Free Republic

The multi-year drought may be easing thanks to recent storms, but scientists suggest that Lake Mead and Lake Powell, reservoirs on the Colorado River, may not refill “in our lifestimes,” according to the Los Angeles Times. The reservoirs have been dwindling over many years — not just due to the drought, but also due to demand that has increased over the many decades since the dams were built, and due to decreased rainfall in recent times.

The Biden administration had no problems aggressively draining the SPR by 1mmb/d at market prices in the immediate aftermath of the Ukraine war, in hopes of lowering the price of gasoline ahead of November's elections and avoiding an inflationary midterm rout. However, when it comes to refilling the SPR, now that US emergency inventories are down to the lowest level since November 1983 and not too far from an all time low which threatens the structural integrity of the salt caverns the oil is deposited in...... the White House has "unexpectedly" gotten cold feet.One month after the White House said...

From Friday restaurants in France will be breaking the law if they offer unlimited fizzy drinks to customers, as the government takes another step to fight the problem of obesity. The new law was published in the government’s Journal Officiel website on Thursday and will come into effect on Friday. It specifically states that it’s illegal to sell soft drinks at a fixed price for an unlimited amount of drink, and illegal to offer unlimited amounts for free. The ban applies to all soft drinks or soda “fountains” in places open to the public, including fast food-chains and restaurants. It...

KUWAIT CITY (AP) - The days when a U.S. Army truck could fill up for free at a gas station in this oil-rich state are coming to an end. Kuwait's energy minister said Thursday that U.S. troops are going to have to start paying for fuel. In a gift that must have saved the Pentagon a fortune, Kuwait has not charged the U.S. military for fuel since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Tens of thousands of American Humvees, trucks and armored vehicles have rolled through the country and across the desert border into Iraq during the past two...

DEEP UNDERWATER, and deeper underground, scientists see surprising hints that gas and oil deposits can be replenished, filling up again, sometimes rapidly. Although it sounds too good to be true, increasing evidence from the Gulf of Mexico suggests that some old oil fields are being refilled by petroleum surging up from deep below, scientists report. That may mean that current estimates of oil and gas abundance are far too low. Recent measurements in a major oil field show "that the fluids were changing over time; that very light oil and gas were being injected from below, even as the producing...