Free Republic

A pair of climate protesters was arrested Wednesday after allegedly spraying the Stonehenge monument in England with orange paint, according to local authorities. The protesters, from the group Just Stop Oil, sprayed the monument with orange paint Wednesday, one day ahead of the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the environmental activist group said in a statement on the social platform X. The two individuals were “demanding the incoming government sign up to a legally binding treaty to phase out fossil fuels by 2030,” Just Stop Oil said. Wiltshire Police told The Associated Press...

Having read Bill Ponton’s very clear “reality check” on the UK’s Net Zero project, you are probably wondering, what are the counter-arguments advanced by the supporters of Net Zero? After all, the Net Zero thing appears to have near-unanimous support in the UK. There is no significant political party in that country that advocates policies dissenting from the Net Zero program, unless you count the UK Independence Party, which at the moment holds zero seats in a House of Commons of 650 members. The currently-governing Conservative Party is fully on board with the Net Zero program, with the partial exception...

Ron DeSantis went on Bill Maher and agreed with Maher that Trump had lost the 2020 election and them tossed Kari Lake under the bus Gee, I can't figure out why this guy is down by 60 points in the REPUBLICAN primary 🤣🤣🤡 pic.twitter.com/euphYHHAj1— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) September 30, 2023 Disqualifying for me ever voting for DeSantis for anything, forever. https://t.co/F4ByHgHJiR— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) September 30, 2023

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says the newly released Transport Emissions Reduction PLan is 'hugely ambitious' but it is achievable On Monday afternoon, Auckland Council released its proposed Transport Emissions Reduction Pathway, which sets out what is required to achieve a 64 percent reduction of the city's transport emissions by 2030... The plan released today lays out the map to fewer gas guzzling cars including: Converting 30% of the city's vehicles to electric-especially commercial ones Reducing traffic in neighborhoods A ten-fold increase in so called active travel-walking and cycling Aiming for a five-fold increase in the number of public transport trips...

The Department of Energy (DOE) invested $1.1 billion in carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, many of which were unsuccessful or canceled, over the last decade, according to a federal watchdog report.The DOE’s $684 million investment in coal CCS projects resulted in just one operational facility and seven canceled projects, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report published in late December. One of three facilities that received a share of the department’s $438 million investment in industrial CCS projects was also nixed.The department ultimately failed to properly evaluate the projects — which use advanced technology to reduce emissions from...

Encountering concrete is a common—even routine—occurrence. And that's exactly what makes concrete exceptional. As the most consumed material after water, concrete is indispensable to the many essential systems—from roads to buildings—in which it is used. But due to its extensive use, concrete production also contributes to around 1 percent of emissions in the United States and remains one of several carbon-intensive industries globally. Tackling climate change, then, will mean reducing the environmental impacts of concrete, even as its use continues to increase. In a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of current and...

Data compiled by the flight tracking firm FlightAware and obtained by Fox News show that John Kerry's family Gulfstream GIV-SP spent around 22 hours and 22 minutes in the air over the past year.Using Paramount Business Jets emissions calculator, Fox News found that Kerry's planed accumulated an estimated 116 metric tons of carbon between trips dating from Feb. 9, 2020, to Jan. 10, 2021.For comparison, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. That calculation assumed a car that drives around 11,500 miles per year with a...

s can be completely replaced by electric vehicles in a decade-and-a-half, and that this would be a good thing, even if possible. Under threat of government action, however, the world’s major auto manufacturers are falling in line boosting production of plug-in models, and upstart Tesla Motors is now the world’s most valuable auto manufacture, based on the value of its capital stock issued and in the public’s hands. Mary T. Barra, CEO of General Motors, has pledged to sell only zero emission vehicles by 2035. That would meet the deadline imposed by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who signed an executive...

The EU won't be able to lead by example if other countries can see what the Green Deal is actually headed toward: economic ruin, job loss, and more unwanted government intrusion. TimeÂ’s person of the year is a teenage activist famous for castigating adults across the world over their perceived inaction on climate change. Other activists tell us the world is burning down around us and weÂ’re doing nothing to stop it.Politicians and scientists are forcing policies on people and employers in moves to supposedly save the world without offering realistic, cost-effective, alternative energy sources. Of all the ills facing...

America’s energy sources, like booming oil and crumbling coal, have defied projections and historical precedents over the last decade. ... unexpectedly, ... In 2010, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projected that in 2019, the U.S. would be producing about six million barrels of oil a day. The reality? We're now producing 12 million barrels of oil a day. Meanwhile, EIA projected oil prices would be more than $100 a barrel. They're currently hovering around $60 a barrel. What’s happening: A pair of extraction methods — horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing — have unlocked far more oil and gas than experts...

China’s efforts to wean itself off coal are losing steam, as the world’s biggest carbon emitter is putting economic growth and energy security above its ambitions to be a leader in combating climate change. Coal consumption is back near peak levels after rebounding over the past three years, despite China’s pledges to make steep cuts in what is the country’s most prevalent and polluting source of energy. The country is building more coal-fired plant capacity than the rest of the world combined. Infrastructure stimulus measures to offset the impact of the prolonged trade war with the U.S. have boosted consumption,...

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.  Jerry Brown, California’s outgoing governor, wants environmentalism to be his legacy. It’s certainly a better legacy than the 3 people murdered in his final month in office by illegal alien criminals whom his sanctuary state law protected from ICE detainers. But Brown’s environmental legacy is equally terrible. Governor Brown earned the nickname ‘Governor Moonbeam’ for his soliloquies about Spaceship Earth. "My own belief is that California has a unique place on the planet. It's been...

The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to soon formally repeal the Clean Power Plan (CPP) in what would be one of the biggest blows yet to former President Barack Obama’s legacy on climate change. A draft proposal of the EPA’s conclusions, leaked to news outlets over the past 24 hours, argues that the plan — which would limit carbon emissions from power plants and, in the process, drastically reduce the amount of coal-generated electricity in the U.S. — goes beyond the bounds of federal law and unnecessarily hikes energy prices for consumers. ~snip~ “The EPA is proposing to repeal the...

The meltdown of California’s cap-and-trade system of reducing carbon emissions has not only thrown its climate change crusade into disarray but caused collateral damage. One victim is Gov. Jerry Brown’s $3.1 billion plan to spend auction proceeds, now on indefinite hold. It not only affects a $500 million allocation for Brown’s bullet train project, but another $500 million for “low carbon transportation and fuels.” The latter is a centerpiece of Brown’s very ambitious drive to reduce petroleum use in auto travel – the largest single source of California’s carbon emissions – by 50 percent by 2030 even though the Legislature...

Porsche unveiled a new V-8 engine at the 37th Vienna Motor Symposium that will eventually power the range-topping variants of the upcoming second-generation Panamera and the next Cayenne SUV. In addition to powering the larger vehicles in Porsche’s lineup, the new V-8 will also be used by other Volkswagen Group brands including Audi and Bentley. Featuring two twin-scroll turbochargers, the new 4.0-liter V-8 is rated at 550 hp and 568 lb-ft of torque (up from 520 hp and 516 lb-ft), which puts it just shy of the current 4.8-liter twin-turbo V-8 utilized in the 570-hp Porsche Panamera Turbo S. Despite...

.....Loretta Lynch acknowledged Wednesday that there have been discussions within the Department of Justice about possibly pursuing civil action against so-called climate change deniers.

Washington could become the first state in the nation to impose a direct tax on carbon emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, gasoline and natural gas. A ballot measure before the state Legislature would create a carbon tax of $25 per metric ton of fossil fuel emissions burned in Washington, while reducing taxes. ...

This should be interesting. One state after another have been pushing back on the new EPA carbon emission guidelines, with many of them refusing to file a plan for compliance until the courts have weighed in. Now some of the biggest energy producing states are trying to bring the situation to a head well in advance of the normal challenge and appeal process. Led by West Virginia and Texas, 26 states have filed a request directly with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts asking him to step in and put the regulations on hold while the situation gets sorted...

A U.S. federal court on Thursday rejected a bid by 27 states to block the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of its strategy to combat climate change. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a brief order denying an application seeking to stay the rule while litigation continues.

As world leaders in Paris scramble to reach a climate agreement aimed to mitigate the consequences of untamed greenhouse gas emissions, they have been dealt a rare dose of good news. Scientists writing in the journal Nature Climate Change estimate that for the first time in the last 15 years, global carbon dioxide emissions have flatlined, and possibly even declined. "It is difficult to overstate the significance of this development," said Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University. "What it shows is that we are indeed now turning the corner in transition from a...