Free Republic

The New York HEAT Act might not make the final budget. The bill reduces the state’s reliance on natural gas and cuts ratepayer costs by eliminating certain rules. It was in both legislative chambers’ one-house budgets, but last-minute scrambling could remove it. New York League of Conservation Voters Policy Director Patrick McClellan said, aside from people’s preference for natural gas, other challenges have made the bill hard to pass. “I think that there has also been some irresponsible fear-mongering against this bill from some people who oppose it,” said McClellan, “basically telling people this means that their natural gas service...

Greece would “of course” be interested in purchasing Canada’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) if the resource could be made available to the Mediterranean country, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis says. Mitsotakis sat down with CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos in Montreal for an exclusive interview airing Sunday, during the prime minister’s visit to Canada over the weekend. Canada has eight LNG projects “in various stages of development,” according to Natural Resources Canada. The first export facility is slated to begin operations next year with shipments destined for some Asian countries. But whether Canada can and should plan to also...

Qatar to expand natural gas production by 85 percent.. President Joe Biden’s pause on liquefied natural gas production is already turning into a major financial windfall for Qatar, even as the Gulf regime undercuts the United States and its allies by funding terrorists and sheltering fugitive Hamas leaders. Qatar, which is the third largest LNG exporter after the United States and Australia, announced last week that it is expanding its natural gas production by 85 percent. The news came weeks after the Biden administration announced that it would freeze new domestic LNG export permits, a policy that many political observers...

Ever since 2016, talk to a liberal and there’s a good chance that they will blame “Russia” for something. Election interference, inflation, record-high gas prices, the list goes on and on. Since taking office, Joe Biden continues to take this deflection to a new level. As a gallon of gas soared past $5 in the summer of 2022 it was all Russia’s fault. And who can forget the ill-fated #PutinsPriceHike campaign as Team Biden tried to dodge criticism for skyrocketing inflation.Yet according to recent revelations, there may be more to Biden’s “America Last" energy policy than meets the eye, and...

On Jan. 26, Joe Biden took an aggressive step forward in his war on American energy by halting the permitting of new liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminals. This action has massive global implications, as TPPF’s Mark Mills laid out when the decision was publicly announced. It also has the added benefit .. of attacking primarily Texas and Louisiana, red states that account for the bulk of U.S. LNG exports. This decision comes on the heels of Texas taking steps to secure its border with Mexico, putting the state directly at odds with the administration—once again. But the politically motivated...

On January 26, President Joe Biden announced a “pause” on federal approval for new liquefied natural gas (LNG)–export terminals. While the Department of Energy’s indefinite suspension and order for new environmental analyses may keep the president’s reelection hopes above water, it will harm America’s long-term economic and geopolitical interests. Further, the policy may not even serve its ostensible purpose of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Ten months from Election Day, the president’s campaign likely thinks that renewed attention on his climate agenda will rouse support among progressive Democrats, who have drifted from Biden in recent months. By rallying his political coalition, however,...

“If they cut it, we will replace it,” Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick declared about the razor wire along the Texas border with Mexico, after Biden won a narrowly weak 5-4 decision from the U.S. Supreme Court authorizing him to cut it. Patrick holds an unusually powerful office because it commands the state senate, and his comments join the chorus of other top Texas officials taking a strong stand against Biden’s open border. “We are putting up wire … everywhere we can. We will continue. We will not stop,” Patrick told Fox News after visiting the border on Friday to...

Rasmussen Reports asked Americans if they feel that there is a civil war taking place in America…and a majority of those polled said “yes.” The context, of course, was the looming battle over our Southern border. Americans are right, of course, but with Biden’s Liquified Natural Gas (“LNG”) edict, things are even worse than they know. I don’t have access to Rasmussen Reports, which conducted the poll, but the Washington Examiner sums up its findings:…69% of likely 2024 voters said that they support the border wall and razor-wire fence that Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) has ordered. Among those, a majority,...

UPDATED Jan. 26, 2024: The administration has officially confirmed that they intend to postpone permitting of natural gas projects to appease eco-loons. The White House has intervened in the permitting process for 17 large natural gas projects, ordering additional climate impact analyses after activists called on the administration to nix the projects, The New York Times reported. [emphasis, links added] In a move environmentalists have demanded in recent months, the White House is ordering the Department of Energy (DOE) to consider the impact proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal projects would have on climate change, three individuals with knowledge...

On Friday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm stated that the pause in liquid natural gas (LNG) export approvals might actually be a pause on exports that are actually beneficial to the environment because LNG can replace far dirtier coal. Granholm stated, “[W]e just need to update the data associated with the factors. So, the factors are, does this impact — what is the impact on national security, what is the impact on foreign policy, what is the impact — in other words, our allies and whether they’re able to access the energy that they need, what...

On Friday’s edition of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” White House Council of Economic Advisers member Heather Boushey discussed the pause in liquid natural gas (LNG) export approvals and stated that “we need to make sure that we, like other countries, are doing what we can do to address the climate change challenges. You started this segment by noting that it’s over 70 degrees here in D.C. in the middle of January.” Boushey stated, [relevant remarks begin around 5:30] “Let me start by noting that the president, from day one, has had a whole-of-government approach to addressing climate change. And core...

President Joe Biden announced a temporary pause on exports of liquefied natural gas to countries without free trade agreements Friday, a move that experts warn will drive up the price of energy and empower Russian President Vladimir Putin. “President Biden has been clear that climate change is the existential threat of our time—and we must act with the urgency it demands to protect the future for generations to come,” the White House said in a news release on the move. The administration is temporarily pausing pending decisions on LNG exports until the Department of Energy can “update the underlying analyses...

Jennifer Granholm is a lying dog-faced pony soldier!Yes, you heard me! (Actually, she was a beauty queen, so dog-faced is utterly inaccurate, but I couldn’t resist the Joe Biden reference)CNBC had the Energy Secretary on to discuss Biden’s horrendous decision to halt the permitting process for the export of natural gas–a huge blow to the oil and gas industry and to, not coincidentally given the border controversy, the State of Texas.FULL STATEMENT: And it's official. The White House announces a "temporary pause" on pending approvals of American LNG export terminals.The statement is below, and links here to the comuniqué itself:...

Democrat President Joe Biden has just canceled serval massive natural gas projects amid pressure from climate activists. On Friday, the White House announced that pending decisions on exports of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to non-FTA countries have been halted until the Department of Energy could update the underlying analyses for authorizations. Following pressure from the climate mob, federal officials will now conduct a rigorous environmental review assessing the projects’ “carbon emissions.” The reviews, however, could take more than a year to complete. Projects involving billions of dollars will be disrupted over the move which has put over 70,000 jobs at...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) on Wednesday slammed the climate agenda of President Joe Biden's administration as "bad for America" after it delayed approval for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. His speech on the Senate floor came after the administration directed the Department of Energy to withhold approval of the proposed Calcasieu Pass 2, which would be the largest natural gas export terminal in America, in order to evaluate its climate, economic, and national security impacts. The review, which could also determine the fate of 16 other proposed projects of the same nature, may extend past the...

The TurkStream pipeline, which brings natural gas from Russia to Türkiye across the Black Sea and then into southeastern Europe, was controversial in certain quarters of the West ever since it was conceived. Now the flow of natural gas to Europe from Russia via Türkiye is reaching all-time highs. TurkStream has a capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year, roughly half of which stays in Türkiye, and the rest continues on to the Balkans and Central Europe. Serbia and Hungary are the primary European consumers. According to S&P Global, supplies via TurkStream into Southeast Europe rose...

The operator of a power grid in the mid-Atlantic is warning that the planned shutdown of a coal-fired power plant could disrupt and short-change electrical supply before people can replace it. PJM Interconnection, the company that manages wholesale electricity in parts or the entirety of 13 states and provides electricity for more than 65 million Americans, said that they expect the shutdown of the Brandon Shores coal power plant outside of Baltimore to disrupt the power there and leave it wanting. The plant's owner, Talen Energy, made a deal with the environmentalist group Sierra Club to deactivate it by 2025...

The LNG carrier Oak Spirit transits the Expanded Panama Canal with a cargo LNG loaded from Cheniere’s Sabine Pass terminal. Photo Credit: Teekay Executives from U.S. LNG exporter Cheniere Energy met with representatives from the Panama Canal this week in Panama to discuss the waterway’s growing LNG vessel segment. (Underlines mine.) Since the opening of the Expanded Panama Canal in 2016, LNG has emerged as the fastest-growing segment for the waterway in part due to the United States emergence as a gas supplier to Asia and other global markets. To date, the Canal’s Neopanamax locks have transited more than 280...

Link only (Bloomberg)

The United States and Qatar have reached an understanding not to allow Iran to access the $6 billion funds reserved for humanitarian assistance. U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told Democrats behind closed doors on Thursday that the U.S. and Qatar had reached a “quiet understanding” not to move the money, a person familiar with his comments told Semafor. The news comes as U.S. officials probe whether Iran was directly involved in the Hamas attack on Israel over the weekend. Adeyemo told the lawmakers the funds would not be moving anytime soon, the person said.