Free Republic

The United States is making an unprecedented attempt to revive three shuttered nuclear plants to meet rising energy demand, including from large-scale data centers. No commercial nuclear reactor is known to have resumed generating electricity after beginning the decommissioning process that takes one out of service, though some reactors have restarted after long outages. The Department of Energy is lending as much as $4.4 billion to restart the Palisades Power Plant in Michigan, the Crane Clean Energy Center on Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island and the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Iowa to restore a combined 2.25 gigawatts of electricity, which...

Has climate hysteria finally run its course? I ask because the latest Hollywood blockbuster on the subject seems to have bombed. Digger, in which Tom Cruise plays an oil tycoon so intent on drilling that he causes an ice shelf off Greenland to collapse, provoking climatic disaster, took only about $8 million in its first weekend, not great when it needs $280 million of box office takings just to break even. According to seasoned observers it is on course to lose Warner Bros $245 million, which would make it one of the worst cinema disasters of all time. Not even...

When Oklahoma lawmakers finally gave Sheriff Jim Mullett the go-ahead, he began to rein in Garvin County’s marijuana businesses and shut down the illegal ones. Mullett said there were 470 grows in the county in 2021. With the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control, the state attorney general’s office and other local, state and federal agencies, Mullett said he and his deputies brought the number of grow sites down to 33. But what happens to all the stuff left behind — including the land, chemicals and agricultural equipment? “What’s going on in, around the state of Oklahoma, is...

Efforts to build an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility near Gilroy have hit a snag after a federal judge ordered construction on the building to be paused owing to the 24-acre site being in possible violation of multiple laws concerning immigration and the environment. As ABC7 reports, the Friday ruling was issued after both sides delivered arguments in US District Court. Back in June, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Santa Clara County both announced their intent to challenge the construction of a new ICE facility at a site east of the Gilroy Premium Outlets. In a statement, Bonta reiterated...

The Bible opens with a declaration of ownership: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Creation is not self-originating, nor is it humanity’s possession. It belongs to God. After forming the world, God pronounces it “very good” (Gen. 1:31), revealing not only functional adequacy but moral value... Some Christians have understood the command to “subdue” the earth (Gen. 1:28) as license for unrestricted use. Scripture itself corrects that reading. Biblical dominion is never autonomous power; it is delegated authority under God’s sovereignty. The earth remains the Lord’s, and human dominion is exercised as stewardship... The...

Monterey Park voters made history Tuesday by passing the first permanent ban on data centers nationwide. Voters are on track to overwhelmingly approve the ban, with 86% in favor according to the latest ballot count, leading organizers to claim victory (the official results won’t be certified until July 10). Where other jurisdictions have passed temporary measures to curb the controversial development of these massive server farms, Monterey Park voters’ decision in this election will keep developers at bay unless voters want to revisit the decision in a future election. “It really goes to show the power of community,” Monterey Park...

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday that it will take up a major climate change lawsuit targeting the energy industry — a case that could determine the future of similar lawsuits filed by left-wing states and municipalities across the country. The Court agreed to review Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County. They granted the hearing after the Colorado Supreme Court allowed Boulder County’s state-law claims to proceed, rejecting arguments from energy producers that the lawsuit is preempted by federal law. The decision comes amid a wave of nearly three dozen lawsuits brought by leftist jurisdictions seeking to...

Life in plastic might be fantastic after all — or at least not as dangerous as we’ve been led to believe. Ubiquitous in the environment, microplastics can be found in the clothes we wear, the cleaning supplies we use, the food we eat, the water we drink and even the air we breathe. For years, scientists have warned that these pesky particles may be quietly building up inside our bodies, posing a threat to human health. But a new report in the Guardian is shaking up that narrative. Several experts told the outlet that some of the alarming claims about...

Emergency workers in Trinidad and Tobago are racing to clean up a massive oil spill after a mystery vessel ran aground near the Caribbean island, casting a pall over Carnival tourism. The spill was "not under control" as of Sunday, said Prime Minister Keith Rowley, who added that the country is grappling with a national emergency. The mystery vessel capsized Wednesday in waters off the Caribbean island, having made no emergency calls, with no sign of crew, and no clear sign of ownership.

One year after the discovery that golden mussels had invaded the Delta, thick colonies coat boats and piers and threaten water supplies for cities and farms. Yet the state has no specific funding or plans to tackle harms in the heart of the invasion.

For all the tedium of American political debates, at least we don’t have to defend air-conditioning. Not so in France, where “air-conditioning has become part of the political tug of war” amid a summer heat wave, writes The New York Times (NYT). On the side of air-conditioning, and reason, is Marine Le Pen. Le Pen is variously described as “far-right” (as by the NYT), “right-wing,” or “conservative,” depending on the author’s politics. She’s promised to deploy a “major air-conditioning equipment plan” if her party gains national control, according to the NYT. Le Pen is a former leader of the National...

A flurry of mainstream media reports, from Bloomberg, The Guardian, Financial Times, and CNN, among other outlets, claim that climate change is causing rising food prices “worldwide,” based on a single new study. This is false. Bad weather has always impacted crop production, and there is no actual evidence that extreme weather is increasing. Globalization of media coverage is simply making it easier to hear about bad weather elsewhere in the world, meanwhile crop production and yields globally continue to set records – a fact the same media outlets largely ignore. Focusing on the coverage by Bloomberg, in an article...

In two high-profile lawsuits, the cities of Baltimore and Annapolis are suing some of the world’s largest energy companies. Their claim? That global climate change has caused local harms and that energy companies should be held financially responsible under Maryland tort law. But there’s a deeper issue here. These lawsuits aren’t about creating new laws or regulations through the normal democratic process. Instead, they try to use the courts to force energy producers to pay billions of dollars by claiming they’re legally liable under state tort law—a legal system designed for personal and property harm, not global climate issues. The...

The Department of Transportation is taking action to expedite permitting for infrastructure projects nationwide, minimize delays, and clear the backlog of projects awaiting federal approval, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. The agency has historically had some of slowest permitting timelines across the federal government. According to government data, the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Aviation Administration each take more than seven years to complete reviews while the Federal Railroad Administration and Federal Transit Administration each take more than five years to approve projects. At the same time, the average age of America's bridges is 47 years, meaning a bulk...

President Donald Trump issued a memorandum last week blocking an effort that was underway during the Biden-Harris administration to remove four hydroelectric dams in the Snake River. Trump’s memorandum revokes a directive from the previous administration, which Trump described as an effort by “radical environmentalism” to raise the “equitable treatment for fish” above that of human flourishing. “The negative impacts from these reckless acts, if completed, would be devastating for the region, and there would be no viable approach to replace the low-cost, baseload energy supplied,” Trump stated in the memo. If the experiences of those in northern California living...

The Supreme Court unanimously decided on Thursday to limit environmental reviews for major infrastructure projects in a case that will have sweeping impacts on President Donald Trump’s energy agenda. In a move that will restrict power of federal judges, Thursday’s decision reduces the scope of reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to focus solely on immediate impacts. Under NEPA, federal agencies are required to study any potentially significant environmental consequences of federal permits for infrastructure projects. “NEPA does not allow courts, ‘under the guise of judicial review’ of agency compliance with NEPA, to delay or block agency projects...

Apparently, according to the Gaia worshipers over at TIME magazine, human-caused climate change is threatening to make more bugs go extinct and cause their habitat behaviors to go haywire. TIME reporter Simmone Shah trotted out the eco-agitprop May 20 on how “climate change means that globally summers on average could get less buggy.” Climate change, cried Shah, could mean globally that “an increasing number of insects could be at risk for extinction” and that other pests like ticks and mosquitoes could “broaden their range of habitat or timing when they emerge for the season.” Then came the pathetic scareporn: “While...

Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg predicted that "Trump's efforts to restore American manufacturing will fail because excessive regulations make it too hard to build things in this country. From my time as Secretary of the USDOT I learned that everything goes over budget and takes far longer than it should because of regulations like the rules mandating that 40% of the benefits go to 'under-served' minorities." President Biden established the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council whose job is to ensure that the voices, perspectives, and lived realities of communities with environmental justice concerns are heard in the White...

Not your typical commuleftwoke hitpiece blaming Wascally Wepublicans, vile America, vile progress, vile internal combustion engines and vile fossil fuels for loss of atmosphere and global/climate warming. 1. “And yes, the fault, once again, lies with the Sun, which is heating up more than it should and is going to alter carbon dioxide levels.” 2. “... as the Sun keeps heating up (something that is not new, it’s been happening for millions of years) a chain of consequences will be triggered that doesn’t seem very friendly for complex life ...” Hmm, ya think maybe the Sun’s heating up, and more...

It seems I’m being “red-pilled” on something new every day now. One more “conspiracy theory” I’d heard about but also rolled my eyes about (the Media is so effective!) appears to be true: Climate or geo engineering–the spraying of chemicals into our skies by aircraft to affect the weather, is not only “a thing,” but from what I am quickly gathering, it is dangerous as hell– something that is rapidly killing our planet and killing us. Last night I watched a recent episode of the Redacted podcast (of which I highly recommend–the hosts discuss the critical issues of our world...