Free Republic

Despite its cool Green parties and ambitious wind and solar agendas, Europe remains by far the world's largest importer of oil and natural gas. Oil output in the North Sea and off the coast of Norway is declining, and the European Union is quietly looking for fossil fuel energy anywhere it can find it. Europe itself is naturally rich in fossil fuels. It likely has more reserves of shale gas than the United States, currently the world's largest producer of both oil and natural gas. Yet in most European countries, horizontal drilling and fracking to extract gas and oil are...

Whitney Wickes, who recently moved her Rocking WW Minerals company from Colorado to Sheridan, has been named one of Forbes Magazine's list of top "30 Under 30" entrepreneurs. There is a “healthy” number of people focused on renewable energy in the U.S., but few who are dedicated to improving sustainability on the fossil fuel side, Whitney Wickes said. Wickes, Rocking WW Minerals co-founder and recent Sheridan transplant, was named to Forbes 30 under 30 top entrepreneurs for 2020 in the energy sector this month. Wickes was contacted as one of 20,000 nominees throughout 16 industries in October and asked to...

While the news about Brexit is dominating headlines, Britain is still seeking to secure its energy future through an increased reliance on fossil fuels. Last week’s general election in Britain saw the Conservative party (also known as Tories) win by a record margin. The election results were a clear go-ahead for Brexit.A Brexit in early 2020 will likely result in increased energy trade with major fossil fuel producers. Brexit or not, the energy sector continues to remain the backbone of Britain, fueling its industries and giving energy access to millions of households.Earlier this year, news media claimed that “Britain is ending its...

<p>Environmentalists and Green New Deal proponents love to say we need to take care of the Earth, because “There is no Planet B.” Above all, they insist, we must eliminate fossil fuels, which they say are causing climate change worse than the all-natural ice ages, Medieval Warm Period or anything else in history.</p>

NEW CASTLE, N.H. (AP) — Joe Biden is looking voters in the eye and promising to "end fossil fuel." The former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate made the comment Friday after a New Hampshire environmental activist challenged him for accepting donations from the co-founder of liquified natural gas firm. Biden denied the donor's association to the fossil fuel industry before calling the young woman "kiddo" and taking her hand. He said, "I want you to look at my eyes. I guarantee you. I guarantee you. We're going to end fossil fuel."

Bernie Sanders tweeted out today that he wants fossil fuel executives criminally prosecuted over global warming junk science.

Arnold Schwarzenegger took a page out of his “Terminator” playbook this week while reflecting on the world’s “biggest evil” — fossil fuels. The actor told attendees at a United Nations climate conference in Poland on Monday that billions of people around the globe would have benefited without the early adoption of coal and other fossil fuels for energy. ~snip~ The actor and former California governor added that President Trump is “meshugge” (Yiddish for “crazy”) for abandoning a 2015 climate change agreement as part of his “America First” campaign vow.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. And for the cash-strapped Democratic National Committee, that means reversing a policy of not accepting money from people who are employed by fossil fuel companies. "We have to draw the line that we are indeed a party of a big tent where all working people are welcome," said DNC Chairman Tom Perez on Friday night. "We're not a party that punishes workers simply based on how they make ends meet." [Snip] Despite the DNC's change of heart and opening of wallets on fuel donations, Perez maintains that the party is committed to fighting climate...

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) overwhelmingly passed a resolution on Friday evening saying it welcomes donations from fossil fuel industry workers and “employers’ political action committees.” Critics of the newly passed resolution are calling it a reversal of the DNC’s recently adopted ban on accepting donations from fossil fuel companies’ political organizations. DNC Chairman Tom Perez sponsored Friday’s resolution that allows the committee to accept contributions from “workers, including those in energy and related industries, who organize and donate to Democratic candidates individually or through their unions’ or employers’ political action committees.” Perez, who served as Labor Secretary in the...

It seems Pope Francis has learned little since his 2015 encyclical calling on the world to fight climate change by limiting the use of modern technologies and fossil fuels. He called many of the world’s leading oil companies to the carpet last week in a meeting he “requested” (anyone who says no to a meeting with the pope risks alienating many of the world’s estimated 1.3 billion Catholics) with the companies’ top executives. Francis called on the oil companies to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, to save the Earth. In a column written when Francis issued his...

The DNC has voted not to accept any donations from fossil fuel companies. From HuffPost: The resolution ― proposed by Christine Pelosi, a party activist and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s daughter ― bars the organization from accepting contributions from corporate political action committees tied to the oil, gas and coal industries. The executive committee voted unanimously to approve the motion. “We talk about how climate change is real and climate change is a planetary emergency, what we need to do is stop taking money from the institutions that have created this crisis,” said RL Miller, president of the super...

A ban on the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles in California could come as soon as 2040 under a new proposal from a San Francisco lawmaker with strong backing from a Santa Rosa environmental group, though their hope is the landmark measure would take effect far sooner. The Center for Climate Protection, citing both public health and climate change goals, is holding a rally Thursday night to support legislation that would limit new vehicle registration after Jan. 1, 2040 to zero-emission vehicles. Only vehicles running entirely on batteries or fuel cells — not including any type of hybrids that also consume...

The fact that it’s being proposed by Republicans doesn’t make it any more economically palatable. Madness is rare in individuals — but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule — Friedrich Nietzsche ‘Cap and trade was just one way of skinning the cat; it was not the only way,” Barack Obama declared after Democrats’ disastrous losses in the 2010 midterm elections. That shellacking finally killed off the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill. From it was born the EPA’s Clean Power Plan and the Obama administration’s war on coal, in turn a contributory factor to Donald Trump’s election and Republicans’...

In a little-noticed action on Inauguration Day, the Oregon State University board of trustees voted overwhelmingly to sell most of OSU’s $8.8 million in fossil fuel stocks. The action capped a four-year campaign by faculty and students under the banner of OSU Divest to rid the campus of its stake in carbon-­emissions-heavy energy such as oil, gas and coal. “I was thrilled. It’s been four years,” said OSU education professor Ken Winograd, who added that it was a coincidence that the divestment vote came on the day that President Trump, a climate skeptic, took office.

Conservatives care about logic. Liberals care about emotion. Conservatives care about whether a program works or not. Liberals care about how supporting a program makes them feel. Conservatives take the positions they do because they believe they’re best for society. Liberals take the positions they do because they make them feel and look compassionate or superior to hold those positions. Once you understand those basics, it’s very easy to see why both sides hold the positions they do on most issues and to comprehend why there’s so little middle ground. Once you get the mentalities, you can predict where each...

Daily Caller News Foundation Electric Vehicles Emit More Pollutants Than Fossil Fuel-Burning Cars, Says Study A study from the University of Edinburgh shows that electric and hybrid vehicles emit as many, if not more, atmospheric toxins than fossil fuel-burning vehicles. The study, conducted by Victor Timmers and Peter Achten at the University of Edinburgh, and published by the journal Atmospheric Environment, found that heavier electric vehicles produce as many pollutants as their lighter weight conventional vehicles. Electric vehicles tend to produce more pollutants from tire and brake wear, due in large part to their batteries, as well as the other...

“Natural gas is a good, cheap alternative to fossil fuels,” former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi famously intoned. (Psssst. Ms. Nancy, natural gasis a fossil fuel.) “If I thought there was any evidence that drilling could save people money, I would consider it. But it won’t,” President Obama said in 2008. “We can’t drill our way out of the problem” of high energy prices and disappearing supplies, he still insisted two years later. How shocked he must be now. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing – aka, fracking – has unleashed a gusher of oil and natural gas, sent oil...

Hillary Clinton said that banning fossil fuel extraction on public lands is a 'done deal,' the Hill reported. After Thursday night's Democratic debate in New Hampshire, an activist with the green group 350 Action asked Clinton whether she would support banning hydraulic fracturing if she were elected. While Clinton said the president doesn't have the authority to do that, she did say that supporting a ban on fossil fuel extraction on public lands was a done deal. "President Obama's Interior Department in January said it would halt new leases for coal mining on federal land while it figures out how...

How many calories do you consume each day? If you answered something like "2,000" or "3,000," you're kidding yourself. You consume about 60 to 90 times that many. True, you probably eat only 2,000 to 3,000 calories a day, but most of the calories you consume aren't from food. They're the energy you use when you turn on a light or computer, drive your car, use your cell phone, or do anything else requiring energy. If you're like the average American, you consume about 186,000 calories a day, and over 98% of it is machine energy. It serves you, minute...

Replacing Fossil Fuels: Energy Evolution Has Happened Before If renewable energy replaces fossil fuels as our main source of energy it won't be the first time a fuel source was rapidly replaced. On the surface, energy seems like a pretty stagnant industry these days. Oil has dominated transportation for most of the last century while natural gas and coal provide a vast majority of the electricity we consume. That's not all that different than the way things were at the turn of the 20th century.But if you look at the overall energy mix over more than two centuries there's a...