Free Republic

President Donald Trump publicly rebuked German Chancellor Angela Merkel on July 11 for Germany’s decision to buy a massive amount of gas from Russia. “I think it’s very sad,” he said. "Germany is totally controlled by Russia,” he later said, “I think it’s a very bad thing for nato and I don’t think it should have happened.” Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 are key components of Putin’s plan to tighten his grip on nations in Eastern Europe that used to be part of the Soviet Empire. Since these pipelines travel directly from Russia to Germany, they enable Putin to...

CALGARY – The federal government has vowed to build the Trans Mountain expansion project despite a major setback Thursday from a Federal Court of Appeal decision overturning the pipeline’s construction permits. Appeals Court judge Eleanor Dawson ruled Thursday that the federal government did not carry out its duty to consult with affected First Nations on the project and that the National Energy Board’s report was flawed because it did not consider the issue of tanker traffic. She described the consultation process as insufficient in part because it was “missing a genuine and sustained effort to pursue meaningful, two-way dialogue.” Now,...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Federal appeals judges ruled two key federal approvals don’t provide adequate protection on the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s route through the Jefferson National Forest, which includes Monroe County. The Sierra Club and other environmental groups had challenged approvals by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management over a 3.6-mile segment of the pipeline’s route through the national forest. The Mountain Valley Pipeline gained approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in mid-October. The $3.5 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline would extend 42-inch diameter natural gas pipeline over 303 miles to transport West Virginia natural gas into...

Russia cut gas exports to Europe by 60 per cent today, plunging the continent into an energy crisis 'within hours' as a dispute with Ukraine escalated. This morning, gas companies in Ukraine said that Russia had completely cut off their supply. Six countries reported a complete shut-off of Russian gas shipped via Ukraine today, in a sharp escalation of a struggle over energy that threatens Europe as winter sets in. Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Croatia and Turkey all reported a halt in gas shipments from Russia through Ukraine. Croatia said it was temporarily reducing supplies to industrial customers while Bulgaria...

Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan relations, which experienced a significant thaw since the death of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov (Turkmenbashi), deteriorated again last week (June 19). The most recent conflict began when Turkmenistan started undertaking seismic work on a disputed oilfield in the Caspian Sea. The oilfield, discovered by Azerbaijani geologists, is called Kapyaz in Azeri and Serdar in Turkmen. Reserves in the oilfield total around 150 million barrels of oil. In response, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry summoned Turkmenistan’s ambassador in Baku, Toyly Komekov, where Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov expressed Azerbaijan`s strong protest over the violation of the agreement. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry...

“Germany is totally controlled by Russia … They will be getting between 60 and 70 percent of their energy from Russia and a new pipeline, and you tell me if that is appropriate because I think its not,” Trump said. The U.S. president was speaking at a press conference in front of NATO representatives ahead of a two-day summit. The Trump administration’s policies indicate it views security and trade as intimately linked. And when it comes to the trade balance, no ally will be spared. Speaking in Brussels, Belgium on the first leg of his European trip, the U.S. president...

Russian gas giant Gazprom has resumed talks with South Korea over a decade-old idea to build a gas pipeline from Russia’s Far East to South Korea through North Korea, Vitaly Markelov, Deputy Chairman of Gazprom’s Management Committee, said on Friday. “To date, the political situation has been somewhat different, and the South Korean side has asked Gazprom to resume the project, and a series of talks has been held on this issue, and these talks are continuing." “The ideas behind the pipeline look very difficult to implement, especially given the complex political-military context continuing on the Korean peninsula, and the...

Last Friday the Dakota Access Pipeline celebrated one year in operation. We’re a long way from the battles between “water protectors” and police that seemed to preoccupy the media for so many months. From Forbes: DAPL has been quietly transferring crude oil from the Bakken fields in North Dakota at a rate of over 500,000 barrels per day. That has helped bolster North Dakota’s daily production numbers. According to the North Dakota’s Department of Mineral Resources, North Dakota production hit 1.16 million barrels per day in March, thanks in large to part to DAPL…The Dakota Access Pipeline’s safety record...

As one of his first acts as president, Donald Trump signed presidential memoranda to revive both the KeystoneXL and Dakota Access pipelines by expediting the environmental review process. The Dakota Access pipeline is now in full operation. TransCanada’s annual report gives us an update on the Keystone XL pipeline.

Authorities in Pennsylvania were searching Wednesday for more than 640 pounds of high explosives that were reportedly stolen over the weekend from a work site in Lancaster County. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information that leads to the recovery. A contracting company reported the theft Monday, the Lebanon Daily News reported. The missing explosives include 640 pounds of dynamite and 400 blasting caps, the report said. A blasting cap is used to trigger an explosive device.

This thread is a friendly collaborative place for FReepers to analyze information and share opinons. FReepers have a wide variety of reasons for investigating Q Anon content; this is not the appropriate place to criticize or badger those who choose to use some of their time in this manner. I plan to post one thread at a time and ping new drops posted to it. When I post each (new) thread, the prior thread is retired and all new posts occur on the newest thread. If you are new to Q Anon, the three links below provide overviews to...

A federal court of appeals on Thursday (March 15) put construction of the controversial Bayou Bridge oil pipeline back on track. By a two-to-one vote, judges in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal in New Orleans struck down a ruling by a federal judge in Baton Rouge that had halted the pipeline's construction through the environmentally-sensitive Atchafalaya Basin. In Thursday's appeals court decision, Judge Edith Brown Clement wrote that the district court "abused its discretion in granting a preliminary injunction" halting the pipeline's construction. The district court should have allowed the case to proceed with the Army Corps of...

The United States will overtake Russia as the world’s biggest oil producer by 2019 at the latest, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday, as the country’s shale oil boom continues to upend global markets.

What Happens When You Don't Build Natural Gas Pipelines? Jude Clemente , CONTRIBUTOR The answer to the question posed is a really, really bad chain reaction: magnified during winter and peak demand...with a pipeline shortage...a natural gas shortage is created, prices for both natural gas and electricity skyrocket, CO2 emissions go up because more carbon intensive fuels are forced to compensate. Headquartered in New York, New Jersey, and New England (hereafter the "Northeast"), the devastating consequences of the anti-pipeline business just reared its ugly head again as we faced the coldest temperatures since The Polar Vortex of 2013-2014. Two of...

Despite setback, TransCanada says it is still committedNebraska regulators on Tuesday shot down a request from TransCanada to reconsider the proposed path of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, the latest in a series of setbacks for the $8 billion project and one that leaves its future very much in doubt. Nebraska’s Public Service Commission (PSC) last month green-lighted a route through its state, but the approved path wasn’t the one TransCanada prefers. The Canadian company, which has been trying to complete the Canada-to-Texas project for the past decade, said it would ask Nebraska officials to rethink their decision and amend...

The full switch-on of a pipeline pumping water from Turkey to Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus will take place on October 28. Onder Sennaroglu, the official responsible for the project, confirmed the new date during meetings in Ankara. The project has been blighted by delays, due to bad weather and rough conditions in the Mediterranean. The grand opening of the multi-million euro project was supposed to take place last month, to coincide with the anniversary if the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974. However, the Turkish Minister of Forestry and Water Affairs Veysel Eroglu, did conduct a ceremonial 'fitting' of a...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Lawyers for the Mountain Valley Pipeline say if there are delays in the federal court system, the entire project could be delayed by at least a year. The pipeline developers wrote in a recent court filing that they need access to all the property no later than this coming Feb. 1 to comply with a window for tree clearing required by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “If MVP is unable to gain access to commence work on each respective deadline, construction of the entire MVP project may be delayed for as much as one year given...

The U.S. Justice Department will begin prosecuting climate activists and protestors that perpetrate violence and destruction towards pipelines or other oil infrastructure to make their political points, Reuters said in a new report. “While we are strong advocates for the First Amendment, violence towards individuals and destruction of property are both illegal and potentially fatal,” a letter from the DOJ states. The document is a response to an official letter cosigned by 84 congressmen asking Attorney General Jeff Sessions about his department’s planned response to oil infrastructure attacks led by protestors, specifically those that shut pipelines in October 2016.

Days after Donald Trump won the presidential election in November 2016, thousands flocked to the streets of New York City to demonstrate against the president elect in a protest organized by a Kremlin-connected Facebook page called BlackMattersUS, The Hill reports. Between 5,000 and 10,000 people attended the protest organized by the Facebook page, which, according to an archived screen grab, had more than 99,000 likes.“Join us in the streets! Stop Trump and his bigoted agenda!” the Facebook event page reads for the protest, which was called “Trump is NOT my President. March against Trump.” “Divided is the reason we just fell,” it reads. “We must...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Federal regulators have approved two major natural gas pipelines that would start in West Virginia and supply the eastern seaboard. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted certificates to both the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Mountain Valley Pipeline on Friday evening. The pipelines would transport gas from the Utica and Marcellus shale deposits. One of the commissioners dissented, calling the public interest of the projects into question. Additional necessary permits are pending at the state level in both West Virginia and Virginia. The $5.1 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline would span 600 miles from Harrison County and across...