Free Republic

Policies subsidizing generators, utilities, and unreliable energy have raised the cost of electricity in Texas by $19.9 billion in 2023, constituting 42.7 percent of total electricity costs. In a study published Wednesday by the Energy Alliance, the group found that the total government-imposed cost of electricity in the Texas Interconnection operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas was $84.3 billion. Texas state and local governments are responsible for causing 85.7 percent of that $84.3 billion. “The massive increase in subsidies has done nothing to address the primary cause of unreliability in the Texas market, renewable energy,” stated Bill Peacock,...

Debris from a broken offshore wind turbine has for days been washing up on the Nantucket [MA] shore, prompting beach closures and frustrating locals at the peak of the summer season.

Americans are demanding answers. They want to know how it was so incredibly easy for a gunman to shoot President Trump and kill one of his innocent supporters. Clearly, there was at least a communication breakdown, and right now, we can’t rule anything out until we know more. Information is still coming in slowly. For instance, Senator Hawley has just revealed some disturbing details from a whistleblower about President Trump’s security details. According to this source, most of Trump’s security team that day in Butler, PA, weren’t even official Secret Service agents. Hawley claims they were unprepared and inexperienced personnel...

resident Joe Biden could make a decision within days whether to remain a candidate for reelection, said Hawaii’s governor who participated in a recent meeting with Biden and other Democratic governors and whose family has known the president for years. And if Biden decides not to run, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green told The Associated Press on Saturday that he believes the president will designate Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him on the ticket. “I think the president stays in this race unless he feels that it is not winnable, or he feels that he has to hear other voices...

The left-wing Labour Party will reportedly establish a new bureaucracy to push forward the ‘net zero’ green agenda if it wins the July 4th general election. In the mad dash towards eliminating carbon emissions in Britain, Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer’s transition team, headed by former top bureaucrat and Starmer’s chief of staff Sue Gray will look to establish an “Office of Net Zero”, Sky News reports.

The Government of Maine has really big plans for floating wind, a floating net zero fantasy, in fact. Since floating wind power is the next big green thing, it is worth taking a close look at this ruinous vision. Floating wind is a fad, not an established technology. It has yet to be built at utility scale or tested in a hurricane. The world’s biggest grid-connected system is a tiny 50 MW and just came online off Scotland. The cost of floating wind is necessarily much greater than fixed wind. A fixed wind tower sits on a simple monopile, while...

Environmental protesters sprayed paint on Britain’s Stonehenge on Wednesday, with orange marks covering some of the stones of the prehistoric megalithic structure on the eve of the summer solstice celebrations. Two people have been arrested on suspicion of damaging the ancient monument, police said in a statement. “This is extremely upsetting and our curators are investigating the extent of the damage,” English Heritage, the charity that manages Stonehenge, said on X. Stonehenge remains open, it added. The monument, one of Britain’s most visited tourist spots, also holds spiritual significance and attracts thousands of revellers, spiritualists and tourists during the summer...

SUMMARY: Citizen activists in southeastern France’s Alpes-de-Hautes-Provence region have been campaigning for two years against the growing number of solar power parks in a protected natural area around the Lure mountain. The local authorities, and the parks' investors, claim the plants are “essential” projects in the fight against climate change, and in line with the ambitions of the European Green Deal. But the activists claim these projects are “destructive” for biodiversity and the landscape. A few hundred metres above the commune of Cruis, in the Alpes-de-Hautes-Provence region, Sylvie Bitterlin, a 62-year-old actress, stands in front of the security fence of...

Aslow-motion collapse in the offshore wind industry continues to grow as sticky inflation and supply chain challenges force developers to delay or cancel major projects. In particular, progress towards the Biden administration’s goal of building large amounts of floating wind off the northeastern US coast is just about stalled. Shell, which invested in a series of offshore wind projects in recent years, including offshore the northeastern United States, announced last week it would lay off much of its offshore wind business staff as the oil giant advances its program of refocusing on its core oil and gas business. “We are...

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto: Coast to Coast,” White House Senior Adviser Amos Hochstein stated that the Biden administration “made enormous progress to advance renewable energy in this country, to advance electric vehicles, but that’s not the solution for everyday people on a day-to-day basis, for lower prices,” but it’s “about moving the economy towards a cleaner and more efficient energy economy.” Host Edward Lawrence asked, “Does the President still want to keep moving forward with the speed of his forced transition as quickly as it has been?”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis claimed Wednesday that he was saving his state from 'radical green zealots' by removing references of 'climate change' from the state's energy policy and banning offshore windmills. DeSantis, a failed 2024 presidential hopeful, signed into law a bill that additionally gives preferential treatment to natural gas companies and scraps a requirement that state-purchased vehicles are fuel efficient. With 8,346 miles of shoreline and water surrounding three of its side, Florida is the most vulnerable or close to being the most at-risk state when it comes to climate change impacts, according to a number of metrics. 'The...

While it’s true that some things get better with age, the United States’ aging transmission infrastructure is not one of them. Updated transmission infrastructure is crucial to reducing emissions and ensuring dependable electricity service. Congress has passed green energy laws to help make this update happen, but now it’s up to a little-known government commission to fully realize the benefits of our transformational climate laws. And they need to act before it’s too late. It would be an understatement to say our country’s existing transmission infrastructure—the energy cables, towers and transformers that move energy between a generation system and the...

White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Lael Brainard dismissed the notion that Republicans would be able to easily reverse the sustainable energy provisions passed in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) even if they win majorities in the general election this fall. By building the energy transition into the tax code and incentivizing businesses and households to change their behaviors rather than compelling them to do so with more top-down spending initiatives, the Inflation Reduction Act is insulated from any quick-and-dirty policy corrections that may be desired by a new Congress or presidential administration, Brainard argued Friday.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont acknowledged Monday he helped hire a landscaper that illegally chopped down more than 180 trees and thousands of bushes on a property behind his Greenwich home, capping off days of questions about his level of involvement. The wealthy two-term Democrat, along with one of his neighbors and a neighborhood organization, have been accused of removing trees in protected wetlands — property they do not own — to get a better view of a pond. Lamont denied that charge, telling reporters on Monday the trees were damaged in previous storms and the plan was to clean up...

Far-left Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was arrested during an anti-Israel protest at Washington University in St. Louis on Saturday — a day after she was confronted outside of Columbia University. ... Stein’s Campaign Manager Jason Call and Deputy Campaign Manager Kelly Merrill-Caye were also arrested. ... Stein was “holding the line with students” before police “used force against” her and other protesters. ... The protests were demanding an end to the war in Gaza and ... “It quickly became clear through the words and actions of this group that they did not have good intentions on our campus...

The New York HEAT Act might not make the final budget. The bill reduces the state’s reliance on natural gas and cuts ratepayer costs by eliminating certain rules. It was in both legislative chambers’ one-house budgets, but last-minute scrambling could remove it. New York League of Conservation Voters Policy Director Patrick McClellan said, aside from people’s preference for natural gas, other challenges have made the bill hard to pass. “I think that there has also been some irresponsible fear-mongering against this bill from some people who oppose it,” said McClellan, “basically telling people this means that their natural gas service...

The new "EV Tax" is the highest in the nation and will likely put the brakes on EV adoption in the Garden State. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With the stroke of a pen, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has unplugged the state's pro-electric-vehicle position, signing into law a new EV road tax that is the highest of its kind in the nation. Starting in July, New Jersey EV owners must pay an annual $250 road tax fee in an effort to offset the state's loss in fuel tax revenue. The new fee will increase by $10 each of the next four years until...

It’s ethnic discrimination to force Big Apple pizzerias and matzah-makers to cut the smoky pollutants from their wood- and coal-fired ovens, according to a new bill sponsored by a state lawmaker. Assemblyman Sam Pirozzolo (R-Staten Island) told the Post that his proposed law would exempt businesses — some of them legendary local establishments — from a controversial city green edict that orders them to reduce such emissions by 75%. “I’m trying to stop discrimination against ethnic restaurants. These misguided laws go against businesses that cook ethnic cuisine,” Pirozzolo said. “A cop just got killed. People are getting thrown in front...

The athletes competing at the Paris Summer Games will have plenty of condoms, but they will not have air conditioning. “We designed these buildings so that they would be comfortable places to live in in the summer, in 2024 and later on, and we don’t need air conditioning in these buildings because we oriented the facades so that they wouldn’t get too much sun during the summer, and the facades, the insulation is really efficient,” said Yann Krysinski, who is directing the service of infrastructure for the Games. ... The decision to forego traditional air conditioning is borne of the...

New York City Council members feeling the heat from thousands of angry co-op and condo owners are urging state pols to OK tax breaks over a new “green” mandate that could cost more than $20,000 per unit. The City Council had actually approved the mandate, the Climate Mobilization Emissions Law, in 2019 requiring residential buildings to initially curb their greenhouse gas emissions by 40% and ultimately by 80% by 2050. But as the Big Apple’s already-financially-pressed residents flood members with complaints about how much more the regs will cost them, local pols are turning to Albany for help, seeking their...