Free Republic

The Biden administration is preparing to sell off more than 80 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling companies in the largest federal offshore drilling auction in U.S. history—less than a week after the UN climate change conference COP26, where nearly 200 nations promised to reduce fossil fuel emissions. The annual Gulf of Mexico lease sale is planned for November 17 in New Orleans. The 80 million acres on sale is expected to produce around 1.12 billion barrels of oil and 4.2 cubic feet of natural gas over the next 50 years. The controversial auction...

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell (D) vowed accountability “across the board” after five people were found dead in senior apartment complexes after Hurricane Ida. Cantrell made the comment in a news conference on Monday, a day after the city disclosed the deaths after evacuating eight facilities. The deaths are under investigation by the state coroner’s office.

*** “***[I have] thousands of messages from the military, from the federal government, from school educators, from parents. Everyone wants to do something,” [O'Keefe] said. “And when I started, everyone was afraid. They’re waking up. The quiet people are now starting to grow a pair. They’re just, ‘Give me a camera, I’m done.’ They just want to expose it.” The undercover video of Inderkum High School teacher Gabriel Gipe saying that he had “180 days to turn them [students] into revolutionaries” prompted the Natomas Unified School District to place him on administrative leave last week and move to fire him....

In Philadelphia, litter and illegal dumping have become climate issues. Philadelphia Water Department crews spent days cleaning trash out of the city’s nearly 75,000 storm drains, in preparation for remnants of Hurricane Ida. Prodigious levels of trash and litter in the city — the only without a citywide street cleaning program — means storm drains are frequently clogged by debris. “When we have a forecast and we know that we have a storm like this, we go out to areas that we know can be problematic, in terms of being low lying or where there’s a lot of trash or...

Hurricane Ida’s disruption to the U.S. offshore energy production in the Gulf of Mexico is the worst in 16 years. It has already stressed domestic and global supply chains, further testing the Federal Reserve’s “transitory” inflation narrative. Gulf Coast hurricanes usually cause minor disruptions in offshore oil and gas production, but this time around, output from the region has been significantly reduced due to Ida’s 150 mph winds that damaged platforms and onshore support facilities. What this will mean is a long recovery for offshore energy production to return. Reuters notes 79% of the region’s offshore oil production remains offline....

President Joe Biden stumbled through parts of his Tuesday briefing on Hurricane Ida, leaving the definition of a tornado unclear. Biden visited New York and New Jersey to observe the damage caused in recent days by Hurricane Ida. He discussed the impact of the storm, as well as other devastating weather incidents around the nation and how they relate to climate change. “We’ve got to make sure that we don’t leave any community behind, and it’s all across the country,” Biden said at a press conference in New Jersey. It was all looking normal until Biden had another brain freeze....

Some staffers in the Biden White House would rather miss their boss speak in public than endure another gaffe, according to a new report. Anxiety about what President Joe Biden might say if he takes questions from the media drives some in the White House to mute him or turn off his public appearances altogether, Politico reported Tuesday, citing White House officials. Anxiety about what President Joe Biden might say if he takes questions from the media drives some in the White House to mute him or turn off his public appearances altogether, Politico reported Tuesday, citing White House officials....

Flanked by New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), and other local officials, President Biden stood atop Ida's flotsam to call for radical policies allegedly aimed at addressing climate change. Beginning with some confusion as to whose congressional district he was in, Biden said "It's about time we step up" to confront climate change, despite his more than four decades serving in the Senate and White House that apparently failed to accomplish anything meaningful on the climate change front. Joe Biden doesn't seem to know whose...

President Biden on Friday toured damage from Hurricane Ida in Louisiana as the state struggles to restore power and rebuild after the Category 4 storm. Biden was greeted by local officials after stepping off Air Force One in New Orleans. The tarmac welcome party included Democratic Gov. John Edwards and Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) and New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, a Democrat, also welcomed Biden. Biden walked to the Marine One helicopter with a cheat-sheet of officials’ names and photos, along with what appeared to be a script of remarks, sticking...

President Biden on Thursday said “the climate crisis” caused deadly New York City flooding from Tropical Storm Ida as he used the disaster to push his $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. Biden spoke after at least 18 people died in New York and New Jersey, including at least eight people who drowned in flooded basement apartments in Queens and Brooklyn. “The past few days of Hurricane Ida and the wildfires in the West and the unprecedented flash floods in New York and New Jersey is yet another reminder that these extreme storms and the climate crisis are here,” Biden said in...

The death and destruction caused by Storm Ida is a reminder that "the climate crisis is here" and "we must better prepare," US President Joe Biden has said. Addressing the nation in a news conference on Thursday, Mr Biden said: "The past few days of Hurricane Ida and the wildfires in the west and the unprecedented flash floods in New York and New Jersey is yet another reminder that these extreme storms and the climate crisis are here." "We must better prepare. We need to act," he said. "It's a matter of life and death, and we're all in it...

President Biden said on Thursday his administration would help those impacted by Hurricane Ida, outlining his response ahead of his trip to Louisiana to survey the storm’s damage. “My message to everyone effected is we’re all in this together. The nation is here to help. That’s the message I’ve been making clear to the majors, governors, energy and utility leaders in the region who my administration has been working closely with over the last few days,” he said during remarks at the White House. “We’ll be working around the clock until the critical needs of the region are fully met....

The New Orleans Police Department has deployed anti-looting teams throughout the city — which is currently without power — in an attempt to stop criminals from destroying local businesses. “#NOPD has deployed anti-looting teams across the city in order to protect our citizens’ property as we continue the recovery process,” the department announced in a tweet. “Looting will NOT be tolerated and encourage everyone to be good neighbors and say something when you see something.”

More than a million customers across Lousiana are without power on Tuesday morning. Some reports indicate it could take weeks for the lights to come back on as thousands of miles of transmission lines were damaged after Hurricane Ida rolled through on Sunday. The Category 4 hurricane raises fresh questions about how well New Orleans and other coastal areas across Lousiana are prepared for natural disasters. As of 0630 ET, PowerOutage.US reports a little more than one million customers are without power across the state’s coastal plain. Energy provider Entergy Corp has been surveying the damage since Monday and has...

President Joe Biden told Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards to 'just holler' for help on Monday after Hurricane Ida ravaged the gulf coast and referred to his senior adviser, former Rep. Cedric Richmond, as 'boy.' Biden introduced Richmond, a New Orleans native who quit Congress to serve in the White House, by a term that some see as derogatory. Richmond joined Biden on the virtual call with governors, mayors and officials from the states impacted by Hurricane Ida, which has killed at least one person and left millions without power. Biden announced Richmond would be the administration's point person on...

President Biden called a Black adviser "boy" during a Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) briefing on Monday. The president used the term while introducing his senior adviser Cedric Richmond, a former Louisiana congressman. "I'm here with my senior adviser and boy who knows Louisiana very, very well and New Orleans, Cedric Richmond," Biden said at a press briefing with FEMA after Hurricane Ida rocked Louisiana.

JunkScience.com Founder Steve Milloy ripped an absurd Washington Post argument that Hurricane Ida — which caused power outages to more than a million homes — is a spawn of climate change. The leftist Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper capitalized on the catastrophic hurricane to push insane eco-extremist talking points: “How climate change helped make Hurricane Ida one of Louisiana’s worst.” The story’s first paragraph peddled straight-up fear porn: “From its birth, the storm was destined to become a monster.” It continued, calling the storm “the poster child for a climate change-driven disaster.” Milloy lambasted the propaganda in comments to MRC Business: “A...

On the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, some forecasters said Hurricane Ida would be as intense as last year’s Laura and the Last Island Hurricane of 1856. Both were among the strongest storms on record to make landfall in Louisana. According to CNN, about half a million people were without power in the region. On Saturday, state and federal officials worked to get evacuation orders signed and emergency declarations in order. Sporting events and casinos were closed or postponed for the weekend. Mississippi schools were announced closed for Monday. The situation is already serious and there is no need for...

Officials say at least 200 people are in "imminent danger" as a levee breached around Lafitte and Jean Lafitte in Jefferson Parish. video report at link

A slow-moving Hurricane Ida has left all of Orleans Parish customers without power due to "catastrophic transmission damage," according to Entergy New Orleans.