Free Republic

Brief represents the first time the Trump administration has weighed in on green investing issues.. The Federal Trade Commission is throwing its weight behind a high-profile federal lawsuit led by 12 Republican-led states accusing three of the world's largest asset managers—BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard—of artificially constricting the coal market in violation of U.S. antitrust laws, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. The filing in the case is a remarkable move that represents the first time the Trump administration has waded directly into an issue or case related to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies. Led by powerful asset managers...

Last Monday, the Iberian grid suffered a disturbance in the south-west at 12:33. In 3.5 seconds this worsened and the interconnection to France disconnected. All renewable generation then went off-line, followed by disconnection of all rotating generation plant. The Iberian blackout was complete within a few seconds. At the time the grid was producing 28.4 GW of power, of which 79 per cent was solar and wind. This was a problematic situation as solar and wind plants have another, not widely known, downside – one quite apart from their intermittency and expense.This is the fact that they do not supply...

Policymakers on both sides of the political aisle increasingly advocate for affordable, reliable, and clean energy. This is for good reason – modern society requires energy that is affordable and available on demand. Environmental concerns are also very important. Together, affordability, reliability, and cleanliness form the three pillars of ideal energy policy. Two new analyses evaluate competing electrical power sources and produce an affordable, reliable, and clean scorecard. The two analyses – one published by Northwood University and the Mackinac Center, and the other published by my public policy organization, The Heartland Institute – independently reach near-identical findings. Both analyses...

Within the first months of his second administration, President Donald Trump has prioritized “unleashing” American energy and has already axed several of what he considers to be burdensome regulations on the coal industry, promising it’s “reinvigoration.” Trump signed an executive order on April 8 to revive the coal industry, and shortly after moved to exempt several coal plants from Biden-era regulations. Though it has become a primary target of many climate activists, coal has been historically regarded as readily available and affordable, and several energy policy experts who spoke with Daily Caller News Foundation believe Trump has the cards necessary...

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:Section 1. Purpose. In order to secure America’s economic prosperity and national security, lower the cost of living, and provide for increases in electrical demand from emerging technologies, we must increase domestic energy production, including coal. Coal is abundant and cost effective, and can be used in any weather condition. Moreover, the industry has historically employed hundreds of thousands of Americans. America’s coal resources are vast, with a current estimated value in the trillions of dollars, and...

The president will direct agencies to boost coal leasing, mining and exports. But these steps are unlikely to usher in a coal renaissance.President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Tuesday aimed at boosting the struggling U.S. coal industry, according to White House officials.Flanked by coal miners wearing hard hats at the White House, Trump will direct federal agencies to loosen various restrictions on coal mining, leasing and exports. He will instruct the Interior Department to resume coal leasing on millions of acres of public lands, and he will order the Energy Department and other agencies to study whether...

Reasons to use coal? Here you are.

After years of being held captive by Environmental Extremists, Lunatics, Radicals, and Thugs, allowing other Countries, in particular China, to gain tremendous Economic advantage over us by opening up hundreds of all Coal Fire Power Plants, I am authorizing my Administration to immediately begin producing Energy with BEAUTIFUL, CLEAN COAL.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin said it is “not a binary choice” to either protect the environment or grow the economy. “We don’t have to just choose one,” he explained. Joining Breitbart News Washington bureau chief Matt Boyle on the Breitbart News Saturday radio show, Zeldin went over his recent historic launch of the largest deregulatory effort in U.S. history and talked about the EPA’s sweeping deregulations to “save the coal industry” and “bring down the cost of living.” After announcing 31 deregulations on Wednesday, including the termination of the Biden administration’s “Environmental Justice and DEI arms of...

When Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered up to 200,000 soldiers into Ukraine, his aim was to sweep into the capital, Kyiv, in a matter of days. He wanted to overthrow the pro-Western government and return Ukraine to Russia's sphere of influence. Putin failed, but more than three years on a fifth of Ukrainian territory is in Russian hands (Excerpt)

A coalition of business and trade groups is suing the Hochul administration over a law that will force oil, natural gas and coal companies to pay $75 billion for spewing carbon emissions. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration claimed the law was necessary to combat the companies contributing to climate change for decades — but critics said the extra costs will be passed along to consumers through prices at the pump and heating bills. “This law is not only illegal and misguided, but it will likely increase the cost of energy, placing an unnecessary burden on New Yorkers and consumers nationwide —...

EPA boss Lee Zeldin’s push to rescind the White House’s 2009 finding on greenhouse gases marks another great milestone on President Trump’s climate course correction. But it’s long past time for the entire West to admit it: The whole anti-carbon crusade declared in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement has proved a disaster — wrecking economies and worsening lives without making a real difference on climate change. Here at home, the 2009 (Obama-era) “finding” declared that greenhouse gases endanger public health, and so provided a legal pretext for destructive “climate agenda” mandates on everything from power plants to cars to gas...

Russia will never discuss the exchange of its territories, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on Wednesday. "It is impossible. Russia has never discussed and will not discuss the topic of exchanging its territory," Peskov said, commenting on relevant statements of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, News.Az reports, citing TASS. Ukrainian army units in the Russian territory will be destroyed and driven away, the Kremlin spokesman continued. "Certainly, Ukrainian formations will be expelled from this territory. They will be destroyed, [they] will be driven away," he added.

Talen Energy has reached an agreement with PJM Interconnection, the Maryland Public Service Commission, Maryland electric utilities, consumer representatives, and the Sierra Club to extend operations at its 1.3-GW coal-fired Brandon Shores power plant and 774-MW oil-fired H.A. Wagner units until May 31, 2029, under a reliability-must-run (RMR) contract. If approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the settlement will allow Talen to run the plants well beyond their May 2025 retirement dates and provide the independent power producer with fixed payments of $312/MW per day for Brandon Shores and $137/MW per day for Wagner. The figures include performance...

https://x.com/OzraeliAvi/status/1882508600397967669? 5 min

Driven by surging electricity demand in China and India, global coal use is set to hit an all-time high in 2024, disproving past predictions from energy “experts.” The International Energy Agency (IEA) — a Paris-based intergovernmental organization that provides energy policy recommendations — said in its Coal 2020 report that “coal demand is expected to flatten” and that “it is likely that global coal demand peaked in 2013 at just over 8Bt [billion tons].” Now, however, a Wednesday report from the agency predicts coal demand will reach a new record of nearly 8.8 billion tons in 2024, as increased coal...

China is Building Coal-Fired Power Plants at an Alarming Rate of two new coal plants every week! America continues to subsidize the development of occasionally generated electricity from weather dependent wind turbines and solar panels, to replace coal power plants, with the expectation that America, with about 4% of the world’s population, can drastically impact the world’s emissions occurring from the other 96% people on this planet. Coal is the world’s most abundant and reliable energy source. The United States has the world’s largest coal reserves. Of the 15 major coal producing States, Montana has the largest coal reserve with...

Joe Biden doesn't like coal. I mean, he really, really doesn't like it. What's more, coal is mainly located in red states and employs a lot of conservative voters. Advertisement Biden decided to deliver a parting shot to coal-producing states and those whose livelihoods depend on mining. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently approved an amendment to the Resource Management Plan (RMP) that would ban new coal leases in Wyoming's Powder River Basin and make "48.12 billion short tons of coal unavailable for leasing consideration in order to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as a proxy for climate change,"...

According to the lawsuit, the three asset managers acquired substantial stockholdings in coal companies, and then used their influence to pressure the companies to adopt ESG goals and reduce output. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, along with 10 other state attorney generals, have filed a lawsuit against BlackRock, State Street Corporation, and Vanguard Group, three of the largest institutional investors in the world. The lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges the firms conspired to artificially constrict the market for coal through anti-trade practices. “Texas will not tolerate the illegal weaponization of the financial industry in service of a destructive, politicized ‘environmental’ agenda....

The Biden administration moved on Thanksgiving eve to bar future coal leasing in the Powder River Basin, one of America’s most coal-rich regions, according to multiple reports. The Powder River Basin, a region that spans parts of Montana and Wyoming, accounted for about 43% of U.S. coal in 2019, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The administration made its move to formally end coal leasing in the area and roll back previous approvals for development plans on Wednesday as Americans prepared to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday, according to E&E News. “The decision is to make no federal coal available...