After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Western countries enacted a series of embargoes against Russian goods and raw materials, including natural gas and oil, that many did not think possible or implementable given...more
8/13/2024
/ China ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Embargo ,
EU ,
Exports ,
Fertilizers ,
Imports ,
International Trade ,
NATO ,
Natural Gas ,
Russia
During recent Senate hearings pertaining to energy and appointment made by the Biden administration to the United States Department of Energy, some of the most interesting questions have been asked by Senator John Kennedy of...more
7/1/2024
/ Biden Administration ,
Climate Change ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Infrastructure ,
Minerals ,
Natural Gas ,
Nuclear Power ,
Permits ,
Pipelines ,
STEM ,
Transmission Grid
One wild card of the Middle East equation has been Hezbollah, the Iranian-inspired Shiite terror group /political party in Lebanon. Considered the most fully armed non-state actor in the world, Hezbollah possesses an arsenal...more
Amid much fanfare, in 2022, the City of Palo Alto, California, home to Stanford University, amended its building code to require that every new building within its borders be all electric. This followed the lead of the City...more
Over 50 years ago, on October 6, 1973, the Arab armies of Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel during Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
Almost exactly 50 years later, on October 7, 2023,...more
Two recent studies show that, by the end of 2023, United States carbon emissions will decrease, despite an expansion in the overall economy of about 2.5 percent. That is, according to the United States Energy Information...more
12/1/2023
/ Carbon Emissions ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Coal Industry ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Policies ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Natural Gas ,
Paris Agreement ,
Renewable Energy
Since he took office in 2018, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has been a strong supporter of renewable energy, and an ardent opponent of natural gas development. One of Murphy’s cornerstone projects has been a massive bet on...more
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took a strong, uncompromising pro-Hamas stance in the latter’s military conflict with Israel last week. In so doing, he torpedoed any potential in the near future for possible joint...more
The right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Binyamin) Netanyahu and the left-wing government of US President Joseph Biden do not often see eye-to-eye on many issues, but both curiously have in common a...more
The explosion and fire of a tanker truck just north of Center City Philadelphia, leading to the collapse of sections of Interstate 95, one of the most heavily traveled roads in the United States and the chief highway...more
Earlier this week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a very important ruling concerning the regulation of the use of both natural gas and appliances that use natural gas.
In California Restaurant Association...more
Last week saw scenes of chaos never before seen in the Middle East, which is saying something given the history of that region.
In Israel, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to demonstrate, block roads,...more
John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City is in the process of completing its total revamping of Terminal 1. Aside from the nearly $10 billion in upgrades, the new terminal will boast what authorities at the...more
Now less than one month before Election Day, the New York Governor's race is far closer than most had anticipated. Incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul, who succeeded Andrew Cuomo following his resignation, is being pressed by...more
10/19/2022
/ Boycotts ,
Clean Water Act ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Exports ,
Fracking ,
Gas Prices ,
Natural Gas ,
New York ,
Oil & Gas ,
OPEC ,
Pennsylvania ,
Pipelines ,
Political Campaigns ,
Russia ,
Shale Gas
With energy markets already in tumult partly because of events in Ukraine and Iran, not to mention the OPEC production cut, another area of the world is now being convulsed by energy issues, with the prospect of natural gas...more
10/19/2022
/ Anti-Terrorism Financing ,
Egypt ,
Energy Market ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Greece ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Israel ,
Lebanon ,
Libya ,
Military Conflict ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
OPEC ,
Terrorist Organizations ,
Turkey
Blasts were heard at the Nord Stream 1 pipeline last week, and damage to the pipeline itself was detected underwater shortly thereafter. Russian sources indicated that the damage would further delay the delivery of natural...more
10/6/2022
/ Climate Change ,
Energy Sector ,
EU ,
Exports ,
Germany ,
Green Energy ,
Marcellus Shale ,
National Security ,
Natural Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Russia
Pennsylvania is rapidly becoming the ultimate battleground state in American politics. Famously described by Democratic political operative James Carville as “Philadelphia in the East, Pittsburgh in the West, and Alabama in...more
Less than two years after a catastrophic explosion nearly leveled whole parts of Lebanon's capital, Beirut, plunging the country into economic disrepair and social despair, the Ukraine war and natural gas gave Lebanon a...more
Just north of Philadelphia International Airport and south of the Philadelphia sports Stadium complex lies the Port of Philadelphia, one of the largest freshwater ports in the world. So strategically located is the Port of...more
In 2008, then acting New York Governor David Patterson ordered a temporary ban on hydraulic fracturing in New York State. His successor, Andrew Cuomo, promised to study the issue. For nearly six years, Cuomo reiterated that...more
Two new developments of enormous significance passed under the radar last week, buried by the growing threat of an outright Russia/Ukraine war and governmental encroachment on democracy in Canada. These developments, however,...more
3/14/2022
/ China ,
Climate Change ,
Coal ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Energy Sector ,
EU ,
FERC ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
NATO ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Russia ,
Shale Gas ,
Ukraine
When Vladimir Putin sent his troops into Ukraine to go conquer that democracy, all of the abstract concepts about energy ended. While not quite a Pearl Harbor moment in terms of instantaneous ideological shift, Putin's...more
3/14/2022
/ Bad Actors ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Energy Sector ,
Exports ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Marcellus Shale ,
Natural Gas ,
Nuclear Weapons ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Russia ,
Ukraine
Last week, President Joe Biden warned Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky that a Russian invasion of Ukraine might be imminent. While Zelensky does not seem to share that assessment, full scale war in Eastern Europe seems...more
1/31/2022
/ Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Fracking ,
Germany ,
Marcellus Shale ,
NATO ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pennsylvania ,
Russia ,
Ukraine
If 2020 was the year of the great energy disconnect, 2021 was the year the people carrying out the energy debate appeared to be living on different planets, floating aimlessly through time and space and never intersecting...more
12/30/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Climate Change ,
Coal ,
Electricity ,
Energy Sector ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Hydropower ,
Keystone XL Pipeline ,
Natural Gas ,
Price Inflation ,
Renewable Energy ,
Russia ,
Severe Weather ,
Ukraine
Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) reached a milestone in July when it took itself completely off the local power grid, establishing its own microgrid based on on-site natural gas wells, as well as solar power. In doing...more