc said on Friday it still plans to impose a moratorium on new natural gas service in parts of Westchester County after March 15 despite a $250 million plan by the state to reduce energy usage.
“The moratorium will still go into effect after March 15,” Con Edison spokesman Allan Drury said, noting the company needs to stop hooking up new gas customers to avoid compromising gas system reliability because of limited space on existing interstate pipelines into the region.
Westchester County is north of New York City.
The Week That Was: February 16, 2019, By Ken Haapala, President, SEPP
Brought to You by www.SEPP.org, The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better” – attributed to Albert Einstein.
Number of the Week: $425 billion plus back-up
A Note on Outgoing Longwave Radiation (Infrared Radiation): TWTW is trying to prepare a clear explanation of the effects of greenhouse gases and how the effects can be measured. They cannot be measured from the surface. The theory involves specialized fields such as theoretical molecular physics and mathematics such as integral equations. The physicists who review TWTW requested that TWTW explanations be reviewed by specialists to ensure there are no significant errors. This is being done, but the discussion of outgoing Infrared Radiation has been delayed.
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The Green New Deal: There has been a great deal written about the Green New Deal over the past week. Many criticisms are linked below to include absurd claims by the promoters. Among the more outrageous claims of the proponents not discussed are analogies to the Marshall Plan and to the mobilization for World War II. It is apparent that proponents do not understand either.
By Eric Worrall – Re-Blogged From WUWT
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chief of Staff Anthony Pugliese has accused Democrat states of undermining National Security, by scoring political points for deliberately blocking desperately needed Trump fossil fuel energy infrastructure projects.
The Democrat scorched earth strategy of obstructing vital infrastructure is forcing at least one gas company import liquid natural gas supplies from Russia, to keep US homes warm in winter.
By Steve Goreham – Re-Blogged From WUWT
Opposition to oil and gas pipelines produces sensational headlines. Protests of the Keystone XL, Dakota Access, and numerous smaller projects are well-covered by the media, creating the impression of an industry halted by public outcry. But the US pipeline network is steadily expanding and safety is improving.
By Ken Haapala, President
Brought to You by www.SEPP.org The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Constant, Not Accelerating: On May 16, SEPP Chairman emeritus S. Fred Singer had an essay in the Wall Street Journal explaining why there is little humanity and governments can do to stop the constant rate of sea level rise. Unfortunately, in the print edition, the sentence “But there is also good data showing sea levels are in fact rising at a constant rate,” was muddled into reading “But there is also good data showing sea levels are in fact rising at an accelerating rate.” [Boldface added]. The error was corrected in the online editions. The central issue of Singer’s essay is” that sea-level rise does not depend on the use of fossil fuels.”
By James Puplava – Re-Blogged From http://www.Silver-Phoenix500.com
The summer driving season is just around the corner and this year motorists are facing steeper prices for fuel, up from an average of $2.19 a gallon in 2016 to $2.87 today. By this summer, analysts are projecting gas prices to top $3 a gallon on average for the first time in 10 years.
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By Pat Reilly – Re-Blogged From http://www.WattsUpWithThat.com
Canada is a vast and rich country that has among its bounties the third largest known oil reserves in the world. The exploitation of these resources should be paying for our socialist leaning Liberal and Nation Democratic Party agendas with money left over much like Norway. Instead our governments are running massive deficits and spending money we do not have to try and maintain the façade that we can give away free social programs without worry. At the same time these governments are virtual signaling that Canadians are to blame for the Climate changing and we must have a price for carbon to pay for our sins.
Kinder Morgan Trans-Mountain Pipeline Edmonton Yard
By Michael Bastasch From The Daily Caller
Re-Blogged From http://www.WattsUpWithThat.com
Most people probably haven’t heard of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), but this agency will be a major driver of energy infrastructure projects.
Those projects will aid President Donald Trump’s goal of boosting U.S. infrastructure and gaining “energy dominance.”
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally for Senator Luther Strange in Huntsville, Alabama, U.S. September 22, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein
By David Holt – Re-Blogged From Newsmax
Everything is increasing for the low and middle class.
Housing-related costs are up because of a severe lack of inventory. So, too, are health care costs, because there aren’t enough affordable coverage options. Even car loans are reaching a breaking point with high-interest, subprime loans that more and more people are defaulting on.
We know these truths well because they’re widely reported, constant go-to talking points for lawmakers, locally and federally.
And these trends hurt those on a fixed budget, like the elderly. They also adversely impact those who can least afford to pay more, like families and households living at or below the poverty line with little or no wiggle room in their already razor-thin budget for even the slightest increase in costs.
