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Higher power demand and efforts to boost energy security pushed China’s coal production to a record-high level in 2023, ... Chinese coal output rose by 2.9% year-over-year to 4.66 billion metric tons in 2023 ... Coal imports also rose last year, as some domestic mining operations were suspended for some time in 2023 ... Higher demand after the COVID restrictions were lifted and higher domestic coal prices led to record-high coal imports into China, which soared by 61.8% year-on-year to 474.42 million metric tons in 2023, ... In the latter part of 2023, China ramped up coal and natural gas...

Editor’s note: Below are the video and transcript of remarks of a powerhouse panel at the David Horowitz Freedom Center’s 2023 Restoration Weekend. The event was held Oct. 26-29 at the Ritz Carlton in New Orleans..Transcript:Kenneth Timmerman:Thank you. Well, thank you very much for having me. I want to thank David Horowitz also for this for hosting these events. Christina, my wife and I have been here a number of times over the years, and it’s always a wonderful get together– a pleasure to see old faces, old friends and meet new people. I want to run through just a...

The desolation of U.S. energy security has bolstered Vladimir Putin’s dangerous geopolitical aims.Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is illuminating an ugly truth: the anti-fracking war on America’s energy security is being waged by well-funded, radical U.S. environmental groups, as well as interests tied directly to Vladimir Putin. For years, the U.S. government has investigated Russian financial ties to environmental groups that push for ending U.S. fossil fuel production and have successfully shut down fracking sites and pipelines, to the detriment of U.S. workers and consumers. Who benefits? Putin, because the desolation of U.S. energy security has bolstered state-owned Gazprom and his...

More than half the Senate on Wednesday urged quick approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, ramping up pressure on President Barack Obama to move ahead with the project just days after he promised in his inaugural address to respond vigorously to the threat of climate change. A letter signed by 53 senators said Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman’s approval of a revised route through his state puts the long-delayed project squarely in the president's hands. “We urge you to choose jobs, economic development and American energy security,” the letter said, adding that the pipeline “has gone through the most exhaustive...

YOKOTA AFB, Japan — The Air Force has ordered its pilots to fly higher and slower in an effort to slash fuel use while still performing the same missions. The rise in oil prices has added $1 billion to the cost of fueling the Air Force fleet in 2012, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for energy Kevin Geiss said last month. “We use the most energy of all the services in the Department of Defense, and we are the largest energy user in the federal government,” Geiss said. “Every day, we fly 900 mobility aircraft flights around the...

Timing is everything, as the old saying goes, and no political issue depends on timing as much as that of energy. When prices for gasoline at the pump are high, energy climbs to the top of the electorate's list of concerns, but when prices are low, people tend not to think about it. If the price at the pump continues to climb and stays high through the summer, it will be very much on the minds of voters. And that will play to the strength of Sarah Palin's hand, as Scott Conroy recently observed at RealClearPolitics: It would be difficult...

Sarah Palin is not backing down on drill, baby, drill. From her latest Facebook entry, Sarah Palin: “Am I the only one who wonders what could possibly be the agenda of any politician who would thwart our drive toward energy independence? Continuing to lock up America’s domestic energy reserves, including the energy-rich Last Frontier of Alaska, only equips dangerous foreign regimes as they fund terrorist organizations to harm us and our allies. I’m going to keep speaking and writing about this in the simplest of terms until someone can provide a simple answer as to why liberal Democrats don’t understand...

A spokesman for the Export-Import Bank has reacted via Politico to former Alaska governor Sarah Palin's Facebook op-ed which was critical of the bank's $2 billion loan to Brazilian oil company Petrobras. Phil Cogan's arguments strike us nothing more than some fancy footwork intended to divert attention away from the fact that neither he nor anyone representing President Obama has answered Palin's question: "So why is it that during these tough times, when we have great needs at home, the Obama White House is prepared to send more than two billion of your hard-earned tax dollars to Brazil...?" Petrobras, which...

Venezuela Impasse by: Alana Goodman, August 04, 2009 As Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s popularity plummets alongside oil prices, analysts warn that the socialist state could be veering toward disaster. A recent poll by the Venezuelan Institute for Data Analysis found that “43.6 per cent of respondents would vote for the current president in the 2010 ballot, while 40.1 per cent would not” but two-thirds of Venezuelans would want Chavez out of office by 2012, according to the Angus Reid Global Monitor. “This is a regime that is characterized by simultaneously putting all of its force [on] the accelerator and...

President Obama has called for a determined effort to free America from the hold of the international oil cartel. As his prime measure to achieve this, he has advanced a proposal to create a “cap-and -trade” system to limit carbon emissions. While the president’s stated objective is indeed worthy and in fact critical to the future of the nation, unfortunately, as a means to achieve it, a carbon cap-and-trade system is a complete non sequitur. The cap-and-trade mechanism is primarily a method of constricting electricity production. The United States only gets 3% of its electricity from oil. Thus taxing...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/foreign_policy/ THE AGENDA • FOREIGN POLICY THE AGENDA FOREIGN POLICY President Obama and Vice President Biden will renew America’s security and standing in the world through a new era of American leadership. The Obama-Biden foreign policy will end the war in Iraq responsibly, finish the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan, secure nuclear weapons and loose nuclear materials from terrorists, and renew American diplomacy to support strong alliances and to seek a lasting peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Afghanistan and Pakistan Afghanistan: Obama and Biden will refocus American resources on...

News item: Russia announced plans on Sunday to revive its once-mighty navy by building several aircraft carriers and upgrading its fleet of nuclear submarines in the coming years. Russia's power at sea is a shadow of the formidable Soviet navy which challenged U.S. military dominance in the Cold War. But, with a strong economy now from booming oil exports, it is seeking to raise its profile on the world stage by modernizing the armed forces. Russia will build five or six aircraft carrier battle groups in the near future, RIA news agency quoted Navy Commander Vladimir Vysotsky as telling Navy...

Oil for the Tanks of America by: Ben Giles, June 27, 2008 Witnesses at Tuesday’s Joint Economic Committee hearing stressed the need for a multifaceted, bipartisan approach to solve escalating gas prices. Senators on both sides of the aisle used the hearing to place blame for America’s gas woes on the opposite party. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), committee chairman, set the tone of the hearing with his opening statement. “With seven years under their belt, this White House has taken zero proactive steps to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” said Schumer. Schumer, who presented plans to lower the...

Contact: Press Office, 703-650-5550; www.JohnMcCain.com ARLINGTON, Va., June 17 /Standard Newswire/ -- U.S. Senator John McCain will deliver the following remarks as prepared for delivery in Houston, TX, today at 4:00 p.m. CDT (5:00 p.m. EDT): Thank you all very much. Governor Perry, Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst, and other distinguished guests, I appreciate your joining us today. And thank you all for the warm welcome to Houston. Among its other distinctions, this great city is known as the oil capital of America. But people in Houston and all of Texas understand as well as anyone that the high price of oil...

Considering how much untapped oil is known to exist, not just in the United States, but worldwide, one would think that its current price was some kind of anomaly and it is. It is more the result of speculation than anything else. The most fundamental fact about oil worldwide is that there is lots of it. Though frequently overlooked, the ability to refine crude oil plays an essential role in the supply and demand equation. More refining capacity is needed worldwide. Finally, there’s the fact that, in general, oil is very expensive to get at and often found in the...

The Italian government said Thursday it would begin building nuclear power stations, reversing a 20-year ban in an initiative likely to spark strong resistance and take a long time to come to fruition. "During the term of this parliament, we will lay the first stone for the construction in our country of a group of new-generation nuclear power stations," Economic Development Minister Claudio Scajola told the Italian employers' federation Confindustria. "We can no longer avoid an action plan for a return to nuclear power," he said, recalling a campaign pledge by Italy's newly named right-wing prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, to...

Energy Security: With the prospect of an oil shortage and $12 gas, the energy crisis is turning into a national emergency. One solution: Give states the option to develop offshore tracts. Uncle Sam bans states from drilling in the Atlantic, Pacific and eastern Gulf mainly to protect the environment. Some 85% of the U.S. coastline is off-limits to energy production - including huge reserves off Florida's coast, which China is exploiting in Cuban waters. To change that, a lawmaker is offering a novel idea. Rep. Sue Myrick of the House Energy and Commerce panel wants to let coastal states decide...

NMCEP will lead an event in early 2008 that will define the expectations of Americans that they be provided with reliable and competitively priced energy. This will be the first attempt to inject rural viewpoint into energy policy. Senator Pete V. Domenici is expected to deliver a major address at the event. Additional event details will be up soon.

The following is a summary of Thompson’s views on the issues of National Security, Federal Budget and Spending/Budgetary Reform, Tax Reform, Healthcare, Government Effectiveness, Building Strong Families, Immigration, Education, Appointment of Judges, Energy Security, and the Second Amendment. National Security In a post 9/11 world, Thompson recognizes the need for America to increase its ability to defeat its terrorist enemies. Therefore, his plans include upscaling the military, improving the missile defense system, enhancing the intelligence community, making homeland security robust enough to protect America from terrorists worldwide, giving backbone the judicial system so it will face the reality of terrorism...

The Plan to Disappear Canada 'Deep integration' comes out of the shadows. By Murray Dobbin, Vancouver If the machinations going on in this country regarding so-called "deep integration" were instead a communist conspiracy to take over the country (you will, of course, have to try hard to imagine this) the news media would be blaring the story. Pundits would pontificate, editorialists would erupt, security forces would be unleashed. Instead, a virtual conspiracy to make the country disappear through assimilation into the U.S. gets barely a mention.But news of the scheme -- formally called the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North...