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
During a press briefing on Friday afternoon, State Department spokesman Ned Price abruptly changed the subject from the disastrous pullout in Afghanistan to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
A Russian ship, the Ostap Sheremeta,...more
8/30/2021
/ Afghanistan ,
Biden Administration ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Germany ,
Keystone XL Pipeline ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
OPEC ,
Pipelines ,
Russia ,
Ukraine
On Wednesday, June 29, the United States Supreme Court handed down one of its most important decisions in years. In the case of PennEast Pipeline Company, LLC v. New Jersey, et al., by a narrow 5-4 margin, the Court affirmed...more
For more than a week Israel and Hamas have been battering each other with rocket fire coming from Hamas in Gaza and airstrikes coming from Israel. The destruction and loss of human life are appalling – from both sides of the...more
In the disruption that followed shutting down the Colonial Pipeline due to a “ransomware” attack, the energy policy of the fledgling Biden Administration, and of its key supporters, devolved into incoherence and outright...more
The geo-political folly that is the Nord Stream 2 pipeline – designed to convey natural gas directly from Russia to Germany in the Baltic Sea – came into sharper focus this week. As work on the highly controversial pipeline...more
On February 3, German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier proclaimed that Germany had exceeded its target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 40% compared to 1990 levels. Despite clearly being aided by the deep economic slump...more
2/11/2021
/ Climate Change ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
EU ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Germany ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
OPEC ,
Pipelines ,
Renewable Energy ,
Russia
President Biden’s first move on energy internationally likely will be one of his most unfortunate actions - rejoining the Paris Climate Accords. Unfortunately, he will have no choice, since he has consistently pledged to do...more
1/15/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Canada ,
China ,
Climate Change ,
Energy Sector ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Fracking ,
Green Deal ,
International Relations ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
OPEC ,
Paris Agreement ,
Pipelines ,
Popular ,
Russia ,
Turkey ,
Venezuela
When President Biden takes office on January 20, among the many other obstacles, issues and problems that he will need to deal with is an impending polar vortex that meteorologists now predict will descend upon the United...more
1/12/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Climate Change ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Domestic Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Foreign Policy ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Fracking ,
Infrastructure ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Natural Disasters ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Polar Vortex ,
Renewable Energy ,
Russia
2020 obviously will be the Year of the Pandemic. However, when it comes to energy, 2020 will also be known as the Year of the Great Disconnect. Thanks to the COVID-19 Pandemic, never have fossil fuels been more important...more
...As the Biden Administration prepares to take office with a platform pledging both to respect science and to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreements, a review of the actual data appears in order.
Starting from a baseline on...more
The first warning sign that opposition to fracking and fossil fuels might not play well for the Democrats in the 2020 election came in June, when Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro released what he described as a...more
...With the eyes of the nation still focused on the election results, and with ballots still being counted in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona, few Americans were thinking about FERC, the Federal...more
For generations, the area around the eastern Mediterranean Sea has been filled with turmoil. From the Arab-Israeli conflict to the divided island of Cyprus and the general animus between Greece and Turkey, the region’s...more
Last week, the Trump and Biden campaigns each received a joint letter from the Boards of Commissioners of three Western Pennsylvania counties – Butler, Washington, and Beaver. All are in the Pittsburgh area, and all are large...more
In the midst of a Coronavirus pandemic, some of the hottest weather in recorded history, and massive wildfires, Californians are now dealing with another huge problem - roving power blackouts. Just when it matters the most,...more
Two weeks after the devastating explosion that damaged or destroyed large sections of Beirut, former Lebanese President Michel Aoun was asked by French television about the possibility of making peace with Israel....more