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After three years of apocalyptic wailing and gnashing of environmentalist teeth over President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the job and economy killing Paris Climate Accord, it is ironic that the one country that faces the brunt of criticism from climate change zealots such as Greta Thunberg is leading the world and the European Union in lowering emissions and promoting cleaner energy, such as natural gas, all the while not hurting the economy: Despite shrieks of terror from the left about how President Donald Trump’s presidency threatens the existence of Earth and thus mankind, the fact is that under his...

Plans to put ten million electric vehicles on the road within ten years and rip gas central heating from every home are unveiled today. Energy regulator Ofgem has outlined how the nation will have to change the way it travels and heats homes to meet the Government’s target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The radical scheme to ‘greenwire’ Britain will be built around plans for a four-fold increase in electricity from wind farms around the coast. But the proposals will largely be paid for by families and businesses, adding billions of pounds to bills over the next 30...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — State revenue from oil and gas activity soared to a record $3.1 billion in fiscal year 2019, up 41% from the $2.2 billion generated the year before, according to the latest annual report from the New Mexico Tax Research Institute. Industry-generated income accounted for 39% of all general fund revenues, the highest share in recent history. The Tax Research Institute produces the annual report, released Thursday, under contract with the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association. NMOGA Executive Director Ryan Flynn said FY 2019 marked the first year that state revenue from oil and gas has ever...

U.S. coal-fired power plants shut down at the second-fastest pace on record in 2019, despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to prop up the industry, according to data from the federal government and Thomson Reuters. Power companies retired or converted roughly 15,100 megawatts (MW) of coal-fired electricity generation, enough to power about 15 million homes, according to the data, which included preliminary statistics from the Energy Information Administration and Reuters reporting. That was second only to the record 19,300 MW shut in 2015 during President Barack Obama’s administration. The replacement of coal with power generation from natural gas and renewables has...

Because of the Russian natural gas project "Turkish stream", Russian-operated nuclear power plants in Bulgaria and Turkey, the United States is concerned about the increase in Russian energy monopoly in the region. Principal Deputy assistant Secretary in the Bureau of energy resources U.S. state Department Kent Logsdon in his speech at the energy conference in Texas noted that in connection with the project "Turkish stream" nuclear power plant "Belene" in Bulgaria, his country was concerned about the increase in the concentration of Russian energy sources in the region. Logsdon, stressing that no country should depend on one "energy source", said:...

As more New Mexicans learn the truth about the Energy Transition Act, or ETA, the less they support it. Called New Mexico’s own “Green New Deal,” the ETA will kill jobs, raise electric rates and will only enrich green energy companies at our expense. That’s why it’s time New Mexicans come together to repeal the Energy Transition Act. Not long after the ink was dry on the ETA, it was revealed how Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration worked closely with PNM and radical environmentalists to write the law. New Mexico’s energy workers and ratepayers were left behind while “big green”...

America’s energy sources, like booming oil and crumbling coal, have defied projections and historical precedents over the last decade. ... unexpectedly, ... In 2010, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projected that in 2019, the U.S. would be producing about six million barrels of oil a day. The reality? We're now producing 12 million barrels of oil a day. Meanwhile, EIA projected oil prices would be more than $100 a barrel. They're currently hovering around $60 a barrel. What’s happening: A pair of extraction methods — horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing — have unlocked far more oil and gas than experts...

Liberals use California’s stringent environmental regulations to block new oil and gas pipelines and electric power plants. So it’s no small irony that businesses are now invoking the same rules to block local bans on new natural gas hookups. Earlier this year the city of Berkeley prohibited natural gas connections in nearly all new buildings, while Windsor in Sonoma County banned natural gas in new low-rise residential buildings. Liberal groups are urging other cities to do the same, though switching to electric appliances would cost about $7,200 and increase energy bills by an average $388 per year. It also creates...

The sanctions target companies that are involved in constructing the massive energy project that will transport Russian gas supplies under the Baltic Sea and deliver them directly to Germany. Under the sanctions, the Trump administration now has 60 days to identify companies and individuals providing services on the pipeline. The sanctions allow Washington to revoke US visas and block the property of these individuals. Those targeted by the sanctions would then have 30 days to wind down their operations.

A multi-part series investigating New Mexico’s energy revolution and its impact on schools, roads, water, wildlife and the state budget. Individual stories:Part 1 - Boomtown: Oil surge reshapes life in New MexicoPart 2 - NM lawmakers wrestle with a budget bonanzaSoutheast NM seeks a fair share of the oil moneyPart 3 - Oil and gas another piece in New Mexico’s water puzzleBalancing Energy Leases and Wildlife HabitatMethane emissions a numbers game in New MexicoPart 4 - Four Corners is the flip side of NM’s energy revolutionPart 5 - Major slowdown expected in U.S. shale oil production

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's reaction to the U.S. possible sanctions on the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline is a "clear declaration of war" on U.S. President Donald Trump, according to Bild newspaper. Previously, she noted that Germany was opposed to U.S. extraterritorial sanctions and will "hold very decisive talks" on the issue of U.S. sanctions against Nord Stream-2. According to Bild, Merkel's response to the Congress decision on sanctions was "clear". It was "a clear declaration of war" on Trump. The Chancellor "will not tolerate" the United States "continuing to undermine the gas pipeline project, which is backed by her," the...

Declared by the us Congress the sanctions against the "Nord stream — 2" pipeline has caused a sudden and unanimous condemnation on part of the officials of Germany and the German public. First responded the foreign Minister of Germany Heiko Maas, who categorically rejected foreign intervention and sanctions. According to him, the energy policy of Europe is determined in Europe and not in USA. The decision of the Congress was criticized by the Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel. She said in the Bundestag that the German government does not accept the extraterritorial sanctions. The governor on coastal Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Manuela Sweig...

Several groups that often are at odds over environmental rules are on the same side when it comes to easing methane regulations at oil and gas sites. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection joined major oil and gas companies, environmental groups and lawmakers from both parties last week in urging the Trump administration not to go through with its proposal to eliminate methane control requirements from well sites and pipelines across the country. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to roll back rules adopted in 2016 that require companies to identify and stop methane leaks from new and modified...

Yet another staffer for Rep. Adam Schiff served as a fellow for the Atlantic Council, a think tank that is funded by and works in partnership with Burisma, the natural gas company at the center of allegations regarding Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Sean Misko has been described as “close friends” with Eric Ciaramella, whom Real Clear Investigations suggests is the likely so-called whistleblower. Misko reportedly joined Schiff’s staff at the House Intelligence Committee in August – the same month the so-called whistleblower’s complaint was filed after first reportedly interfacing with a staffer for Schiff’s office. Misko in...

A New Mexico climate change task force released its first report Thursday, citing progress that has been made to combat the “climate crisis” and recommendations for the state climate strategy. Among other findings, the task force said New Mexico produced more than 66 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018 – about 1% of the national total. The state is home to about 0.6% of the nation’s population ... Overall, New Mexicans produce 31 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per person per year, the report found. The national average is 18 tons per person. “It is not hyperbole...

When the plan to build a natural gas power plant in Killingly first came up in 2016, the objections from folks in this northeast corner town of about 17,000 were pretty basic – they already had one, didn’t want another about a mile away, and didn’t want its emissions. “Not another power plant,” was the rallying cry. Three years later, this remains the name of the local opposition group — or NAPP for short. But since then, the furor over the proposed Killingly Energy Center (KEC) has expanded into a statewide environmental cause célèbre and is now something of a...

Environmental groups on Wednesday filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's plan to open up hundreds of thousands of acres of land in California to oil and gas drilling. The Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity sued the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over the plan to open more than 700,000 acres of land to oil and gas lease sales. "Defendants failed to consider meaningful alternatives to the plan amendment, failed to analyze and disclose the environmental impacts, and denied the public the opportunity to comment on its environmental analyses as the law requires," the lawsuit reads. It...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Mountain Valley Pipeline, one of the major construction projects crossing West Virginia, has extended the timetable and price for its expected completion. The pipeline’s developers announced last week that construction now isn’t expected to concluded until late next year at a cost of $5.3 to $5.5 billion because key aspects of the giant project have been challenged by federal regulators and in the court system. The original cost estimate when work began in February 2018 was $3.7 billion. The original estimated completion date was the fourth quarter of 2019 — now. The pipeline’s developers say it is...

Hydraulic fracturing could be responsible for an increase in earthquakes in the Permian Basin in West Texas, as oil and gas operations increase during a boom in the region. A study published Tuesday by the University of Texas at Austin suggested the practice, known as fracking, could be linked to earthquakes in the region just across the state border to southeast New Mexico where oil and gas operations also increased dramatically in recent years. Research targeted the Delaware Basin, on the western side of the Permian in Texas and New Mexico which now produces more than 5 million barrels of...

Natural gas developers in Pennsylvania are hoping a recent water quality report by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission could squelch plans for a fracking ban that’s currently being considered by the neighboring Delaware River Basin Commission. The SRBC’s Remote Water Quality Monitoring Network report, which was released last month, revealed that water quality scores at 14 of the 16 stations in the basin were in the “good” or “excellent” categories According to a fact sheet from the Susquehanna commission, the monitoring stations are located in areas where active drilling takes place, as well as areas free of development, in order...